Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8

Just the other day I had an old and I mean past life old friend of mine send me a message. He asked me if I was living two lives. Part of his message was a picture of this guy already in prison but had taken the lives of two men in prison for something they had done. This picture is what grabbed my attention honestly. Same beard and bold head.  Skin coloring was similar and style of the face was scary honestly. There were differences though because you could see that tattoos that covered part of his bald head.

Then God pressed into me a gut check moment. What difference is there between myself and the man in the picture? Oh yeah he is in jail and I am not. I might be ugly but dang he’s got me beat by a long shot. I have never killed anyone, I have stayed in a jail longer than 1 night, let alone life in a max prison in Southern California.

No, God said not with your eyes but mine. There is no difference between that man in the picture and myself. You see God does not judge our clothes our looks shoot he knew what we would like like before the beginning of time. Why would he judge us if he created us. So if he won’t judge us based on looks we shouldn’t judge ourselves.

God looks to our hearts not our appearance. That why David cried out when Nathaniel called him out for the adultry with Bathsheba. David cried out “Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Psalm 51:9‭, ‬11‭-‬12

It’s about our heart. So are we living two lives? Yes, because we are not giving everything to him. We want things are way on our terms. Not God’s but ours we have our hidden sin as well. Nope no one knows about it, and no one will so it is mine my sin. But what we don’t realize is we don’t own our sin… our sin owns us.

Double-mindedness is we speak with our tongues the very word of God but yet out of the same mouth come curse word and evil tongues come from an evil heart. So how can something good and holsom come out of the same mouth as a curse word or sing the vulgarity of the songs we listen to?

We are either all Christ or all worldly. We cannot be both. That is why Joshua said chose you this that whom you shall serve, but my family will serve the Lord. Or how about God himself said that you were neither cold nor hot so I spit you out.

How much longer will we live these two lives? How much longer are we going to allow the devil and this world to keep us blinded? How much longer till you finally walk in the freedom Christ died for.

Jesus told us to pick up our cross and chase after him (Luke 9:23) it’s time to start picking up our cross everyday and every moment of every day. Even and especially when we are alone in our closets. Just because we believe it’s hidden doesn’t mean that it is.

Many blessings till next time

Grace of the King

Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

When I was digging into Colossians I read this and the words of Christ Jesus came to me when he stated in Matthew ³⁷ For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Are we living in those times? Are we so blind as to not see the things that are happening around us or have we become numb to the birth pains (Matthew 24:8)?

Before we are able to see, the first part we must tackle is our prayer life. I am preaching to the choir here, so when I strike a chord it is mine as well. How are we able to tell there is something wrong with our spouse or are friend without talking to them? Are we able to look at them and determine “yep their moving” or “their spouse just committed adulatory” There is no possible way that we could without talking to them. But yet we believe that we are able to see the world around us without speaking to the one who is controlling the world around us. How can we see God moving without being in communication with Christ Jesus? How do we know if we committed adulatory toward God when we placed that idol before him, unless we are in communication with God. When we are in perfect harmony with our spouse it is when we are communicating the best. The same goes with God. There is no relationship without communication. We were gifted this ability to communicate one on one with our creator the moment the veil was torn. Our prayer life is essential and without it we are the blind leading the blind. Yes, we have His holy word, but have you ever read it without the Holy Spirit guiding you? Again, the blind leading the blind.

Now are we being watchful in our prayer? Maybe its just me but I am feeling this burden like I have never felt before. Are we seeing or are we praying with a watchful eye on the things happening in the world? I have always felt that God has placed me here to be a watchman. Am I a prophet? No, I do not claim to be and will not claim to be. We must be in prayer over the times that we are in. We must have our eyes to the world praying for the world. The reason are world is in this place is because for decades now the church turned its eyes from the world to the inside the walls of the church. If you know history then you know the world goes as the church goes, and not the other way around. For me I am the watcher for my family, and it plays a tole on me no doubt.

When we are watching in prayer we should be seeing the world with thanksgiving and not fear. When the shelves run empty we should be giving thanks and not scrambling in fear. Our churches should be the ones gathering food for the helpless, putting the widows in a cooled atmosphere out of the heated summer. When the one to protect our nation turns its back on its people it is the church that needs to stand in and protect its people. What are you doing to prepare for the time that is coming?

Are we all right now, every child of God on our knees praying that his grace fall upon on nation one more time? Is every child of the Most High crying out to our maker have mercy on your church one more time? Are we praying for our children that they do not have to go through what might be coming down the road?

What pains me and breaks me is the Mighty one the Creator the one that has given us breath has been trying to get our attention. He has been trying to wake his Church. He has been saying get on your knees before it is to late. My friends I am afraid that it might be to late. I sit in tears because we have not woken up, that we are moving and walking and carrying on just like in the times of Noah. My brothers and sisters let us reach out passed the walls of church, past the veil that separates His children and the secular world. Remove those walls we have placed up and let them see into the Holy of Holies.

For they know will know you are my disciples by your love (John 13:35).

The bride that Christ died for needs to stand. The only way the church can stand is if His children are on their knees.

Many Blessings

Grace of the King

2 Corinthians 10:5

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

If you have ever ran track you know that it is more than just running. Some say the mental battle is close to 75% of the running. I say this because yesterday at track practice two of my athletes started crying saying they could not do, what I was asking them to do. These two specific athletes had a bad outing last track meet, and the devil was taking over their thought process. I can’t do this, we will fail, we are not good enough. Does this sound familiar?

Let us go further than surface level though. Have you noticed how the thoughts are getting more often, stronger, and maybe even darker than they ever have? One of my girls the one that will be starting our relay, had a false start last week. And, let me tell you how that plays with your mind. So, what does the devil do? He throws it in your face, and next thing you know you are falling on your face in front of 100’s people.

For me, its darker and harder to fight because he flashes in my head the fun times I had before I was saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. The vile and disgusting things that I used to chase, the fleshy desires that we hide in our closets. Those scenarios that he bombardes are minds with over and over, then thoughts of your not saved, you really haven’t changed. If you were saved then why would those thoughts even come into your mind? Or, the rage seems to come into your heart again, you know that rage we would change to feel high because it meant we had power? Or, we walk into a gas station by the beer section and you turn around without thinking and there is a beer in your hand? You start chasing pictures on Facebook and next thing you know you are on some dark vile website.

The bad part and I believe where we fail is at the initial point of the thought process. We allow the simple thought to creep into our minds, and then our own minds take it and run with it. Our own mind is was twists and contorts the thoughts not the devil. The devil only has to plant the seed, and we allow it to ferment, and then the weeds take over our mind. Once the thought takes over our minds we end up in complete darkness, not wanting to get out of bed. The depression at times locks us down so tight and dark we can’t move. Other times we are trying to perform something to the best of our ability. The first time it might not go as we planned, so we shut down and call it a failure, then see us in that failure.

My pastor Chad Geeslin said it this weekend, and it struck me because we never do it. Well at least I don’t ever do it. We do not stay in the victories that God brings us long enough. What happens is we tend to live in our failures but not our victories. That is where the devil can latch onto us and lock us down, but when we bast in God, and realize the victories he has brought us we can see that we have already conquered the failure we are being trapped in. When our anxiety starts to take over it is because of something from our past. We latch onto the failures and see it again and again in the future. This can be based in rejection, bitterness, sadness, or so many other emotions that drive us into that anxiety.

So what we must do is conquer it with the truths and promises of God. Back to my athletes real quick. One of my girls that was crying was saying that she can’t because she isn’t fast enough, when I have clocked her faster than anyone else on our team. She can do it why? Because she has done it. My other girl, the one that is starting the relay is claiming she can’t because of the false start two weeks ago. But she is not taking into account the other 20 starts she had with no issues. We get trapped in the what ifs based on failures, instead of seeing the victories we have already had.

We must stop the bleeding before it gets to bad. We must take every thought captive and ask is this of God? Is this thought producing something from God or attributing to God’s Glory? If not then fight it with a truth or promise from God’s word in order to do this we must slow down our minds. Not matter what we bask in the victories God has brough into are lives and Paul said it best in Philippians 3:¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

We all fight this daily battle some harder and darker than others. I know my demons from my past can get dark and loud at times. Let us lean on our brothers and sisters in Christ, and know that you are not alone. Even though the devil tells you that you are I PROMISE you are not alone.

We got this!

Many blessings till next week.

Grace of the King

And if you want more than one a week let me know.

From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
Galatians 6:17 ESV

This verse struck my cords deep with in me. I have read it over and over again pondering my life, while looking at the life of Paul. Now I am no means the Apostle Paul, none of us are or ever will be. As in scripture when we study it, we are to look at it in different perspectives. Who and when is God speaking to in this passage, then what does it mean to us today.

Paul at this time was in prison. He had years of traveling and evangelism. He also had years of beatings, stoning, hardships that you and I could not imagine. The good thing and by the grace of God we don’t have to. Saints before us have paved the way, they were hung on crosses and burned as candles so we can live the life we have. We are blessed beyond reasoning, but yet so we bear the marks of Christ?

I look at this and I am undone. I am nowhere deserving of the marks of Christ as Paul had. I am not sure I could take the lashings, or the beatings as Paul did. My faith I believe lacks in that department. God knows though I will die for him, I will not fail in this race.

I look at Paul who preached the Gospel everywhere he went, and was hunted down. Paul was hated by the gentiles and the jews. The cross is offensive to the world, and Paul knew the cost he would bear. He knew chains awaited him in Jerusalem but yet he still went. This to me is a mark many of us here in the West will soon bear. As the church’s voice gets louder and more pure in its boldness persecution will come. Will we be seeked out by authorities?

Paul was known to be argumentive at times. He pressed into the worldly views and man made religious laws. But he did it with love and grace. Paul started in the synagogue then worked his was to the streets. His life was marked by the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was the name he preached that made Paul the enemy. Christ crucified was it, and the cross that Paul bore everyday.

The marks of Christ in our lives, should be seen by all. When we have scars those scars have stories. And we tell those stories with passion and vigor. But yet we hold back on the cross and the redemption he has done in our lives. Oh how beautiful is the healing of those scars. How glorious is the hearts made whole, the marriages renewed, the shattered minds pieced back together. These are the marks of Christ. This is the mark of Jesus in out lives that people see.

Let us bear the marks of Christ proudly and boldly. For the Apostle Paul said it best “far be it for me to boast except in the cross of Jesus Christ”. (Galatians 6:14)

Blessing till next week