Running of Fumes... "Catch a Fire"

Running On Fumes… “Catch a Fire”

Have you ever just come to that point where you say to yourself, “I’m running on empty, on fumes”?  But, somehow you find yourself still going.  It maybe only fumes but God can make miracles with nothing but vapors. 

Hope is our faith vaporized into a gas; our faith at its most basic form, so that it can be distributed where needed, so that we can pass through whatever it is that is seeking to keep us burdened and doubtful of that which we are hoping for.

An empty jar is still full of air, if it weren't so, you wouldn't hear the gasp of air when you twist the top off.  Every time I think that I am just about to suffocate from waiting upon the Lord to move another mountain, “I gasp” and discover that what I needed had been here all the while – my faith – I don’t have to see it to know that it exist.

Jesus is our living water; he turns our hope into a molecular particle of faith that waters our dry spirit.  Hydration is the key to any life form; we cannot live without it.

Science is a wonderful thing, as long as we don’t the Creator out of the creation.  We can so easily believe photosynthesis or in the cycle of life; or the simple basics of gases, liquids and solids.  Why can’t you believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – same principle; the One created the others. 

If I can believe that a gas can turn into a liquid and a liquid into a solid; then I can believe that God can turn my faith, into hope and my hope into reality.

We cannot see, smell nor taste when we have a propane leak, but light a match and you will find out what you cannot see does exist.  Therefore, I will light a match of faith to my hope and watch it “Catch a Fire!” 

Monetization - "The Miseducation of Me"

Monetization – “The Miseducation of Me”

I’m not sure but I am starting to wonder if I have an insufferable, incurable case of neurosis?  If I cannot be honest here – in the presence of both you and my Lord, then where can I be?

Why is it that I always try to find a way to covert God’s blessings into some form of monetization?  Why do I always look for the angle to see how this or that can make me money, instead of just looking at the blessing itself? 

The Bible says that and I quote in; “Ecclesiastes 10:19 - A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.”  In other words via my own limited translation, eating and drinking is alright but the money is far more important.

However, the Bible also says and I quote in; “1 Timothy 6:10 - For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many.”

I know that the Bible doesn't contradict itself, and I know that scripture backs-up scripture; so what am I to believe; which path do I adventure?  I don’t want to wander from the faith as the scripture warned against, but how can I manage something that appears to not be able to be controlled?

Eureka! I know!  I trust God in all my ways and acknowledge him to direct my path. Whew! For a second there, I was starting to wonder was my heart ever in the right place.  All I need is to want God and my relationship with him to trump all else.  God should have my entire heart and in doing so, he will let me know what is good for me and what is not. 

There is much Miseducation going on in this world but God said that his sheep knows his voice.  Regardless of what it may seem that we are losing out on or gaining; if we don’t have God, the money is worthless.

Pour Some Honey On Me... The Bear Clause

Pour Some Honey On Me… The Bear Clause

There’s an expression that some use in jest when trying to convey how tough or independent they are, “If you see me and a bear in a fight, pour some honey on me and help the bear!” 

If you saw the movie, the Revenant staring Leo DiCaprio, it brought you up close and personal with what an encounter with a bear would be like; it doesn't appear to be anything that we want to deal with in real life.  Didn't see the Revenant?  Well, what about David?  He spoke of having killed a lion and a bear as a part of his testimony to King Saul to be found worthy or valiant to go into battle to fight Goliath.

God is sweet as the honey on the honeycomb… Sweeter in fact!  David admonishes us to taste and see that the Lord is good. 

In our spirit should be the same veracity, that as the Lord fights our battles, “To not worry about me; because if you see me in a fight, just know that I have all the help that I need – and it comes from the Lord.”  It’s not cockiness but rather an assurance from God that he is our strength and very present help, in our times for trouble.

God doesn't need our help – in anything or anyway, shape or form.  What he does require is that we have faith and trust in him to be God.  Then move out of his way and stand on his Word and watch it come to pass. 

Our God is mighty in battle and wants to show himself strong on our behalf. 

I’m sticky as can be… What about you?

I Promise to... Because I said I would.

I Promise to… Because I said I Would.

There is no true number; the number of promises that are in the Bible that God has made to us.  Some say 3,000 plus, while another says 5,000 plus and another even guestimated it to be around 7,000 or more.  I have come to understand that nothing of God’s can be numbered – why do we even try?  The promises of God sprout other promises, so the number, as God is – will be infinite, no matter how much we attempt to embellish or winnow the actual figure up or down.

Speaking of promises…  those blessings spoken in time by God, that are already in place for those of us who choose to seek after God to receive them.  An inheritance doesn't do a homeless person any good unless they are aware that they are an heir.  A person could be living poor but rich in another space/time/continuum.  God already promised that we are heirs to his Kingdom, and all that entails.

There are corporate blessings that God spoke to his people and then there are those personalized, bespoke and birthed into our spirits by the Father that is only for us.  When God spoke to Abraham and told him of the promise of a child from his loin; that was for Abraham alone to bear.  Abraham had to believe that God would do it, from the inception to birth, and it was done for Abraham’s blessing and to God’s glory. 

Then God did something shocking to any on-looker, he asked Abraham to give up, relinquish, the very blessing he had been waiting years for, that one thing, the thing that he loved.  God knew what Isaac meant to Abraham.  God knows what both you and I love and are waiting on.  What if he told you to give it up, could you do it? 

The promises of God are Yea and Amen and there are many.  But, it’s that one, that very special one.  That one career, that one love, that one marriage, that one child, that one business, that one dream, that one thing that you have a myopic scope on that wonders whether or not God is actually setting us up for failure instead of success, that tends to make our journey more arduous than it has to be.

Out of all the promises that God made to us, that one, that very one we love is a struggle to give up or hold on to; we cannot make up our minds; either in theory or in reality, to believe or doubt.  We have to go up the mountain with all faith to worship God and that we will descend with the promise in-hand and with even a greater praise than the original ascent. 

Doors and windows open on our behalf; rams are found in the bush, because God saw our faithfulness at taking him at his word, because he said it would be so.  

Types and Shadows of the... Impossible

Types and Shadows of the… Impossible

At times we look pass this life and death appears to be better; not becoming suicidal, but just the will to keep living sometimes seems harder than passing through this life.  Life, as we all do, has its job, what it was created to accomplish by God; and it won’t return to him void.  In God’s word it says spare the rod and spoil the child – are we not his children?  God chastens those he loves.  Everything that we endure is for our betterment when we attribute it his glory.

As the saying goes, “The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed”.  The types and shadows of the Old Testament are revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ; and we tend to leave our thoughts there, not going beyond Salvation to the life that God called us to in Christ; that we should live and not die.  We focus so much on the end of a thing, the end of the life that we forget about living this one, the only one we get to have.

As God upped the ante for the Children of Israel by delivering them from Pharaoh, it was also a type and shadow for us living in today’s time.  God hears us and for those who trust in him, we can see the impossible.  God is no different now than he ever was, because before there ever was, there was God.  He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore.  Impossible only looks that way to us.  The Children of Israel had never seen God perform in the way that he had, just as we who are awaiting the Promise have never seen God work a miracle of that sort in our lives as well.  400 years of silence will do that to a Nation, to a people, to a person.  Each and every individual had to either believe or not. 

In my lifetime, I have wanted to both see and experience my own deliverance, to receive my own Promise fulfilled, here in the land of the living.  Is it hard? Yes, but, then no at the same time.  Just as God took the Israelites the way of the Wilderness in order that they might learn him and to trust him as Lord, Provider, Savior and Keeper, that same type and shadow exist for us today. 

God’s word is forever morphing into another way that his scriptures can be applied to our everyday living is the reason that his word lives; his word is applicable whether 3,000 years ago or today.  

My Life Will Count for Zero...

My Life Will Count for Zero…

Zero = Me (+ God) = Blessed.  You do the math.  And you thought Algebra was confusing because of the letters.

Hint - **Remember to always take what’s in parentheses first; it determines how you work the rest of the equation.

The Zero Factor... The Greatest Number of All...

Zero Factor (factor - a circumstance, fact, or influence that contributes to a result or outcome.)

When we see or hear the word Zero, it’s usually in a negative connotation.  Zero tends to mean we are all out of options; and all there is left is rock-bottom.

We have it all backwards; God does use the foolish things to confound the wise.  Sometimes our seed of faith is so small, but again, that same minúte seed could also grow to be the greatest. Possibly, it’s the smallest faith that produces the greatest blessings.  To believe down to zero percent – the zero is still to be counted.  There is no such thing as a zero percent chance, an opportunity is an opportunity.

A zero is countable.  Faith is Faith.  Faith to some is the same as zero – worthless; if it is not something tangible or to be counted on our digits, then it’s not to be counted and not to be counted on… that God cannot be counted on.

But God plus zero – God plus faith is where miracles happen.  All we need is to factor God into the equation.

Soup du Jour

Soup du Jour (translated, Soup of the Day) – “Talk Soup”

Many are hungry, down right in starvation mode for a life more full-filling.  Everyone I pass by, I can over-hear their conversation; it’s either on race, religion, politics, the privileged or the impoverished; usually these subjects are taboo, but whispers in smoky carpeted country clubs or dead-silence will no longer be the panacea to remedy our countries troubles away.

There has been no other time in our history where so much chatter, not conversation has taken place. Our current state of events in this country has us more engaged in more dialogue than ever in our past, but we still cannot find a meeting of the minds to set the course to a better world, though we pride ourselves the leader of the free world.  How can we lead when we are so far behind?

The airways are cluttered with the same menu item – Talk Soup.  We have eaten this same old bland, re-heated, and tasteless goulash, a hodgepodge of whatever gets tossed into the melting-pot; and we are expected to eat it and be satisfied - I am sorry America but we have to where the rubber meets the road, where it gets the hottest and blow-out is sure to follow.

What we face in America today is a State-of-Emergency; people who are malnutrition don’t work well and tend to be grumpy.  Have you run across any cantankerous individuals lately?  I am sure you have, from both sides of the aisle; frustrations from both the black, brown and white community.  Everyone is done! Where’s your temperature thermometer, because we are fork-tender – we've been stewing for years!

God knows how to get to anyone, no matter their status.  The Infinite One knows how to get right where we are.  All are and have been affected in one way another by the turn of the world’s events.  We can try and shield our kids, but life will find them, just as it found you and me.  There is no such thing as escape, it’s an equal opportunity to learn to trust God for yourself or not; rather you have a leg-up or not.

We all want an excuse, “I’m black, I’m white, I’m this or I’m that; I’m too poor or even more amusing, I’m too rich; I caught the “Affluenza”.  Being rich has the same issues as being poor does – too much of anything can’t be good for you.  Having money can be just as incarcerating, restricting and imprisoning as the lack thereof.  The rich don’t have burglar bars but they are still worried about someone breaking or hacking in to take what’s there’s. 

When are we going to realize there is no getting off this Earth, and that we are going to have to learn to live together in order to preserve this race of humanity?  Send rovers to Mars, Jupiter and Venus all you want; there’s no Matt Damon happy ending waiting for you out in the great yonder.  What you possess now, you will be leaving here when it’s your turn to enter the upper or lower room.  Oh, you don’t believe in rooms – you still leaving; so what real good does it do you?  Does it add one hair to your head or to your stature? 

Is it the Golden Rule that we live by or the Golden Shower?  People are no longer willing to allow the powers-to-be to pee on us and telling us that it’s raining – better yet, it’s trickling down to us. 

We have lived off of soup appetizers long enough.  People want to eat the same as anyone else; and sippin’ soup just won’t do – especially alphabet soup – FBI, DEA, IRS, and CIA; all in place to keep this country policed, but uh oh, pull your skirt down; we see you aren't working with anything but a talk game and aren't packing anything that we consider to be jealous of you for.  We don’t wants what’s yours, we want what’s ours – Progress and Placement into the very society that sat and sipped Mint Julips and Sweet Tea, while fanning themselves in the hot summer sun and watched the niggas build them an industry of capitalism, a country and a portfolio. 

Sorry but we are all out of soup… Our knives and forks are pitched and are beating against the table as we chant, “We want to eat and no longer slurp soup and sip tea”, and that is our Business”.  “We want the meat and potatoes, the meals that stick to you” shouldn't we, or all we all just full of talk?

It's Deeper than Rap... Orgy-gasm - A Kanye West Story...

It’s Deeper than Rap… Orgy-gasm    -    A Kanye West Story…

Porn Stars – We all guilty as charged.  Porn is nothing more than putting your business out in the streets, to be consumed by others in the privacy of their own homes.  No one knows you are looking and that’s how we like it.  Social Media is far more addictive than porn, however, porn was our gateway drug.  That first hit, might not get you, but it’s not in any kind of hurry – it’s very patient.  Going Live, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook – we all want to be exposed for the world to see, but we shame porn-stars for doing it without shame.  We do it for free – they’re at least getting paid for it; society get STD’s while in supposedly monogamous relationships; they’re not just transferred in gay relationships, but in marriages and heterosexual ones as well.

When you watched porn, you tell yourself you are watching the guy or the girl, but what you are really watching is everybody; same as social media – you are watching them - everybody.  If you ever wanted to know why gay isn't that bad anymore is not because it’s being accepted by more people, it is because you are being conditioned not only with homosexuality but with a freak mentality – down for any and everything, no more moral boundaries.

So, let’s stop the finger-pointing and take a look at the man in the reflection of your television, phone or computer screen.  If you look really closely, while you are watching porn or scrolling your timeline, there is a reflection of you in every graphic detail.

Porn is more than nudity or sexual intercourse; it’s deeper than you think.  On the surface it’s debauchery at its root but it’s deeper than that, deeper than Rap, deeper than you think.  Society has been conditioning the world, working it over and getting it tenderized, massaged and rubbed deep within the meat; a good marinade can make a bad meal palatable.

Kanye West was one of the driving forces behind having Bruce Jenner transitioning into Caitlyn Jenner and into society as we now know it.  He’s down with it and not on the low. 

In his recent video “Famous”, he had total creative control.  He took his time with this one and enjoyed every bit of filming and the interaction with the figures, of the likeness of the people whom he cares most about, reveres, admires or respect. He had a visual orgy-gasm, if not, a real one. 

Everyone depicted in that video, he could party with, if you get my drift.  Kim isn't enough to fulfill his fantasy.  What he didn't realize is that porn is a trap; the fantasy was with both Kim and Ray J.  Kanye admitted himself that he watched Kim and Ray J’s video repeatedly, as that is where his obsession was inseminated.  He doesn't like Taylor Swift, he loves her.  She’s white, the ultimate fantasy for a black man who doesn't know his true worth, but let society dictate to him what is good – she cannot do any wrong, no matter how scandalous or how she runs through men. If it’s white, it’s right. He just hasn't realized that’s what he loves about her; they always run to her rescue and to her defense whenever she is attacked, for some attack worthy mess; but I digress.  I’m not against interracial dating or marriage, I’m against self-hatred of ones heritage.  And to quote him, “We all self-conscious, I’m just the first to admit it.” 

We all get foolishness and depraved acts ever-so often across our news feeds; some shots of nudity or vulgarity, there no escaping it, I don’t care how much you post pictures about how much you love Jesus.  Those images don’t delete themselves; you have to press the delete button yourself.  God doesn't delete negativity out of our lives; you have to tell them to go yourself.  We accept pornographic imagery as part of our new-normal because we don’t want to go as far as deleting our account, to many –it is normal.  We are addicted, it’s worldwide and a communicable infectious disease.  We are now all infected.  I’m starting to wonder if social media is the new form of pestilence; it’s killing us, the animals, agriculture, the oceans – All.  When God sends a plague, only those in Goshen, only those in Him have the crisis averted. 

Pornography addiction is real and we are all a part of the problem and its solution.

Dispelling the Oprah Myth...

Dispelling the Myth of Oprah…

I like Oprah, I really do… She is a trailblazer in her own right; too many accolades to count on one hand.  Society and our political arena, etc., have us scared to challenge the status quo – we cannot get along unless we agree on every point.  How can we be challenged to grow as a people, if we are all just “yes men”?  Can we agree to disagree and still be supportive of one another?  We don’t like everyone in our own families, how can we expect to be always agreeable with the world?  Is the only stance we have is either you are with me or against me.  I pray that we can learn to cross the political aisle, as well as that great divide that separates us as human beings; with observations, opinions, perspectives and non-judgmental debate from one-to-another.  She gets to say her piece– why can’t I?

For as long as I can remember Oprah being on television, she has been trying to lose weight.  It’s now been close to 30 years and she still hasn't mastered shedding the pounds.  She is now with Weight Watchers.  If you haven’t been a member of Weight-Watchers before now, why would you join,   because Oprah said so? If a person has been trying to master a thing and it still hasn't been accomplished in 30 years, apparently, this person is not the master that they think they are – quite opposite – they think themselves more highly than they ought. 

Ok.  Stay with me… now that being said...  Why would you go to this same person who tells you they have the answer to your spiritual needs?  Don’t allow that spirit of Roscoe Jenkins (from the movie Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins) “Power of me” to keep you from receiving all that God has for you.

Just because a person “Gives God a shout-out”, doesn't mean that they serve him whole-heartedly – not perfect, but from a sincere heart…  parenthetically speaking (see Acts 16:16-19). 

Super Soul Sunday is what she calls it.  It’s all about the higher power of the universe or believing in one’s self and a lot of other spiritual rhetoric (and I use the word spiritual – loosely).  In a nutshell, she believes that there’s more than one way to get to God, other than Jesus Christ; and I know that He is the only Way, Truth and the Life.  Call me crazy but I think that God has better for me than anything that “I” can do for me.

Now I will give credit where credit is due.  She taught you only one thing and that is how to be a Boss.  How to buy the house you want, to buy the man you want, and so on.  I like seeing her purchase cars for an entire audience but how does that qualify her for entrusting her with your faith, and trust in God Almighty?  Stop allowing the éclat of this world blind you of what’s real in this life.  God is God and besides him stands no other.  She’s raising a formation of women who don’t value the tenants of our faith as Christians to be submissive to our husbands, in fact, she doesn't want a husband and neither do the women who run in the pack with her.  I’m starting to think that is part of the initiation to enter her inner circle.  She doesn't want children, only animals; if that’s not what you want for your life, and in fact you want a family in every sense of the word, from what the Word himself says that we are heirs to; then why are you allowing that stinkin’ thinkin’ to infiltrate your psyche.  Come to God believing that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Oprah has indeed done wonderful things and I am sure she has done philanthropic works to rival most in both this country and abroad, but we who trust in the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God Jacob, trust neither in might, nor power but by his Spirit.  And if you don’t believe that, you have the same will to choose the same as I; continue on following those who only have the power of wealth and not the power of the his Spirit. 

Those are just some of my thoughts… and it made me say hmmm….

Exposed...

Get you some Swag... Please get your copy of the latest issue of Swagher Magazine, where I will be featured in this months Beauty and Fashion issue.

Thanks for all of the support.


Yolanda-

Baby Boomers - "A Birth of a New Nation"

Baby Boomers – “A Birth of a New Nation”

Nothing has changed, that is, in regards to the commandment of God to be fruitful, multiply and have dominion.  As the Israelites outnumbered the Egyptians in the Land of Goshen; so had the Blacks by the time the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law.

 

Nations fear when they cannot control the population of its subservient class.  God always has a master key to unlock closed doors, which had the key thrown away long ago.  In order for slavery to be successful and the boon many perceived it would be, the slaves had to procreate; in doing so, they reproduced on massive scale.  The plan meant to disperse and divide our diaspora, became what it would take for us to Birth a Nation. 

God’s Word is eternal.  It doesn't have a start and end date as with the phrase Baby Boomers was coined (1946-1964).  The NRA was established eight short years after the emancipation of the slaves.  Gun laws then came to the forefront and remained the vanguard of what our country prides most (keep more guns than the blacks) by any means necessary… through incarceration, through charging them with felonies and causing them to lose their right to bear arms; a Constitutional Right that was taken away.  (Question: What does me protecting myself or my family has to do with anything?)

Once again the plan will backfire on those who it was meant to benefit.  Haven’t they learned yet that we serve a God who sits high and looks low?  He delivered us before and when we as a people, come to ourselves, turn from our wicked ways and acknowledge God and repent for chasing after the capitalism of our once captors, and turn our faces back to God and continue to pray; he will then hear from Heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land.  The saying goes, “Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result”.

Traditional values were turned on its ear when the baby boomers of our current generation came to power.  Some say “rejection or redefinition” of traditional values is what has caused so much of the chaos.  However, I beg to differ and would rather put it in the narrative of “we are now all about traditions”, and not about the relationship between us and The Founding Father, sans the pluralism.  There is only one Father, one Son and one Holy Spirit.

Social change(s) the culture and the thought process of its people, but the people who are rooted in the Lord can stand the test of any change, time or tide.  It’s those of us who are immovable and ever bounded in the work of the Lord, who will have the peace and guidance that will be needed to tread these turbulent times ahead. 

1776 vs. 2016 – It’s now come time to Birth a New Nation of believers in Christ Jesus.

What's It Worth To You?

What’s It Worth To You?

A country is only as good as its greatest resource.  The reason that Africa is now considered to be a 3^rd world country is because its greatest resource – “The Slave Trade” was abolished.  Its greatest riches never came from the natural resources and precious minerals, it came from the people.  They not only raped the women, the people, but they stripped the nation in general and as a whole of the commodity needed most in order to remain sustained – the people.  Black gold isn't crude oil – It’s the Black people. 

How valuable we must be…

In the great country that we live – the mighty U.S. of A!  We see that history once again has repeated itself.  Africa was depleted, and instead of taking over the entire nation; they decided to move and start a new nation, but start off using the greatest commodity known to man – the Black People.  They learned from their mistakes the first time; and instead this time, they got the labor force established first and then trade and commerce.  If you don’t have the workers in-place when it’s time to harvest, the crops will spoil.  If you don’t have enough workers to sow during planting season, you won’t be able to reap.

We are still this country’s golden goose.  We are this country’s everything…  Its workforce (including the penile system/chain gang) that’s currently worth Billions, its entertainment (music and sports), its culture, its source of Ministry, its Gold-Standard.  Who needs Fort Knox when the dollar isn't worth the paper it’s written on?  Black people are this country’s real net-worth; as long as they have us, they have all that they need.  What can’t we do?  What can’t we bear? What can’t we accomplish? What can’t we inspire?  

What they have is the control.  Our power is nothing, if we don’t have control over our own well-being and prosperity.  Sure NBA, NFL, PGA & the ITF – they are paying life changing money.  You still a nigga in their myopic scope.  Question is – Who are you in your own sight? And you will act accordingly to continue receiving wages.  When you look out into the audience of an arena pro-athlete, what do you see - guaranteed more of them than us.  You are playing for their entertainment, just as black-face was for their entertainment, a Gladiator during the Roman Empire or a Court Jester.  Well… at least you get to arrive and come through the front-door, however, you could still be accosted, arrested and apprehended by the boys in blue should your appearance, direct-eye contact or your existence pisses them off. 

Know your worth – Know our worth as a people– and then know why you are valued so highly amongst others, but not of ourselves.  King’s heirs are in the greatest danger when the incoming regime takes over.  We both cannot exist as equals; therefore, you must be subservient; in order for us to co-exist. 

Self-Worth is a Worthy Thing.

Good Manners...

Good Manners…

Who doesn't like a well-mannered child or even adult for that matter?  Good manners can bless you in areas where poor manners will tend to keep you at bay; and doors shut.

It’s not that I am deserving at all of any blessing(s) that God bestows upon me, but one thing that I do know, that has brought me a long way in him and that is remembering my good-manners, to say “Please and Thank You.”

God is no different than any one of us when it comes to being well-mannered.  We are his children and the one thing that we should have learned to say first and foremost is, “Please and Thank You”.

Have you ever held a door for a person or allowed them to cut into the line in-front of you; only to not receive a kind “Thank You”, for doing something that you didn't have to do?  God doesn't have to do anything for us, but yet he wants to do even more than he’s already done for us; that is, if we remember our manners.

You will have more doors opened and remain open by God holding it open for you to walk in through; and you will receive more of his favor (aka, a cut ahead of the line), if you simply remember your manners.  

The More You Know...

You Just Know When You Know…

You just know when you know that you know when “It’s that time…” that time to move-on and to separate and begin to accelerate and ascend to that next level, in the things of God.  It’s both hard and frightening, a damn near paralyzing moment to move, but if we stay here we die – slowly – a miserable death; and what if there is more life after this one…  It’s just time to go already.  Time to leave that job, that relationship, that church, that “uhg” of a nuisance that you couldn't muster the strength to sever any and all contact with; that is until God introduced the idea of what more really is and will be in him.

God already told us there is, in this life as well as the next; both are found only in him. 

First know, and then trust.

"I Never Doubted!"

I Never Doubted…

Pshaw! Of course we did, still do - we, you, me, and us; we all have and do every time a promise is spoken into our lives.  We believe at first and then the gravity of what has been spoken is too heavy at times to bear.  That’s where we fall short and why it is that we serve Christ Jesus, because he never did. 

Everything that the Father said, he believed, no questions asked.  He never doubted or staggered at the Cross, he wanted like any one of us, to not have to endure it.  There is a difference between doubted and not wanting to follow through, can you blame him?  Jesus was tempted at every point as we are as human beings but he did so without sinning, even unto the death of the Cross.  Jesus is the only one not to doubt anything the Father said.  The moment the Father said “you must go to the cross”, Jesus replied, “Yes Sir”. 

When doubt comes, because it surely will rear its ugly head, it is our one and only responsibility to repent, refute, and revert back to what we know about God; the one that has brought us over time and time and again over the course of our lives and trust that all things are working together for our good.  Therein lies the crux at its inception of the breakthrough that we are so desperately in need of on a daily basis.

It’s good to make our request known to the Lord and to voice our questions and concerns; and flat-out ask for what we desire but the most important thing that we can ever do is to glorify God for being good and come to him offering blessings, praise and honor of him in our daily lives, speech, associations, business dealings, to our families, and to the common man. 

Filter everything that you do through the lens and colander of God’s Holy Spirit; and it’s done automatically for us when we are walking with him.  Our spirit guides us into all truth and guides our steps that have been ordered by the Lord. 

Seek God.  Trust God.  Believe God.  Know God personally and relationally for yourself.  

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/ALKj/2015-hyundai-sonata-nfl-sponsorship-field-goal