Come As You Are?

People use the term “come as you are,” all the time when trying to minister to someone to make them feel less evasive of Christianity or the Word. That term/phrase is not actually in the Bible however; there are scriptures that the phrase has gotten its implications from. Isaiah 1:18-20 says “come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land, but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.” The Lord is advising His people (Israel) to come and talk to Him (reason together) about Israel’s current sinful state and that if they are inclined to change that He is willing to clean them up. The term “come as you are” may have been used to fight against zealots who brow beat people into believing that they had to be fully right before they could come to Yahweh (God). That thinking is also false as Yeshua (Jesus) showed in various accounts like the Samaritan woman at the well and even the woman caught in adultery.  Both women were caught living in sin at the time Yeshua (Jesus) met them. He addressed their sin, but He also offered them salvation if they were willing to accept it. I would like to believe that the whole “come as you are” phrase or movement was in essence pure in the beginning, but it has wreaked havoc in my opinion. “Come as you are” if you want to use that term does not mean stay as you are!

I called the “come as you are” a movement because that is what it has become. You hear it recited so much now within the body, even our elder saints are using the term now. The majority of the reason why I hear this term is in regards to attire, when trying to get people to come to a local church body (usually toward youth or young adults). This is usually because membership is either dwindling or it is “aged.” Our churches aren’t dying because we are not reaching/appealing to the youths; they are dying because our churches are not teaching the truth! People say “God doesn’t care about what you wear, He cares about your heart,” and I agree with that to a point. Scripture teaches us that our actions and what we speak come from the heart as we see in Proverbs 4:23; “keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Matthew 12:34 Christ states “out of the heart the mouth speaks” when he was speaking to the slanderous Pharisees. In Mark 7:21-23 Christ states that “out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness” all these evil things come from within, and defile the man,” when the Pharisees were up to their tricks. This is where I feel the term “wearing one’s heart on their sleeve really originated from. You literally are wearing your heart on your sleeve (in your attire).

The Emergent/Hipster Church movement has made this phrase movement a staple of theirs for an evangelistic reaching out movement. “Hey look at me, I’m tatted up just like you, going to clubs just like you, dressed just like you, a person in this crazy world trying to live just like you, wanting to share that Jesus was really just like you and that you can be how you are (and live how you are) and be saved.” Did you ever think that you would see in our time from leadership down to the “regular member” that getting “turned up” for Christ would be okay? Did you ever think that you would see a time when the “light up” ministry (giving people a light and trying to preach the Gospel while they smoke) would come? Did you ever think you would see the day there were pole dancers, street walkers, and pimps for Christ ministries?  Did you ever think that you would see people in the church, condone/excuse sinful behaviors and in the same breath vehemently attack those who rebuked those actions? Jude 1:4 says “for there were certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” That scripture is saying that ungodly men have used the grace of God to willfully sin because they can use forgiveness. Telling people that they can basically live how they want to as long as the “believe” in God is not sanctification at all! Paul asked a question in Romans 6:1 saying “shall we continue in sin that grace may abound” and then he followed with the answer “God forbid, how can we that are dead to sin live in sin any longer?” You can’t be who you were supposedly changed from and do what Christ says with His approval. Paul said “if any man be in Christ, then he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians5:17). When you change from the sinful lifestyle your so-called friends (world system followers) will think it is strange (1 Peter 4:3-4). Again I say to you “come as you are” doesn’t mean that you are supposed to or even allowed to stay that way. God told Paul that His grace was sufficient for Paul. God’s grace is sufficient for us as well, not the assurances of ungodly men/women or leadership that are struggling with the very things that they should be rebuking and instead telling us are okay or not that bad. Romans 13:13-14 says to “walk honestly now, not in sinful nature but to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and don’t make provision for the flesh to feed the lusts.” If we are called out, why would we go back in looking like what we came from and call it ministry. Yeshua (Jesus) reached people by being Himself. He is different from anything we have ever known and He is refreshing. Christians should be able to be recognized because we are “new” now. You can’t put on Christ and do un-Christ-like things and call it ministry. I don’t have to look like the sinner to appeal to the sinner to listen to the Gospel. That is the problem; we are trying to appeal to them by appealing to their flesh, instead of admonishing them to change from that. Something is wrong when the Church and people of God feel that we have to use gimmicks to reach people with the Gospel. It’s as if we are saying God’s message and His presence working in us is not enough to draw people. He said “if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). Christ said that He will draw, not us! No sneaky gimmicks needed, just preach the Gospel. I am speaking to you right now were you are if you have not accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior. “Come as you are” is not about your attire, you can come to Christ being messed up, hurt, rejected, with your sins and He is just and willing to forgive you. He said “come to him that are heavy laden and He will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). I know that you don’t really want to continue that sinful life do you? I know you want peace and joy unspeakable. What you need to do right now is confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead and then you are saved (Romans 10:9). It’s that simple, just confess Christ, believe He is alive and be saved! When you have truly changed for Yeshua (Jesus) it will show outwardly (attire/appearance) and inwardly (spirit, attitude/behavior). Instead of “come as you are,” how about “don’t leave the way you came.”

The Demonic Initiative Part 1

The Rise of the False Gods is what I initially thought of when in my meditation the other day. We are in a time where we are seeing more and more “supernatural” things manifesting itself before our very eyes and people are not noticing it.  It is no coincidence that we are seeing more and more “super human” hero style movies where someone or something is coming from somewhere above coming down to earth to “save” mankind from some evil. The premise is always the same; focusing on people with inhuman abilities coming from afar or people being genetically modified and gifted with inhuman abilities. We have “robots in disguise” looking to help us while making this planet their “new home.” I just saw that Fox is coming out with a new television series titled of all things “Lucifer.” The kicker is that Lucifer now wants to do good and is tired of his evil ways, so he uses his powers to actually help man. Who would have ever seen a show about Satan helping people coming? Shows like Supernatural, The Messengers, Vampire Diaries, True Blood and the lists goes on and on, are fed to us consistently with so much false information that it is baffling yet people are tuned in religiously watching these shows so enchanted by the show, not realizing that it is a glorification of the demonic. I am not saying that you can’t watch these shows at all. You can watch whatever you want to watch, but make sure you know the truth about what you are watching. Make sure that you can see through the misguiding and misleading message.

Look at the movies coming out and look at the posters. A picture does “say a thousand words.”  Is it a coincidence that they all have some semblance?  Look at the plots for these movies and tell me what it sounds like to you. There is war in the heavens or their home, which is a place above the earth. This war causes them much grief and either destroys their home, takes them from their home in exile, or they have to go between two realms never able to fully stay in one place for too long. In Isa 14:12 we are given the depiction of Lucifer being “cut down” from heaven.  In 2 Pet 2:4 “for God spared not the angels that sinned but cast them down.” In the book of Jude 6 there were angels that refused “their first estate and left their own habitation.” The “war in heaven” was spoke of in Rev 12:7-13. In Ezekiel 28:13-19 although the King of Tyre is being given the message of judgement to come because of his pride, The Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see not only was imagery being used to tell the king, but that God was also using the prophet to again tell Satan (the king of Tyre’s king) of his sentence and punishment. He would be “cast down and destroyed.” There are a few Hebrew words out of the many for cast that I will share with you from the Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Words; gahar: prostrate oneself––stretch oneself, duwach: cleanse––purge; wash, dachah: to push down; totter (shake or tremble) & zarah: to toss––diffuse. Because Lucifer refused to cast (gahar) or prostrate/stretch himself before Yahweh (God), he was made to prostrate/stretch. God had to then cast (duwach) or clean house/evict him. Lucifer tried to rise up and God cast (dachah) or pushed/shook him down, casting (zarah) or tossing and diffusing him.

The next glaring similarity to look at is the fact that they always come under the guise of wanting to help us and save us. That sounds a lot like Satan to me! 2 Corinthians 11:14 tells us that we shouldn’t be surprised because “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” They always are revealed to one person or a very small group of people because it is safer if the multitude is not aware of them because of the fear and panic it would cause. They usually disguise themselves among us just wanting to blend in. If they are here for our safety, why would they need to hide among us? Last time I checked, it is Jesus (Yeshua) who saves! The Lord came down here putting on flesh, living amongst us, teaching us, feeding us, healing us; etc. and not once did He try to disguise Himself. He let it be known who He is and what His mission was even as a 12 year old child (Luke 2:49). Jesus didn’t need to blend in because He had no reason to hide. Jesus sole purpose for coming here was to save us, unlike the super heroes from other places who had to “leave their own habitations” (Jude 6). The losers are always the ones who are evicted, exiled, kicked out from their habitation. Always remember that we are dealing with losers literally when dealing with the demonic. Jesus chose to come, they were made to come. With all of their abilities they are constantly having to save/free people and their abilities are not even enough to where they have to join up to fight and save/free the world. Jesus (God by himself) only had to save/free the world one time with his redemptive work on The Cross “for whom the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36). We are saved from eternal destruction through salvation.

This initiative has been implemented years, centuries, and millennium ago. Satan started it by getting into not just the Garden of Eden, but also the garden of Eve’s mind planting a seed of doubt and false enlightenment that grew into disobedience that culminated the sin, that once those doubt weeds grew around & strangled the roots that Elohim (God) had planted in Adam’s mind. Adam lost control in the two gardens that God gave him, Eden and Eve because he didn’t cultivate them. It was not enough for him to name things and marvel as well as enjoy the work that God had done, he was tasked with having dominion over what God gave him. Instead he was too caught up in the work that God had done that he didn’t take the time to do the work God had given him (cultivate). We must remember that God is God and He is doing divine miraculous works, but he has given to us all cultivating tasks. The enemy doesn’t mind us marveling at what God does and enjoying it if it keeps us from doing what we are supposed to do which is the work that God gave us. That seed of disobedience was Satan’s entrance in because it grew forth sin. What is that saying? The number one demonic initiative is entrance through disobedience. They can’t enter without a right and what gives them that rite of passage is disobedience. When something is opened or done in a realm that you have authority over, that means that you have authority over that thing. The demonic are given authority in disobedience because that is the realm that they function in and they prove it to us time and time again.

If the first initiative was to plant disobedience to get sin in, then the next initiative would be to keep it strong and healthy in us. Satan knew that all he had to do was get it in us and that it would be there for life, but if something isn’t cultivated, it will weaken and die or in this case be dormant, sleep mode; etc. How does this get cultivated you might ask? Through demonic possession. Now when we usually think of possession we picture someone who has no control and is vomiting, eyes hollowed out, 360 degree head spins climbing walls; etc. Not all possessions are like that. Unclean spirits show possession in different ways like mental disorder (John 10:20), violent action (Luke 8:26-29), bodily disease (Luke 13:11, 16) and rebellion against God (throughout the Bible). Let us look at Strong’s again to look at the word possession. Two Hebrew words that I will use are achaz: to seize, to hold back, and to handle and nachalah: occupancy, heritage, inheritance. Unclean spirits take hold of us through entertainment (i.e. music, games, television programming), trauma (i.e. molestation, rape, death, abuse) and pride (i.e. power, knowledge, goods) and occupy us because of our sin heritage and inheritance passed down from Adam & Eve and through generational curses. We inherited the poverty of sin and needed Jesus to provide an inheritance that won’t rust or be stolen (Matt 6:19-20).

Entertainment has been used greatly especially in these last days more and more as a tool for the demonic initiative. The definition of entertainment means: agreeable occupation for the mind; diversion; hospitable provision for the needs and wants of guests; obsolete maintenance in service. When we partake in entertainment we are agreeing with how it occupies our mind, causing a diversion from what is happening in real life; allowing ourselves to host guests (spirits) thus rendering one completely open because of worn down and imperfectly developed mental maintenance. I am not saying that all entertainment is wrong, but we must really take inventory of what/who’s we are hosting as guests in us. We must look at the various things and see what it is diverting us from and whether we should let it occupy our mind. We have to check and see if it is undermining and wearing down our mental maintenance. Many of these things that are for entertainment fall in line with the second demonic initiative which was to strengthen and keep the unclean spirit fed and healthy in our lives. It’s just like a baby, we get on schedule (program) to feed that spirit, the way a mother feeds her baby milk based on what she consumes. Demons feed from their host as the host consumes foolishness that the demon needs. The second initiative is to make it a symbiotic relationship because the unclean spirits need you, which is why they seize and are unwilling to let someone go. As long as someone stays in a sinful lifestyle, relationship or behavior they cannot break free! Music is laden with so much demonic presence that it is of epidemic proportions. We always look at how music has tangled up our youths today but it has also affected us who are older. Satan has stopped using all subtlety and has really come out with letting it be known of his demonic presence within today’s music. They aren’t talking about anything of substance that will help in music today. It is about power, possessions and promiscuity with violence sprinkled in for added flavor. I enjoy playing video games and I was actually shocked initially with many things within these games that had nothing really to do with the game based on “face value.” I literally saw how demons are able to attach themselves and inhabit those unaware of what was happening through games, which many people will buy for their children without knowing what they are inviting into their child’s life. There are many video games with excessive demonic manifestations. I’ve thrown away games that I never suspected would have blatantly incorporated spiritual rituals and divinations in the games. Television programs speak for itself. You are being programmed by whatever show is made for you. We need to realize that these programs are made and formulated just for us, and why is that? Who is trying to program you and for what end? God surely is not doing this nor is He ordaining that for us, so again who is behind this and why? Christians are not immune to the programming. Satan doesn’t just want who he has, he also wants who he doesn’t have. There is a “Christian” version of American Idol, there are “Christian reality shows” under the guise of showing people Christianity that they can touch, but really showing foolishness that brings about more confusion than light. Just because someone is a Christian doesn’t mean that they cannot be a “host” to unclean spirits, especially in a house of worship.  In Luke 4:33-37, there was a man in service with an unclean spirit/devil. The unclean spirits became afraid and spoke out because they knew what was in store for them, and rightly so because Jesus told them to be quiet and “come out.” We need to stop giving the demonic initiative what it wants by unplugging the entertainment and plugging into God. Plugging into Jesus helps us to evict guests that decided to stay and take over.

Your Assignment

We as Christians all have assignments. The general assignment that we all share is to “go ye therefore teaching and sharing the Gospel with everyone” (Matt 28:18-19). Remember when you were in school and you were given an assignment?  Once the assignment was given you were then given a deadline to complete it by. Some of us always waited until the last minute before we decided to do the work and that caused us to turn in just anything. It would be “surfacey”, it wouldn’t have any fullness and sometimes we might not have gotten it finished in time, so we either turned in unfinished work or we didn’t get the chance to turn it in at all. Those who started the moment the assignment was given had time to get things put together and that was with the “heads up” on the deadline. They were usually the ones’ who got an A. The ones who waited until the last minute are usually the ones who got D’s or F’s and every now and then they might skate by with a C. We as Christians don’t have the luxury of knowing what our deadline is. That deadline is when we leave this earth through death! Since we don’t know when our deadline is, we should be very active in starting and working on our assignment. Yes we all have the general assignment that God has given each one of us, but we also have specific assignments/missions that the Lord tasks us with to complete in our lives. It is not by chance that we find ourselves in certain situations, positions; etc. It isn’t a coincidence that you get the unction to minister to someone. You are meant to shine a light and direct people to Jesus in the way that he has given you to do it. He has bestowed all of us with gifting for our assignments.

The enemy wants to keep you from your assignment, because of the power in that assignment. Have you noticed when you start moving in the will or direction of God’s purpose on your life, how certain obstacles or things suddenly arise? As long as you do nothing you see nothing. The adversary loves you not doing your assignment (your calling). He doesn’t fear you; he fears the assignment put on you because of the One who gave you the assignment. “I must do the work of Him who sent me” (John 9:4) scares him. You actually going out sharing the Gospel scares him! Satan was sweating bullets when Jesus came (because it was Jesus) and also because of the assignment. He tried to stop the assignment by Herod’s murdering those 2 and younger. He tried throwing him off the assignment after the 40 day/night fasting. He tried with inciting Jesus betrayal by Judas that ultimately brought Him to “the Cross” thinking that would end it, only to play a part in the fulfilling of the Lord’s assignment anyway. If he tried it with Jesus, what makes you any different? Satan does everything to stop you from starting your assignment and if he can’t stop that he will do everything he can to keep you occupied with troubles, false blessings, snares; etc. He will become that nagging question/problem on a test that we get stuck on instead of moving forward and answering the others before coming back to the one we struggled with. And we know what happened when we stayed on one question/problem too long don’t we? It threw off the whole test and possibly even cost us a passing grade. That usually happened because of bad study habits (namely not studying at all or last minute).

We have to do a Paul did when he said he is “pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14). We have to start our assignments early so that we can give it our all, because we never know when our deadline will come. Remember the ten virgins; five wise and five foolish? All of them were given the same one task which was wait for the Bridegroom with lamps trimmed and lit. The wise knew what they had to do to fulfill the assignment and took oil with them (they studied). The foolish took no oil and waited last minute to try and acquire some (they didn’t study). See, people asking for help with an assignment because of no effort on their part to study started way back then! God doesn’t give us our deadline date because he knows that we will wait until the last minute. There are only 2 grades you will get, either an A “well done” or an F “depart from me.” How much studying and work are you willing to do?

Wrinkled

I was ironing my shirt on Sunday morning and at that moment I remembered something I have done a lot over the years. When I wore a suit coat and was in a rush or even just wanting to be lazy, I would only iron the front part of the dress shirt because that was all people would see, leaving the back part wrinkled. My reasoning was that no one would see the back portion because I would have my suit coat covering it and I would just leave the coat on to hide what I basically did not do (iron the whole shirt). There are times that the suit coat would get hot because of the element that I was in and I would want to take off that suit coat but because I was trying to hide an unfinished job (a shirt that was not fully ironed) I basically forced myself to suffer an inconvenience that I wouldn’t have had too. My shame/embarrassment in showing my inadequate decision/work kept me bound to hiding it thereby taking away my freedom.

I didn’t iron my shirt completely because I chose to wait until the last minute to prepare it. I at times knew what shirt I was going to wear but instead of preparing it the night before, I waited until I was literally running late to try to make provisions. My indecisiveness the day before led to my inadequate decision later. The Holy Spirit convicted me and showed me that we as Christians don’t plan ahead or prepare. Proverbs 24:27 says to “prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.” I didn’t prepare my work (getting things ready early/making provisions) and make it fit (suitable) for me to complete and be on time instead of rushing last minute. I was building a figurative house of slothfulness on the foundation of procrastination! How many of us being honest with ourselves are like that? Doing just enough to get by but not doing to the fullness. Not presenting ourselves the way that God calls for us to. We hide our spiritual wrinkles behind our gifts, our worship, our ministry; etc. We don’t prepare ourselves to be used by God daily, knowing that there is work for us to do daily. We wait until the last minute to try and present our walk and relationship with Christ but are bound by the shame/embarrassment of our inadequate decisions that we can’t move freely and exposed in Jesus! In the parable of the “watching servant,” In Luke 12:47, the servant was beaten with many stripes because he knew  his lord’s will but did not prepare himself or do according to the will of his lord. That is for us as Christians to see the need for preparation. We have to always be prepared! Luke 12:36 says “And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.” People that are prepared can open immediately, and those who aren’t will hesitate.

Wrinkles are shrivels. Who wants to be a shriveled Christian? The Hebrew word quamat (kaw-mat) means to pluck, i.e. destroy;--cut down, fill with wrinkles. Wrinkles destroy the presentation of your attire. It cuts down your presentation/representation of Jesus to the world. We have to stop giving wrinkled praise, wrinkled offerings, wrinkled attitudes, wrinkled love; etc. Instead of hiding it, iron it out!  Ephesians 5:27 “that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

ACCEPTABLE/UNACCEPTABLE

I tried to give plasma in Nov 2014 and was told that at that time I was not an acceptable candidate, because I was not hydrated enough to give (they couldn’t find my veins). I went back to give again Feb 2015 making sure that I was thoroughly hydrated only to again be told I was an unacceptable candidate. Although I was hydrated, there was too much muscle blocking the way to the veins. The ones found were too small to use and muscle was blocking what they were looking for. I was saddened because I couldn’t understand how even in following the steps given that I still couldn’t give.

When walking out our faith we sometimes try to give life (The Word) but are found unacceptable because we are not hydrated (The Holy Spirit). Other times we are hydrated but muscle (us) is blocking the prime place for giving. The small veins are not big enough to give what is needed. It is good to want to give but not all giving will be accepted. Stay hydrated with the Holy Spirit, so life/vein (The Word) can be found in you and don’t allow you/your strength (muscle) to block the place needed for the greatest giving. Just as I was not an acceptable candidate to help someone, we were not acceptable to save ourselves, thus Jesus had to give a blood donation on our behalf. We needed His transfusion power! Life is in the blood and plasma is the life of the blood. Our blood is tainted with sin therefore our plasma is not acceptable to save anyone spiritually. In John 6:54 Jesus stated “whosoever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” In The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary a Greek word for eat is metalambano (met-al-am-ban’-o) which means to participate; accept. .” In The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary a Hebrew word for drink is shathah (shaw-thaw) which means imbibe. Imbibe means to consume, absorb; take in the mind. In that scripture Jesus is saying whoever participates or accepts his substance (flesh) and consumes/absorbs/takes in the mind His blood, will live forever and will be resurrected.

I wasn’t able to give plasma to help save anybody’s life and without the power of Jesus; those who give wouldn’t be able to help either. I am thankful that Christ plasma giving was acceptable and that he was willing to give it. I may never be able to follow in Christ footsteps physically by giving plasma, but I can spiritually by sharing His plasma donation with others….

Steak/Stake

 

I am a person that likes to have a good steak every now and then and when I do, it has to be a certain way for me to enjoy it. Everyone has their own way they like their steaks prepared whether it is rare, medium rare, medium well, or well done. A steak that is rare has not gone through the fire. A steak medium rare has gone through enough only to change the outside. A steak medium well has gone through the fire enough to change the outside and some of the inside but not to completeness. A well done steak is fully seasoned and complete. Many say they prefer medium rare to medium well because the meat stays tender and juicy, or because they like that it cuts like butter.

I believe that if Jesus were choosing a steak, He would bypass the rare because it hasn’t changed. He’d bypass the medium rare because the outside is only changed. He’d bypass the medium well because the outside is changed and seasoned, with most of the juiciness coming from retaining juice/dead blood, and also because it wasn’t complete. That leaves His last choice, well done. He’d choose well done because it is seasoned and cooked thoroughly to completeness. It still has tenderness only retaining juices that should be there.

We as Christians can’t expect to call ourselves that without change. A rare Christian feels that they are just fine and that they don’t need to go through the fire to be changed. They follow their way instead of Jesus. The medium rare Christian has gone through some but is only showing the marinated outside while the inside is still the same. The medium well Christian has been changed on the outside and some of the inside, but they won’t stay in the fire long enough to be complete (they hold on to what they should let go). The well done Christian is what God is looking for. We are made just right by allowing him to season and “cook” us (go through the fire) to His perfection in our lives. We should offer up a sweet smell or savor unto God 2 Cor 2:15.

Which method of preparation would you “stake” your life on when you stand before God in the end? He already told us His choice. “Well done thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Matt 25:21

Stale Water

I had this glass of water that I poured to drink before starting my fast. I put it on the table and for whatever reason, I ended up forgetting about it until that following day when I began my fast. I noticed that the glass was half full and I felt a way because I hadn’t finished it in time. Normally I would have poured it out because it would have a stale taste from sitting out, yet I kept it there because I felt an unction from the Holy Spirit to leave it sitting there. I would glance at the cup every time I came into the kitchen area.

That water represented a refreshing, it represented the Holy Spirit and although my intent was initially to drink that glass of water, I forgot about it and it became stale. It became a dead monument and failure. Wanting a spiritual refreshing and wanting the Holy Spirit is good. That cup that the water was poured into also represented me/us as vessels for the pouring into, but it was never meant to stay there. It was meant to be poured out for consumption. Heir of the most High God, are you looking for a refreshing from the Holy Spirit, but forgetting to actually consume it? Are you the vessel that is being poured into but not pouring out for consumption?

Lastly a vessel is made to hold something so that it can be consumed. That glass was only meant to hold the water long enough for me to drink it. When it isn’t consumed in a certain amount of time, it is made stale and basically dead. If you leave something out in a vessel to long and don’t preserve it what happens? Mold, fungus and other bacteria is what happens! Not only is what was put in the vessel changed but so is the vessel as well. They both become stale, stagnate moldy death. Every time I came into the kitchen area and looked at the glass, I was staring at a monument of death. Do you see that with your churches, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? What about in you? The Holy Spirit continued to open my eyes showing me more revelation. My walking past the glass of stale water glancing and doing nothing about it showed contentment in the stagnation. Are we staring at monuments of death on Wednesday bible study and Sunday service? Have we become the living dead? Are we now serving in million dollar caskets aka church buildings? We are having funeral service every time we come to the house if the Holy Spirit isn’t there! The water stayed there for those 3 days that I fasted and this revelation wasn’t made alive to me, until the third and final day of my fasting. Does that sound familiar anyone? There is just no way that we can get passed Jesus redemptive work! In my closing ask yourself, are you stale?

Satisfied

To

Always

Look

Exempt

The Grooming Process

My wife and I were grooming our dog Rocky. He’s a toy yorkie and although he is small he has a lot of fight in him. My wife Kawonia washed Rocky the other day and of course he tried to escape his cleansing when he felt he had a chance. He nearly jumped out of the sink, and he would have fell flat on his head had she not caught him in time. He was risking serious injury when all she was trying to do was clean him up. All Rocky was thinking about was how uncomfortable he was, instead of looking at his need and what had to be done to keep him healthy and clean. Kawonia dried Rocky and brushed him (which was also a fight) and then we decided to cut his fur because it had been awhile. Previous times we would cut his fur down just enough before we got tired of fighting with him and said basically that we could live with trimming him some. This time we went all the way, a trimming was not going to be enough. We had to do some cutting! As I sat there holding Rocky and my wife began cutting his fur, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to show how we are just like Rocky. We try to escape when God says it is time for us to be cleansed. We also try to jump out of the “sink” before the cleansing process is finished, even at the risk of falling on our heads. We fight the drying and brushing because we don’t understand that God just wants us to be fresh and healthy. And when it comes to the cutting, we really fight! We don’t realize that he has to cut the obstructions from our eyes so that we may see clearer. We don’t understand that he has to cut the obstructions from our ears so that we may hear more soundly. We don’t understand the cutting of the excess around our body, so that things aren’t easily able to snare themselves and cling to us. The cutting seems bad because it is uncomfortable especially as we watch it fall from us. We spend much time looking at what was lost instead of seeing the need for it.

Job’s experience was very uncomfortable. We don’t always look at the grooming process with fondness. Little boys usually fight being washed and you can see a mother chasing after them in his escape attempt. I don’t know of any little boy who didn’t fight having his hair cut at one point out of fear. My sisters hated getting their hair braided. The grooming process is a daily process and when not done daily, it can become a hassle or even problematic. The longer we go unkempt the longer the grooming is. If we trim a little off the top, the sides and the back, the cutting process then doesn’t take so long or it might not even have to happen. In Luke 9:23 Jesus said “if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Jesus told us that if we want to resemble Him, we must trim ourselves of ourselves daily, grooming ourselves in daily total obedience and discipleship to Him. Once we have done that, then we can follow Him. We have to be groomed from head to soul….

Greetings!

I greet you all in the matchless name of Jesus Christ! My name is Rev. Carlton E. Neely and I am honored and pleased that you have come to share in God’s plan for me, you and quite frankly all of us. I have been in ministry since Dec 31 2000 when I finally accepted my calling from God and I was ordained Nov 28 2004. I felt a pull to come to ministry at an early age but I of course like others decided to fight it. Have you ever seen those contraptions where a mother has her kid tethered to a harness so that she can pull them back when she wants too? That harness was also meant to keep the child connected to her. Well that was basically what I felt God did with me, tethered me, pulling me back when I got as far as He felt I should go. I am forever grateful for that spiritual harness because it kept me from a lot more stuff that I would have gotten into.

I decided to start blogging after feeling the Lord calling me to a different platform to put the many things that He had given me to share. I would write poems here and there and I would write sermonettes in the notes section on my social media page and for a season I was content with that, feeling that those who were meant to see it would happen upon it eventually. I was content to keep myself hidden or better yet keep hidden what God gifted me with. As I was fasting and praying God dealt with me and placed it on my heart to take what He had given me and to go further. I was not being a good steward of the gifts He had given me and I was going to be held accountable for not doing what He said, and I didn’t want that!

The purpose of this blog actually has nothing to do with me; it is about all of us. This blog is meant to reach those who are lost, who are hurting, who feel alone, who know God but their faith is on empty sometimes, those who are spiritually bankrupt, those taken advantage of, those who have learned to be content with the good and the bad, those who are half-stepping, those running from God’s call on their life, those hurt by people in the church or those who just would like to spiritually grow more. I am tired of seeing people being spiritually abused, taken advantage of and led astray by others. I want as many people to be free as I (with the help of God of course) possibly can help to be free, and the only way I know how to do that is to show them Jesus. I’m just a lantern being used to help people find the way out of this dark sinful world. Please take my hand, let us walk on that road called Straight, even through the valley of the shadow of death together, knowing that we will get to that glorious destination that we long for, which is to see Jesus and to experience eternal life….