Holiness is Calling

When Holiness is Calling

          Do you recognize my voice? Do you understand my language? Or have you never heard or seen such a thing? My name is Holiness and I am calling. I will compromise for nothing. I will take a back seat to not one person. I ride shot gun and I drive. Without me you will die. Your children and their children will parish your wives with you. My name is Holiness and I am calling.

I don’t wear a mask but you could not pick me out of line up. There are pretenders who claim to be holy but will leave you empty. They have even perverted and blasphemed my name and stolen the hearts of many.  When the hopeless empty feeling wakens you rather then turn to me you still had the nerve to turn to other things that aren’t even pretending to be holy. My word says How long will you waiver between two opinions? Holiness is calling.

Edify

          In the middle of the day I catch my self hearing Holiness calling. Usually when my mind has wandered into garbageville or toilette city.  A lot of people when given a precocious opportunity to speak on sin or issues of society will try to depersonalize them and speak as if they are not affected by it. First and foremost my heart breaks over my sins.

Holiness is and intimidating thing to think about. See Holiness is without compromise. It doesn’t bend or break a rule to get ahead. It doesn’t cheat on a test. Holiness don’t clock out five minutes early. Holiness works the whole shift. What do I know about Holiness. Well not much. A problem the Body of Christ has in today’s day and age of fast food evangelism is we don’t read the bible any more. There was only one person Holy His name is Jesus. But I have not spent any time actually reading the Gospels. So I read mans version of Holiness and that version leaves me hopeless because we as men are all screwed up. The most integrity filled preacher is a disgusting sinner just like me. Who has lusted perhaps.  But Jesus the embodiment of Holyness doesn’t get studied. His life is glossed over during Easter and Christmas but How much do we know about Jesus. He is Holyness and He is calling. But His calling is Love. It always starts there that much I know. And for those of us who believe His calling is filled with Grace and Mercy.  He is not a standard that we can only fail to achieve. The only way we fail is by not trying.

God is dealing with me once again. The world is in turmoil. Signs or potential signs are being fulfilled everywhere. Yet I have not enough of Jesus in me to share with a lost and dying world. For the next month or two or however long it takes I am going to be on my own personal adventure to get to know Jesus and His Holiness. Because He is calling. 

The Why Me Syndrome

Overcoming the Why Me Syndrome

How many opportunities in life do we all have to ask the question “WHY ME?” I Have had my fair share. Recently I was confronted with the stone cold truth about my life my actions and yes even my God. And for the first time in my life when it was over it was very healthy to ask WHY ME?

My life has unfolded like an onion as one of my friends puts it. Each season of life represents a new layer of onion. A few  common themes in my life in each layer of season has been sin and grotesc sin and lots of it. I denied myself no pleasure of the flesh and partook of everything my eyes saw attractive. I was the embodiement of that scripture that says men will become lovers of them selves and forsake the Truth worshiping the created rather then the creator. I lived that out on a daily basis. Where it led me is water under the bridge and blood over the cross.

Sitting in that docs office. And Hearing the words you might be sick and could be dying were very sobering. I have lived a life even after getting saved that has probably left people feeling unappreciated at times let alone the God who saved me. I have taken my salvation for granted on several occasions to take one or two day vacations back to Egypt. But I just never thought I could or would ever hear those words.  When people say there are moments in life when things become slow motion well there are for me there was the time I hit five three pointers in a highschool basketball game with my team down by 20 to come back to win in the 4^th quarter. That was surreal and slow motion.  I never played like that again hence I never had that feeling again. Then there was this time in the docs office. Very slow motion.  Getting in the car from there was odd.  The Question Why me? Popped into my head. Before I could even speak it though I felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit and I said outloud why not me.  I did everything I could possably do as a human being to contract those diseases and I did so in full knowledge.  SO WHY NOT ME.  I began to take an offensive measure against self sorrow and self pitty. I would not allow the knowledge I could be dying steal the joy of my last bit of living.  I began to praise God for the people he put in my life to share the rest of it with.  I began to wake up energized and excited to face obsticles again. I purposely set out to deliberately attack life with force and not waist another second asking WHY ME.

A common subject of comparison a Christian will make and many have to me is two people in the Bible Joseph and Job. I would like to present to you that none of us are Joseph and non of us are Job. Both were very righteous and shunned evil. The bible says Job was upright in all his ways hated sin and shunned evil that does not even express how my life has been at times as a saved man let alone unsaved. So then who well I think there are certain moments we can all become like Joshua and Caleb. Where we go into the enemies camp see the beasts and how large they are but we return with a good report just because Gods word says so.  I am no Joseph and I am no Job. Anyone who knows me well knows theres nothing righteous about my past. But if your one bit like me there are times when we can become like Joshua and we can return with a report that contradicts the experts reports…the ones that say were doomed we might as well give up and die.

My Second set of blood work came back. And when the results showed up at my house I can honestly say this. I had no fear. I had no hesitation. I did not pray over them before I opened them I just opened them and believed with my wife who believed even more then me. NORMAL  everything is normal…no explanation required. I get it.

So for the first time in my life I now ask this question everyday. Lord you chose me. You healed me. I remind him of my past that He delivered me from and ask Him in a healthy way WHY ME?  Lord you could have left me for dead outside homeless you did not? Lord you could have allowed me to wear a disease that would have eventually killed me and I would have been fine with that but YOU did not. So Why?  Today Lord you direct me and show me Why so I can become a Joshua and a Caleb.  I have different report one that says I am not a grasshopper. One that says we can enter Cannon. So today Lord you show me where to go. Lord you give me someone to love that would not be loved otherwise.  


Who will join me and ask God Why Me? What is our God given purpose for our healing and salvation? Who will join me knowing we don't deserve anything good but we will take it and appreciate it today.  

My First Day Back

My First Day Back

Yesterday was my first day back at a ministry that I was very much apart of for about 2 yrs. Adopt a Block. Let me just say this and get this out it was a huge breath of fresh air. First and foremost I truly enjoy working with kids. But beyond that the enthusiasm of the workers was second to none. But something is different. Something amazing and good happened. Sin was discussed and so was the consequence.

Not sure how many kids were there. But a question was asked that blew me a way. Pastor Ruben asked, “ How many of you kids have seen on tv or in person two men or two women kiss?” It was a resounding 100% yes all hands went up. The age group of these kids ranged from 4-12 yrs old. And all of them have been exposed to this. Now let me ask you doesn’t this bother you? You the reader of this blog. Aren’t you outraged by this cultural statement.

I want to go a step further and share something else with you Pastor Ruben did not shy away either. Risking parental complaints risking basically a ministry he spoke the truth on levels every kid in that place can understand. And when it was all done not one kid left that place confused about where God stands on the issue of homosexuality. I am grateful to serve in this ministry. I was always grateful but even more so now. These kids of today’s world don’t need butterflies and cotton candy versions of the bible they need to be convicted of sin at earlier ages because today’s youth is getting their innocence taken at earlier ages.

Staying with this basic topic the homosexual agenda is assaulting our youth through our tax dollars in public education yet we drop the ball when educating our kids at the home front about sexuality. We think sometimes that us being Christian gives our children a cloak of invincibility or something on tough uncomfortable topics such as sex and drugs. But I am here to tell you it does not. I hope and pray that your kids don’t find out in a church service when the Pastor gets guts to be obedient like my Pastor did yesterday that being gay will land your butt in hell. It should be taught from the whome.

It is not too late for us as Christians to repent from being luke warm with the gospel with our kids. And its not too late to take hard stances in our own lives as well. I think a part of the dynamic at play here is we feel so defeated sex is being pushed on our families and in our lives like you would not believe. I went to the mall today and honestly I can’t go without my wife. Not because it is tempting me to sin but because it is such a flesh mart I want to guard my sight and my eye gate to the point where my wife is the only woman I see. A second dynamic involved is 50% of the leaders in evangelical churches admitted in a survey to struggle with pornography of all sorts.  And if we preach it is sin and will send us to hell then a lot of us would be on the way to hell sitting in the pews.

People Jesus Christ did not die to give us life. He died to give us life and victory and more abundantly. I am not going to be shy about this stuff I won’t back down. Porn sex and drugs was once  a strong hold in my life. Even after getting saved I relapsed several times. But I cannot allow my past mistakes styme Gods word on the matter. Gods heart is holiness because He is holy. What we confess is what we are. We can do this!!!! I would and do encourage you to repent of all things sexually impure in your life. You don’t need to confess them to me or write me or call me just do it!! Its between you and God literarily it is a wedge between you and God too. But its as simple as saying God Help me. He knows you and loves you and will forgive you.  If you have done this before and failed do it again and keep doing it till you get it right. And get accountability in your life. Find one person and confess this issue to them.

Once you have taken these measures you can now began to sew into your family what holiness is and why we are called to live holy and without fear …that fear is satens way of keeping our mouths shut and by doing so he is winning the battle for our kids. I love you all. Be blessed.

The Solution To All Of Our Problems

The Solution To All Of Our Problems

The county I live in (Maricopa) has a divorce rate of 71%. The social issues of babies born out of wedlock abortion aids drug addiction homelessness and poverty in general is higher then the national averages too. But that divorce rate is disgusting.  71% are you kidding me. Now what I am about to write will offend a lot of people including Christians. We have been on a soap box in recent yrs about what marriage is what marriage isn’t and the whole time the divorce rate of the Body of Christ rivals if not mirrors society in general. We are not setting the cultural temp. We are following it.

I am in my second marriage. I am a divorcee.  I have been married for nearly a yr. And let me tell you I have the greatest wife in the world. Sorry guys its true. Eat your heart out. But about 3 months in things started getting crazy. We started arguing. And it took some time but I noticed something a lot of the arguments I was having I had already had before. Could God be trying to tell me something and if He was would I listen. I am just gonna keep it real. It was like a pounding wind that just would not let up. It got so bad I would wake up go downstairs and watch tv and she would wake up get some food and go back upstairs…One night it happened. I could not take it anymore. I do not want to be a statistic. 71% is crazy that means nearly 3 of every 4 couples that I know are statistically speaking going to get divorced. I got honest with myself. The problem was me and the issue was sin. Period. All the soft counseling words all the TV language no Dr. Phil crap..point blank I don’t have issues I have sin. I had to repent. It was at that point. The point of repentance that God began to move on our behalf. I say our behalf because my repentance and honestly with my wife about led her to her repentance.

There is not one issue or problem I have in my life that old fashioned repentance can’t solve.

Now we all want to do and achieve great things. As Christians we all want to see revival in our land. We want to see our country change. We have killed a whole generation of people in legalized abortion. We are building prisons faster then we are building colleges. And now I watched on TV how some colleges aka trade schools are misrepresenting their institution and the job market for their career paths and are wasting millions of federal money to the point where fafsa is about to be overhauled. Our country is in deep doodoo and needs a massive overhaul. But I tell you this it all starts with me. Let me get the tune up. Let us men turn to God individually and watch God move his mighty hand. No me repenting did not dent the divorce rate nor did it prevent an abortion or cut the drug rate. But it did keep me out of all those catogories. My home is experiencing extreme revival where we used to have extreme threats and accusations we are now sharing extreme affection. We will not change the culture of our community city state country and world until we change the culture of our homes. If we as Christians just did not get divorced can you imagine what that would do to the national divorce rate. Can you imagine what a statement that would be. And we would not have to talk people into coming to church then. Or drag them or beg them or wait till something special. If we stay married we will have to all build bigger auditoriums. Its true. Cause People would come out of curiosity. If we get our homes in order. It will eliminate the time and energy spent on in reach so we could be more productive fiscally and physically at outreach…Just a thought. Hey either way I am going to stay on me knees and keep repenting every time I see something jacked up about me. And I am going to keep praying with my wife daily. Repentance and Prayer The two things that will solve all of our problems. HMM could it be so simple