Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.

Thank you Lord, for lifting my head…

If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Romans 7:15-25

It’s amazing how real and vibrant the bible is when the battle that’s so eloquently depicted in scripture, in an old English dialect is real before you. It’s so easy to interpret and understand the bible when you recognize and see yourself in the bible. As great as Paul was, I can truly identify with his struggle. Paul wrote (under inspiration of the Holy Spirit) much of the New Testament. Yet vividly and somewhat unimaginably, we see here Paul struggling with the enemy; his inner-me. Paul’s struggle was intense. His love for God was evident. His heart was right, his intent was right; but how many of you know that it was once said that the path to Hell is paved with good intentions. To take it further, intentions really don’t mean anything. Many times things I intend to do I ended up not doing them. Because if they are important, I just do them, and I forget to intend. But I digress; the Apostle Paul was mired in what had to seem like the mother of all rock and hard place dilemmas. He loved God, but something present within him was causing him to react involuntary; something was causing him to do what he didn’t want to do. To make matters worst, the law (commandments) which were good, didn’t help. They just let him know how far off the mark he was thereby embolding and strengthening the sin that sought to over come him. The fight, which first seemed to be external, was very much an internal thing. The sin, the negative thoughts from within, sought to over power him and defeat him from the inside to the point Paul screams o wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death!? Let’s stop right there for a moment. I know exactly what Paul is going through. It seems that when I want to do good and want to do right I do not. I feel schizophrenic and crazy, because I intend to do right, but it doesn’t seem that I can. It seems that the enemy/inner-me is always one step ahead. If the bible ended at verse 25, boy we would be in trouble. But thankfully, it doesn’t. Chapter 8, which is really a continual thought of chapter 7, turns the table in this war by stating…

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

Romans 8:1-12

The first line says it all. We are not condemned to lose this battle of sin that finds from within to those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our savior. The key to all of this is that our life, once sentence to death is now alive, not on my account; but His! So now when I walk in power, his authority, in His Spirit I overcome. Now of course, I know someone out there in blog land is trying to figure out I do I walk in the Sprit exactly? I will tell you. First by being saved and second by following the Word of God. In John 6:63 Jesus says the following:

 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

For centuries there has been a push to “deepifiy” the bible, but in reality it’s strait forward. Its Jesus’ word’s that are spirit. Remember in the beginning was the Word and the Word was God, and the Word was with God, and the Word became flesh and dwelled among us? Jesus is the Word, and by His Word, we operate in the spirit. When we walk according to the Word, we walk in the Spirit. When we walk according to what we think is right, or our wants and desires we walk in the flesh. The Word leads to life. The flesh, well, though it sometimes means well and it intends to do good, it leads to death because when Adam sinned, the flesh died. Through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection he overcame sin, and those who walk with Him overcome sin  and are no longer carnally or fleshly minded but spiritually minded.  

The bible goes on to say in Romans 8:12-17 that because we are now united with Christ in faith, we are now truly sons of God. And because we are sons we have an inner witness that declares and says abha Father! Its not enough for me to paraphrase this next scripture so I will list it verbatim, Romans 8:17- 21 says the following:

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Paul recognized that the challenges and the battles that he faced today has nothing to do with or cant be compared to the glory that is revealed when the Christ in Us truly shines. Further, he says that even all of creation is waiting expectantly for us to come into the full manifestation of who we are. Think about like this. God created Adam and told him to name the beast of the field and he did. God also gave Adam dominion over everything. When Adam disobeyed God (missed the mark) that’s when Adam fell and all of creation which was subject to Adam fell with him and was now subject to the curse as well. i.e. when the King is overthrown, so is everything that is subject to him… When Adam was living it up in the Garden of Eden so was all of creation, animals and birds alike. I am sure they preferred Eden. All of creation recognizes man as having dominion in this earth. They are just waiting for us to stand up and realize it. Jesus has defeated sin, and all of creation is waiting for us to discipline and defeat the inner-me…

It’s easy to get off the band wagon, and man it ain’t easy being saved. It just isn’t. With so much temptation, lust, negative talk, swine flu, recession fears, and tight jeans etc…, it just not easy to stay saved. I like many others found myself off-tract. Not backslidden, but more in a state of not performing as optimally as I could. For example, if you are an “A” student, yet you are making “C’s”, its not like you are failing class, but you are failing your gift that God deposited in you. You are not running optimally, or to the standard that you are capable of. So regardless of whether you pass, in many resects you have still failed. I can tell you I have dealt with that scenario my whole life. When was I going to live to the fullest, pursue the fullest, and be the fullest and best I could be? I knew this to be true with school, and with work, but until I noticed that pattern in my spiritual life it didn’t really ring true. It rang true when I realized that I wanted to be the best spiritually that I could be. So I returned to things I did when I was in my groove… “Spiritually”. I returned to things like 5:00 am prayer. So I set my alarm and went to sleep. For the next 2 weeks, I literally woke up at 6:30, 6:45. There were days I didn’t even hear the alarm. So, I put the alarm on the other side of the room. The next couple of weeks, I awoke when my alarm went off at 5:00 am, walked to the other side of the room turned the alarm off and promptly went back to bed. Man. So much for my spiritual rebuilding program. This went on for a couple of more days till it got to the point where me and God had to have a talk.

With no super spirituality, or deepness, I asked God, why is it so hard to be anointed? Why is it so hard to be saved? Why is it so hard to live right? I mean, if I wanted to get involved with sin that would be easy. Give in to temptation, do whatever I want. If wanted to fool around with wuigi boards, and call up familiar spirits, and act dumb, call Ms. Cleo and the pshyic-hotline, that wouldn’t be hard find some demon to posses me. But why is it so hard to be possessed by the Holy Spirit? I know it its possible. I have experienced it. But not on the regular. To draw a distinction I wasn’t questioning God, I was asking God a question out of desperation, and acknowledgement that He is the greater. No sooner than I got the last question out, no sooner did I hear God say “wide is the way that leadeth to destruction”. Thanks for answering, but what does that mean?  The bible says in Matthew 7:13 -14:

 “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

That ahh hah! Epiphany type moment set in. We live in a society and cultural and world that is seriously flawed. There are norms, and values that sound good but aren’t consistent with the Word of God which framed this world. People really think that they can eat whatever they want, whenever they want, not exercise and still say slim by either taking fat burning pills or plastic surgery. We think we can be CEO without learning anything or putting in any work. Somewhere, along the line we have lost the value of the process that makes you and prepares you for your destiny. We live in a microwave generation that wants destiny now; and supersize my destiny please. 

The easy thing to do is to feed the flesh. The difficult thing to do is to feed your spirit, and discipline your body and life. But because its difficult does that mean we should not do it? Because it’s easier, does that make it right? No. Here is the reality, living by the Word takes a standard, and it takes discipline. In this walk we are constantly tested, and tempted. But the testing and tempting is not meant to derail us as much as it is to promote us and prepare us for our purpose, our calling, our destiny. This walk is not easy; but it’s rewarding. Rewarding with the crown of life. The reward that says “well done my good and faithful servant” is the reward we are striving for.  But to get that crown, we must take the road less traveled by the masses. We must take the road that others have refused, called outdated, or were unable to discipline themselves to sustain travel on that road. We must do as the bible says which is to live by the standard that we have attained (Phil. 3:16) and boldly enter through, the strait gate that leads to our Father, our saviour and our destiny…

Fear is an epidemic that is choking the world right now and it is driving this great nation into a fear based economic depression. It’s shameful to see how fear is wrecking our lives. When I speak this I speak it from experience as I watched fear try to invade my own life. I watched as the many faces of fear such as worry, anxiety, nervousness, doubt and unbelief have undoubtedly crept in. My pastor has been teaching frequently on fear recently, what it is, how to diagnose it, and how to rid yourself of it (by meditating on the Word in the area you have fear in. i.e. you are afraid of running out of money – meditate on Philippians 4:19 until you have more confidence in the Word than the contradiction of God’s Word – the fear that is trying to penetrate you). As he says, fear is a reciprocal of faith. They are both the same, in the sense that they are both spiritual forces that will bring to pass that which one repeatedly meditates on… (as a man thinketh, so is he…) but I digress. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but he has given us a spirit of love, and a sound disciplined mind. What this means is, if fear is powerful, and fear is not from God, why do we entertain it? Why do we allow it? Very simply, somewhere, when there is fear, there is some form of unbelief. There is some unbelief that God’s Word will not come to pass. If you are a believer as am I, is my job my source; or is God my source who uses my job as an avenue to supply my needs? For me, I know the answer; God is my source; but do I act like it’s so? If I don’t act like its so, do I really believe? Faith, without works is dead. Selah. What I am attempting to convey is yes, these are indeed days of perilous times, but it’s a time where those with a relentless faith will not fail.

I previously alluded to how fear has mounted an attack in my life. As I wondered what was going on, the still small voice spoke to me and reminded me that often times, we fear when we don’t believe. Additionally, I noticed that fear is more prevelant when we don’t live our life to the fullest. Fearless are those who live their life to fullest. Those who live everyday, who love everyday, those who learn everyday, to those who pursue life with purpose, passion and vigor; to those who pursue life with a relentless type of faith goes the spoils. From what I can fathom, most people don’t live life to the fullest. I raise my own hand in a repentant acknowlegdlement because I realize that I have been a part of that group that doesn’t live their life to fullest; people striving to be all they can be. It seems people don’t live life to the fullest until they have a near death experience or are diagnosed with some terminal illness. Now look at the hypocrisy in that. In John 10:10 Jesus the Anointed one, clearly says what his purpose is, and what the enemy’s purpose is. The thief comes to steal your dreams; dreams that the Holy Spirit spoke to you. The enemy comes to rob and murder you of your passions through compelling you to focus on the worries of this world while we are destroyed in a life of sin. My friend that should not be, and it is not the truth, it is not the fullness of what’s available to us. Jesus came that we might not only have life, made possible through his blood which has provided a new life and a remission of sin, but he came that we might enjoy life. Enjoy life, I mean, walk on the beach, have fun, drink some “red” flavored Kool Aid (btw, what does red Kool -aid taste like?). In these times, it seems that with our salvation comes more than a “get out of hell free card”, but it truly is an invitation to live life to the fullest.

I am not sure what your fullest is, heck I don’t know mine; but I am willing to pursue it. I know in my heart there is a burning desire to find out. A desire that is mounting to push past average into the fullest of everything that God has called us to be. A desire to push past fear, and a desire to no longer delay the development that God has called for me. These are tough times no doubt. But history will tell you that more wealth is transferred in tough times than at any another time. My point isn’t that money is everything, but these are times of opportunity. As David, sat alone, in a cave after a defeat in battle, when his men thought of leaving him or stoning him, David encouraged himself in the Lord. He made himself happy. Likewise, we have Jesus who has came to not only give us life, but that we might enjoy it in abundance, and have it till overflows. Not till it fills up to the top. Not till it fills and spills over. Overflow constitutes a continuous flows. To draw an illustration, Jesus didn’t come and fill our cup half way. He didn’t fill it up with a larger pitcher of water to where the cup filled up and some spilled over. No Jesus came, turned the water (synonymous with spirit) on from a heavenly faucet and our cup continually runneth over.

We have life overflowing. Smile. Embrace life, pursue it with a passionate relentless faith. These are tough times, but they are times of opportunity. This is truly days of survival of the fittest; spiritual fitness as well as physical fitness. Live, love, enjoy, pursue life. Jesus gave you His life so you could. It is but our reasonable service to do all we can with the new life we have.

Ready or not, here we come…  

 ”If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God,
      “I’ll get you out of any trouble.
   I’ll give you the best of care
      if you’ll only get to know and trust me.
   Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times;
      I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party.
   I’ll give you a long life,
      give you a long drink of salvation!”

Psalm 91 – The Message Translation

Now obviously, this is a fictions tale, and talking to the devil is not something I can recommend in good faith. Nonetheless, there is a principle in the story. The enemy has been using guilt, sin and condemnation to wreck the lives of people for centuries; all the way back to Adam & Eve. When they sinned (missed the mark) they knew that they were naked, so they made fig leaves and covered themselves. Immediately shame set in. From that point on, man felt shame at his missteps; shame at his mistakes. That shame weakens the knees of a believer. No longer can they stand tall, strong, naked and not ashamed as Adam did prior to the fall. Even as born-again, tongue talking, bible carrying, devil stomping believers, we sometimes struggle with fear, struggle with past sin, struggle with shame and struggle with condemnation. This struggle weakens our walk, and it weakens our faith and our belief in God. The truth to the matter is if it was my fight I would loose. If it was me fighting, I couldn’t make it. If it was me fighting, I would be condemned. But the bible declares that there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1 -2). It was God, sending His Son to die on our behalf that causes us to live, not of our own life or of our own accord, but of his. Further, if anyone is in Christ, he isa new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. In Christ, we are new creations. We are no longer, sinners who sinned. So if we have been disconnected from the sin, forgiven of that sin, then why continue to carry the guilt of that sin? Selah.

I have done things, said things, witnesed things, that frankly, I am not very proud of. But thank God my salvation is not based on how I feel, but on the ministry of reconciliation; that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their (our) trespasses to them (us).

Darwin Hobbs new CD’s title track is a song that I truly enjoy and love. The lyrics listed below proclaim with power and simplicity the truth that we are:

Free! Free from my past, free from the pain, free from the guilt that would cause me to be ashamed; once I was blind, but now I see, clearly the debts that Jesus paid for me, no more chains are binding me, I am totally free.

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

Thank God, I am Free…

As a father I recently needed to speak with my son regarding the importance of doing the best he can do in whatever he does. As Solomon penned in the book of Ecclesiastes, he stated “to whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might.” But somewhere in teaching my son that lesson, I realized that I failed in my everyday pursuit of excellence. Daily, my one goal in life should be to be the best that I can be that day. To do the best that I can be in that moment. To not dwell of the past, nor ponder the future, but to act, boldly and decisively in the present. As Jesus taught the disciples not to take thought of tomorrow but to seize the present. It’s easy to get caught up in the future, or dwell on the past. My advocation is not a complete annihilation of the two but a proper ordering of the three. Nothing is more important that today. The past is gone, tomorrow is not promised, but today is a gift; which I why it’s known as the present (Kung Fu Panda).

Further, in doing my best, my focus should be on God. My purpose should be the upward pursuit toward true completion.  With excellence, we tend to judge ourselves by how we measure up to others to determine how far along we have come; to determine how good we are. The reality is other people have no bearing on who we are, nor our pursuit of excellence. Our focus should never be on others but on being the best that we can be. There’s a truth that I learned with that small statement. As an athlete, as a coach, competition I thought is what breeds success. The challenge of competition I thought brings out the best in you. While competing in sports is fine and while competing against others is fine; the true competition is internal. The true competition is the internal battle to push past average. Do you have what it takes to beat you? The you that tells you to quit, the you that says that you have done enough. I am convinced that the race goes not to the strong, nor to the swift, but to those that endure; and to those that the defeat the “inner-me”. Once the inner-me is tamed, potential is unleashed. Excellence is what breeds success; and excellence is merely doing what you know to do, diligently and consistently. But will you pursue? Will I? Who knows, it’s up to you. Excellence awaits…

Typically, I take that type of news we received in stride; thank God and move forward. However this time was different. This time I noticed that the fear, the anger, the depression of the believers and non-believers around me had ever so subtly attached itself to me. As I went home, I took that stench with me. Instantly my wife picked up on the increased burden I was carrying. That burden was foreign to me as a believer. I know where my source is, I know where my hope is, I know that help cometh from the Lord. I knew that as a believer I have been endued with power beyond my human capabilities. God’s power, might and residue is upon into me a form of the anointing; aka the result of the Holy Spirit.  As my Pastor frequently states, God has applied is “super” (Holy Spirit) on my natural body, allowing me to move and perform ”super-natural” feats. With this knowledge, I thought to myself, as Paul chastised the men at Corinth, why am I acting like a mere man?

The events of the economy, the fear, the hopelessness today is pervasive. It seems at every corner there is bad news, fears, wars, and rumors of wars. Navigating through these times as a believer can be challenging. Yet these times are not without precedence. I recall a story of when David was at a point in his life where on one side he was being praised by men on one hand, yet all the while being pursued by his former mentor King Saul, and engaged in a battle with the Amalekites. Worst, because of all of this, he was forced to flee to the land of Philistinesand befriend his people’s mortal enemies. With all that going on, the Amalekites struck, kidnapping his wives, children and his men’s wife and children. The culmination of these events devastated David and his followers. Not only did it devastate his men, they spoke of stoning him because he got them into that predicament. It was at this low, bitterly frustrating point that David didn’t get frustrated but he did the following:

And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God. – 1 Samuel 30:6

At his lowest moment, at the lowest moment of those around him, David chose to seek God, and encourage himself happy. Sometimes, the best encouragement we can get is from ourselves. Surely I know that feeling. As one reaches the point of encouraging themselves in the Lord, there is a certain maturity that is reached. You are no longer acting as a child, but as an adult. Not just an adult, but one who is clothed in the power of God in spite of his circumstances. It is at the point that you begin to operate beyond being a mere man…

So if salvation is about faith, my salvation has nothing to do with how I feel, but more in my belief; and because of my belief, I step out and operate in what I believe, regardless of what I see, or feel. The beginning of salvation is a belief and a confession that God so loved me that he sent His Son Jesus, to die in my place and rescue me from my sin, and the death associated with it. For understand that the wages or the result of sin is death. When sin is committed, death must occur. Death reigns through sin. Until Adam and Eve sinned (missed the mark – set by God’s Word) there was no death, because there was no sin. It wasn’t until they sinned that they died; or were separated from life which is God.

But God so loved the world that he sent His Son, a chip off the old block to save the world, that who(ever) should belief on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was a substitutional death. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We deserved the cross, we committed the sin, and we deserved the death. For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. So why did we deserve death? We sinned before we knew it. Let’s take this conversation to a higher level. Adam and Jesus are forever linked. They are the standard bearers, they are the molds. Through one man Adam, sin entered the world and death by sin, and because he was the mold, everything that came of his seed was born into sin and were made sinners. Likewise, through Jesus death, burial and resurrection, he made an open mockery of death, and took its sting nullifying the power sin possessed.

Thus when the sinless Christ was sacrificed, his blood was shed. With no blood shed, there is no remission of sins. With this blood shed and sacrificial death, the monopoly and strangle hold that sin and death held over man was destroyed for them that believe in Him. For those who believe, confessed and received Jesus the Christ as God’s answer to mans problem, when he died to sin, we died to sin and now live new lives in and through Him. Through our belief, we are forever connected to Christ. When he died, we died. When he was raised, we were raised. He triumphed over sin, and so do we. So no longer can sin drive us. No longer can our feelings determine our salvation. So it’s not a matter of how I feel but what I know. So now that we are connected, I died and it’s no longer I who live but Christ who liveth in me. He played the game; He won the super bowl, and gave us a super bowl victors ring. He was the MVP, I was merely the waterboy. But hey when the QB wins the super bowl and gets his ring; the whole team and the waterboy does too.

His death, burial and resurrection not only changed my life but made my life. In light of how he performed, in light of how he figuratively ”balled out of control” over the enemy and his henchmen sin and death, how can I not be excited? How can I not be a cheerleader? How can I not give Him my gratitude through righteouss living? He was and still is the ultimate organ donor. How can I take his organs and live a new life, then allow sin control over me when He openly and soundly defeated it and overcame it. Regardless of how I feel, He won the game; He finished the bully off. The bully is trying to slip in through our flesh and convince us of my frailty, and remind me of past sin. Regardless of how I feel, I am saved; not based on my works but on His.

How can I not be a Jesus freak?

You are my light, when darkness surrounds me,

You are my strength, when frailty seeks me,

Naked, ashamed, fallen, average; cloaked with limitations you clothed me in divine puissance,

You empower me, you crowned me, you chose me, and you saved me,

Yet still, I am not sure why?

Without why I live for you, for I am not my own, I belong to you,

I strive for you,

I pursue for you,

I overcome because of you,

You are my refuge…