RED ALERT! RED ALERT!

Something has been brought to my attention.  Something dire. Something powerful.  Something big.  Without getting into too much specifics, I've been alarmed.  I've been slapped on the back of the head. RED ALERT RED ALERT. There's this thing that exisits.  This liar, theif, cheater, abuser.  This thing that knows every nook and cranny.  Knows how to get into people's minds and hearts. We need to be alert.  We need to be aware of this thing....

Satan is powerful ya'll.  I promise you he knows more about you than you know about yourself. Any weakness he will exploit.  Any crack in your life he will make worse.  Just picture your life as a little crack in glass.  If that crack goes untreated it will become worse and worse.  The best way to stop a crack from becoming worse is to nip it in the bud.

Unfortunately, our life isn't that simple.  It's interesting how we are all coded.  We all sin differently.  We are all born with natural weaknesses.  For example, my buddy can drink as much alcholol as he wants and not technically be an addict, but if I get a whiff of it, I can't control my inhibitations (This was only an example, not true for myself).

The interesting part is that by the time we hit our college years, most of us have discovered our weakness.  But here's the kicker, our weaknesses, although are bad for us spiriutally, are the things that make us feel the best; they give us the in-the-moment-high.  Unforutntely the things that typically make you the happiest short term, are usually the worst for you long term. It's like when Paul said in Romans,
"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." (Romans 7:15)

And these are the things that the Adversary uses.  It annoys me how much the Devil knows me.  He makes the argument in your head that he is your friend.  That God has all these restrictions to kill your fun. He places lies in your head that tell you that you aren't good enough.  That you aren't pretty enough, that you all around suck!  It's a sad but true reality that sometimes he wins.  There are those nights, those days that the lies placed in mine head feel like a reality.  It's at those moments where I, the creation, begin questioning the Creator.  Who the heck am I?  Or even worse, I get angry at God for the itrocious things that happen in my life or in the world in general.  I start to blame God for 9/11 or the Natural Disasters that hit the earth or Sandy Hove Elementary School.

I am by no means claiming to know why bad things happen to bad people.  But I do know this, evil and God are complete opposites.  Maybe if we spent as much energy combating Satan as we do God we would become much stronger.  Maybe if we refocused (I love that word) our attention on the positive things in life rather than When the World is going to end we would become much more powerful.  Maybe if we strapped on our armor and shield and realized who the REAL enemy was we wouldn't be as miserable as we are.

But nooo, of course not.  That's too practical.

Yes, I'm angry.  I have a very focused anger pointed to the Devil.  No, not a red thing with horns onto of his head.  Nooo, I'm talking about a Fallen Angel.  An angel that wanted to be greater than God and has been continuously trying by making our lives miserable (by making it feel good). (2 Corth. 11:5-15)

I say this phrase alot, but my brothers and sisters, we are at a War.  I was listening to the song called Mr. Pretender by KB who is a Christian Rapper.  That song opened mine eyes.  I've heard the song a bunch of times, but I only recently looked at the lyrics.  It's amazing how many times you can hear a song and not completly understand it.  But this song basically talks about the Pretender (Satan), and the verses are what he's saying to us.  Now I may not agree with everything KB says, but the point is soo crystal clear.  No matter what we do, Mr. Pretender will just keep calling us.  The times where we feel the safest, we are actually the most vulnerable.  The times we feel the most secure are actually the times we are in the most insecure.

That's why I'm proclaiming a RED ALERT. All hands on deck!  We need to believe that Jesus conquered Death by dying on the cross, ascended into Sheol and was Resurrected.  When it all comes down to it, we have the Victory.  We just have to try to keep straight.  We will all fail.  We will all fall, we have all fallen.  But gotta get back up! We just have to believe: "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)  We don't know when the Lord is coming back.  Most of us have never seen his face to know that he exists   But I have Faith in the Lord.

My Hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' Blood and Righteousness

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On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand

All Other Ground is sinking sand

Our best bet is to build our foundation on the solid rock and to be aware.  Be aware of Mr. Pretender.  Be aware of Da Liar. As a matter of fact, I'm going to post the rap at the end of this blog.  I warn you again that it's Rap, but it's Christian Rap.

Be on Alert People!

it vs. HE

Stop it!

I'm tired of it.  I'm tired of it trying to take over my life.  I'm tired of it actually suceeding in me.  I want to do right, but there's this urge in me to do wrong.  I want to proclaim victory over it, but defeat keeps ringing.  It just has so much control over me.  I...I just can't take it.

Thank you Adam and Eve for this.  Thank you Adam and Eve for exhibiting a lack of self-control.  A lack of reverence, a lack of humility.  Why did you have to listen to that serpant.  Why did you have to have the yearning to be more knowledgable...more greater than you needed to be? Are you happy now?  Are you happy that you thrusted future generations into turnmoil because of your decision.  Are you happy that you let it win.  Are you happy now?

Was it worth it? Is it worth gaining the whole world, yet losing my soul?  The answer to the question is obvious, but yet, the answer is never reality.  I think with my dream, yet my limbs do otherwise.  I think things with my mind, yet my tongue speaks otherwise.  Is there any hope for me?  Will I ever be able to conquer it? Will it continue to rule over my life?  Dictate my thoughts, my actions, my words, my dreams, my everything.  This control over my life..it's just...not good.

I hear the statements running over my head.  You will fail.  It's too deep inside of you.  Stop trying. It's futile.  What do I do?  Who do I turn to?  No one can really understand what I'm going through.  IT...IT...IT is just to strong.

I can't be like the faithful servants in the Bible.  I can't be like Moses who saved the nations of Israel by standing up to Pharaoh   I can't be like the prophets Micah or Elijah, or Amos, or Nathan who stood up to kings who had the power to kill them at a snap.  I can't be like the Apostle Paul who endured various beatings and imprisonment.  I'm not strong enough.  I'm just little ol' Michael.  It has it's grasp on me.

I just need to release the vices that the serpent has on my soul.  I need to be emptied.  I need to be filled with something greater than myself.  They say that we are yearning for something greater than we.  Well I'm looking...I'm looking..and I think I found him.  But now that I found him, what do I do?  What should I do?

This thing...this person inside of me wants to do wrong.  This person inside of me is nasty.  This person inside of me is cantankerous and vile and just wrong.

But I, I've heard about this man.  This man that came into the world and conquered It.  It thought that this man was dead.  Victory was obtained by it.  But just merely 72 hours later, this man rose with all power in his hand.  This man was the only man that lived a perfect sinless life.  All others before him sinned and fell at one point, but he failed to fail.

He wants to tell me that I can conquer it.  That my mind, my soul, my heart is not greater than he.  All I have to do is ask, trust, and believe.

But Lord, it's just too strong.  I'm a young man.  I have thoughts, pressures, doubts, fears..What the heck am I supposed to do when it comes like a thief in the night and wakes me, and shakes me, and just drives me up the wall.  How am I supposed to control it.

I am weak.  But he are strong.  He conquered it and he promised to keep me close.  Help me believe that he is strong than me; stronger than it.  Even when times are rough, even when my nights are long, Help me believe.  Lord, help my unbelief!  I know that he went into Sheol, knocked it in its place but how is that power transferred to me?  Where can I get his boxing gloves?

Sometimes I think I'm going crazy.  Sometimes I think I'm going to lose my mind.  Often times I think...I know that it is going to win.  But it's those moments where he causes my foundations to quake (like when he was crucified) and give me a slap on the face.  He gives me that wake up call.  The cockadoodledoo of the rooster.

Wow.  I am in awe of his might.  Great is Your Mercy.  Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.  I'm Not Afraid like Eminem.  I'll Trust You like Donnie McClurkin.  I know that he'll Roll Up like Wiz Khalifa whenever I need him.  He loves me.  He Wraps me in his arms.  And I just want to say Thank You.

it wants me to believe that it has the final say.  The devil wants me to believe that its over.  That there's no hope in me.  But "faith is substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb 11:1).  I KNOW that he will suceed.  I just know that JESUS will win.  I believe it.  I recieve it.  

So you know what I'll do?  I'm going to do like David does and bless the Lord at ALL times.  His praise shall continually be in mine mouth.

That...That is what I'm banking on.  it will NOT defeat he.

The WORD

This is a true conversation that me and my mother had about a month ago while I was down on my life:

Me: *sigh*

Mom: Have you been reading your Bible?

Me: (with a guilty look on my face) No....

Mom: Why not?

Me: I don't know...

And I can tell you that ever since that moment my life and my perspective has changed 1000000 percent.

First off I would love to thank my mom for putting this perspective on me and holding me accountable on reading my Bible.  But the thing is, about a month ago I was downright depressed.  I was putting in a gagillion applications with no calls-backs, write-backs, e-mail backs...NOTHING. And my mom sensed my despair and found an interesting correlation  previous to that funk I was in, I was reading the Bible and then all of a sudden...WHAM the funk came and for some stupid reason, I couldn't figure out why it came.

And then it hit me!  I was missing my weapon.  I would say that I had on my breastplate  grieves, helmet and all the rest of my armor (Ephesians 6:11), but I didn't have my weapon.  Or should I say, I wasn't using my weapon.  What sense does to make to have the greatest weapon known to man and not use it against the great enemy know to man aka ze' Devil?

I can tell you that ever since I listened to Paul's words in Romans 10:17, I've realized the validity of it.  You can read all the "spiritual" books in the world, you can listen to sermons until your eyes turn blue, but until you dive into the Word yourself, nothing really changes.  You start to understand God more and most importantly you are able to defend your faith against the Enemy.  Look at it this way, even the greatest warrior at some point will need a weapon; you can fight with hands all you want, but once those conquistadors come with guns you are toast.

That's exactly how it works! I mean look at Jesus' life.  Look at when Jesus was being tempted by the devil and how the Devil would utter scripture to him!?  Really Satan...you have the audacity to utter the scripture to the "Great I am", to the man that was present before the beginning??  How arrogant!  And if the Adversary uses the scripture on the Perfect One, just imagine what he does to us.  That's why we absolutely need to stay scripitured up.  Cuz we are ina a nonstop spiritual War! (Matthew 4:1-11)

I know...I know, there are statistics out there that consistently state that Americans don't read...and if they don't read things they "want" to read like newspapers, comic books, and novels, they why the heck would they read something as "boring" as the Bible? Blah...Blah..Blah...I say that lovingly, but when it comes down to it, we live in the 21st century, so you can get Bible apps and you can even listen to the Bible while you are driving like one of my closest friends   The important thing is that you are getting it into your system.

And once you start reading the Word, don't stop!  There are going to be various forces that try to hinder it.  Your body might say "I'm tired" or you phone might be blowin up with text messages or whatever.  Don't stop.  Keep pressing on, because take it from me, once you stop, it's extremely hard to restart.

I'm reminded of deep gospel song by Deitrick Haddon called "The Word" whose chorus eloquently says:

Lets live This Word

I need the Word

Gotta have the Word

He is the Word

And His Word

Keeps us from day-to-day

Nuff Said!

So, let me ask you, when was the last time you really read your bible??  Are you a little overdue?  If so, pick it up and read it.  If you are consistently reading your bible, keep on reading it!  Go...Go.. Go!

God Bless You All!
--MJA (Love God.Love People.)

I See You (The Stories)

A.
I see you....young man.  You've come from a pretty privileged lifestyle.  You've never experienced a truly rough moment in your life financially.  You've now grown up and have your own job, your own life, your own career...your own money.  Life is good.  You somehow thought that money would make you happy.  I mean it seemingly made your parents happy all their lives right?  But for you, you was looking for something more...You have even more money than you can spend.  But you need something more.  So you turn to alcohol...then drugs.  Eventually you find yourself so caught up in a cycle of addiction that you start getting angry. Angry at God for allowing this to happen.  "God, if you make me stop drinking I promise I'll serve you forever."  But it hasn't happened...Why hasn't it happened.

B.
I see you woman.  Your dad abused you when you was younger.  Not only did he abuse you sexually, but verbally and physically as well.  Before high school he could be described as an absentee but present father.  He was working all the time.  Never reaching out to talk to you, to teach you about his love.  Never to appreciate you.  But now little girl has all grown up into her high school body, and now he's no longer an absentee but present father.  He's an always present, always thirsty man.  A man of authority in your life that made you do horrendous things.  Things that you'll never forget forever.  It haunts you that you can still remember these things.  "Why did this happen to me!"  You fall in a cycle of clinical depression that drives you up the walls.  You have a hard time trusting any man in your life so why would you trust God the Father...why?? What hope is out there...

C.
I see you...Scared little girl, that's entering this big scary world.  With no direction.  With no hope. With no support.  I mean there is direction and hope but you don't see it.  You have loving parents.  You have a family that has done everything to prove their love to you in the past.  But now you've grown up.  Made some mistakes you regret, and now you have to live with them.  You feel like everyone has turned their back on you.  Those close to you act like they still love you, but do they really?  Do they really care about you?  Cuz if they did, they wouldn't have abandoned you at your weakest hour...at your weakest moment.  Then you turn to God, and you question Him...."How could you let this happen.  I've heard stories about your love and your grace but how could you let this happen to me!"....So you continue through life....

D.
I see you bro.  All your life you wanted to have confirmation.  Confirmation that what you was doing was the right thing.  Confirmation that you was good at sports.  Alll you wanted to hear was the man in your life say: "good job son."  But you never heard it....And you grew up hating your dad for it.  You didn't grow up with a father...you had a mom.  And sure, your mom tried, God bless her soul she tried and did an excellent job filling that void...but it just wasn't enough.  You go through your life angry at the world.  Angry at everything.  You've learned to turn that anger into productivity, but that anger still resides in you.  You reach out to other "Father" figures, but its not the same.  And now you here a preacher to tell you to call God your Father.  Are you kidding me???  Trust God, whom you've never met before.  Nah man, you trippin....

E.
I finally see you girl.  You grew up with a single parent.  And for he most part you are fine with it.  But there's a kicker to it.  Your mom is an alcoholic and extremely possessive.  There were two of you, but your bother died when you was younger and ever since then, she hasn't been the same.  She doesn't want you to go off to college.  She doesn't want you to grow up and leave her.  She's afraid of losing you...afraid of being alone.  So she guilts you into staying.  She makes you stay.  But you know that you have to get out.  You have to leave.  You've been out of college for a while and you see your friends moving on in life.  Jesus, why won't you just cure her of her loneliness and help her let me go.  It drives me crazy with her mood swings due to the alcohol.  I can't keep living like this!  I'm calling on you to help my mom.  Will you help her...please???? I pray for all the time.

These are just the stories that you may or may not be able to relate to.  I don't expect anyone to relate to any of these stories 100% but I expect most people to relate to some aspect of the stores.  This blog is about what I see, through my humanly, finite eyes.  The next blog post is going to be my attempt to describe what God sees and how God wants to help.

Crossroads

Right now I'm in a crossroad in my life in all situations.  I don't know which way to turn.  I know what I want (I think) but when I can't get what I want other things come up and they are great opportunities but I don't want to feel like I'm settling. I'm getting annoyed with myself because the opportunites that have their door wide open arent the ones i necessarily want to do.  I mean I want to do it but I dont.  There's more conflict in this door, and its not what I wanted initially.  But then again the first door could have just as much or even more conflict because it is the door of the unknown.  Ahhh! I know its confusing but thats how my brain works!  

To be honest I'm not ready to graduate because there's too much unfinished business to do.  I guess I just have to cherish these last 2 weeks before I'm really gone out of this place and trust that God will provide a way like he always does!  He hasn't failed me yet.