“The eyes of the Lord”

 

 

The concerned and compassionate eyes of the Lord are always on us, penetrating even our darkest night. From the moment we are conceived and every day thereafter, He sees us .The Lord keeps His eyes on His children to protect and preserve them and lead them home. May we pray daily for the Lord to equip us “with everything good” so that we “may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ” Hebrews 13:20-21

 

“Do good and forget, Serve Others and You will be comforted” As You Find your Way!

 

The above quote prompts me to show love to a former mentor who brought me so much joy by introducing me to a world of different literature genre like, “The Bridge Builder”. A specific type which I didn’t much care for, unless it was from the likes of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni or Maya Angelou.

 

 You see, I’m sitting here crying bittersweet happy tears reading about how coach Campbell  football coach at Iowa State University, gave a goodbye to his senior players by reading that same poem, “The Bridge Builder, by Will Allen Dromore which is a simple poem with a clear moral message about caring for others when there is no obligation to do so. The poem depicts an old man who, close to the end of his days, decides to spend his time building a bridge he does not need. 

 

Often, I think of this type of caring spirit, which is the idea that “love is of God” that’s expressed as “love is from God” and “love comes from God” . In 1 John 4:12 we are taught by John that ,“but if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us” . This is why it is so easy for me to serve even though; I do not need to.

 

That poem, the Bridge Builder along with “Invictus”, “If We Must Die”, and “If”, woke up that passion for me as a spiritual servant,  as a High School coach. Often when I read those poems to my former players in High School. I spoke about having a, “one Heart Beat” as a team.  Meaning you should always treat your teammates never simply as a means but always at the same time as an end with love in mind, “brotherly love”.

 

What a great concept in today’s world as we hear the question What does it mean to flourish or be the best You, each day as we respond to our feelings and desires towards various situations, “To the sounds of a heavy street”, in this world. Character, “the excellence of moral beings.” 

 

By nature, human love is selfish and conditional. We love those who love us. We love people who are kind to us and who offer some benefit to us. But Jesus taught, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. . . . Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” 1 John 3:16. 

love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? 

 

Even sinners do that” Luke 6:27-33. Can you love selflessly, not expecting anything in return?  I sometimes struggle with what Jesus teaches us .That we should not give to our friends and rich neighbors who can pay them back but instead to the needy and poor who cannot repay Luke 14:12. He also said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” John 15:13. Serving others requires this kind of love. Mercy, compassion, and selfless love are not easy—in fact, humanly speaking, they are impossible to do with a completely righteous attitude  and a Positive-Mental-Attitude. Romans 3:10-11. But God is faithful to provide strength, joy, and cheer if we ask Him; 2 Corinthians 9:7 ,With His strength make a poem sing in your heart in other words ,“Love others”. The essence of  Love is agape love a goodwill, benevolence, and willful delight in the object of love. Agape love involves faithfulness, commitment, and an act of the will. It is distinguished from the other types of love by its lofty moral nature and strong character. Agape love is beautifully described in 1 Corinthians 13.

 

The type of love that characterizes God is not a sappy, sentimental feeling such as we often hear portrayed. God loves because that is His nature and the expression of His being. He loves the unlovable and the unlovely, not because we deserve to be loved or because of any excellence we possess, but because it is His nature to love and He must be true to His nature. We are to love others with agape love, whether they are fellow believers  John 13:34 or bitter enemies Matthew 5:44.  

 

This love does not come naturally to us. Because of our fallen nature, we are incapable of producing such a love. If we are to love as God loves, that love—that agape—can only come from its Source. This is the love that “has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” when we became His children Galatians 5:22. “.

 

WoW, Happy Birthday for the prize awaiting us in eternity, so we can endure earthly difficulties while remaining full of hope  2 Corinthians 4:17. 
Recognizing there is “a time to keep and a time to throw away” means living with an eternal perspective. We may acquire things while on earth, but we must always be prepared to let them go.

 

When our joy and hope are based on that which cannot be taken away, we have found true happiness, and God is pleased. In God We live, move and have our being!

 

God Bless You and This Ministry!

 

 

“Pulse… Click ... Pulsate ,God will sustain Us”

 

 The sensibility of the Christian life to me is one lived by faith in the God who saved us, empowers us, seals us for heaven, and by whose power we are kept forever. 

But the day-to day sociology sometimes try’s to  affirms that the theory-of-knowledge concerning toils and struggles predicts that our community often times fall prey to intellectual conformity, descending down a kind of epistemic rabbit hole, with so much of a “spiral of silence.” This was a result  of  my individual “self”- wanting everything about “Isolation existence“ without acknowledging God

 

 My mind of Poetry Echoed indulgence:

Pulse… Click ... Pulsate

Can’t do it All in the playbook
Life is counting down on your internet night-light 

Burning inside are Memories that occurred days gone by
shadows upon my walls turn to ticks of  seconds flashes

Illuminating that seem to dwindle away the laughter, the pain

Societies you once knew, the knowledge I seek
walk by means of a clue this era of mystique.

misled by times you crossed over once. 

shared  a diffable hue of memory.
subsist as if you were never there. 
Year’s fly...co-players die...and darkness will befall
and you never know when you'll sing your last shine of ta-ta.

Oh, how I wish I could turn back time, for light is life difficult
spend it with loved ones and cherish this sacred journey called Life 

what once was a candle of mine.

Or to go back even more,
being a kid in an orange slice candy store.

How I miss the way I used to feel makes me ponder
when Father Christmas was real.

But back to reality...back to today, a mindset of PMA
family is scarce and memories continue to fade away.

My Ocean is not just a “teenage” melodramatic as is.

Tick tock...tick tock...open your mind

Push… Push… Give My every Thoughtful Swag
How I wish I could control this Heart.

That timeless destiny found only in God Himself.

 

 

It is sometimes a disconcerting truth for many Christians that even though we belong to God through faith in Christ, we still seem to experience the same problems that plagued us before we were saved. We often become discouraged and bogged down in life’s cares.

 

But as children of God our faith is one that grows and strengthens as we seek God in His Word and through prayer and as we unite with others that are Christians whose goal of Christlikeness is so similar to our own.

 

The Christian life is also supposed to persevere to the end. “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” God is not pleased with one who “draws back” from Him after making a commitment, but those who live by faith will never draw back, because they are kept by the Holy Spirit who assures us that we will continue with Christ until the end . Ephesians 1:13-14 

 

So why are more people motivated by the quest for pleasure or money? Some center their entire lives on a goal, a job, or even their families. These things are not wrong in themselves; however, that which we center our lives on can become our god. The human heart was designed for worship, and if it does not worship God, it will worship something else. If we are not Christ-centered, we will be centered on something else. Like worries are difficulties.

 

 

Difficulties abound in life: with relationships, jobs, health, and day-to-day activities. Christians are not exempt from these difficulties; in fact, they may experience even more than their fair share: earlier in the same passage, Paul described some of the troubles he and others faced as “jars of clay” in this world.  2 Corinthians 4:7 When difficulties arise, they might seem monumental, and they have the ability to incapacitate us. However, believers have hope that even the worst suffering experienced on earth is only “light and momentary troubles” compared to the glories of eternity in heaven. Life here on earth is but a vapor  James 4:1), but our eternal life in glory, yet unseen, will make the affliction worth it all. In fact, the troubles we have today are achieving for us a lasting benefit: “They produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!”  2 Corinthians 4:17.

 

Life is hard. Disease, death, and difficulties abound on this side of eternity. Sin has marred what God originally created perfect. While difficulties are rarely enjoyable when we experience them, these hardships are only a “momentary, light affliction” 2 Corinthians 4:17 for the Christian. Our difficult circumstances have the ability to produce good fruit   in our lives and to remind us of what matters eternally.

In reality, feelings come from thoughts,

 

In Colossians 3:2, we are told to “set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Therefore, as we do this, our feelings of guilt diminish.

So, each day, taking one step at a time, we should pray for God’s Word to guide us, read or listen to God’s Word, and meditate on God’s Word when the problems, worries, and anxieties of life come along. The secret to giving things over to Christ is really no secret at all—it’s simply asking Jesus to take our burden of “original sin” and be our Savior ,John 3:16 as well as submitting to Jesus as our Lord in day-to-day living.

 

God Bless You and This Ministry!

 

 

 

 

 

“Engage God”

Have you ever encountered difficulty with different groups? Perhaps a boss, friends ,family members dealing with political polarization or an intuitional policy. What about working on a home association board it can be challenging as well in your life. 

You see lately these things have tainted my reaction to God’s unlimited power. As the music plays, I hear my Christian voice say, “I’m I putting God first” or am I “making sure God has first place in your/my life.” Such expressions of the mind are used so often they run the risk of becoming a Christian cliché. But there’s nothing trite about the idea of putting God first; in fact, it’s thoroughly biblical.

 

Everyone has priorities. We arrange our schedules, budgets, and relationships according to perceived importance. Putting God first means we give Him top priority over everything else. He is the principal figure in our lives and central to all we do and think. When we choose to put God first, we determine that He is more important than any other person or preoccupation. His Word is more valuable than any other message, and His will is weightier than any other imperative.

 

When we learn that God’s control is absolute, our first inclination might be to resist Him. God’s perfect and complete authority is vastly different than the imperfect and delegated human authority we experience. A proper understanding of God’s nature helps us understand how He exercises authority. God is gracious and good. He delights to save people from destruction and distress. He sent His own Son into the world to do that . So why don’t we have a proper submission to God’s authority  and why aren’t we “transformed by the renewing of the mind”? 

 

To understand and submit to God’s unlimited authority as we find a safe place to rest and thrive, we need to, “study his word” often and engage the gospel as you gain that wonder which leads us into a fullness of life.

 

The study of God, which is “theology” being simply an attempt to understand God as He is revealed in the Bible. No doctrine will ever fully explain God and His ways because God is infinitely and eternally higher than we are. Therefore, any attempt to describe Him will fall short Romans 11:33-36. However, God does want us to know Him insofar as we are able, and holiness is the art and science of knowing what we can know and understand about God in an organized and understandable manner. Some people try to avoid dogma because they believe it is divisive. Properly understood, though, it is uniting. Proper, biblical religious study is a good thing; it is the teaching of God’s Word  2 Timothy 3:16-17.

 

All Christians should be consumed with digging into God’s Word. But are they? You see the intense, personal study of God needs you to know, love, and obey the One with whom we will joyfully spend eternity. As a  believer in Jesus Christ sometimes I wonder do we fully understand the words, “simply in the world”? Simply, it means a physically presents but not of it and not part of its values. We are not to engage in the activities of the world that promote bad intentions or insipid, a corrupt mind that the world creates. So why do we sometimes retain our selves, stuff and our minds above that of Jesus Christ?

 

I do not want to live, think and act like those who do not know Christ but sometimes , I want to have the final say and not live up to being checked as a fallibilist. Is that Pride?

I often listen to conversations about the lack of engagement in the study of theology or the word, saying,” I haven’t been digging into God’s Word to discover what He has revealed about Himself for Months”. Ah, Life is hard. It is harder for some than for others, but we all must cope with being imperfect people in an imperfect world. Then I’m reminded, “How’s Jesus messing with me”? You see even Jesus agreed that life is hard, but he didn’t stop there. He said, “In this world you will have trouble . But take heart! I have overcome the world”. John 16:33

 

As we travel on this journey to get to know God in order that we may glorify Him through our love and obedience. We understand that Life was never supposed to be hard. Because when he created the world and placed the first man and woman in its life was perfect. Then Sin entered, perfection was marred, and life became so hard. As a result of humanity’s disobedience, God cursed the perfect world he had made. It ruined everything now” the whole creation groans”, and we groan with it .

 

But remember even though Life is hard, Christ is our advocate our intercessor who pleads our case to the Father. He knows what it feels like to struggle through difficulty, and the host of human situations that make life so hard. Life is hard, but the Holy Spirit is our comforter who helps us and stays with us forever as we are reminded that this world is not our final destination.

 

Let us endure, engage, grow, learn faith, develop compassion for others who are struggling, and wait for our final reward, at that time, we will hear our Savior say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord” . Matthew 25:21

To study theology is to get to know God in order that we may glorify Him through our love and obedience. Notice the progression here: we must get to know Him before we can love Him, and we must love Him before we can desire to obey Him. As a byproduct, our lives are immeasurably enriched by the comfort and hope He imparts to those who know, love, and obey Him. 

 

Poor theology and a superficial, inaccurate understanding of God will only make our lives worse instead of bringing the comfort and hope we long for. Knowing about God is crucially important. We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about God. The world is a painful place, and life in it is disappointing and unpleasant. 

 

Those who put God first will stand out from the rest of the world. They will obey God’s commands (John 14:15) they will take up their cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23), and they will not forsake their first love  (Revelation 2:4). They give God the first fruits, not the leftovers. The Christian life is characterized by moment-to-moment selfless service to God that flows from love for Him and His people. In all things, the believer trusts, obeys, and loves God above all else. Putting God first becomes easier when we take to heart the words of Romans 11: “Everything comes from the Lord. All things were made because of him and will return to him. Praise the Lord forever! Amen”

 

God Bless You and This Ministry!

 

Cling to what is Good (Romans 12:9)?

 

Paul is describing the worship of our God, and I usually call this, What is your why? Paul goes on to say, we need to be a living sacrifice to our God, giving up seeking what we want from life and learn to know and serve what God wants. What does that begin with? It’s using our spiritual gifts to serve each other in the church and our fellow man. Our goal as Christians is to love and lift each other up. We must focus our expectation on eternity and wait with patience and prayer for our Father to provide. We must refuse to sink to evil’s level, giving good to those who harm us instead of revenge.

 

I thought I knew all I needed to know about being, “usefully good”. I was wrong. I just knew a lot about evil. You see in these polarized times, people live inside their social media echoes of “I” chambers of their own extremism, growing ever more pretentious. Each day, the digital waters we swim in causes us to deepen our entrenchment of our beliefs with a growing willingness to caricature our opponents. When forced into contact with the other side of good, we become repulsed and indignant. How could anyone be so stupid? Are you shocked to discover the one thing that unites us with them is that they feel exactly the same way in return, frightful and not trusting our vulnerability? The human way is to curse those who curse us and try to overcome evil with eviler. But, according to Romans 12:21, we can only overcome evil with good.  God’s goodness is stronger than any evil.

 

‘My friends at Corinth, our hearts are wide open to you and we speak freely, holding nothing back from you. If there is a block in our relationship, it is not with us, for we carry you in our hearts with great love, yet you still withhold your affections from us. So, I speak to you as our children Make room in your hearts for us as we have done for you”. 2 Corinthians 6: 11-13 So, “Why am I so afraid of Vulnerability”?

 

The godless of the world “hate what is good”. 2 Timothy 3:3

Yet, So many of us hide and even feel uneasy just hearing those words; we don’t want to open wide our hearts and hold nothing back. Which is opposite to building real and meaningful relationships. But what we are really uncomfortable with is the unaddressed fears that we associate with the concept of opening wide our hearts.

 

One heartbeat, knowing there’s a risk that the other party won’t reciprocate. “Love must be sincere”? Hate what is evil; cling to what is good” Romans 12:9. Paul points out that true believers love genuinely, without hypocrisy, and overcome evil with good. But God’s children are lovers of good. We hate evil because it is the enemy of all that is good. God Himself is good and the source of all goodness. Mark 10:18 Everything God creates is “very good” in every aspect Genesis 1:31. 

We overcome evil the same way, with good. The Lord says that vengeance belongs to Him and He will repay Hebrews 10:30. So, what does that mean? That we can entrust ourselves to God, just like Jesus did, and know that He will work even those evil acts committed against us for our good. Romans 8:28. When we refuse to respond in kind to those who would persecute us, their evil actions stand alone, whereas retaliation brings us down to the level of the instigators. When two people are fighting especially with their rhetorical words, and one is clearly attacking the other, evil is highlighted for all to hear and see. When we return a soft word, a kindness, or generosity to someone who has wronged us, which is the beauty of being vulnerable, we leave the perpetrator alone in his evil.

 Proverb 25:21-22 says, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will hear burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.” Paul quotes this passage in Romans 12:20, just before his command to “overcome evil with good.” To “heap burning coals on his head” probably refers to the natural response of the enemy to kindness. Nothing makes us feel more shamed and embarrassed by our actions than someone reacting to our hurtful behavior with gentle forgiveness. Kindness in the face of unkindness demonstrates the stark contrast between the two. The goal of a gentle reaction to the enemy is not to embarrass or get the last word but to help facilitate repentance in the evildoer.

If we remember a few key things, we are on our way to overcoming evil with good:

1. I am not the judge; God is. He will do what is right Genesis 18:25. 

2. As a Christian, my response to evil should not copy the world’s behavior but reflect Christ, who is in me Romans 12:1-2. 

3. Keeping my eyes on Jesus helps me know how to respond when I am treated poorly Hebrews 12:2. 

4. God is always watching and evaluating my choices, and He wants to reward me for obeying Him Matthew 5:43-48. 

Jesus reminded the Pharisees that Satan cannot drive out Satan. Likewise, evil cannot drive out evil. An evil response only doubles the evil. When we respond to evil in humility and grace, we are proving that good triumphs over wickedness. We cannot stop people from doing evil, but they cannot force us to participate with them. It takes no power, might, or wisdom to retaliate against evildoers. But returning good for evil is one of the greatest demonstrations of strength.

 

Do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God” 3 John 1:11; Clinging to what is good draws us into a closer relationship with Christ, which in turn results in Christlikeness of character: “even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. Christians have been promised an end to suffering. Suffering in this life will happen, but it will end, for those who have faith in Christ. Not only that, believers will be “restored” from all the harm done to us.

 He is your example that we cling to. 

 

What is good by clinging to the Lord. Jesus Christ in us is all the goodness we need to be wholly good.

 

Gods Blessings And This Ministry!

 

“My Corn field”

  “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me”. 2 Corinthian 12:9

 

Using the above scripture, I was reflecting this sun rise about my youthful adolescent’s, how I seem to be fixated on being in a mush world without options or opportunities. Was it due to the lack of action on the part of my parents? Was I a victim, “When the state became God”,” Making me/us a victim of my time during ghettoization”? Many of my thoughts were strained by how I viewed things, a lack of cultural intellect maybe, a significant lack of financial resources. All because of being marinized because of my ethnicity? Ah, I soon realized it was a social construction of perception verse reality for the group, that has no objective but rather is what people decide about self-esteem, “oh really”? Insights, different of opinions, “our whatever”, my guidance in a question, “what is the object of the faith by which one should live in this world”?

 

Yet John 3:16 begins, "For God so loved the world. . .." So, God loves the world, but we are not supposed to? Why the apparent contradiction? A peradventure of sin crosses my mind as one of Satan’s demons were offering me/you a deal? In any case, the idea of forfeiting one’s soul in a deal with the devil is much more cultural and literary than it is biblical.

 

 There comes a time to draw a line in the sand and take your lumps and take a stand to,” Live for Christ”. Loving the world is idolatry 1 Corinthians 10:7, 14). So, while we are commanded to love the people of the world, we are to be wary of anything that competes with God for our highest affections.

 

There's no magic formula thought out our journey of favor, blessing and kindness mournfully blurred.

I ask myself is it the change in the way you grasp, “the greatest gifts of grace”. How could you ever accept, as you rummage for meaning in self? Coexisted within the concrete landscape in a daunting City, merely existing in a make-believe utopia, with no practical relevance to “Truth”? 

Let the illusions and falsehoods—of who you thought you were and what you thought your life was supposed to look like wear themselves out. Stay a little longer with pride, you might end up finding yourself? Instead, we are to be selfless, to die to self, and to deflect any attention given to us to the great God who created and sustains us.

 

The maze of life! You have the word of God, which is the lamp for your feet and the light for your path. Just as you would have been lost without a light, in that maze of life without God’s word. It sheds light on all your decisions, so you wanted to see clearly what you ought to do. The scene was high on the delusion with a fiery intellect landscape, “I've never been there, but the brochure looks nice”. So, do you have the audacity for curiosity?

 

“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable”. Proverbs 25:2-3

 

I stood in a cornfield at sunrise just outside the group of buildings, called the Towers, near where my dorm room was as a freshman. Yet for me as an African American student who entered Iowa State University that fall was an awkward experience.  A trip through fertile Iowa cornfields on my football recruiting trip, a kid from the projects of the West End in Cincinnati, I had been both captivated and felt weirded. The warmth of the morning sun offset by a refreshing breeze rustling through the cornstalks. The air was perfumed with the cleansing scent after a light shower, enriched by the fertile soil and the earthy aroma of fresh Iowa corn.  I had never seen corn growing up that close so, it’s glistening for a moment, reminded me of “The Fruit of the Holy Spirt”.

 

I stood before a single corn plant and was struck by its beauty and majesty as it grew purposefully toward Heaven. Its emerald leaves were lined with countless tiny grooves, sparkling with dew like complicated crystals, reflecting prisms of light. Glistening white, and pale and bright gold, kernels peeked through the parted husks sheathing the untouched ear of corn. At the top of the ear, flaxen strands of cornsilk shone in the sun like a young woman’s light-colored afro braids.

 

“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him”. Romans 8:9

 

 

Athletic programs pour resources into making the adjustment of their freshmen as seamless as possible. But you see in the heartland of Iowa some nine years after the 1964 civil Rights Act the live “corn” was utterly in capable, I thought of seeing the source of my human being side of inquisitiveness. I remembered my coaches were always in my ear. They observed me once in the mist of those fields of wonder. Next thing I knew I was invited into the office of worry; being asked are you lonely, because we saw you over by the corn fields. I quickly replied, no, I had never seen corn up close before.

 

Sounds corny (pun intended), but there really are some takeaway points from this misadventure that parallel nicely to our Christian walk. I share these with you now in the hopes that you will glean some fidelity for the future harvest.

 

First, you cannot begin your journey if you do not know where you should start, and you can’t complete your journey if you don’t know where the finish line is. You have got to know where you are and where you are going. How do you know this? Depends on your, corn maze. A life of faith in God with His wisdom.

 

You simply note the “start” and the “finish” on the map and use that as your guide. It’s the same in your Christian walk. Only the start and finish are one and the same, “Christ Jesus”. The Bible says that He is the “author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2), “the Beginning and End” (Revelation 21:6, 22:13). We must get this right, because sometimes we think life begins and ends with us or our self-esteem. This does not mean that Christians should have low self-esteem. It only means that our sense of being a good person should not depend on it, but rather on who we are in Christ. We need to humble ourselves before Him, and He will honor us. Psalm 16:2 reminds us, “I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’” Christians attain self-worth and esteem by having a right relationship with God. We can know we are valuable because of the high price God paid for us through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

“Like a much-loved mental picture of a cornfield”. This shaped my approach to victimhood, not just live and play the part. But always have hope in God, which will stand out from the rest of the world’s cornfields as we take up the cross and follow Jesus. Luke 9:23, we will not forsake our first love.

 

“May we plant the good seed of his word within our heart and sow it to others, that we may all be transformed from the defeat of death to the victory of eternal life in Christ”.

 

God Bless You and This Ministry!

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Cool Club for Love"

  

 

 

Ask God and stand with Christ!

 

Recently, " I was asked, how do you see America?". My first response was, “America is a spoon full of sugar ". 

Then the fast-food commercial was over and the daily subject of reality that’s literally beyond any one person hit me.

The hopelessness and helpless message of," the hand writing is on the wall " and that’s part of how I’m feeling right now about America. The devil is using my mind as a playground. My emotions are like a ball being bounced back and forth between perception and reality; between belief and unbelief, and all this is being done with no consent on my part. It is polarizing me to scream, “What is reality vs fiction?”

“I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law”. Psalm 119:163

Meaning: “The more we see the beauty of truth, the more we shall see the hateful distortion or bias of a lie”. 

 

Each day, we watch America turn further from Christian values and the core principles of liberty. It’s frustrating to feel we can’t assert biblical truth without facing condemnation, and it’s fearful to witness outrage and victimhood replace respect and reason. Amidst this dissent, how can we not only stay rooted in our own faith, but continue to publicly testify for Jesus? I'm humbled America!

 

I was a terrible sinner when I was young, but I’ve asked God, through the blood of His Son Jesus, to wash my heart clean. Today, I’m anxiety ridden, even though I read my Bible and pray. I believe in the power of God, but I feel helpless against what the enemy of my soul is trying to due to my mind.   Oh, how much we need God’s help to break this vicious cycle.

There is a lot of bad advice going around these days" America". How does this relate to us? What's our role?

 

We don't know the future of America. But the hand writing is on the wall. Once you celebrated those who have been captured; the hand writing is on the wall. Something bad happened to you, then you define yourself by your trauma. This I label or identify as "becoming the book “you just read. Where's the tears. Self-righteousness is not needed here. But Lovely and stand alone and take the consequences knowing God is with us.

 

In Jeremiah 29:11, He says: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

 

And if somebody inadvertently did something offensive, did you react as though they had intended to harm you, "pick the victimization language". What's gone wrong brothers and sisters? So, what does it mean to be in the cool club for Love without idols in our lives? Where’s the grace? The spiritual discipline?

 

 "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love". 1 Corinthians 16:14.

 

A thoughtful advice of words as we pray and chronicle the strange turn in our culture. One's fearlessness, to say, tell me something good or as simple as, I love you. As you sway to the music of the world as you try to make sense of this Love thing. Imagine, never understanding Who God is or His created intent for His world, but then trying to make sense of a messy relationship. In reality, one of the consequences of a divorcing love from its only real Source that’s based on Truth, a life once known.

 

According to Ephesians 5:1–2, we walk in love by imitating God just like Jesus did, offering our lives in sacrifice to God: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”. Take the walk change our behavior and how we act as we join the cool club of hugs telling a friend, stranger with your action We walk in love when we act like God and when we behave like Jesus, Or would you.

 

I rather be in that world that’s just about anyone else’s that tends to skew the growing self-righteousness in our intellectual discourse base on me. At this point my smiling face shows what’s wrong with this kind of narrative focus. The Bible tells us that love originates in God. As I back off, I think about the four loves to compliment my smile of the past readership, The Four Loves identified in C.S Lewis classic book (storge, or affection; phileo, or friendship, eros, or sexual love, and agape, or sacrificial love). You see C.S. Lewis thought true friendship had become the rarest. which eros and agape have become my ride captain ride on this mystery ship, saying have we forgotten how to Love one another. Are we unhappy?

 

Christians have actual good news to offer a culture helplessly obsessed with but thoroughly confused about Love. We can offer a love that reorients and transforms impulse (eros), a love that yells, "good morning America, don’t you know me, and tell them, “I love you" which is that spoon full of sugar message that orders friendship and affection (phileo and storge), and a love sacrificial and self-giving (agape). Is that your radio, wondering what to say? How many simply lack a category for true, affectionate, loving, and yet need something good like a friend or brotherly relationship to speak to you?

 

In the process, image bearers can find their true identity as created, loved, and redeemed by God. As God’s children and members of His family, we are called to deny our own selfish desires and interests for the sake of God and others. Although we are free in Christ, we use our freedom “to serve one another in love. That, more or less, brings the idea of truth, or “reality,” full-circle. According to Christianity, “absolute reality” is truth, “truth” is what actually exists and that corresponds to what is real, and the most important aspects of truth are given to us by God. Reality can be known, and it applies to all aspects of our lives, according to the Bible.

 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:13–14,). Peter said, “You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart” (1 Peter 1:22,). This wholehearted, sacrificial imitation of God’s divine agape is what it means to walk in the, " Cool Club for love". Here is the bottom line on love: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.… We love because he first loved us”. 1John 4:9-11,19 

 

 

God Bless You And This Ministry!