Tag Archives: pride

Read more..

Humility Under Fire

Have you ever been under fire? There is a gun ship in the military that “brings the rain,” to those on the ground. This is what is happening in your life. You are attacked non stop until you look like Swiss Cheese. Even though its unwarranted, when it goes and comes through your life you’re left devastated, but it makes you reflect over your life. It makes you think about what you have done. Things happen in our life, and the first person we blame is God. “Lord why did you allow this to happen to me? Am I not Your child? Lord why me? I can think of quite a few people on my list who need this, but I don’t need this.” We come out and we have issues. But can you be humble? Can you be humble when someone is sticking you with a pitch fork, or talking about your mother?

The Word of God tells us about humility while under fire. Its hard to love someone when they’re choking your neck. Then you have to look at them an say “I love you in spite of yourself.” But humility, when you’re going through a process in your life of growth, can you be humble, submissive, genuinely honest with yourself and say ‘I understand I will be humble”? Humble and fire; you just can’t put those two together; they are like oil and water, they just don’t mix. Can you remove yourself out of the picture and be understanding to someone else and be humble? Most of the time we can’t because we’re looking at the way they are hurting us. You remember the old saying about sticks and stones? Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.

Hurting on the outside on your flesh is temporary, its for a moment for the physical pain. Take an aspirin or midol and the pain is over. But when you hurt me with words, they cut and leave scars you can’t see on the inside. These scars don’t heal. They don’t heal do they? No they don’t. When you cut on the inside, you leave a mark that only I can see. A lot of times people they leave a mark that only you know about. They say one thing, but do another and you say, “I thought you cared, I thought you loved me, I was under the impression. When you said it before it meant something else. Do you care about how I feel. No, because if you did, you would never have put that scare within me. So all of this time you lied?” Its amazing to me that people allow their lives to be controlled by a lie from youth to now and never got over it. Just because someone calls you something doesn’t make it so, you make it so because you begin to act as so. We look at our lives and say “I am not what so and so said I am.” Then we question ourselves and and ask “am I?”

We justify that scar within us. We do just what a clam does. What does it do when it gets a spec of sand within? It builds up a shield over it, a slimy shield that gets hard over and over until it rises up, so when they go over it, they won’ t feel the pain of a little grain, but now they have the pain of a pea. This is what we do on the inside, covering it up over and over, thinking that this will justify and make us worthy. You don’t need anyone to validate you. You, are you. Validation only brings accreditation to the person giving it. But if the accreditation isn’t good, neither is the validation. You say, I’ll drown myself in alcohol. I’ll takes drugs that will help me forget. It never helps you forget, it makes a bad situation worse. Now you have drug addiction added to the bunch. Every layer you’ve covered that scar tissue up with, you have to pay for it, and go over it.

Humility under fire, that moment when you thought you’d fight back and say, ok. So what is taking place in your life? God is watching every move you make and trial your take. He’s seeing you in that trial. When people go through grief recovery or anything like that, they have to talk it out or write it out and say if they have a problem with someone. Then what are you going to do with it? But I just gave you all my problems, now you have them. You’re wondering why you got on his nerve? Can you look at someone and say “I’m sorry for the way I treated you?” Nothing can come at you unless you allow it to come at you. Nothing can get on your nerves unless it gets on your nerves. Things only bother you because you allow them to. Some people set time bombs in your soul then leave because at a certain time it will explode. They’ve been gone for a whole week and your suffering and they aren’t even around. You’re sitting there struggling, getting mad with yourself for getting mad at them. People set things in your soul to distract you from your course. If I keep you lingering and wondering and wondering and lingering over things guess what? How many hours in a day? 24? So if I get you to spend 15 of your hours thinking about what I just did to you and i’m not in the picture, whose life am I wasting? They aren’t there, and you are struggling. Satan does it all the time to us and we love it. He gives us things to muddle over in our brain. One person comes through and says I don’t like you?  You’re struggling on that, at home, on your job, everywhere you go you’re struggling on that. Meanwhile your soul is getting beat up. Who’s beating up your soul? You are! That is a time bomb they set in your soul.

People have ways of doing things to you that you don’t want to see or know. People drop stuff in your life to destroy you to make you think less of yourself. They make you unsure of yourself, they don’t give you the opportunity or growth to grow. They stunt your growth at an early age. Parents do that with kids at an early age saying “you’ll never amount to nothing.” So your pursuit is to amount to make them wrong, but it hurts you to your core. We all know what nothing is right? If they say you’ll amount to nothing, then where is all the love they gave to you going? To nothing? You don’t wast love on nothing. “So who am I,” the little kid thinks? So the little kid grows up to be nothing. You know how many people are in prison because their parents put them in there? Some people spend all of their life trying to prove to their parents they were wrong about them being nothing. So what do they wind up doing? Theft, mugging, violence; and its all because of their parents. He gets his parents attention, and is now in prison, but the parents say I love my child, I love I love.

Can you still have humility under fire? Humble: to have less pride, or none at all. Low; down to the earth low. To be subdued. To be submissive.

Does that mean let people walk over you? No. Not wanting to have the last word out of everything. Not wanting to have the last word. What does that mean? Do you want to have the last word? Because if I give you the last word, you have to think about it. They got the last word. How often do you have the last word? Then the word comes, the one we don’t want to hear “you no good…” We brought that on ourselves, we chased it down. There is no humility in the person who wants the last word. You argue, you argue, you argue, you argue…arguing is someone trying to get the last word. Not just the last word, but the last hurting word. How many can be big enough to say “alright you can have the last word,” and then turn around and say I love you? It hurts the other person. Christ did it for me. So we can do it too. We bring a lot of undue fire in our walk with Christ because we want to get the last word. Do you try to have the last word with Christ? How many can just apologize to that person and say I still love you? We can’t do that, we have to bring out the big guns and fire, emptying the first magazine, then when all the clips are emptied, we bring out another set of guns!

Jonah – Lets go back to that wonderful hot summer when Jonah was sitting under a gourd tree. The Lord told him to go down to Nineveh and tell them to repent. But Jonah said, but Lord those people are evil and bad. God could have continued on with the conversation, but He let Jonah go on. How many are big enough to say “but” to God? You tell God, “but,” and He’s the one who made you! Everything that is He made. But then you tell Him no! This is the same God who put a big ball of fire in space, and have planets orbiting around it. When is the last time you put up a couple planets up in space, and you give Him a but? He is so humble and says “Have it your way.” Now when He has a purpose for you to do, then He will be after you. Like Jonah. Jonah just went and waited thinking the Lord would destroy the Ninevites. You have to be humble in your walk, even when people dislike you and treat you bad, look at them with an eye of love. That’s humble, and by you doing that you win their heart and soul back. One major thing we look for, we look for things to happen instantaneously. We say to the Lord, “You said that You would curse those I curse.” While the Lord is thinking, “why can’t you say something like bless them to help them see what you see?” Everyone is going through their own test to different degrees. You have to realize this, don’t judge another man’s test with yours. When you fail a test, you go through it again, and it becomes harder because you knew better. When you see someone go through their own walk and trail, don’t judge them. If you make fun of them, then you get home and wonder why you feel bad.

1 Peter 4:12-19

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Don’t think it strange that you go through because if you’re trying to find out who God is, you’ll go through! If you know who God is, you’ll go through. You’ll always go through. You know what’s important about the test? Its not so much getting through the test that matters, but its your attitude during it. Are you complaining about the test, like the Children of Israel on their 40 year journey that could have been a 2 day journey? How soon we forget when we were in a situation how Christ delivered us from it. Being out of it we’re complaining. When you were in it you loved God going through your motions. When you got done with the test you say “Jesus? Jesus who, Jesus what?” As soon as we go back into another test what do we do? We cry out to Him. We don’t feel close to Him unless we’re going through something. When you were going through, you were all on the floor, you were foaming at the mouth seeking God. When you go through tests, you know you makes vows to the Lord, then when the test is over you go back to your old ways. Why because you have no humility. Going through a trial when you’re under fire, knowing that there is purpose in the trial for God to take a bad quality out of you.

The biggest thing we don’t know how to do is forgive other people. You have to forgive totally, not a surface forgive, forgive totally. Its a hard thing to walk in your own self righteousness. Do you have a heaven or hell to put people in? We need to look in the mirror and talk to ourselves. Healing starts. How can you be healed when you still have something inside against someone else? You ask “Lord restore me.” How can He when you don’t have enough love to restore your brother or sister? You are your brother’s keeper. Can you be the bigger person and say I apologize, I should have thought of you more than that, forgive me? Guess what? That bridge is repaired and that connection is repaired. If you are claiming the blame, the whom do they have left to blame? Now if they’re still arguing then they’re arguing with themselves.

While you’re walking through a trial, its your attitude during the trail. If you’re attitude is to get back at a person while you’re in a trial, you’ll repeat it. That could determine whether you go to heaven on hell. If you haven’t gotten salvation the right way, you have to get it right.

Matthew 18:3-4

And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

You may have to eat crow sometimes to be humble, eat it with a smile and with dignity. You can be humble with dignity.

Read more..

Warring Against the Mess in the Flesh

How many times have you started out doing what was the right thing to do but it turned out worse? You started out with a good intention. Did you know that good intentions are not good enough? We try to do things that our Lord would be happy and pleased over. In dealing with life itself you must understand that the first word that you see in the word “intention,” is intent. The word intent is starting something, but not completing that thing. For example, he did have intentions to save money, but he never held on to any money. She intended getting a good job in her field, but never took the time to search out her field. There needs to be some action behind the intentions. I have intentions to go get food, but if I don’t cough up money to get the food, I won’t get it. With intentions there is always a presence of a struggle with you or some opposing factor in your life that causes you not to fulfill the intention. Good intentions are not good enough.

Good intentions without action behind it means nothing. If you don’t put fire behind your intention, that intention dies. How would you like if the Lord only intended to die for us? If He’d not put action behind it, we’d be a most miserable people. If you really intend to do something, it would have been done. So when you are in a warring with your flesh, its a conflict. I’m glad the Lord didn’t get cold feet when it came to us. I’d rather for someone to say that they can’t do something, than to say they intend to do something, and don’t do it. When thinking if a person will go forward with doing something for someone else they say “Well how did they treat me last week? They didn’t treat me right. They borrowed money from me last time. No I don’t like them. You borrow money and didn’t pay me back.” The other person says “I was intent on paying you back.” We’re always in a conflict with ourselves. We do things for people according to if they did something for us. Conflict and intentions have a hand in hand relationship, because conflict keeps you from carrying out intentions. Opposition keeps you from carrying out intentions. Your attitude towards a person keeps you from being a brother or sister in Christ to that person. There is war between brothers and sisters in Christ. If a brother or sister didn’t do something we didn’t like, we hold back brotherly love. The Bible says we should care about others more than ourselves. If we don’t, we spread discord because a sister or brother didn’t get the love needed, and so they spread bitterness and it trickles down to the next person. We ought to know how to talk to our brothers and sisters, motivating them to do good and not to do jackedupness. I don’t want you to leave hurt. If we don’t do go to our brothers, their hurt will be internalized and the hurt will be spread. Care about your brother or sister. Isn’t something how we get jealous? We have so much opposition. Why because there is a selfish nature inherited by humans. Jesus with the disciples who were going to dinner rebuked Jesus for sitting with publicans and sinners. Jesus said He came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. We must not have a selfish mentality.

James 1:5-8

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

We want to look good before other peoples eyes, because our intentions are not good. There is a war and conflict going on. Don’t think God is going to answer you when you have a mindset to do things for show. Did you know being a Christian is a lonely road? You go through a lot of trials and tests, because He wants to make you. We say to the Lord, why are You taking me through all this? Why me? I don’t want to go through another test? We complain through the entire thing, then at the end, we say Lord, it was good for me to go through that. There is always a conflict because our flesh wants to kick against everything. We say I’ll go help sister or brother so and so clean their house, because its filthy. You work tirelessly. When you get to your own house, you’re so tired and fall asleep, and miss your time with Lord because you were too busy doing something for someone else. When you have an intent to do something, make sure you carry it out.

How do we get beyond not carrying out our intentions? Its selfishness. It’s alright to be selfish, but not to the detriment of being with Him. When we have intentions the pray, and we don’t what kept us? Its the warring that takes place in our lives, souls, and day to day operation. We intend to do good, but you can’t be double minded as James says. When you’re warring it means a struggle between opposing forces. The word conflict is a clash between forces. There is a clash inside of you. What are you warring against? What things are distracting you? Phone calls, frivolous things? But you just told Jesus that you don’t have time. We make the time for what we want to make time for, and then we complain when we think Christ isn’t coming on time. When we get in trouble when do we want Jesus? Before hand so when we get in trouble we don’t need to worry about calling Him. Can you imagine Jesus talking to the Father about us saying “oh Lord.” Then the Father says to Jesus, “Well You died for them.” Our intent needs to be carried out. The Lord asks one thing of us: to Love Him. Then He said after you love Me, love others. He didn’t ask you for your car or to burn 20, 000 houses to sacrifice to Him, He just said love Me, and as you love Me, love one another. Its your reasonable service just to love. So when you intend to do something, don’t intend, just do it. Its you who makes the promises you don’t keep.

Do you remember Samson? He had all that strength to be used for Lord, but he was fighting against the people who were fighting against his people, the Philistines. He had a conflict. How about David? He had conflicts. How about Saul? People don’t realize that these conflicts in their lives were destroying their communication and walk with God.

Proverbs 16:1-9

The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits. Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right. A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.

A man plans his ways, but God guides his steps in the way they should go. There is a way that seems right to a man, a woman, a child, but the end thereof is death. Your mind plays tricks on you. If your mind is jacked up, then how will your way be? Those who think themselves something are nothing. When you think your something, your nothing, there is a way that seems right to man, but the end thereof is the way of death. When you think you’re something, then your end is death.

Point your finger at yourself and say “You’re always getting me into trouble.” No one makes you do anything. You do things because you want to. You remember the old song “The devil’s on my back.” The devil isn’t on your back, if he was, you’d be all jacked up. He doesn’t care about you. He has too many other things to do than to be on your back. The Lord is the one that cares about you. Satan just doesn’t want you to win more souls to God. Satan knows there is a God and he trembles. You hear some people say “I ain’t scared of no God,” meanwhile, Satan, God archenemy trembles at Him. We need to realize that we can’t beat God or jack Him up.

Make sure the intents of your heart are genuine.

Further reading on this topic: Proverbs 17:14-20,1 Corinthians 1:9-17, Philippians 2:1-16

Read more..

Do You Need the Validation of Others?

Matthew 6:1-6

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

 

Do you need the famous work “ok,” do you need to hear that word often to make you fit in your surrounds? Do you need a pat on the back after you’ve finished that job or task you were assigned to do? Do you surround yourself with people who always give you compliments? Are you constantly in need of encouragement? Do you really care about what people say about you? If you were able to answer yes to any of these questions, then its time for you be self built up in your most holy faith, without the need or the “ok” or the validation of anyone in your life to make you feel secure about you in you Christian walk, without you having the need to lift you up or give you praise.

 

Matthew 5:13-16

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

 

You are the salt of the earth. Salt is to make something better, taste better more palatable. When you look at that understanding, God has made you the salt of the earth. If you are the salt of the earth, what does He expect from you? It only takes a little salt to change something from what it used to taste like to make it better. It is a savory taste used to enhance, change or preserve something after being changed. Once it has been placed in the food or seasoning, that salt will preserve what was changed from one taste to the other. When you see that, understand this when the Lord said you are the salt of the earth. We were sent here to changed the direction things were going and preserve it. Once Christ gave us walking in the good news of what HE came to bring, He has placed that inside of you. You don’t need to be validated by any man, child, woman, or thing. He has made you the head and not the tail of somebody. If you’re not made the tail of somebody and you are the head, then why does the head need to talk to someone else other than Christ who is the head? You don’t need to go to any other individual to get God’s will of what He promised He said He’d do for you. Can you not count on other people? He will send you pastors after His own heart for you, leading and guiding to individuals in your own life, there to support you and keep your mind focused on the purpose that God has given you for your walk in Christ, mission in Christ and more than that for you to stay strong in His will.

God has not given us the spirit of fear. Some of us go around allow fear to dominate what God has placed into our lives to help us go forth in ministry so that we can do our part, touch the hearts minds and lives of individuals to bring them into the understanding of who Christ is. So when you allow salt to be the structure that you form yourself after, and do what it does, it will change the taste of, or change the heart of, it will make every change and preserve the change that is made earlier because of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that keeps us and gives us purpose.

If you don’t know your purpose in Christ, taking advice from men, without consulting God first, then you will be lead down a false road of security until you run into that first bump in the road. If you don’t believe in something, you will fall for anything. That is why its so important that you fail not to assemble yourself together, because someone may be going through the same thing you are. God has not given us the spirit of fear but of a sound mind. You can’t have a sound mind if you are listening to every individual who you think may have a word from God. If you’re not aware of how you are affecting your surroundings by your stability in who you are, and what purpose Christ has for you if you’re not aware of that, and you have no focus, how will you be an effective child of God?

The Bible says an unstable person is unstable in all his ways. If you don’t have focus and balance in your life, everything around you will not have focus and balance. What purpose do you have and serve, what good are you for? You are not up to par on being a Child of God. How can you be the salt of the earth? If you are allowing individuals to esteem you, validate and extol you, praise you and pat you on the back, that becoming your lifestyle looking forward to those things, then how effective of a Christian would you be? You’re waiting for validation from things around you. No, no, no. Christ can not use you because you need something other than Christ, other than the Holy Ghost, that strengthens you and guides you. If you have no stability what kind of example are you setting in your own house? If you are not sure what God’s perfect will or purpose for your life is, how can you be an example for those in your own home? Do you want everybody in your house to look up to you, and you go looking for someone else to check your validation of what you are doing and saying is correct? That has been the problem with a lot of people in this day, they look so much of what people are saying about them, looking at them, and they are allowing that to control what they say, do, and how they act.

As a Christian, you can not allow individuals to guide you or lead you for their own purpose. You have to make sure that it is coming from the Holy Ghost. The Word said it will lead you and guide you into all truth (John 16:13). Its time out for waiting to hear from a prophet, from an apostle, from a pastor, from a Bishop, from a friend, from a boss, from a loved one, its time to listen and read your word because God said He will lead and guide you. No don’t get it wrong, I’m not trying to say don’t get away from the leaders, if they are men of God, they are going to enhance and encourage and push you forward in what God has ordained for your life. If you have a mentor, whether Bishop, Pastor, friend or loved one, always check what they tell you with the Word of God, and the Holy Ghost that is in you will lead you to the right understanding. The Word of God says lean not to your own understanding, acknowledge Him and he shall direct your path (Proverbs 3:5-6). Don’t look for anyone else, to your own understanding, but lean to the Word of God, through prayer and supplication, God will give you the answer, and to every answer, He gives there will be a witness to that answer.

Don’t show yourself off to the world to validate that you are a Christian. You need not be on national tv with a banner in your hand or any such thing alike declaring that you are against this and you are a Christian, so others will see you and say “oh that is a Christian.” The world doesn’t know what a Christian is, all they know is what a Christian does. So when you have an issue with a particular thing, take it to God and pray about it, or get together corporately with a group of baptized believers where you are all standing in agreement. Where there are two or three touching and agreeing on a thing, He is in the midst (Matthew 18:19).

 

Romans 6:12

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

 

By us operating and doing things using our hands, ears, nose, arms, legs, for the purpose of Christ, he said remember you should act as though you’ve just risen from the dead. Before when you were in the world, you were dying. Now you are alive in Christ, and if so, don’t exemplify the deeds of someone who was dead, but exemplify yourself and one being alive from the dead of the world, alive in Christ. Behold you are a new creature old things have passed away.