Day 1: Sunday - Palm Sunday
Day 2: Monday
Day 3: TUESDAY
Day 4: Wednesday
Day 5: Thursday
Day 6: Friday - Good Friday
Day 7: Saturday
Day 8: Easter Sunday!
"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." - 1 Tim. 6:12 (ESV)
So we made it through Monday (which by many accounts is the worst day of the week). However, often times Tuesday is just as bad as Monday! It's on these where I need a little encouraging and not to many people outside of Jesus encoruage better than Paul.
In the verse above, Paul is encouraging his protege, Timothy, to keep it up. Keep doing what he was doing.
I don't know about you, but it feels like the deeper/stronger I get in my faith, the more temptations I start to face; the more challenges I have spiritually and physically. To all of my brothers and sisters that are just beginnning their faith jounrey, take a hold to God's unchanging hand because it's going to be a rollercoaster!
So it's always nice to have this reminder. Fight the good fight of faith. I love that language. We are going to have to continuously fight, fight, and fight everyone. Continue to be that light of the world. Keep the faith!!
Day 3 reflection: As the week goes on, we are going to face more and more troubles which gives us more and more need to rely on God's power. Just keeping fighting the good fight of faith.
Day 1: Sunday - Palm Sunday
Day 2: MONDAY
Day 3: Tuesday
Day 4: Wednesday
Day 5: Thursday
Day 6: Friday - Good Friday
Day 7: Saturday
Day 8: Easter Sunday!
Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden." - NLT
It's a Monday. If you're not a morning person (and I'm not) Mondays can be the slowest point of the week. Especially Monday mornings...
While my instincts want to complain and be grumpy that it's the beginning of a long long long (did I mention long) week, I'm taken-a-back by what Jesus says on the Sermon on the Mount.
We are the city on the hill. We are supposed to be the light of the world. We should be thankful and grateful that we have even woken up this morning. There are people out there that did not wake up, that did not get the opportunity to bless someone else's day. I mean come-on, there aren't too many better feelings than blessing others!
Every day just gives me another opportunity to do God's work and be the salt and light of the world. So why am I grumpy about having to wake up at 6:40? I have friends/co-workers that wake up at 5!
PLUS, I don't know about where you guys are waking up, but where I am, it's a ridiculously beautiful day. "I got birds flying high, sun in the sky, breeze drifting on by...and I'm feeling GOOD." Day 2 reflection: Work on becoming the salt of the earth and light of the world and be more appreciate with the fact that I've been giving another day to be God's workmanship.
In an effort to get back to blogging on a semi-normal basis, I'm going to ATTEMPT to blog every day during the most important week in the Christian Calendar: Holy Week.
Day 1: TODAY - Palm Sunday
Day 2: Monday
Day 3: Tuesday
Day 4: Wednesday
Day 5: Thursday
Day 6: Friday - Good Friday
Day 7: Saturday
Day 8: Easter Sunday!
Matthew 21:9 - "The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is her who comes in the name of the Lord!" Hosanna in the highest heaven!" - NIV
Jesus came into Jerusalem riding one of the humblest of animals: a donkey.
The King of kings, who could get anything he ever wanted came in one of the most humiliating ways. Think about that for a second...
We come in with our degrees and expected lifestyle acting like people OWE us respect. We DESERVE respect because of who we are. I mean don't you know who I am?
Don't you know who Jesus is!? He came to serve. Yea, he could've came on a white stallion but he didn't. Matthew 21:5.
That idea really makes you think. Why do I do what I do? Why am I a paralegal? Why am I a person that tries to love others? Is it because I want the recognition. Because I want to get the respect that I feel like I deserve? But wait...respect is the last thing I deserve. So why am I constantly acting like I'm all that and a bag of skittles? When my role model, my best friend, my savior, my GOD came here to serve.
Who do we think we are? to take the song title from Mr. John Legend.
Day 1 reflection: Stop acting like I'm entitled to having respect; I should be doing what I'm doing because it's the right thing to do aka out of love.
I know who Jesus is and that's all he wants: love.
Have you ever read something and instantly felt on fire. The passage, that paragraph, that sentence you read makes you exclaim to the top of your voice (possibly within the confines of your head): "Yes! This is what I'm talking about!" Or some similar phraseology.
Well, this is what happened during my nightly bible study with myself reading Acts 26: 24-32. Here, Paul is in prison and making his appeal to Herod Aggripa who is like a governor of a province of the Roman Empire. Here Paul is falsely prisoned as a trouble maker and is pleading his case. Actually, pleading is a rough word, Paul is making his argument on why he is unjustly shackled. Throughout this process he finds a ingenious way to witness by proclaiming Jesus all throughout his testimony.
Stop There.
Paul's life is so infused with his Lord and savior, Jesus' that he can't help but talk about it; there is no aspect of his life where Jesus cannot be found oozing in it. It's ridiculous how passionate and fearless Paul was in a spot where he was persecuted for what he believed in.
Resume.
Verse 28 states as follows: "Then [Herod] Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian." Pause.
Now it's pretty obvious that Agrippa (or Aggy) was being sarcastic. Nonetheless, the truth is still present that Paul provided a very compelling argument supported by eyewitnesses and facts all in chapter 26. It brings me to the idea that no matter how perfect we feel our argument is...No matter how infallible we feel like the evidence is, some people. just. won't. listen (at least not at that moment). And you know what, it's ok.
One of the feelings I've been having recently is trying to learn it all. Earlier in my life I was planning on becoming a lawyer and one of the characteristics of a lawyer is to anticipate every argument and rebuttal coming your way. I mean, one of the ABCs' of law is to "never ask a question you don't know the answer to." But I don't need to know it all, in fact even if I did, I still won't be able to convince everyone. And that's. ok. What a load off my back.
Continue (here's the big point).
Verse 29: "Paul replied, 'Short time or long--I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains." (I switched translations on ya, aka this one was NIV).
Screeching Halt!
This is what hit me. This is exactly what I've been feeling recently. There has been an immense desire to spread the Gospel within me recently. To be completely honest, I knew the feeling was there, I just didn't know how strong it was until I read this verse. I want my brothers and sisters; aunts and uncles; friends and enemies to get to know Jesus!
I want them to feel peace when life around them feels pathetic;
I want them to feel loved when they are at their least lovable state;
I want them to feel joy so high that they can't even put it to words;
I want them to feel Jesus ya'll.
I want them to feel Jesus.
It's never driven me this crazy before. Maybe it's because I'm in the process of switching careers within the next few days. Maybe it's because I've found a church home and subsequently have become loyal to it (shoutout to Spirit & Truth Fellowship). I can't explain it. I just want everyone to know Jesus, my Christ, my God, my Jehovah.
I know this is an abrupt way to end this blog, but I Can't Hold It!
The title of the first "blog" that I ever construed back in 2007 was "Where Do I Go From Here?" A question that many of us continuously ponder from day to day, hour-2-hour, and minute-to-minute. I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I understood what I am called to be. But the deeper I dig, the more confused I become. The mantra that I held while I was finishing high school has not become any clearer now that I've been out of college and integrated into the adult life. Wasn't this thing called life supposed to make more sense??
That's probably the reason I haven't been blogging recently; there are so many underdeveloped thoughts in my head that I can't get it out to form a complete thought. Or worse, as I work on the process to compile a complete thought I end up spiraling into a wave of confusion. It feels like my brain isn't able to fully process anything. My humanly, finite brain isn't able and it's frustrating.
Sure I've tried to talk about it to others. My relationship with my parents hasn't been stronger since pre-teen years. But religiously, ever night, I spiral into this deep sense of establishing my worth. When I say my worth, I don't mean it in the negative way because believe me, I know to whom I am. I am a child of the Most High King and as that child, I know where I'm going once that one glad morning happens.
No, when I say my worth, I mean what am I supposed to be doing on this planet. How can I be the best person I possibly can in the church, in the workplace, in my family, and with my friends. If you have any answer besides the cliched one I welcome them. In church I often feel, to take the words of a former substitute teacher: "lost-in-the-ghetto-sacuce." At work I'm now changing mindsets and paths thus having absolutely no clue where it's leading. With my family, I'm consistently trying to bring us all together by being more societal driven by fighting back our urges to be individual robots. And with my friends, oh with my friends, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. We'll leave it at that.
It's suffice to say that I'm lost. It's not a coincidence that my recent studies have evolved around Job and the Psalms. The theme of desertion is plastered throughout those pages along with the thought of whether God is really listening and if so, where is he? Why aren't my ways his ways? Why aren't my thoughts his thoughts? I want to be like David- a man after God's heart but I don't feel it...
Remember.
Hope in God.
Trust.
Those are the three words that are continually echoing in my head. Maybe it's because I just got finished reading Ps 42 and 43 where hope in God and remembrance with a dabble of trust are sprinkled in the literature. God is present. Jesus is alive and is coming back. I look back and remember the sacrifice that my God made and all the wonderful works that he's done in the lives before, around, and in me. Through that remembrance I find a hope in God. A hope that I'm not going through all of this confusion and questions for no reason. Hope that there is a great plan because sometimes there doesn't feel like one. One of the products of hope is faith (Hebrews 11:1). The product of faith is trust.
Any time I think about trust, I'm always brought back to a Donnie McClurkin song that reminds us that we need to trust in God. Remembering helps us hope which helps us trust..
I don't know if this is going to help anyone out there. This could be something that I'm just going through that no one else is struggling with. But if you're out there and reading this now, I want to remind you to just trust Jesus. That's what I'm (trying) to do.
"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all of your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." - Prov. 3:5-6
Have you ever had a friend (or maybe you're that friend) that tries wayy to hard to fit in. This friend will at times bend his or her morals just to feel accepted, just to feel in the "in-crowd?" I know that I've been like that at times and from experience, your popularity won't last very long. Either your popularity runs out because people realize that you are a phony, or you lose the drive continuously being something you're not due to its draining effect.
That is what's happened to Christian -- "God" Music. What first started as an experiment of blending new music and sound to reach new generations, have lost, what Charismatic People call: "anointing."
Anointing. That indescribable feeling when you hear an artist sing or play that you can just feel; that ministers to you. Too many of our music is now lacking this. Too many of our mainstreams songs are being made just to grab a buck. While money is nice, the Bible reminds us that the love of money is the root of all evil. (1 Tim. 6:10)
An artist that produces music that is intended to impact a Christian-seeking audience (and also a Christian artist that wants to reach out to secular crowds) shouldn't have the primary motive of making money. Our primary motive, in all that we do, is to glorify God and to draw people closer to Jesus. And while peppering Jesus' name throughout a song might satisfy your conscious for a while, you are essentially turning Jesus' temple (which is everywhere) into a "den full of thieves." Of which Jesus drove out. (Matt 21:13)
Some people might think that the title of this blog is kinda harsh and I would be inclined to agree with them. However, as a worship leader who dabbles in artistry (bass player) as well as spent a good portion of my life directing choirs, I'm getting sick and tired of Jesus-music being made just for the money. Or even worse just so that the artist can become famous. Or even worse, the artist has become famous, has a loyal following, and has allowed the love of money get to their head which puts their lovers at risk. So yes, I am annoyed thus the harsh title.
What happened to that music where you can listen to the first verse of it and just feel the Holy Spirit moving through it? For example, I'm sitting in my bed earlier in the year watching the Passion Conference in Atlanta. All of a sudden this woman starts singing, of whom I'd never heard of, but you may know her as Kari Jobe. She sang the Revelation Song (which I'd never been too fond of). Right when she starts singing the verse, I felt an instant shutter. By the end of the song I was BLOWN AWAY because that song had anointing.
I will be the first one to admit that I'm an overly emotional black man when it comes to worshipping and I'm not ashamed. But if you aren't feeling something by the bridge..Then maybe I'm just insane.
A fellow blogger Dan asked me a question about Christian Bands, and how do I perceive them. My response is that I have no problem with huge bands; from little garage bands to organs to orchestral sympathies. If you were to look through my iTunes you would see a range of all different instrumentation; it doesn't matter.
For example: (another Kari Jobe example--you can see how much I like her)
I don't wanna take up too much space, but I can go on..and on with different musical styles. I'll admit it, this whole anointing thing can be accused of being subjective. Nevertheless, I believe that when the Holy Spirit is on a song, anyone that's in tune can feel it. I'm not a big fan of Southern Country music such as the Gaithers. I would be remissed, however, to say that their music doesn't have some anointin.
My God is not one of limits. I'm not going to call out people of whom I feel have "sold out" to mainstream ideal of M.O.E. (Money over Everything). I'm just a worshipper who wants some genuine new songs to worship to.
For all of my gospel loving brother and sisters, here's a gospel song that I feel when it's sang:
I would love to hear your comments. Who knows I might need to write a Pt. 2.
One of the biggest difference between Christianity and all of the other religions, belief systems, ideologies, or what ever you may or may not believe in is the fact that at the heart of it, we don't have to do anything to get closer to God. We don't HAVE to prep ourselves. The essential "religious" aspect of it was abolished on the cross. Through Jesus' death and resurrection, we have an unlimited amount of grace.
The crazy thing is that all, (and I mean ALL) of are sins have been forgiven. Paul beautiful articulates it in Colossians 2:13-14.
"And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross." (ESV - emphasis mine)
Some translations, like the ESV, will use the word trespasses while others use the word "sin." Irregardless, the point I want to emphasize is the past participle used in this verse. Notice that it doesn't say that are sins are being forgiven now or in the present. No, our sins have been forgiven. Not only that, but ALL of our sins have been forgiven.
The word sin comes from the greek word hamartia which literally means to "miss the mark." So anytime we sin, it plainly means that we have an end goal (whether we realize it or not) and we often miss that mark, thus we sin. The absolute amazing thing is that the sins we commit unconsciously or even intentionally have been forgiven when Jesus was nailed to the cross. I'm not saying that there isn't power in repenting and confessing our sins because that's for another blog, but I am saying that, Grace is found here. No matter what you have done, knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally, has been forgiven! WHAT!?
I'm not here to put down any other religions/beliefs but that to me, is what makes Jesus the Christ so unique. I don't have to do anything but believe in my heart that he lived, was killed, most importantly, was raised from the dead, and is coming back. That's it!
There is a danger point however, it's that people abuse the "Grace Card." But, that's for another blog.
For now, I just want you to realize the freedom you have in Jesus. Not some, not most, not a bunch, but all of your sins have been forgiven. You just have to believe. That's all it takes. All the grace in the world is found here. There is more than enough grace to go around for everyone.
For my unbelieving readers: What are you waiting for?
For my already-belieing readers: Isn't that notion amazing? Sometimes I need to get a reminder of how awesome my God is and I hope it helps you out wherever you are right now.
