God's Gym

I am starting a series today called "God's Gym".  I wasn't sure if that is where I was supposed to be going, until I saw this interview.  It speaks, specifically, to the problems we have within the church and why so many are disenchanted and are looking for something different.





Talk to you tomorrow!

Be Ye Holy....

This is one that I cannot take credit for.  I received this illumination at a Men's Conference and it changed my life.  It is a very simple way to help you accept who God is and how He feels about you and I.  I wish that I could remember the name of the pastor that shared this truth with me.

He began his dissertation with the verse, "Be ye holy, for I am holy".  Then he looked at every man in the room and said, "You all struggle with that don't you"?  We nodded our heads and murmured amongst ourselves.  He continued, "So did I, until very recently".  He paused and said. "You all seemed shocked by that statement".  He was right.  We were.  You see, this gentleman was a spiritual father.  He was well established within the pastoral circles and very highly thought of among his peers.

So, he began the story of Moses.  He spoke of how Moses was tending to his flock in the desert and noticed one of the sheep heading for the hills.  Moses went looking for it and in his search, came upon a bush, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT (that is an important point that I will explain in a minute) that was burning, but was not consumed by the fire.  Then, the bush started talking to Moses.

So, let's stop and review: So far, we have a talking bush that is on fire, but not being consumed by the fire.

The bush called Moses' name and Moses answered the bush.  The bush said to Moses, "Remove your sandals for the place where you stand is holy ground".  Got all that?  Good, because there is going to be a quiz!

Question Number One:  How on earth can a place, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT, be considered holy ground?

Answer:  Because the voice speaking from the bush was that of the Lord.  Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is has to be holy.

Question Number Two:  When you gave your life to Christ, didn't you invite Him to come and reside in your heart?

Answer: Yes

Question Number Three:  Well then, if the place where the Spirit of the Lord dwells has to be a holy place, why are you striving to be something that the presence of the Holy Spirit, that DWELLS IN YOU, has already completed in you?

Answer:  ? (This would be a good time to go get that box of Kleenex you're gonna need for the bloody nose you are about to have.  Go ahead.  I'll wait)

Romans 8:29, 30 is a powerful passage.  But it is written in the Past Perfected tense.  That means the actions mentioned in the passage HAVE BEEN COMPLETED!  Read it that way:

               29.  For those that God FOREKNEW, He also PREDESTINED to be CONFORMED to the likeness of His Son, that He [Jesus] might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those He PREDESTINED, He also CALLED; those He CALLED, He also JUSTIFIED; those He JUSTIFIED, He also GLORIFIED.

Listen, I don't always FEEL conformed or glorified.  As a matter of fact, if you read my post from yesterday, I feel unworthy and like failure.  But, God's Word tells me to work diligently (without quitting; without giving up) to conform (gradually change the appearance of the outward presentation of) my life to what He says IS TRUE about me.  It says that His mercies to me for my failures are new every morning.  But, it also says something else...in Hebrews 11:6, it says that without faith, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.  In other words, if you do not believe the things that God says are true about you, you cannot have or be those things!  And the only way to learn to trust God is to get to know God.  And the only way to get to know God is to spend time with Him.  Yeah, just like you did when you were hitting on your spouse, before you got married or like you do now with that television or those video games.  I have a love affair with my remote control, too!  So, I ain't picking on you.  I'm just saying...

Here is another piece of advice:  when you DO find some time to spend with God....shut up.  You have been talking about all you need from Him for as long as you have been begging (praying for you religious folks that I just offended)!  All God asks us to do is show up and listen for that still, small voice.  You cannot do that, if your lips (spiritual or otherwise) are moving. Relationship is two-way and I am certain that God has some things that He wants to get off of His chest.  How much He loves you and the plans that He has for you are very important topics to God.


Here is the Father's Love Letter to you and you're welcome!

E

A Heart That Forgives...

I KNEW today was going to be an ugly day.  I went into my closet last night and picked out my best "Flesh" suit.  I put it on.  Did not know if I could still get into it. It fit like it was made just for me.  Then, I began to do the very thing that I had been telling my girl she could not do.  I arrived at a conclusion about what she did based upon my values and emotional filters.  I was hurt and had no room to accept her heartfelt apology and, just as I warned her she did not have the ability to do, I told her what was really in her heart.

I Cor 2:11 says that I cannot know the heart of another person.  That did not seem to be important to me at that very moment.  The details are not important.  There is no gray area here.  I was wrong.  I was reminded that I was wrong this morning.  My intention was to write about something completely different.  But, I was led to read a post I made here over two years ago.  The title is Betrayal.  It reminded me that satan's most effective weapon to use against me is my emotions.

Here is the bad news...Graduate level Forgiveness is a difficult course to pass.   The MOST difficult one, as a matter of fact. It requires complete death of the Flesh.  The excuse that God made me with emotions does not cut it in this course.  Worse, it is graded on a "Pass or Fail" grading system.  Thumbs up or thumbs down. 

I failed miserably.

The good news is its that it is the last class!  The final test to see if your character is refined enough in the fire of God's Love to possess (not just receive, but hold on to) those blessings that God has promised you.  See, the Anointing will only take you to the Promised Land.  Character (reflecting the Love of Christ) keeps you there.  My tests results show that I would rather stand here and beat somebody up for making a mistake, because I felt wronged and humiliated, instead of giving the same undeserved quarter that God gave to me, through the Blood of His Son, and moving into my blessing.

Father, if there is any forgiveness left for me, I need it now.  Not that my actions demonstrate that I really understand Forgiveness.  Forgiveness is something that I receive more of, only as I give it away.  Help me to not be selfish and hoard that which You have freely given to me.

But wait until after I go and empty out my closet!

Once Upon a Time...

...in a land far, far, far, away, there lived a little boy who thought that he could do anything. It did not matter that he was sickly or that he could not do what all of the other children could do. He knew that he was here for a special purpose. It was a purpose that even he did not understand. And that, my friends, is where his problems began.

He did not understand.

That little boy was me and I owe an apology to any of you who were reading this blog and to God for not being obedient, because I did not understand. This is where you are going to have to stay with me. Years ago, when I started writing this blog, it was because I believe the Holy Spirit showed me that my blessing was going to come through this blog. I was faithful with this for a while. But, like we all do, I did not see the blessing happening and lost my faith and my focus. I was not consistent with my entries, because I was seeking God's Hand and not the Face of God. Matthew 6:33 tells me that if I make the Kingdom of God my primary focus, God will GIVE me all that I need from day to day.

Isaiah 55:8 states very clearly that God has an intellect and understanding that far exceeds my capability and therefore, far exceeds my ability to comprehend. Further, I Corinthians 2:11,12 tells me that I cannot know what God is thinking, unless His Spirit reveals it to me. In order for that to happen, I have to be in right relationship with Him.

And I have not done that. I confess this to God and to you and I ask for your forgiveness. I, also, am asking for your support. I ask for your participation and comments on topics that are on your heart for discussion and I ask for your friendship to hold me accountable to being faithful with my postings here. He has shown me why I need to share my heart here and I was overwhelmed by my failure. My call is to reach the spiritually dormant and dead. I am not here to beat you up for not spending time with our Father. I am here to encourage you that no matter where you are or however bad you think that you have screwed it up, He has His arms wide open, just waiting for you to come back, Prodigal Sons and Daughters!

You see, my God is the God of Do-Overs. He is the God of the Second, Third, (Four Hundred and Fifty Seven MILLIONTH) Chances. And He has an awful memory! Better yet, we are made in His image. So, forgiveness is not what we do. It is who we are. Matthew 6:14, 15 makes that overwhelmingly clear, brothers and sisters.

So, stop by and say hello sometimes. But, hold me accountable to that which God has called me to. Otherwise, like He did with Saul, He will find somebody else to bless.

Think about that for a minute. I will explain that first paragraph to you better in my next posting. See you on Facebook!

We May Ask and EXPECT Pardon!

As I read my morning devotional, I read this line, "We may ask and expect pardon". My heart should have leaped from my chest. It did not. I was overwhelmed with sadness. For myself and for others, who are blind to the freedoms we have in Christ. The Word teaches me that I have access to the Throne, because of the Blood that I believe Christ shed for me. The problem is all of my religious upbringing (church, family, friends who are Christians, spouses) have shown me that "Grace" and "Forgiveness" are pipe dreams, at best. The truth of the matter is we, rarely, ask for pardon. We have been taught, by example, to justify our actions. We learned this way back in the Garden of Eden, where Adam blamed God for creating Eve, who MADE him eat the apple that God told him not to eat.

David taught us how to say, "My bad". But, you don't see much of the influence of David. If God called David, "a man after my own heart", shouldn't that be a clue of which example we should really be following? But, it gets worse! We become aggressive when we offend AND we become aggressive when we are offended. We are relentless in piling guilt on somebody, who has done nothing different than we have done ourselves. And having the ability to show "Grace" and "Forgiveness", we choose not to, because our feelings are damaged. Here is my dilemma...

If the statement, "we may ask and expect pardon" is true and we are created in the image of God, that is we are created with His likeness not just physically and spiritually, but emotionally too, then shouldn't I have the expectation of pardon from you? Shouldn't you have the expectation of pardon from me, when you mess up?

If we can agree that the Bible is true, then I can prove that you have God all wrong. Let's start in Romans, Chapter 3. There, it says that none of us are worthy. We all fall short. If that is a true statement, then I am in no position to hold your transgressions directed towards me, against you. Further, I cannot expect perfection from anybody. We ALL fall short!

Covenant Relationships

We hear about it and have no clue! What is a covenant relationship? I asked my pastor that question one day. The associate pastor participated in the discussion, also.

"If I have never experienced a covenant relationship, how am I supposed to know what my responsibility in a covenant relationship with God is supposed to look like?", I asked.

My pastor responded with, "your responsibility is to watch, pray and obey".

"Oh, just shut up!", I responded. "That is a corndog answer that doesn't mean anything to me and you know it"!

The associate pastor laughed and said, "Errol, your responsibility is to show that you trust God". Before I could jump down his throat, he continued with, "Let me give you an example. God led Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt down to the Red Sea. Pharoah's army rode down upon the Israelites to destroy them, but God blocked the army of Pharoah with a pillar of fire, WHILE Moses led the people across the Red Sea. God proved that He was trustworthy there. Right?"

"Well, yeah", I said.

(Sidebar here: God is able to multitask)

"OK", he continued. "So, the people are getting ready to go into the Promised Land. The Jordan stands between them and Canaan. Water is raging. Joshua commands the Levites to take the Ark of the Covenant and step into the river. God did not stop the flow of the Jordan, until the people showed they trusted God to stop the flow of the river, just as He showed he could part the Red Sea".

And there it was.

God shows me he is faithful and them I have to show Him that I believe He will do it for me, by stepping out on that faith, KNOWING, not hoping, that He will show up when I need Him.

Not when I want Him, but when I NEED Him.

The Israelites had many opportunities, before then, to keep their part of the covenant. They had a chance to go into the Promised Land 40 years earlier, but let 10 of the 12 spies talk them out of what God had already promised them. They were toast when Moses agreed to sending the spies. God had already promised to give them the land.

So, who has talked you out of what God has already shown you He is able to do? And if God has already shown you He is faithful, that is He is able, why would you question Him? How do you serve a god that you have no faith in? Help me here, He can save me for Eternity, but He can't bless me or heal me or deliver me? Why serve a god like that?

Don't feel bad. I didn't have an answer, either.

The bottom line is I struggle to make the correct decisions, in the midst of those opportunities He provides me that help my faith and trust in Him to grow. The reason has to be I have not sought God's face (like Caleb and Joshua did). I only seek His hand. Think about that for a minute...if He has proven that He is able to cover my butt, the only purpose of those crises and challenges is for me to show Him I believe Him. Until I seek God's face and enter into a serious relationship with Him, I cannot enter into the Promised Land He has already given me.

Don't you want to go to the Promised Land? Listen, there has never been a time that God has solved a problem the way I thought that He should. Rarely, has He ever provided for me in the manner that I expected Him to. So, the only remaining question is do I want to do God's will or do I want Him to do mine?

Father, if it is possible to take this cup from me, I would appreciate You doing that. Yet, not my will, but THY will be done!

Amen.

Discipleship is NOT a Requirement for Salvation!

Wha.....? WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?

You heard me. Discipleship is not a requirement to be saved. Want me to prove it? Go read John 3:16. Go AHEAD! I'll wait.....

Well?

You read,"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son. That WHOSOEVER (that's us!) believeth in Him, should not perish, but should have everlasting life.

Fire Insurance! That's what it is. You didn't want to go to Hell, so you ask Christ to be your Lord and Savior. The ONLY requirement for salvation is to believe that you are saved by the blood of Jesus. But, you are struggling with that "Lord" part. You want to discuss things with God, when He confronts you about your issues.

And HERE is where your dilemma occurs.

You believe that you MUST become a disciple to get into Heaven. The problem is you do not desire to become a disciple. Your flesh struggles against your spirit (Check Romans Chapter 7:17 - 8:1 for reference). And, since you refuse to feed your spirit (read your Bible!), your flesh wins out. Now, you are dealing with the shame of letting God down. That disqualifies you, in your mind, from going to ask God for anything, let alone forgiveness.

So, my first question to you is did Christ die for the sins you committed BEFORE you accepted Him or for ALL of your sins?

My second question is does anything that you EVER do catch God by surprise?

My third question is why would you need a Savior, if you were expected to be perfect?

When you get a chance, go back and read John 3:16 again. But, this time, read what it says. Do not add anything to it. Do not add the requirements of your religious upbringing. Do not add the expectations of your Mom or Dad or Pastor from the church that you grew up in (none of them were perfect, either. If they thought they were, then they are guilty of the sin of pride!). Just read what it says. As you read it, think about David. David, according to God, was a man after God's own heart. David was an adulterer and a murderer, among other things. So, even if you have killed somebody, salvation is available to you.

And Salvation has NOTHING to do with being a disciple.

A disciple is one who freely chooses to live by the principles that Jesus taught and modeled. The operative phrase in that statement is "freely chooses". Nobody is going to make you do anything. Nobody is going to force you. Nobody (well, maybe those who don't think they have earned God's forgiveness, so they appoint themselves to judge the hearts of others) is going to point out your faults and failures.

We have them, too.

Even God will not override your free will and force you to follow Him. The beauty of being you and me, is we are the only creation of God that has the ability to choose to love God or not. That ought to blow you away! God seeks relationship with you, because you choose to love Him back. Not because you are perfect. Not because you make all of the right decisions. Not because you never lose your temper or you never yell at the wife and kids. He seeks you out, because you CHOOSE to love Him.

Being a disciple is my way of telling God that I love Him. And Failure is part of my journey to Success. If I never mess up, I never learn about God's Grace and Forgiveness. If others never hurt me, I cannot give away Grace and Forgiveness. And I cannot have more Grace and Forgiveness, unless I give that which I have received from God, away.

Back to David. If he was so terrible, what made God so giddy about His relationship with David? David always tried to make the next right decision. See, you think that disciples never make mistakes. Not true. Disciples just know it does no good in trying to cover mistakes up. Disciples know that it does no good in trying to justify your actions, when you know in your heart your actions do not glorify God.

God knows your heart. He knew David's heart, too. He knew that David wrote Psalm 51 from the heart.

Want to be a disciple? Live Psalm 51.

And forget about being perfect.