this is war

once we've been rescued from the chains of sin
we not only enter into a royal priesthood
we not only enter into the Family of God
but we become rebels in this world

the world will hate us because the world hated Jesus,

Matthew 10:25 It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more the members of his household!

but we have what this world doesn't have
HOPE

real HOPE

something eternal
we have God fighting on our side
as I realize just how much Christianity is under attack here lately
I'm starting to see more and more that

We are at war, and in the midst of the war the hope is this....

That the battle has already been won

WE ARE AT WAR
WE ARE REBELS

REBELS WITH A MISSION AND THE POWER TO CARRY IT OUT

Matthew 28
¹⁸ Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

TO SET THE CAPTIVE FREE ALONGSIDE OUR KING

LEGOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Rich part 2

Rich....

It's something we will never truly be in this world,
but it's a lie that many will believe!
Many will believe that they are rich in what they have
whether it be money and possessions,
friendships, or popularity. Many will believe
that they are rich in these things, and because
they are so caught up in these things
will not see the greatest treasure of all.

They will not see the treasure worth selling everything else for,
and for that reason will not see the kingdom of heaven.

You see the possessions will eventually get old
and no matter how much money we have we never have enough
popularity runs out and friends go away either by argument, space, or simply by death

none of these things last forever
and we can't take them with us when we die

matthew 19:¹⁶ Just then someone came up and asked Him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?”
¹⁷ “Why do you ask Me about what is good?”^[f] He said to him. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸ “Which ones?” he asked Him. Jesus answered:

Do not murder;
do not commit adultery;
do not steal;
do not bear false witness;
¹⁹ honor your father and your mother;
and love your neighbor as yourself.

²⁰ “I have kept all these,” the young man told Him. “What do I still lack?”

²¹ “If you want to be perfect,”  Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

²² When the young man heard that command, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.

he had so much

that He didn't see a life with Christ worth it

he went away grieving

because he just knew that he was "Rich"

he had so much stuff, but stuff didn't do him a lick of good in this situation.

He would end up missing out on a full life holding on to all of his stuff

Don't be that guy

if it's stuff that is hindering you from following Christ

let it go! If it's the love of money, surrender it to God!

You can work yourself to death and get all the money in the world

and in the end miss out on a full life. A life with Christ!

If it's friends you think you can't live without LET GO!

Jesus is life He wants you to let that go to follow Him because

He can fulfill you, while they can't!

He calls us to be on an epic mission with Him

He calls us to be who we are meant to be in Him

calls us to more that possessions, popularity, or money could ever offer

more that this world could ever offer

^{Matthew 19:23} Then Jesus said to His disciples, “I assure you: It will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven! ²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished and asked, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁶ But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

²⁷ Then Peter responded to Him, “Look, we have left everything and followed You. So what will there be for us?”

²⁸ Jesus said to them, “I assure you: In the Messianic Age, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. ²⁹ And everyone who has left houses, brothers or sisters, father or mother,^[l] children, or fields because of My name will receive 100 times more and will inherit eternal life. ³⁰ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

He makes us truly rich
rich with true life
something that we will take with us
when this life ends

God remind me that You are my great reward
Don't let my heart get so caught up in stuff
that I begin to think I'm rich in this world
or Poor in this world

Keep my heart focused on You
because when it's not focused on You 
I begin to simply flatline

Be Ell EE Ess Ess EE Dee

Blessed :)

it's what I am
I can't deny it
through the good times and the bad
God has always made all things work out for my good because
I love Him and I am called to His purpose

Today I got to give my testimony through music @ the middle school I went to,
Belview Middle School

God really blessed it and I know that He is going to use it to impact
those who heard it, but looking back through my testimony
I'm always reminded that God was looking out for me

He placed people in my life who were obedient to Him
to shine in the darkness of my life and in the darkness of all those who claimed His name
yet were not obedient to Him

Makes me wonder whose life I'm shining into in the same way
who else is in a family where God is claimed, but not truly lived out
where love is claimed, yet not truly lived out

The fact that I don't know the answer to that question
is a blessing because it makes truly living
so urgent

I'm reminded by a simple line by Lecrae

"What if you were dead in sin and Christians overlooked ya'll"

WOAH!

God keep my focus on Your purpose not the things of this world

Rich?

Ever heard of John D. Rockefeller?
If not you ought to know that he was the founder of the standard oil company.
You know what that makes him?
A rich man by earthly standards. A very rich man,

however when asked how much money was enough 

He replied "A little bit more."

a man that rich

and yet was still not satisfied with 

what this world had to offer

because though he had much

what he had wasn't infinite

it wasn't everlasting

it was simply fleeting

but what the human soul craves is something infinite

something everlasting

something that can fill it's void

that something can only be found in Christ

and the beauty of our situation is

though we don't deserve to be filled

He not only fills us

no 

no 

no

But instead He overflows us when we trust in Him

tonight reading 1 Timothy 6

this jumped out and grabbed my heart

and this is at a time where I felt like I regretted tithing . . .

let's just say God has a huge way of saying TRUST ME!

to me

1 Timothy 6

¹⁷ Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.¹⁸ Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share, ¹⁹ storing up for themselves a good reserve for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real.

who RICHLY PROVIDES US WITH ALL THINGS TO ENJOY!!!!!

When I look at this scripture I'm also reminded

that God watches over even the birds of the air

He even provides for them

and He sent His Son to DIE so that He could call me Son

Why would He not provide for me too?

then I think of Psalm 32

MY CUP OVERFLOWS

man I start thinking about how much I have in Christ

My family in Christ

The talents that He has given me to glorify Him

and how in Him I'm fully alive 

whether or not i have a lot in my pocket at the moment or not

I'm ALIVE

now I'm not saying money isn't something that we need

what I'm saying is that if I fall in love with money

and start living for money

I won't be satisfied

it's a fleeting pleasure

and the love of money is a root to all kinds of evil

last thing yall wanna see is me out on the street sellin dope lol

God is my provider

and not only that but He is my great reward!!!!

I have all that I need in Him

all I need is Him

all we need is Him

Weeds in the shade

     We are like plants bursting forth from the soil seeking to be trees. We need our water and our sunlight. Or we will parish, and we can't have one without the other and survive. All water and no sunlight and we drown. All sunlight and no water and we dry up. Now the only water that brings us true life is the living water and the sunlight that we need to take in is His love, but there's a problem. In our lives weeds tend to pop up and sometimes clouds block out the sun. Now the difference between us and plants is that we are not immobile. We have the choice to allow the weeds to take up all of our water or to sit in the shade and not take in His love.

Weeds

they come in two forms

Bad/parasitic Relationships and Addictions

Both of these things can suck the life out of you

we get so consumed in these kinds of things

trying to fix a bad or parasitic relationships

or trying to fit God into the cracks of the time that we have left over after our addictions

whatever they may be 

these things squeeze the life out of us

Addictions especially

when we think of the word addiction we usually jump straight to big things

like drugs

sex

porn 

things like that

. . . but have we considered . . .

Work?

Video Games?

Money?

we can go on and on with a list of things we become addicted to

things that aren't necessarily bad until we become so consumed in them

when they become our identity

when we treat weeds like water 

we always end up dry

I'm reminded that in Psalm 1 

God inspires the writer to say that the one that is blessed 

is the one who delights in Gods word

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that bears fruit in season

and whose leaf doesn't wither 

whatever he does prospers

but often we get so caught up in all of our weeds and stay there

Shade

Now this can come in the form of haters

these people don't just want to take from you

they want to make sure you don't get

sometimes we allow haters into our lives

people who try to talk us out of the things of God constantly

and the longer we stay under them we find ourselves drifting from God

They don't always appear as an enemy; in fact, they will appear as a best friend

someone who is completely okay with us being in sin simply because they walk in it too

they won't hold us accountable

they want to make sure that the light of God's love doesn't shine down into our lives

so that what is messy can be cleaned up

because they are afraid that if that happens

then they will feel be faced with their own sin

God calls us out of the darkness of the shade though

He calls us into marvelous light

so that He can shine into us and clean up the messes that we are

The encouragement I'd like to send your way is simply this

GET WATER AND SUNLIGHT

AT ALL COSTS

it may cost you a friend 

it may cost you an addiction

IT MAY HURT LIKE HELL IN THE BEGINNING 

BUT YOU WILL KNOW LIFE IN LETTING THEM GO!

TRUE ABUNDANT LIFE!

John:10:10 ¹⁰ A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

A Poem I wrote

Right now in this moment I was expecting to be playing call of duty

yet instead You've called me to something different

My head spins with questions

while my heart breaks with answers

because truth be told I didn't take You seriously

when You said there would be persecution

I thought You meant for them not for me

but that wasn't the case and as my eyes open up

I'm starting to see that persecution comes to all of us

for You said the world would hate Your servants as they hated You

and in this past year I'm starting to realize that this is true

I'm faced with a decision 

conform or stay holy

I cry out to You Lord for Your spirit to console me

to be the one who endures for I know that You are for me

Yes I know that 

and I know that You are faithful and Your live it never ends

I know that You're the light in a world that's ever dim

Yes Lord I know that You have a reward for the one who perseveres 

and I know You are the great reward for the one who draws near

Let me abide in You as You abide in me

Though the valley is upon us 

and the waters they seem deep

in Your courts I will not see defeat

I wont conform I wont backdown I will rise up 

I was expecting to be playing call of duty, but instead I've been called to duty

Down To Earth

     It's where they tell us to be. In fact, people are considered cool
the more down to earth they are, but I have to ask myself is that what I really want to be. Do I want to be down to earth with the rest of the world, or do I want to stand out above the crowd even if I have to shout out loud.
     I'm reminded that God calls His children to be holy because He is holy. Holy meaning sacred! When I think about that and I look at my life I realize I have a lot of stuff that still needs to be given over to Christ in my life. Things that I do have a rough time giving to Him daily, and some of you probably can relate, if not all of you. There are days when I will give everything over to Christ and other days where I hold back so much, and there are even days when I sit in the middle being lukewarm, and I know that He isn't pleased with luke warmth. This year He's been working a lot of things out of my life as many of you have read in my blogs this year. It's been a crazy year, somewhat of a roller coaster!
    One of my biggest problems when it comes to the days that I'm not giving it all over to God is that I simply get cozy being down to earth. Just going with the flow, while the flow says hold so much back. In a world where everyone tries to hold onto everything they have in hopes of keeping it all, I serve a God who says "Give me your all, and you will know true life."
    I know He is right because I have experienced this true life. I've experienced it time and time again! It's those days that I don't experience it that bother me so much. When I get comfortable and don't say the name of Jesus or pick up His word. It's that downhill roll that bothers me. Day after day of walking in the world and not in the spirit.

Lord help me because I get comfortable when I shouldn't be
and I walk the race that I should run as if the world is not at stake
Lord help me
cause I don't wanna be down to earth

Something That Has Bothered me

. . . .
I am a black man in America who has given his life to Christ
Christ is my everything not being black
I can honestly say that I could really care less about a persons color,
but instead I care about their actions

That being said
I'm ashamed of most of my black friends, not because of their color but their actions as of late.
This recent election has shown me a lot. Earlier on in the race I posted that I had realized that most of my friends were appearing to be serious racists. Many may have thought that I was meaning white people.....

not at all

I've seen people claiming to be followers of Christ
who simply hung their hats upon a man because he is black
these people had simply decided that because this is a black man, no other person is acceptable

THAT'S NOT JESUS AT ALL!!!!

I honestly get livid when I see this because it says that Jesus is all about being a racist

AND THAT'S NOT MY JESUS!

The bible says that God HATES dishonest scales
Proverbs 11:1

He detests them, yet most of the black people I know who claim Christ spent most of this race being racists. What's worse is that they claimed that white people were being racists, which some were, without acknowledging their own racism. Since the election I've seen the posts mainly posted by black people. Pictures of Romney saying "I just spent millions trying to fire one black man."

And that bothers me deep down because these are so called Christians who are posting these things.
That is not Jesus. If you are claiming Christ, then you have absolutely no time or room to be a racist. There is way to much at stake.

GO THEREFOR AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS!!!!!!!!

ALL NATIONS

THAT TAKES LOVE
FOR ALL NATIONS
ALL NATIONALITIES
ALL ETHNICITIES

understand I use the word most
I know that not all of my black friends are racists
but most of them are closet racists

As I said
Our great commission takes love
there's no room for being a racist
no matter what ethnicity you are
there's no room for racism in God's kingdom

His love ought to be pouring out of us
because He gives it to us in abundance
so much so that it overflows

STOP PULLING THE RACE CARD
GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!!!!

thoughts

why does it take us not getting our way to look to You God
why is it that we can't just be submitted to who You are
We claim after we lose our way that we are just going to trust in You about the situation,
but for how long does it last

with this election
I tremble at the thought that many people will claim to pray
and claim to trust You thinking that You are pleased with a few weeks of our lives
but such is not the case

You call us to either be hot or cold, but the lukewarm you will spew out of your mouth
You are sickened by the lukewarm, yet we live in the world and when the world
doesn't do what we want it to we claim to run to You

I'm reminded by the message given by Brian Pierce
and I'm convicted Lord
Forgive me for I know that I am guilty of this

In many situations I know I am guilty of putting You,
the only One who is worthy of all praise,
on the back burner until things don't go my way
then I suddenly lift my eyes unto the hills where my help comes from

why do I ever even act like I need no help when I know that I do

as I've said before

God continue to shine light onto who I am
get rid of all of my darkness
help me be brave enough to live in Your light
apart from You I can't

Self Satisfying

     It's something we all try to do at some point. We try so hard to live a life in which we can be our greatest provider, but the truth is that we can't and that lifestyle alienates us from the world. Not only does it alienate us, but it sends us on an un healthy emotional roller coaster in which we start to see a little hope of being our greatest provider, so we begin to feel that we are better than others because we are doing so well, then when it all eventually falls through we begin to feel worthless.
    The problem here is self satisfaction. Though we are imperfect we try to be our own perfect giver, but when I read 1 timothy 5:6 I'm reminded that that is a daed lifestyle.

1 Timothy 5:6

However she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives

     At this point in 1 timothy Paul is speaking of widows and how one continually cries out to God for her provision, but when one is self-indulgent, out to satisfy her every need by herself, she is dead even while she lives. Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't provide things for ourselves, but what I am saying is that we should understand who our great provider is. God provides for us even when we can't! Even the birds have food, and He loves us oh so much more. He will provide! He does Provide! Unlike when we provide, when God provides we are filled. We are filled so much that we overflow. Think about it! We often seen in God's word that when He provides, He provides MORE than enough! So there's an overflow. 

So we sing

All of You is more than enough for 

All of me for every thirst and every need

You satisfy me with Your love

and all I have in You is MORE than enough!!!

My prayer is that I'm reminded of how He does this!

How He not only meets my needs, but how He more than often exceeds them for some odd reason!!!!