The Thorn in the Flesh....

Before I came to Christ in a saving manner I often wondered what kind of God would allow His own to suffer, whether if it was from terminal cancer, death and or incurable disease….I had a hard time I should confess wrapping my mind around this concept but by all due respect that was my ignorant non-Christian mind…a mind with no Holy Spirit guide and a mind without God’s wisdom, once in salvation I made it my business to understand more-more of this God I once questioned, and! Low-and-behold a great revelation came upon me and this time around I am proud to say it was through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and long sought out wisdom through God and through my own personal forbearance I understood exactly what kind of God we serve!

Theologians have invested great time in researching the “thorn in Paul’s flesh,” which is evidence that some really want to relate to Paul's thorn or just want to know what it was, the pieces of scripture and or great sources of reference have succored with my research which  has been more than a great “Wealth of interesting information” to be able to read and understand the different views of some in which I thoroughly respect, however through some scriptures like, 2 Corinthians 12:7, 2 Corinthians 11:24-26, Acts 13:45, Galatians 4:13….And the lists of  Bible verses pertaining to this subject are endless-these are to name a few….and through out I have yet come across a “specific” mention of this “thorn” that Paul spoke of and when I state specific I literally mean specific in terms of what the diagnosis/ prognosis was  this “thorn” Paul suffered from without the dilution of man-made interpretations,  despite the somewhat suspense of the “thorn” in Paul’s flesh in which I personally enjoy taking the layman approach-by the way only because for years like most despite my unsaved questions I bore and still bare a thorn in my flesh…don’t worry it's not a pimple, freckle, mole, beauty mark or anything located superficially on my flesh, rather it’s an interesting thorn-a thorn that left me in quandary before coming to Christ of whether or not an individual like I could be loved genuinely, would I be able to live a normal life in lieu to my “thorn?” questions arose in the brinks of desperation but I am here to tell you that the discovery of Christ in my life has eased my once objective thinking to an optimistic and grateful thinking through God's transformation-you see…intimately knowing God and loving Him has allowed me to embrace this once nagging “thorn” in my life….I now know for a fact that my “thorn” allows me to maintain a coat of humility  and reminds me constantly that I too am human and need the Lord more than I have ever needed Him despite the work He does through me and sometimes in life we do need such reminders, I am often reminded of the time that Paul begged God to take the “thorn” away and God reminds Paul that; “He is all he needs and nothing else should matter,” (That’s my interpretation of course of 2 Corinthians 12:8-9) the “thorn” in my flesh has allowed me to become dependent on God for strength which has allowed my faith to grow, it has also believe-it-or-not shielded me from bad life decisions, because God has called you to Ministry doesn't mean you are 100% pure of all “thorns,” don’t let your “thorn” hold you back from experiencing God’s best in your life, Paul traveled and planted churches and healed the sick but his “thorn” is a positive constant reminder that even the man/woman of God can have a “Flaw” and God can know it-and choose to do absolutely nothing about it because at the end of it all He is all you need!

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Blessing Proportions

         

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

So many times we get caught up in our wants versus the needs that if we are not too careful we might become victims of blessing-deprivation and fall negligent to our required blessing proportion (That’s correct!) though the word deprivation is synonymous to basic necessities it’s also appropriate for a believer to understand the importance of not depriving one's blessings, the act of not being happy or content with what God has already given you can lead to an act of blessing-deprivation….sure! If you are like some, where they feel-often than most that they have everything they need but what happens when they start looking at other people’s blessings and wondering why it’s not them? Or better yet-this one is my favorite…when non-believers seem to be getting more blessings than them! (I know-right! What’s up with that?) I have truly come to learn through God that everything I have in this moment is a blessing (Literally) that clunker of a car-is a blessing because I don’t have a hefty note-which can be an additional financial burden, that old-raggedy house and furniture I have is an absolute blessing because some people in other parts of the world don’t even know what a couch feels like later-alone a place with a roof over their head and running water! even though most than less the food I have in my pantry and refrigerator is not comparable to having fillet Mignon and lobster tails every night but that’s OK too because it’s a blessing to even have some type of food in the pantry and refrigerator so I eat it with sheer-joy, whatever the case is-it’s all a blessing-a blessing God has given you and no one can take it away or compare to it, avoid depriving yourself from the acknowledgement of God’s blessings in your life by always thanking God for every-little thing in your life (I mean every-little thing in your life) praise God in thanksgiving at all times and enhance your appreciation for God’s blessings, just think for a second that maybe-just maybe you might be missing out on the crucial lesson at hand by depriving your blessings and feeding into your wants and or yearning for other peoples blessings.

I always think of the time when I was younger let’s say anywhere from the time I learned to eat soluble foods and right before teen years, my mother would always give me a serving of food in my plate that was proportionate to my age, she never served me with the same serving that she served my father. Why? (I am glad you asked) because she knew that my father’s appetite and stomach could handle his large  portion and she knew that my small stomach could only handle the little portion she gave me and because of that no food was wasted-because if she served me the portion she served my father at the age of 5 I stood a chance to over eat and mainly waste the food, when we tend to over eat (In my experience) I feel horrible and regret eating the food, then when food is wasted in most cases it’s because there was an overabundance in the plate which creates for a lack of appreciation! (I think you know where I am going with this one!) God gives you an appropriate portion blessing so that you remain energized in Him and grateful in Him, if He gave you an over-sized portion of blessings all the time you will never be thankful, instead you can end up wasting the resource because of the abundance of it (Yes! that is where I was going!)  So next time someone says. “Count your blessings.” Make sure you-literally count them!

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Accomplish Your Goal by Maximizing The Moment

"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

Sometimes in life we set goals, ambitions and or deadlines with the true intentions of accomplishing the task at hand and sometimes we even give ourselves too much pressure so much so that by the time we fail to accomplish the goal, or fail to meet the dead line we lose hope and or motivation, the key to whatever you want to take on in life is by living from moment to moment, sure! You can still have a dream book or your goals written down somewhere but as you aspire to accomplish your goals understand that each day that you have to do something for that goal or deadline makes it a small win that adds credit to potentially making it one big win when the day comes! I am often reminded with some people that have weight loss goals, and trust me I have been there myself and lost 75 pounds!( So I have a small clue as into what I am getting ready to talk about),  I feel that some people fail at weight loss because they are too focused on the end result when they should be focused in the moment, (Let me explain myself) I love scales, there is nothing wrong with scales, but what I have noticed is; you can weigh yourself day and night and get fluctuating results and sometimes this can make for a demotivated  weight loss regiment (especially when you hit a plateau-been-there-done-that-past-that!) Where as if you take it one step at a time and decide to change your process (lifestyle), so instead on dwelling on the 40 pounds you have to lose before your vacation maybe it’ time you live day-by-day in the moment and consciously think healthy so that you can then eat healthy and by no time soon you will weigh less and look healthy for all the vacations to come! And you can also keep it off for a long time if not lifetime because you will have succumbed to the new way of momentarily living which is all attained through the moment-to-moment process, every little win builds up to one great big win!  Maybe weight loss is not your challenge, you can take a savings account into mind, and how does one attain any savings in the account? By moment-to-moment savings, every time you get paid you save and by the time it’s all said and done you will have the big chunk of money, no one (I know-I should say) ever starts a savings account and deposits the full amount in which they want to save ( because then what’s the point?) Rather the process of saving money overtime allows one to have that total cash balance in which they desire and to continue thereafter, perhaps you want to start your own company, perhaps you want to learn how to fly, perhaps you want to own a home one day…whatever your goals and dreams are just understand that you have to accomplish the day-by-day, moment-to-moment small wins that will accumulate to one big lifetime win! Look at what you have right now in front of you and start working on that to build your ultimate big-lifetime win.

Please understand that a moment-to-moment living is when one is continually maximizing the power of moment accomplishment towards the goal, meaning that this individual is working towards the goal and or deadline but is mainly focused in the moment’s work  versus the end result to attain the long-term goal result.

"Common Sense" is it a Superficial expectation or Christian Judgement?

I am so often reminded of my old ways of thinking, I remember that the majority if not everything was “supposedly” common sense to me until the Lord started to deal with me in a deeper sense, I had this revelation while in my leadership role and way after I came to know Christ, I cannot count with the fingers on my hands plus my toes how many times I have often used the phrase; “Its common sense” while training or just conversing with people…..Christ's compassion for mankind goes deeper than the; “It is common sense phrase,” His love supersedes one’s ability of not having this human expectation of “Common sense” that we (Yes! some of you and I ) hold other people into, one thing I have truly learned is the mere factor that sometimes as human beings we tend to hold each other to very high superficial expectations, when I say superficial I am now talking about the level of expectation that you as an individual would handle things, sometimes we expect people to know what we know or to be able to do what we do whether its at work on the same job description, general life knowledge or whatever the case is, I can tell you that I fell-guilty in this area more than once, at one point and time in my life I felt that things that were very common sense (general things) to me should have been common sense to others and I felt that the basic things that came easy to me should have come easy to others…..my type of thinking at that time was very dangerous in a lot of aspects but today I want to highlight a correlation that is visible among “Christians,” some “Christians” hold people to a high level of expectation that in turn when that person doesn't perform to “their” expectations” it causes that “Christian” to give up on them and or pass judgment, brothers and sisters, what has come easy, natural and or what is “common sense” to you is not always the same case with other people, you have to (I repeat), you have to! Have patience with all mankind and understand that everyone’s thinking capacity is uniquely crafted, everyone doesn't come from your household and or up bringing so please create a Spirit of sensitivity within yourself to understand the uniqueness of peoples thinking and because of that they don’t see things through your eyes-per say….the next time you think in your mind when ministering and or just conversing with someone that “Its common sense,” remember that Jesus walked this earth with a great compassion for all mankind and never expecting anyone to have the same level of "Common sense" as He had but rather He taught for understanding-sake, so next time when you think of uttering the phrase; “It is common sense,” make sure you teach that person to have a full understanding like Christ did and does…… after all your “Common sense” just might not be “common.”

“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

Be Persistent In Your Calling

It is at this point and time in my life  where I have noticed a correlation between the start of  a blessed Ministry and when Jesus started His ministry, understanding that neither one of us are Jesus but we do have a common ground of winning souls to the kingdom through the avenue of the various ministries that we have been called into, when the Lord spoke to me about my ministry years ago I was in a time of heavy consecration and prayer, I had laid aside my selfish man and decided to consecrate myself for those that I knew, this was my first 40 day fast (and by all due respect I don’t need any kudos, just stating) I was hungry for God and I wanted to get as close to Him as Paul did on the road to Damascus (Yes! to the point of being blinded from all the worldly shenanigans and opening my eyes to a spiritual realm that I’d never experienced) unbeknownst to me while I was in consecration, the Lord laid my ministry on my heart, it was a ministry that I had never imagined in my life, something I never thought I had the ability to do and or even before the fast had a desire to do-honestly…..(fast-forward) while in pursuit of Christ through my Ministry I made it a point to periodically consecrate myself as often as I could so I could be spiritually sensitive to the Lords voice, through this endeavor I was at this point hit from all angles by the enemy’s subtle attacks and it is here where I realized the power of Matthew 4:1-4, I experienced things in my life that I’d never even experienced not even in my sinful days in the world, it seemed as though all trials and tribulations where magnified to the tenth power! (What kept me going?) My relationship with God kept me strong, His promises for my Ministry kept me persevering for His will sake, don’t get me wrong, I cried to the Lord more than I laughed, but the tears where the start of God’s greatness to come.

Dear Beloved,

 Your call to Ministry is not on coincident but by Divine appointment and because of that it is imperative that you create a strong Christian regiment to keep you continually in the presence of God, when I look at Jesus in Matthew 4, I am often reminded of the urgency to take ministry calling seriously and then I am often reminded that ministry work is a true living sacrifice, there is no blessed ministry without sacrifice and no sacrifice without the blessing of a blessed ministry, Jesus knew that He was going to lead a ministry that required Him to be spiritually strong against the enemy, if the son of God has to fast before doing the Lords will for His ministry that just shows you the power of personal sacrifice, the enemy tried in so many attempts to tempt Jesus while He was in the wilderness, I am reminded of the time in Matthew 4:5-6 where Satan “tried” to glorify his attempts and Jesus did not budge, this reminds me of today’s world in cases where some powerful people of God (that where initially called by God) have lost their Kingdom Integrity and in some cases have sold their ministry to the enemy in efforts of accumulating wealth, understand that our attitude needs not be relaxed about what happened to Jesus in the wilderness, because for every situation in Matthew 4 there is a Divine modern day correlation that you can learn from before your ministry gets to the mountain top, be sure to always pray for humility and to always have a list of personal Kingdom Integrity “do’s and don’ts” before your ministry gets to the mountain top so that we won’t see you on a corny reality show selling yourself short for a mere $20, 000 dollars an episode (when God can elevate you more than that!) for the world to question “Christianity” through the actions of the reality show! And instead of winning souls there could be a depleting of souls as they will get put-out by the fallacy of the faith being depicted on the show (can you tell-how I feel about this?) So understand when you have your Kingdom priorities straightened out you will not fall short for the devils camouflaged contracts and or deals that do not glorify God and or win souls, take your ministry seriously and get into a prayerful regiment of also fasting and eating the word so that you understand the mind of God and at the same time draw closer to God, remember your ministry is not to work for man (people pleasing) but to work for God so that He can work through you for man to know Him and for man to see the glory of God through you! Never ever give up on your ministry, work hard for the Lord for your labor is not in vain and while you are coming  out of the valley heading to the mountain top of your ministry God will send more people in your life to assist with His work Matthew 4:18. Remember that everything you go through from now till then (good and bad) is a building and preparation of your character to align with God’s Divine will for your life and ministry.

Love you and stay in it! As for me and the God ordained Ministry……will keep you posted! But I can say I am excited about what God is doing in my life!

Get to the Mountain-Top of godly Favor!

It is in the times of immeasurable difficulties that you really face the description of a True-Christian, Job is the best example for what to-do when in such a situation but what was it that really gave him the strength? I am often reminded of my life’s “lows” and when I speak of “lows” I am talking of my walk in the valley right before I get to the mountain top of favor and break-through, I am often reminded of hiking, I remember it as though it was yesterday, I  was in grade 7 and about 12 years old, I was mostly excited about being in grade 7 for the simple fact that my high school journey was going to begin in the next school term, however funny-enough the pinnacle of my excitement about grade 7 was also the fact that we got to embark on a camping experience at “Camp Jeff Cox,” the time came and went and the day for “Camp Jeff Cox” drew closer, we waved good-bye to our parents and school and embarked on a long journey to Inyanga, we finally got there, and all I could remember was the cool looking cabins, among several activities I can never forget the hike we took, first of all because of traditional myths that terrified us half to death and secondly it seemed like a long, hard and torturous hike (in my 12 year old mind at that time) while hiking I noticed the guide was constantly glued to the hand held map and would often stop to turn back and I don’t think he was turning back to measure our distance but I think he was familiarizing himself with the surroundings, once said and done and finally up at the mountain top the pain from the legs and body seized, it seized at the site of nature’s beauty, by the time we had to walk back to the camp grounds nothing felt difficult or tiring, it actually seems like we made it back to the camp site sooner than we climbed the mountain, once at camps grounds we could not stop talking about our experience at the top of the mountain, from what I could remember-I don’t even think I spoke of the difficulties of initially hiking through the torturous valley.

My brothers and sisters, as a Christian I am often reminded of this hike I took at the age of 12, I think about the guide that had the map and when he continually stopped to familiarize himself (get his bearings) I am reminded of our walk here on earth, in order for God to bring out our godly-character and grant us kingdom favor you are going to walk in the torturous valley, it’s going to seem difficult, hard, challenging and at times not fair, and when that happens then you act like the guide and stop, look back and recognize how far God has brought you and how good He has been through it all (get your God-bearings), like the guide use your Bible to navigate you through the trying times, understand that once you get to where God wants you-you will be engulfed by His power so-much-so that you won’t even feel the heartaches, pain, betrayal, difficulties, struggle and all the things you might have felt when you initially started your journey to the mountain top of favor and break-through!

Passivity the "New Age" Christian downfall (In observance of National Day of Prayer)

The common symptoms for Christian Passivity are the two letter words “BUT” and “OK,” when these two words become germane to your everyday vocabulary of faith then please understand that you are a foot step away from being a passive Christian which is dangerous in the fact that undiagnosed passivity breeds subtlety, Passivity plus subtlety equals ultimate enemy obliteration.

What do you think about Homosexuality? “It is against my belief “BUT” if that’s what they want to do then that’s what they will do.”

What do you think about shacking before marriage? “I personally don’t believe it “BUT” I guess its “OK” in today’s world.”   Proverbs 27:5

What do you think about sexual immorality? “It against my belief “BUT” who am I to judge?”

What do you think about sin? “It’s hard being a Christian “BUT” I cannot judge those that sin because I am not perfect.”

Do you go to church every Sabbath? “ I try to “BUT” sometimes I wake up late and tired from working and feel its “OK” for me to get some rest.

 I can truly go-on-and-on with the “BUTS” and “OK’s”  of passive faith talk, it’s fair enough for me to say that you understand the lesson at hand, before you say “BUT” and or “OK” to justify the faith, ask yourself if that sentence is going to be defending the faith? Or depleting the faith? Choose your words wisely and defend the faith as the warrior of Christ that you have been raised up to be!

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:15

Yours truly

The unapologetic a servant of Christ and slave to my Fathers will.