Returning to a first love...

I am laughing Father because just now I thought to myself, “the odds are against me”, and however, that is just how you like for it to be because it is the best way of squeezing every ounce of Glory out of my life.  While I was just flipping through on Facebook and other sites just musing about how people appear to be living their lives and enjoying it to-boot!  They may very well be but them living there lives any kind of way they please has nothing to do with what you have assigned for me to do in my own life. 

Fashion forwardness and reality television and even preaching your word it seems have become tools to make it rich – Lifestyles of the rich and famous.  Even last night I saw a preacher and his wife defending themselves on why they live the lifestyles they lead.  If you have done nothing wrong – why try to justify?  Moguls and industry titans are wealthy and they make no excuse about it. 

Who is to say that they are not pursuing their lifelong dream and prospering in their vocation?  There enough for each and every one of us to do what we love - in you Father.

Judgment of another and especially of their faith walk is something that I want and must steer clear of because who am I?  We are all sinners in need of the one and only Savior – Our Lord Jesus Christ.

So… First thing first - I took my eyes off of their lives and ceased the voyeurism into what floats their boats and refocused my eyes first towards the heavens and then to the path that is laid out before me – Looking around is how one gets tripped up because we took our eyes off the prize.  The prize is you – there is nothing else worth obtaining other than my walk with you and I will only complete and competitive in the race save you be for me.

My focus was on the fact that I have been called into task to do a job that few have been called to do, while even less have been chose to pursue; and that is to encourage others on a walk of faith that so many fall by the wayside, faint and are defeated.  It’s troubling to see so many around me lose heart and one, if not, the main reason is because they got caught up looking round-and-about at others instead of focused and tending their own plot of faith. 

Our faith needs to be tended to each and every day because we do not know what the day ahead will bring nor what tomorrow holds; with our eyes focused keenly and strictly upon you, we are not easily dismayed when storms and tumultuous times arise that beat against our faith.

As I have found – fashion is easy – and anyone can be a star for a day – and every one preaching your word is not of you; regardless of how successful they appear to be.  Success like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Money does not equate success, though many associate the two; we can see from the rate of suicide, bankruptcies, foreclosures and divorces in household with major figures of income but a deficiency of joy, love and the true pursuit of happiness that evades many in our society today.

What you have placed in my heart and pressed upon my heart to do is to have a heart for you and for your people because they lack the relationship requirement in order to connect with you in order to be fulfilled.  Yes, I may have wants but it is not void of peace.  Peace is worth more than some billionaires have to pay and a good night sleep eludes them – Ask Michael Jackson and countless others who seek approval and reverence of others instead of seeking the approval of you – their Father in Heaven and to reverence you. 

It is not about us – but about you Father. 

Early on in my walk of faith I found out that having the house, the cars and so on – the basic creature comforts no matter how big or small will not suffice the spirit when it is devoid of fulfillment.  I am still in search of that fulfillment but I now know what it is; and knowing is half the battle.

I totally and thoroughly enjoy sharing a word, a testimony, and my God with another; because I know that had it not been for your grace and mercy that saw me through Father I would not have made it through – Others need to know the same thing and they can by knowing the same God.

For that statement to be true to me, I had to put myself into the mindset of if I had the house on 24633 Harbour View Dr., Ponte Vedra Beach FL; which is hands-down one of the most idyllic dwellings I have feasted my eyes upon and exceeded my expectations.  Figuratively speaking I thought about if I came into the funds to be able to purchase the $3.2 million dollar home – I would enjoy it for a while but without fulfilling my purpose – 6995 sq. ft. of indoor living space and 2400 sq. ft. of outdoor living space would become a 6x9 jail cell that was meant to bless but would become a curse. 

Without a shadow of a doubt I know that not being a blessing to someone else would become an albatross around my neck that would make owning it all be for naught; neither do I want to grieve the Holy Spirit by stifling him and neither do I want to grieve myself by settling for something that would keep me from living the full and whole life that you said that I could have Father.

There are no amount of vacations, homes, cars, stocks, bonds, money accumulated in a bank account that can escape the emptiness of being asunder from you and your grace and your mercy and your love.  Many do not find out the lack in their life stems from the lack of connection to you; regardless of what their portfolio says they are worth in man’s standards. 

Some may argue to differ that I only feel this way because I have never experience the other side to poor, the flip-side of the coin of struggling and to them I say, “Thank God – it was only by his grace.” 

Had I experienced riches before experiencing the richness of your love Father, I could be out here in this world without protection – without a covering of grace that covers a multitude of sin and misguided steps that did not auto-correct me when I went astray; and I could have walked right off the plank into the deep blue abyss. 

You said wait and at first I said, “How long”, and you responded “it does not matter the waiting period, just know that when it comes, it will be worth the wait.” One thing that I have learned on this walk is that your gifts far exceed their original intention and they are always worth whatever I endured in order to receive them and the pain was quickly abated but remembered for the next bout. 

King David your words are a gift that keep on giving.  “I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed beg bread.” “Whatever you do Father, don’t take your Spirit from me.”  There is always more for me than against me. 

Why do we always think that the advantage is to the enemy - nothing but another trick – a lust of the eyes that causes deception?  Defeat on every turn is his modus operandi because it was already settle from the slaying of the Lamb of God at the foundations of the earth.

Believe, suffer for a little and then we will reign with you both here on earth and in heaven.  I have said this all of my life, “We can have it all.”  Advocacy of your word being true is what I am able to stand on when the waves of life come crushing in and just as your Word will be left standing when all heaven and earth shall pass away, I remember that I have faith in the God who will right all wrongs and make all things new again – Surely, he will bring to pass what he promised for all his children, grafted, adopted and naturally born into covenant. 

All that I have is you and your Word – nothing else matters when it is all said and done.  The pain, the hurt, the despair, the anxiety, the frustration, the fear, the doubt, and the hope I experience are all very real, but if taken out of the context of who you are - the Sovereign; we won’t be able to overcome-victory is ours only through you.