What God really wants

Psalms fifty one - seventeen The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

This blog is different, but keeping it simple.

I often struggle with the will of God in my life.

I often struggle with knowing if Im obeying Him or not, because people complicate what God wants.

People make excuses not to give Him what He wants.

People love their possessions more than God.

People just don't seem to get the will of God right.

But it's because you can't! 

Your will and His do not mix.

It is like oil and water.

So let me start you out on what God wants.

First of all, follow your Godly authority, not what every person tells you is God's will for you.

Your pastor is your Shepard; if He tells you to do something do it.

If you need a man to be used by God to speak to you, it's gonna be your spiritual authorities.

Some people will prophesy over you, but test the spirits.

Other than that, He'll speak to you in a small still voice.

That being said I get to the meat of this.

God is a jealous God, he wants to be Lord of your life.

How do you do this? How do you make Him Lord of your life.

By coming to Him with a repentant heart. A heart that is easily cut by any Word He speaks to you.

A heart that says Yes, Lord, and NO WAY WORLD!

If you are living in a state of love for Him.

If you are entertaining His presence every day.

If you come to Him how you are, sorry for your sins, and above all else thankful and fully believing in his Redeeming power and grace;

than you are in His will.

Fantasy Christianity

 

Fantasy Christianity

I like to play fantasy football. 

I am a huge fantasy football aficionado.  

Come draft time every year, I do the hours of countless research

get the cheat sheets

pick my sleepers

and try my best to dominate in my fantasy league.

That being said, I don't really play football.

Not that I wouldn't love to.

I just never had the true passion to become a real football player.

To dedicate the countless hours in the wait room, practice field, studying tape.

Oh sure, I would fantasize as a little kid about being the next Joe Montana, but I never did it.

It just isn't my calling. 

So I play fantasy football, I act like I coach the team, that these players are mine.

That I am right there on the field, as my fantasy team gives me fake points that don't mean anything.

I'm only a football player, or coach, on Sunday.

Every other day of the week Im an average fun loving, madden-playing cashier at the grocery store.

A far cry from a real, hardcore,quarterback sacking linebacker.

A far cry from a coach who makes crucial decisions.

Far away from that game winning touchdown throwing quarterback.

I just like to pretend I am on Sundays, that I actually have a part in the game of football.

2 Timothy 3:5- Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof, from such turn away.

How many times are we fantasy Christian players.

We would like to be the one praying somebody through in the Holy Ghost in the street.

We would like to be that great soul winner.

That awesome prayer warrior. 

That anointed man or woman of God.

But... we just don't have the passion to become one.

We just wanna be one on Sunday, while we watch the real players do their thing.

We become spectators, when God wants us to be participators.

It's not about watching other people do the stuff we wanna do.

You can either be a fantasy Christian, on Sundays, but an average person on monday-saturday,

or a real life, devil- fighting, tongue talking, Bible walking Christian every day.

You don't have to spectate, do the things you'd LIKE to do for Jesus, don't just play church.

Job Chapter 1

Key text:  Job 1:20-22 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
21 And said,
Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord. 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

This is our study on Chapter 1 of Job. It says that Job was a perfect and upright man, who feared God, and eschewed evil. Now Job sinned. It is very clear, because He gave sacrifices. We read in this chapter about the sacrifices Job gave and even gave extra for his children just in case. He would have no need to give sacrifices if He was sinless, but in God's eyes, Job was still perfect. It was because of Job's love for God. He was righteous. This tells me that it is possible to be sinless, but still righteous. Not our righteousness, but God's righteousness.

I am bout sick and tired of our candy and dandy Christianity, teaching that we are helpless against sin. If we fear God and eschew evil like Job did, than we can probably go a full day without sinning in our hearts. I truly believe if we have His spirit inside of us, it is our choice whether we want to constantly give in to temptation or not, however I digress.
Job we see was blessed by God. There came a day where the Bible says the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. (see 1:6-8). It says that it were the sons of God, implying that for some reason or another the celestial beings created by God were summoned to His throne, and Satan found his way in there as well. I am not sure whether Satan was summoned or not. The word in the Hebrew here for Satan literally means the adversary or the accuser. Satan's name literally means that it is his mission in life to be at enmity with the people of God, and to try to topple their relationship and faith in almighty God, but I've come to tell you Satan could not hide from the presence of almighty God. As soon as the words came out of YAHWEH'S mouth, Satan had to answer. I want you to know that He may be messing with your life now, but there is coming a day, when our mighty savior is going to send the archangel michael to bind up satan and He is going to have to answer for all He's done to you! In the words of Jordan Gerlach- when Satan starts accusing you of your past, remind him of his future!
We find that God asked satan where He had been, and he said roaming the earth to and fro walking up and down it. He was looking for someone to mess with.
God proposed a challenge for the devil. He said have you considered my servant Job. I don't believe God was trying to pick a fight with the devil, or trying to prove a meager point. We must remember, God has to prove nothing to anybody, He is omniscient. All Knowing. The devil is not. So I believe it was already in the enemy's heart to tempt Job. The reason why I believe this is because he must have already tried b/c He encountered a hedge about Job, And remember he is not all knowing. (see 1:9-10).So Satan struck and took his servants, animals, and children, but God was proved right! God was simply telling the devil, go ahead, do everything short of killing him, He still won't curse me!
 Sometimes God has more faith in us than we do in ourselves!!!
We go through trials, and tribulations, and we start thinking, I donno if I'm gonna make it this time. Oh God you really put me through it now. I might not make it, I might die, I might curse God, I might give up on my faith, it's so tempting to give up. He will never put more on you than you are able to bare!! We have an all knowing God, that already has our trials planned, and already has- our deliverance from our trials planned! God drew perfect praise from Job, b/c Job knew God was in control. Job's relationship told him that whether he blesses me or takes my life away, He still is worthy! He still is worthy! He still is my savior! He still is my redeemer! He still is my provider!
Let's get a Job attitude through our trials! Devil you can take what you want from me, God is letting me go through this b/c he has faith that I will not fail or falter or curse God! That I'm still gonna praise Him!! In fact he challenged you he dared you to try!
If our God is letting us go through trials, it is b/c He trusts us! Let's not get all bent outta shape. Let's say all we have is His anyway, Im not gonna get prideful about anything, it's all God's. It's all His. And I will not curse God, or blame Him. God bless you!

Job- overview.

I am ready to start really studying and posting my studies about powerful books in the Bible and men and women of the Bible. I would like to start with job. I will start with an overview. Which I am posting today.

You can't really talk about Job without talking about thodicy (the justice of God in light of human suffering). Job is a book of a Man of God and his fiery trials. If you are reading this and are in the good fight, I am sure you are no stranger to heartache, to pain, to trials, to doubts, to woes. But I would be hard pressed to find someone tested to the level that Job was. Job pretty much went through all he could short of death.

God allowed the devil to tempt Job. It brings up the question as to whether or not God brings trials or simply allows them. God is all good, but uses evil even for God. Yes, God ultimately has a plan for the fallen angel Lucifer. It ultimately ends with him being bound for a thousand years and thrown in the pit. However due to his rebellion to God he gave himself up to evil, and pride, and rebellion. God uses satans utter devotion to such things, as terrible as they are for our good. The Bible states that all things work together for the good of them that love God.

I will get more in detail, but if you are going through a rough time, drink some coffee, and stay up all night reading Job. It will change your perspective. This book shows us that God is author of all things, and ultimately works them out for our good if we choose to trust Him through it all.
One last thing, our character is revealed in our times of pain.
Job's was this "Though He slay me, YET will I trust him" -Job 13:5.
Is your love for Him so that you will let Him give and take away, have his way with you, throw you in trials, and allow you to suffer.
Job's only purpose was not to have a great and easy life, it was to bless the name of the Lord!

It hurts to carry this cross!!!

Matthew 10:³⁸And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
 ³⁹He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
 ⁴⁰He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

Jesus took the cross for us.

He didn't have to, but He was able to endure it because He loved us.

God Himself came down in the flesh and died on the cross for our sins.

Let's reflect upon calvary.

The cross wasn't a place of great victory, as is so falsely preached, it was the resurrection that was the place of victory. (We don't have victory over our sins until we have the Holy Ghost, we're just forgiven and remissed of them before that, but that's for another blog). So it was on the cross, that the greatest suffering ever known to man was dished out. James Macdonald said "Mel Gibson's passion of the Christ, as brutal as it was, is actually a toned-down version of Christ's suffering." The word excruciating actually comes from the Latin word meaning "out of the cross". On the cross Jesus felt physical anguish. The Bible says He was marred worse than any man. That doesn't mean he got beat up really bad, it means He was so marred that you couldn't even recognize his face, it didn't even look like the face of a man. Most people were not to be flogged and then crucified, the majority of prisoners died at the whipping post. He was whipped with the cat of 9 tails. A leather whip with 9 strands of leather coming off of it. Each strand was laced with shards of broken glass, chips of broken bones, and other various sharp objects. There were at least 2 soldiers whipping Him, so this means He was getting whipped by 18 strands of leather lined with sharp objects. As they wrapped around him and pulled back they would rip skin off. They would never whip someone 40 times, b/c they were afraid the 40th time would kill him. After that he was forced to carry a cross weighing about 300 pounds up a hill, with thorns poking into his head causing all the blood to rush out of his forehead. Being mocked and spit upon the whole way up, he finally made it to the place where he was to be crucified. Now some say He was tied to the cross and the nails went through His hands, which would be extreme anguish because of how soft the palm of our hand is. Others say the word hand in scripture refers to the whole arm, and history tells us that as Romans crucified, they would drive the nails through the main vain in the wrist. Some believe it was at an angle through the hand passing through the carpal tunnel. Either way it sounds excruciating. As he was left there to hang His cause of death could have been that He literally drowned in His own blood, as some theorys state the crucified 's lungs would fill up with blood. Some theorys state that you would literally die from exhaustion. Others say that those on the cross would die of dehydration, or some believe Jesus died of sepsis following infection caused by the scourging. Either way, he endured excruciating pain for our sins.

The worst pain of the cross however was not physical, it was spiritual. Jesus took all our sins upon himself. The sins of the WHOLE WORLD! He cried out "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?". When Jesus who was God manifest in the flesh became our sin, God who hates sin had to leave Him, or He could not die. Jesus who was God manifest in the flesh could not die, until He became sin, and God did leave Jesus for that moment. Jesus was now 100% man, and He had been God through all eternity, but now was forsaken by His father who was in Him His whole life. The pain of the cross was being completely abandoned and forsaken by God, something nobody else has or ever will experience. Perhaps, just perhaps; Jesus wasn't even a man at the point of His death, He was sin. The Bible says he was made sin who knew no sin. That word made means to be formed into; I think that's why He wasn't even recognizable as a man... He took it all all for our sakes!

I said all that to say this: If you are suffering in any area of your life; maybe you ARE being persecuted for your faith, maybe your finances aren't where they need to be. Maybe you are depressed, or fighting things in this life that are just part of life. Whatever your struggling with; it's because Jesus counted you worthy of Him! To suffer, not even close to how He did. We must remember, Jesus is calling us to suffer! The more we go through, the closer we will be drawn to Him! And that's awesome.

Falling In Love With Jesus

Revelation 2:1-5

 ¹Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
 ²I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
 ³And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
 ⁴Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
 ⁵Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

The church was told this: It's only probelem was it left it's first love.

Think about that for a second....

God has been dealing with me about this lately.

When I first got filled with the Holy Ghost.

How on fire I was.

Seems to me that I've lost it. That it's just become a routine.

If you have a significant other; think about when you first met them.

Think about when you were a kid and you really thought you were in love with the first person that showed any interest in you...

All you thought about was them.

About the things you were going to do together.

All of a sudden you did whatever it took to please them.

You couldn't live without hearing their voice.

You couldn't stand spending too much time without them.

You would read their love notes over and over again.

If they didn't like something, you didn't like it.

You hung on their every word, and were absolutely an obsessive love sick puppy dog.

I think we need to be like that for Jesus.

That's why it said the church left their first love: Not that they didn't still love Him!!

It just wasn't what it used to be.

More and more marriages are failing because couples are failing to communicate;

and the love just isn't there like it used to be.

All we should think about should be Jesus

We should do whatever it takes to please Him.

We shouldn't be able to stand not hearing His voice.

If He says I don't like you watching that, we should shut it off.

If He says walk a mile, we should walk 2!

We should rekindle the fires of love; through the power of the Holy Ghost!

We should be giving ourselves to prayer like that lovesick teenager talking all night on the phone.

We should be absolutely OBSESSED with our savior.

After all, He died for us!

Don't forget what Jesus has done for you

Don't lose your first love with Jesus Christ.

In the Darkness

Exodus 13:21 :
And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

It's interesting to me that the illumination did not come in the day time; though the Israelites were surrounded  by the could of God then. 

The fire of God was not burning and guiding them in the day.

In the day time everything is right for travel.

The air is perfect to get moving forward.

You can see where you are going.

You can see what's behind you, and how you'll never go back.

There aren't dangers awaiting you at every turn. 

No creepy crawly things that "go bump in the night" if you will.

There have been few times in my Christian walk; that I've walked in the daylight.

That I've moved forward when everything was going right in my life and I was blessed beyond measure.

When I had all my sins under control; my relationship with God was thriving, and I was whole.

And I know that in those times of my life I was surrounded by a cloud of the Holy Ghost.

The only reason I could be so blessed and ready for my journey is the cloud of God surrounding me. 

But I'm so thankful that even in the darkness His presence never leaves us.

Anybody can move forward in the day time.

Anybody can make it when you have no resistance.

But if you only move when it's sunny outside, you'll never get to your destination.

For many vacations it is necessary to drive through the night to get to where you want to be faster.

God wanted the Israelites to not just walk in the pleasant day but in the dark cold not as well.

That's where the fire was born.

That's where the faith is perfected.

Fire.

The Holy Ghost and Fire.

Your given the Holy Ghost when you recieve it.

But the consuming fire of God grows hotter and becomes more of the guiding force in your life when it's all you got.

I have learned more through fiery trials and tribulations than I have anywhere else in my life.

I have grown so much closer to my God and His purpose when all hope seemed lost in my life.

And when we go through darkness; we can't see.

We can't make it on our own.

No way Jose.

We have got to be guided by the Holy Ghost.

We have got to rely more on the fire of God than we ever have in our life.

So many times brothers and sisters we go through trials and our praise actually simmers down.

Our fervency cools off.

But I believe that if we can get a hold of the fact that through the darkness we've got a fire guiding us
NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST US SHALL PROSPER

WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS!

WE WILL BE KEPT IN PERFECT PEACE!

So let me just encourage you Holy Ghost filled Saints of God

You may not be able to pay the bills; but you still got a fire!

You may be depressed; but you've still got a fire!

You may not feel anything; but you're surrounded by fire!

It is a pillar of fire

the Holy Ghost and fire!

The pillars are what keeps the buildings standing; and He shall keep you standing! 

Back to the Basics: Part 1-"Grace Abounding"

Ephesians 2: 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

 ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast.

 ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

 ¹¹Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcisiion by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

 ¹²That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

 ¹³But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

This is part 1 of a blog series I will be titling "Back to the Basics". This series of blogs will be based on a prayer recently in my life; "God take me back to the basics of my faith in you", so I will be revealing as God reveals to me! Praise God! 

See, I grew dissatisfied with all the glitter and twinkling cymbals of my sensationalist Christianity I was living, and really forgot why I was in it in the first place. So the Lord put it in my heart, I need to get back to the basics!

When we talk about the basic fundamentals of Christianity, the first thing that comes to mind, should be grace and mercy! 

The Bible says we are saved by grace, not of works. I'm so glad we're saved by grace and not by works. I can't look at my works and boast about them. I know some can and that's why that verse was written, but I can't possibly look at the few things I've ever done for the Lord and think they could possibly ever satisfy God's hurt and anger towards my actions against Him, and my murder of His son! 

See when I was a heathen through most of my school life, I was constantly in the principles office for something or other. Every time though instead of rushing in to rip my head off like I thought he would, my Dad would come to my aid, and try to get me out of the trouble I was in. My dad became my lifeline not my executioner! I'll write that again... my Dad became my lifeline not my executioner!

I think we sometimes forget grace in the church. We get so caught up in everything we're gonna do and be, and I'm thankful for that, but we forget who we used to be. We forget how to give grace, and we forget how to receive it. The apostle Paul said that he was the chief of sinners. I mean, the dude brutally murdered Christians. Some in the present church would tell him no Paul, that's your past bro! That's under the blood, don't think about what you used to be. I believe Paul would tell them your right. Amen. My past is under the blood, I am a new creature, but that's why I don't forget it!  While we should never dwell on the past and beat ourselves up over it, we can't forget the past, b/c forgetting it would be forgetting our testimony. It's God's job to forget the past, it's our job to remember where He brought us from! Forgetting the past would be forgetting our testimony. That would be to forget the very reason I am a Christian. I didn't become a Christain for the notoriety, I didn't convert to be considered the greatest apostle of all time.

I didn't do it for the streets of gold or crowns of glory.

I didn't do it to impress the masses with my great oration skills.

I didn't to it to see signs and miracles, though there will be signs.

I became a Christian because on the way to Damascus He said why do you persecute Me, and my heart broke!

Because for the first time I looked at my hands and saw blood all over them.

We have got to get back to the basics! 

We have got to get back to the cross!

I don't love Jesus b/c I have to to go to heaven. I love Jesus b/c while I was yet a sinner He died for me! His mercy motivates me, His grace abounds in me. I hated Him, yet He loved me. I hurt Him, yet He numbed my pain. He did it all for you and I.

With His own blood He signed the adoption papers. 

He saved us from our sin father Adam, and put us in God's custody for eternity.

He restored us on Calvary.

Now we can sit on His lap and we can cry Abba Father; which is the Jewish way of affectionately saying Daddy.

Why don't you just reflect and thank Daddy for His love and grace.

Just climb on up right now and just rest your head on His arms full of love, pity, and mercy.

Listen to Him say despite the trouble your in, in spite of your sin, even though you messed up, He still loves you, and longs to hold you. Hallelujah. Thank Him for His mercy! 

Amazing grace how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost

BUT NOW

I'm found

I was blind

but now

I SEE

Praise God

Praise God

Praise God Praise God

Praise God Praise God Praise God

Praise God Praise God

Praise God Praise God

Praise God

Praise God

Praise God

Divine Discontent

Do you ever just feel "spiritually weird"?

Ever just feel like SOMETHING is WRONG and you can't figure it out?

Like when you try to pray and it feels like your prayers are hitting the ceiling?

You try to worship and you feel like your being fake?

Ever feel like you're going through the motions.

Ever feel like you've lost your connection with God?

Ever DOUBT?

Ever just feel vexed and irritated in your spirit?

I'm trying to get real with you. 

I'm trying to dive deep into that part of you that your church family doesn't see.

The part you don't want to show them.

I'm trying to expose the biggest attack of Satan on my generation.

Some call it a mental block, some call it a storm; others a dry season. 

I like to call it divine discontent.

I've been through it. 

Job went through it.

 He said I go to the right, to the left, to the front and back, and God's not there.

What I find interesting about the history of Job is that until Job got on his face, repented, and really sought God

instead of whining about how HE FELT

and relying on WHAT HE KNEW

he just couldn't feel God.

So this is meat;

try to wrap your brain around it.

This gospel is a gospel of paradoxes.

To be rich in heaven, be poor on earth.

To be free; surrender.

To live, you must die to yourself.

So many times, we rely on our feelings.

And when we don't feel God, we think he's not there.

The truth is when we quit relying on what we feel, we really won't feel God.

Your feelings will betray you.

Know why? B/c they are rooted in your flesh.

Don't read too much into it; I feel joy cuz I got the Holy Ghost.

I feel happy cuz I know Jesus.

I feel free b/c I surrendered to Him.

But I don't always feel the goose pimples and chill bumps.

I don't always FEEL God's presence.

But I KNOW it's there.

I know it changed my life.

So I wrote this just to make one point.

When you are going through divine discontent...

Don't stop praying

Don't stop fasting

Don't stop worshiping

Don't stop going to church

Keep praying when the devil is on your back putting thoughts in your head.

Keep fasting when your flesh wants to stop.

Keep worshiping when the chill bumps go away.

Be as faithful as possible to the House of God.

In fact fall in love with the House of God.

God is not trying to take His presence from you

He's trying to make you search for it

So He can teach you those who search for Him will find Him.