Don't Miss The Boat

2 Corinthians 4:5 “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”

As the apostle Paul continues his writing of the book of Corinthians he is facing several challenges in his ministry so he urges the church to be “unified” with him in his ministry because the opponents of the gospel were undermining his work claiming that his suffering proved he was not a true apostle. They didn’t understand that his suffering was a reflection of the gospel being glorified because every time Paul was persecuted he looked to Jesus Christ as his only help admitting, confessing and leaning on Him for total dependency.

Paul dedicates and emphasizes chapter four with a theme of unity throughout the sentences. He wants the church to understand basic Christian principles when it comes to ministry because he does not want people to get distracted by foolishness, pride, control or selfish behavior because he knows that pride comes before the fall and that anytime anyone takes credit for something done rather than giving Jesus all the glory then slowly the life will be sucked out of that ministry until the strong hands of wickedness choke and kill the dream that best proclaims the gospel.

“For what we proclaim is not ourselves”- in this statement here alone we need to note that all people are equal when it comes to ministry because everyone now knows that the work has nothing to do with them personally but everything to do with Jesus Christ alone and that nothing: no credit, no positions, no roles, ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING has to do with anyone but Jesus Christ. This is the vision statement so people are not confused on what the goal is because the only goal in any ministry that is biblical is to preach and proclaim Jesus Christ thus allowing the people to die to themselves and their ideas and to focus all the glory on Jesus Christ.

“With ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake”- as slaves and bondservants to the master, king, ruler and CEO of sovereignty we now confess and make it a part of our makeup as a person and put the foundation of our convictions and self-constitution as willing, obedient and joyous slaves to Christ in serving in ministry. We understand that we owe God everything and that without him we are nothing and in that we are satisfied with whatever and however he decides to focus his ministry. We lean on him for total control and we refuse to get caught up in the confusion and works of the devil through disobediences, pride, selfishness, slander and malice because all of that will lead to an end in the blessing of the ministry of the Church that he has called all sanctified believers to follow.

The bottom line is this once you get past the theological unfolding of terms, phrases and meanings the apostle wants the church to come fully together and be totally unified on every level because he knows that it is so easy to get distracted because every people is totally depraved and the depravity of each person’s life has the chance to show up and fall in line with the wickedness of the devil and take focus off of giving Jesus Christ the glory. So from the beginning he says get over yourselves, its not about you, its all about Christ and His glory. So if your going to sign up to be a billboard for Jesus understand that your imperfections may cause you the war if you allow them to while fighting the battle so understand the depth of your depravity and when you see your ego rising up bleed the blood of Jesus over yourself so you don’t allow yourself to get in the way of bringing all the glory to Jesus Christ alone. #BeGoodToYourself 

The Suffering Heart

At a certain point in life and maybe it’s several times in our lives we find ourselves pushing through an emotional issue that seems to have left us helpless in our feelings. The moment when you gave it all over and over again and you still saw no sign of life. In fact many times over you gave up your own life and happiness and allowed that to change the very nature of who you were; the unsecure pain of emotionless love left you lifeless, sullied, and damaged good. You discovered that your pride wasn’t as strong as you assumed and the walls of your strength weren’t as solid as you thought. Your teachings, writings and advice all came into your life to instruct you and you failed your own test. You were challenged at your core and instead of taking ALL of the lessons into effect you only brought one tool into battle because you now know you really didn’t want to see the truth. It’s hard when you have to admit to yourself that you didn’t want to see the truth because the distraction of the moment was keeping you from facing what was really going on inside of you and now you have to deal with the broken pieces of that course and the core of the sadness of the self-imposed betrayal. The only thing that I think you can do as you battle your new view of sadness because you will grieve the loss is give it time and give yourself time to heal. And as you walk through the valley of the shadow death call be honest with God and yourself as you turn over each new leaf so you won’t have to repeat the same mistakes again. Remember pain, regret, guilt and sadness are all apart of living and you’re not the first person to travel those roads and you won’t be the last to say “why did I do that”; but you can say to yourself “I will never do that again”….. Relax, Pray and Hope for the best… #BeGoodToYourself

Be Healed #BeGoodToYourself

Around 85 A.D. the apostle John writes a compelling book because he was convinced that people needed to believe in Jesus Christ. His own personal experiences, life lessons, struggles and joys had been a direct result of surviving through His personal relationship to Jesus Christ and the dedication he had to the ministry. His personal self-constitution was that Jesus Christ was the messiah and that ALL people needed to come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. An aspect of what John points out throughout his writings are the miracles of Jesus Christ and how he saw Him give people who were utterly hopeless confidence, grace, mercy and encouragement.

In chapter nine of the gospel of John we encounter one of my personal favorite stories of how Jesus interacted with his disciples and the people around him. Jesus and his disciples come upon a man who was born blind, and in spiritual ignorance the disciples ask Jesus a very interesting question; “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind”. Well note that the man was born blind so the answer to that question would clearly be his parents if the question had any validity at all. But what makes this story so interesting is two important factors: Jesus’ answer and the man’s response.

Jesus tells His disciples that it was not sin that caused for this man to be born blind; to live his life blind and to have the effects of a cruel world treat him poorly because he was blind but rather that the WORKS OF GOD might be displayed in him. Jesus is answering the “Why” question in this man’s life so that we who are still here and reading about this story centuries later can apply it to our own lives. The reason his suffering was attributed to his life was so that God may show himself to be real. So every time we sit around and wonder “Why God is this happening to me” we can know that somehow and some way it will be used for the glory of God if we are open to it, accept it and then appreciate it.

 To make a long story short the man was healed by Jesus in a unique way. Jesus spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva then he anointed the man’s eyes and told him to go to the river and wash his face and he would be healed. Jesus always has a unique, personal and specific way of doing the impossible in our lives if we are willing and open to it. After the religious leaders heard what had happened they begin to question the man and what had happened to him as if something was wrong because his healing took place on the Sabbath day when according to the law nothing was supposed to be done on that day. The zealous religious leaders had questioned the man and his parents and insisted on trying to make Jesus out to be a sinner but the second time that the asked the healed man to recount what had happened the man gives the most beautiful answer to their question that is wrapped up in powerful theology and personal reflection that we all can learn from. He says listen I don’t know why your questioning me again and I don’t know if this man Jesus is a sinner or not all I know is that my whole life I haven’t been able to see anything. I have been an outcast and I have missed out on seeing anything from the colors of the world to the faces of my family and now I can see, so call him a sinner or whatever you want to call him but I am healed and only Jesus Christ could do that.

At the basis of who we all are outside of the labels we identify in is broken sinners. We all have a part of us that is broken. We all have a chapter in our story that we wish didn’t take place but it happened. We all need a healing. We all need to be forgiven, loved, accepted and wanted. When Jesus meet this man and healed his sight that’s what he gave him. It was more than just opening his eyes it was loving his soul. Whatever it is today that your going

Jan 26, 2015

A lot of times we get thrown or place ourselves into situations that are challenging because what God is trying to do in us is bigger than ourselves. We are always looking for temporary pleasures in the flesh when God is instructing us to do, see, learn and feel more. What I know for sure is that each moment or season of life might not be joyful and at the same time might not be sad but yet it can be a blessing. So look around and observe what you’re supposed to and take the lessons that will increase your faith, experience and life.  #AllThingsAreLessonsGodWantsUsToLearn

Carved Out

Decisions are not always easy to make even when you have walked down that road before. Even when you have the facts, the truth and the pro’s vs. con’s list written out because for all of us if were honest there are some decisions that can only be understood by the heart and not explained from the mind. Its especially hard when you have to decide between bad and worse or happy and settled when deep down inside you want to hold out for joy. But what gets you to this place in the first place is you stop believing that it will ever come your way so you take the next best thing: happiness over joy. Pretending like your happy can be just as detrimental to yourself as emotional abuse because you are hiding behind a made up lie that you have allowed to take root in your mind. But then what if this thing can turn into something awesome, while you desire natural courses to take place, you have never been afraid of a little hard work. It’s a tough spot to be in and why you want to make all the right decisions, sometimes you just don’t know. I wish I had better advise for you today but all I can say is pray about it and you will know when you know and when that happens listen. #BeGoodToYourself

somewhere between my head and my heart

I think somewhere between my head and my heart rest the wisdom convictionsattributes characteristics that I need in order to not only survive but to thrive as it's hard to walk away from something that you were so passionate about its hard to stop loving something that you would have died for it's hard to know that what you know has been abandoned life is difficult and the more and more I traveled this journeythe more I realize how difficult it can be at times but what I know for sure is this that God is good and that he wants what's best for me and he wants what's best for you and if we keep praying and keep trusting and keep hoping that on the other side of the mountain there will be the land of milk and honey we too shall persevere we can't give up on each other we can't give up on humanity we can't give up on the righteous and the good things that are for life we have to keep finding it may not always come or look exactly how you wanted it to look but it would and will be the way God intended it to me recently I had to leave a position and I thought that my job there was to turn the ship around when really my job was and what God had called me to do was to get the sheep away from the wolves it was my duty and it is my duty to always shepherd tlthem to always love them answer always support them but the evil that existed was just too much to fight and what God called me to do was to show the truth put it on the table and to let the saved go to places where God could use them they could grow and they could enjoy their lives I'm not responsible for evil I'm not responsible for people who don't want to change I'm not responsible for things not turning out the way that I thought that they should have all I'm responsible for is to stay in my lane and to do my job and that is all you are responsible for as well so enjoy the ride of life work hard do your best pray and always be kind because remember we're all kids at heart just be nice to people and if people don't return it there's nothing you can do but you've done your part God Bless You God love you and I got a new phone so I'll be Voice typing a lot of my notes lol

Say Thanks #HaveHope

When reconciling your last experience and trying to come to a specific conclusion many times the only thing you can do is simply "Say Thanks". In that appraoch you learn to let go of what you thought should change or what you expected but didnt recieve. In that you learn how to let peace remove the need to know that will drive you insane. You thank the experience for what it taught you and for the people it brought your and even for the people that it removed from you because all things are lessons that God would have you to learn but you have to not only be willing to take the test but you have to be willing to do your best to pass it in order to show your faithfulness and appreciation for the journey. We all wish life "had stayed the same" but it didnt and thats the only thing you cant ever learn but can only experience. So hold on, smile and enjoy it because the good thing is nothing last forever not even the tears.... #HaveHope