POW TAKE THAT SATAN!!!!

Politically Correct=Morally Wrong

Have we as a society gotten so sensitive to name calling and put downs that we now have to see public service announcements about it? The NBA has taken on new heights with this.  Last night while watching the Bulls vs. Heat game they put on an NBA commercial urging people not to call things gay using the word as an adjective describe something.  They clearly used two Phoenix Suns in the promo because the president of the team is a homosexual.  The add portrays being a homosexual as cool or hip when in fact it’s a lifestyle that has no positive attributes to it.  Disease early death no procreation can be achieved. These are not stereotypes they are facts…the average homosexual male lives only to his early 40s that is a statistical fact…without even getting the bible out it is easy to see that the natural laws of nature frown on this…

Here is the sticky dilemma. How do we as believers who have been forgiven of so much. Some of us have been forgiven of far more hideous sins then this. How do we begin to make our case known in the face of this opposition. Some would argue that this very blog entry is insensitive and demeaning to a group of people. Why? I ask. Is it because I say it is wrong to live in a homosexual lifestyle? How do we disagree without being portrayed as right wing nut jobs.. The minute we in love even speak up on such issues we are muzzled by the media and compared to the likes of  that one dude burning Korans and that other guy predicting the end of the world every other week. Righteousness is slowing losing its voice. The lost and dying world is not receiving our message and instead of turning to a loving God who is waiting for their repentance. They are settling for a counterfeited version of love that isn’t really love at all its called political correctness.

Here is the paradox example. How did Christ handle such events. Well in each case He was slow to speak. He waited. Getting into half cocked arguments over what we believe and know is right as Christians does actually damage to our cause not good for it.  Those type of situations are not driven by righteous indignation they are driven by pride and the need to be right.  The most gripping example of what Christ did was when he did not verbally respond at all he just loved …Loved unto the point of death.  See the bait that is being laid out here is for us as believers to do exactly what our flesh is saying to do. scream fight argue. but the way Jesus handled was he just kept walking and loving.

Its important for us to realize today that yes as Christians we know homosexuality is wrong but that it is no more or less wrong then the sins that we committed and still commit daily that sent Jesus to the Cross. The only way we are going to begin to penetrate this market and demographic is by uncommon Christlike love that exposes the counterfeited and brings reconciliation of the lost to the Lord. We actually don’t need a commercial or a TV spot to do this we just need to go outside our own front porch and begin to love the guy mowing the lawn next door.

We don’t need to debate politically correctness we need to live in a Christlikeness with our actions. 

Destiny is not a Strppers Name

Destiny is not a Strippers Name

The word destiny has been perverted. Strippers have taken it and used it as an alias. Songs have been written about the word like it is some kind of mystical event that happens only in some kind of cosmic event. What has happened is pure distraction. The truth is we all have destiny.  It is the direction of our lifes course the end result and weather good or bad we all will end up somewhere . Destination is the root word. Its not a pop group its not the name of a pet. Destiny is the place we will end up…And it is not something that happens by accident… the destiny we end up with is the result of a series of life’s choices that we deliberately make . Excuses and blaming other people will not change the destiny only making right choices in tough times will.

When my life has gotten a little bit difficult when my life has experienced resistance in the past. The type of person I defaulted to was inevitably bad.  It set me on a course of being homeless and addicted to drugs.  Nothing that happened to me in my life set me on that course. And sure in my life I have like all of us have experienced some raw deals but the decisions I made in those circumstances revealed the character of the man I was becoming and was.  So much of my behavior was based on the pain of being wronged in some way that I alone  made deicisons to do wrong to eliminate the pain temporarily. I was arrested several times by law enforcement agencies that did not do the job. It was not till I was arrested by Jesus Christ that my mindset began to change…

The process was initially difficult. Because pain is a common occurrence in life..and none of us are ever going to escape being hurt.  And being saved and in the Body of Christ did not initially change my reactions or behavior in those circumstances.  I loved Jesus but it was a self centered love that I was only willing to give while things were going 100% my way.  It did not make me unsaved it just made me immature.  I was missing the fact that Jesus Christ did not just die on the cross He resurrected from the tomb. And He did so so that I too could live a resurrected life.  I struggled with being hurt. I struggled with being rejected. I struggled with my identity and knowing who I was….and getting saved and accepting Christ into my life did not change those core issues…it just magnified them. 

My destiny began to change the moment I am faced with being rejected or not accepted and I choose to still love the people who are not accepting or are rejecting me. My destiny changed in an amazing way when people I loved and respected and adored with my whole heart did not return that love and instead of looking selfishly inward I began looking vertically to the Lord and it was then that His relationship with me began to blossom….and without even realizing it he placed me around a group of people who love me despite me and I offer nothing to their lives.

Our destiny is a choice. Our life today is a choice. I have a destiny and it is grand and great today and it is not because I say so its because of what God says about me. Today I woke up and I am faced with the knowledge that there are people who don’t like me. There are people who wont receive me or the things I have to say…and today it is ok because I am hid in Christ and he accepts me just the way that I am…and that helps keep me sober today because finaly He is my Joy!!!

I used to spend dollar bills chasing destiny that was only destruction ..today my destiny is a gift not a stripper or gram of meth. It’s a place of peace and love . We can all have this destiny but it starts with us making this right decision right now when things are difficult …I like the way the  bible puts it…I set before you life and death ….choose life.

Twisted up Tongues

Tongue Twisters

Being in recovery there are certain biblical truths are just so vital to live by. The bible describes our tongue like the utter of a ship. the ships utter sets the course the ship is going to go but because it is so small it is often over looked and taken for granted. but quite as its kept it is the most influential part of the ship. Our tongue is the exact same as the utter of the ship. It too is very small. And just like the utter of the ship most Christians take it for granted.  I am not going to take this opportunity to discuss the gossip the slander and backbiting that goes on in a church. we all know this way to well…I think it goes without saying that in my life I have probably verbally bashed every single person I love and loves me. If your honest you would have to say you too have done this.

What I am going to do today is discuss our lives direction and how vital our confessions are…Our tongue 9 out of 10 times sets the course of direction for our thoughts and our actions. It is with our tongue that we take captive those thoughts and imaginations that pop up in our mind and it is with our tongue we bind them and cast them out ….IN THE NAME OF JESUS. Being in recovery this is vital because I have thoughts cravings and desires that are completely not of the Lord and for me one time of not executing proper confession about who I am in Christ could not just cost me my job my family and other relationships …for me and people like me it could cost me my life. So positive healthy confession is vital…

The Bible places such an emphasis on confession that it states that if we believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord then we shall be saved….We have to confess Who Jesus is to be IN JESUS!!!

I have seen confession played out so much in my life when I begin to feed my negative thoughts with negative confession it is like a snowball rolling down hill that just gets bigger and bigger the power of negative confession just explodes all over people and me like you would never believe…..for a period of time I did not believe I could find a good job…man I confessed this daily and even by the minute ….and even though I was finding jobs I was not finding the good in the jobs…it was not until I decided that no matter what this is where God placed me and God loves me and would not place me somewhere bad so even though I don’t think in my mind this is a good job I am going to confess good things about this job….and bam I started making money I started finding success and the job became good…

Our tongue is the seed planter of the good and the bad things in our life.  Some times I think it is just important to stop in the middle of all heated discussion or idle chatter and realize that we even though the fruit does not show just yet but that we are planting seeds that will later come back to reap a harvest… It is with our tongue that we give the best blessing in the world to people when we say I love you!!!! Let this be how we Christians are best known…known for our love for one another.  In fact that is what the bible says…

How are you known today? What is it that you are confessing about your life today and about other people in your life. Are you believing the best and confessing the best for you and others ? Challenge your self today and begin speaking life today ?

Gardening Tips from a Novis

My behaviour alarms me at times. My ability to forget so easily all the great things God has done in my life scares me too. My faith is so weak and I don’t have a problem sharing that with you. Infact I am commanded to so you can pray for me. But how quick I am as a believer to accept the good things in life that God provides and then when a storm comes how quick I am to retreat back to old ways of thinking and behaviors ..The Bible so many times addresses God as a Gardner and us a plants…I never understood the comparison until I worked at the landscape dept at my church for three months. Peggy would constantly have us pruning trees. Trees that for all intensive purposes looked beautiful and healthy we pruned them. One day I asked Peggy why we constantly prune back seemingly healthy trees …and she explained that the pruning of the tree though in the short term makes the tree less attractive to the eye in some cases in the long run makes that tree stronger so when the storm comes it can stand in the midst of it…

This makes me wonder How many times in my young Christian walk have I experienced being pruned and how many times I have mistaken the pruning for an attack. or a storm. see the trees have that same phenomenon if you were a tree and someone was taking sheers to your limbs you would feel the sensations of an attack. It would be painful. And just like me at the time not understanding the purpose that is done for the endurance and the health and well being of the tree. It also makes me realize that even though the pruning sucks the tree is never ever uprooted and transplanted to avoid the storm that is inevitably to come.  But is left there in the elements to endure it.  Sometimes the trees are even tied down to a post so the storm cannot move it.  In our lives this happening can make us feel trapped. See unlike trees we humans have the ability to reason and think.  When we start to feel trapped our tied down to something even something healthy we start looking for ways to undo the ties and escape…What we are missing is the knowledge that is for our own good we are tied down and we are pruned.

It is such a painful process..I have been an escape artist most of my life. Being pruned hurts being tied down and anchored somewhere is not what I am accustomed too this is taking some getting used to.  But today I get this much at least that the pruning is not an attack its done because my Gardner who is a great Gardner loves me and cares for me…and by the way even though in the short term stuff looks real ugly the pruning gives exposure to sunlight to the hidden parts of the tree so that they can begin to be healthy branches too….and it also in the end makes the tree look more balanced and full. but the process is never ending. Just the like Peggy the pruning will never stop…and it will never be anything but painful. It’s a process of life…

My understanding is that if I don’t accept the pruning and don’t get tied down to a post sometimes I might get blown away by the storm and die.  I am so grateful for the people who are in my life who see me at my ugliest points and still love me…the one thing I am good at is sin I am so natural at it it comes without thinking…doing the right thing is painful at times and hard because it requires thought determination and the cutting away of self….

I know that we are all gonna screw it all up big time we are all going to hurt each other because that is our nature to do so…that is not a male or female trait or specific to just this guy or that girl that is a human trait…but We do today have the ability to be cleansed and renewed and have the mind and heart of Christ which was always forgiveness to everyone without prejudice and love to all people despite the wrongs done to us…

The fact that Jesus Christ only one time actually displayed anger outwardly in recorded history but 100s of accounts of random acts of love and compassion tell me that we as Christians are missing who Jesus really is because me for one have a unique knack for displaying my anger far more then I do my love and compassion….

I am being pruned again and it sucks. But its not the storm the storm is sure to come this is the part where I get stronger for the storm. I am tied down to a post and I cannot escape I have got to endure this storm because my Gardner who loves me and cares for me is not interested in removing me from my environment but He is interested in me lasting in the storm and doing so with ease and grace…because that is how He gets the Glory…That is how He becomes Known to men.