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.
