It’s been quite a while since my last post, on “How Haters Help”. The biggest reason for my hiatus has been, quite simply I have been busy. There has been no shortage, of lifes constant issues, that have kept me preoccupied. Today, my typically positive, easy going disposition was interupted by a moment of frustration. Thank God for great friends, and an awesome wife, to put things back into perspective. My friends have offered sage advice, and you guys know who you are, thank you from the bottom of my heart. My wonderful wife, reminded me, “God, is more concerned with the effort of the rebound, than the quality of the shot.” God is indeed the best coach ever.

So you see, God has spoken to my heart, through many voices today, but none ring clearer, than what His Word is speaking. I had to go back to the previous post in the How Haters Help series, to fully realize, how I have lost perspective in my current situation. I moved into the natural progression of concern, that Joseph did in the story. [I guess I should of read ahead.] Joseph finds himself, sold into slavery, accused of horrendous crimes, and placed in prison, despite being innocent. He had no advocate for more than 13 years, even though God was constantly showing Him favor. Joseph then, saw within his reach, an opportunity to get out of his present predicament. He interprets the dream, of someone in position to plead… Continue Reading

It’s been a really long time since my last blog entry, and I owe my friends one more entry to complete “How Hater’s Help”. But I had to share a few thoughts from some recent discussions with our friends the Nowakowski’s. Don’t get me wrong, I have had quite a few discussions with friends over the years about calling, purpose, and ministry initiatives that have caused a deeper sense of purpose and spurred me to action. And those times of encouragement, reflection, and even mobilizing missions have been powerful, in forming my present walk with the Lord. However, these past couple of weeks, I sense a shifting of seasons, as if God is wanting to do so much more with and through His Body of believers.

It started in fellowship

My friend Ryan and I were having a casual conversation, when God showed up in our midst. (I believe the Word, “For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” – Mathew 18:20) Ryan began to share some things from his heart, that were a mirror reflection of the direction I feel God had been posturing me, for over the span of a few months. The more we shared and talked, the more I felt, like God was bringing confirmation, to what I was hearing in my heart. I am telling this story, to illustrate the fact that through fellowship, and transparency, God uses other believers to speak. It doesn’t have to be in… Continue Reading

May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ —for this will bring much glory and praise to God. – Philippians 1:11

It has been a while since my last blog entry, on “How Hater’s Help”, where we used the story of Joseph’s life to show how haters help us get out of our comfort zones. Now we want to further delve into the reason why getting out of our comfort zones are so important. God often uses uncomfortable situations to develop Godly characteristics in His children.

Psalm 105:16-19
16 He called for a famine on the land of Canaan,
cutting off its food supply.
17 Then he sent someone to Egypt ahead of them—
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They bruised his feet with fetters
and placed his neck in an iron collar.
19 Until the time came to fulfill his dreams,
the Lord tested Joseph’s character.

The scriptures show us that Joseph had great opposition after his “Haters”, sold him into slavery. As if being a slave wasn’t hard enough, we then see Joseph go through a series of tramatic events. I wonder if Joseph asked, “Can things get any worse?”. He went from slave, to being accused of rape, to prisoner and when each event was triggered Joseph had done nothing wrong. Talk about trying a persons character. I know if I were… Continue Reading

Last time, I introduced “How Haters Help“. We discussed how God deals with his children, and promised to delve deeper into the story of Joseph. This go around, we want to explore “How Haters Help Us Get out of our Comfort Zone”

Daddy’s favorite, nice clothes, and big dreams is where our friend Joseph’s story begins. He was poised to be “The Man”, in Canaan. His father had given him a garment of distinction. This gift magnified what Jacob felt in his heart about Joseph, and further distinguished him from his brothers. While his father’s gift was cool, it was his God given gift that was going to separate him, and cause him to be a integral part of the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was an awesome honor, with a catch. He had to move from Canaan do what he was created to do. Jacob was given the dream but God didn’t give the blueprints on how He would accomplish his purpose. I think if Jacob had known this path was a rough one he might have not been wo quick, to share it, or maybe he would have even chalked it up to being a nightmare. Canaan represents a place of comfort for Joseph. Everyone knew he was gifted, and heard the dream. Jacob was a big fish in a small pond. If he was going to fulfill Gods purpose for his life, he needed to swim amongst sharks. He had to… Continue Reading

One of most powerful life stories that I have ever heard, was about a young man who experienced what seemed like impossible obstacles to overcome. This young man experienced tragedies, that most of us could only imagine, and yet his resolve and trust in God, caused him to become one of the most powerful men in the country. He was an extremely gifted young man in a house full of extremely gifted people. Yet, because he was his Father’s favorite, his older half brother’s despised him. (His dad had some serious baby mama drama, going on under his roof.) His brother’s were on the record, as not being able to say a single nice thing about him. Talk about some haters, and in your own household nontheless. Home is supposed to be a place where you feel love, and appreciation, where you can be nurtured and have a sense of belonging. Well not for the young man in our story.

The haters eventually became so outraged at the young man, they figured that he would be better off dead. They plotted to kill him and cover their tracks with an elaborate lie. You may be able to tell bye now that the life story I am writing about is of “Joseph” from the Bible. (The story can be found in Genesis 37-50 ) As if everything I have written till this point was not bad enough, Joseph eventually was sold into slavery, wrongfully accused and thrown in prison.… Continue Reading

Romans 12:1,2
1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Because last month is set aside for Black History, I thought it would be a great idea to get “Amistad” through Netflix. I had forgotten how good of a movie this was. My absolute favorite scene has to be when the one guy was showing Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), what he understood of the Gospel message through the pictures inside of the Bible. However, this time as I watched the movie with my family, I couldn’t help but linger on a particular scene that took place after the second round of trials had been won. It should have been a time of celebration, because the abolitionist had finally seen justice. These brave African slaves found liberty not once but on three different occassions, only to have freedom snatched from them yet another time. Then, Tappan (Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd) who was a champion of the cause for the African’s said to Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) himself a former slave, “They may be… Continue Reading

Ephesians 2:6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms – all because we are one with Christ Jesus.

Ever feel like you are overwhelmed by life, and all the adversity that’s associated with being on planet earth? Tired of fighting what seems to be an endless battle, that you may never win? If you’ve ever been at one of these places or anywhere in their vicinity, I encourage you to take a moment to gaze at the bigger picture.

As a true Christian we can declare that we are one with Christ Jesus. Think about that for just one moment. Being one with Christ is an awesome reality associated with your Christian lifestyle. Believers all over the globe are seated with Christ, in heavenly realms. It’s amazing how understanding certain truths can place a new perspective on your current condition, situation or circumstance.

So when you feel like you have come to the end of your strength during the various situations life throws your way. Take a load off, and have a seat. In your rightful place! The situation doesn’t change, but the view changes when there is a heavenly perspective.

Hebrews 7:25 — “Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.”

“Pray for Me”. These three words are heard very often in Christian circles, as they should be. The scripture is clear that we ought to pray for one another (James 5:16, Ephesians 6:18). There is a certain comfort that strengthens believers when we know that our brothers and sisters are petitioning God on our behalf. However, there is no greater joy than knowing we serve a God who “Lives Forever”, and prays for us foremost. What a comfort to know when I am without strength, and quite frankly don’t know how God is working things out. There is an intercessor who knows exactly what I need.

Peter is one of the most colorful characters in the New Testament. Many are able to relate to his passionate outbursts, that seem to back fire on him. Just think about how many folks would not be able to quote, “Take up your cross and follow me”, if he had not attempted to reprimand the Lord for going to the cross. Tons of folks who quote that scripture leave off the part about self-denial, but that’s another topic for another time. Also, consider had Peter not cut off Malchus’ servants ear, how we would never see, “Live by the Sword, Die By the Sword”, tatoos all over the place. As you can see Peter has… Continue Reading

2 Corinthians 4:7 – “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.”

I just finished watching a episode of Secret Millionaire, on Fox Reality TV. A married couple who have accrued millions of dollars in wealth, spent some time in an impoverished neighborhood. They left behind their million dollar home, and walked a mile in the shoes of a person from Watts, California. At the end of their experience, the husband said, “Alot of things we have are worthless.” He had come to see that in his accumilation of wealth, and many luxuries, he lost sight of the things that are important in life. At the end of the show, he wrote three $50,000 checks for women, in the community who were making an impact in the lives of those in their community.

I am not a fan of Fox Reality TV, but this episode caused something inside of me to stir. I began to think about the impact we are called to make in our communities as Christians. However, all to often the Church is confined to the church building. We live in a fallen world, where people are hurting and need to know of the wealth we possess in Christ. Make it a point to write a spiritual check to those in your community. Impact those whom you meet daily,… Continue Reading

Proverbs 13:12 – “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.” – Amplified.

Have you ever waited patiently on something to take place in your life, only to receive notice, that it would be delayed? How did it make you feel? Often in our walk as believers we trust in a trustworthy God to deliver a promise in our life only to experience delay in the things we hope for. Almost certainly every believer has had to endure some sort of delay when it comes to our spiritual growth in God. If we are not careful we will find ourselves, moving away from the grace in which is so prevelant in our salvation, and we begin to find ourselves working for those things in which we desire. The sense of accomplishing works for Christ only momentarily, provide a source of fulfilment when we find our heart condition, is quite possibly more saddened than our previous encounter.

What are we to do? How are we to get out of this cycle? According to the proverb, it is only when that desire is fulfilled, that I will experience something greater than my present situation. Right?

I am persuaded that too often I have misunderstood the process, in which God uses to mature, and strengthen me. God knows exactly what I need, and he uses deferrals, in my life, that I might see “Life” through the eyes of Christ. When we are… Continue Reading