Issue 2 [ November15, 2010]
A Mountain is a large group of rock which rise in the air in excess of over 2,000 ft. Many are rocky slopes at an awkward angle and in many cases are cliffs straight up. There are mostly made of rock with little soil and few trees. Some people enjoy rock climbing as a hobby or sport. There are caves in many of them and some have been known to be mined in years past. Tunnels are cut through some as to allow trains to travel thru them.
A Valley is a piece of land in between two mountains. Water will run down the mountain and end in the valley where it washes topsoil and nutrients to the bottom. This piece of land is great to grow many trees, plants, and all that is available in that geographic location.
We have spoken of the natural side of things, now lets look at the spiritual side and ask ourselves the question. What is a mountain?
When we go to live for God and we talk about being on a mountain top, it is implied that we are doing great. We are as high as we can get. WOW! Can you believe that the whole world is at my beckoned call. I have the tiger by the tail. God is blessing me and everything is going my way. It doesn’t get any better than this! The problem with living here on the mountain is we get everything we want, and we don’t learn the valuable lessons that is needed for us to truly grow in God.
The Valley is a place where (spiritually) no one wants to be. Its filled with hard lessons to learn. We have to endure hardships, toil and tarry, pray and fast. This is where you are when a situation comes along and you’re having a tough time dealing with it. Maybe you are praying and fasting, and it seems like your prayers won’t even reach the ceiling. Maybe when you go to pray its so tight that you can’t even break thru with a 40 lb sledge. The tension is so thick, you can cut it with a knife. Everyone is seemingly against you. You feel all alone and you think no one cares if you live or die. You don’t even exist.
You struggle to pay your bills, your tithes, and even pay attention. Getting up out of bed in the morning is so much of a chore. Depression wraps its chilly arms of despair around you. To disillusion you into thinking that there’s no hope of surviving.
Friend I am here to tell you that this is where your real strength will come from. You will not find this overnight. It only comes thru persistence, determination, a will to survive and a desire to fight. When you feel as though you have nothing to loose, then you have nothing to hold you back.
Long-suffering comes from hardships that linger. Joy comes from being in a state of sadness for a long time. Peace comes from being released from a drawn-out battle. Victory comes from defeating your enemy. When you can learn to pray for those that despitefully use you, and I mean honestly, and truly pray for their soul then you can know about gentleness and love. The trials we endure are Gods way to help us to grow.
Could you imagine a group of children that received everything they wanted, how they wanted it and just as soon as they asked for it? How about a group of children who never knew what it was like to be denied their hearts desire? These would be a group of the most spoiled, rotten, ungrateful, disrespectful, disobedient, unthankful children… oh, wait, that sounds like us sometimes. It could be, if given everything, every time without learning.
When going thru a valley your soul will begin to grow. You will sweat and cry and deal with difficult times. Family, friends, church members, co-workers, financial, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual; all these aspects of our life will be richly blessed when we put some work behind it. Put some blood, sweat, tears, prayer, and fasting into reaching your goal and watch your garden grow.
In the carnal as well as spiritual, exercise is hard on our body but rewarding if we push ourselves. The aches and pains are rewarded when we consistently work our muscles and get into shape. Junk food might taste good but is bad for you. Fast food might be easy but its not easy on your body. Real rewards come from real sacrifice. Eat healthy and exercise and you will be fit for the battle that lies ahead.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Filling Your Daily Basket
Issue 1 [November 1, 2010]
As you are allowed to wake up in the morning and as God has given you enough health to crawl out of bed you will undoubtedly go through a daily routine full of activities. Each person you come in contact with, will place something into your daily basket. Be it good or evil there will be something placed into your basket. Throughout the day you will “nibble” on these things and even on left-over’s from a previous day, but mostly on the things you have received from that day. The older the “yesterday” left - over’s are the less of an affect they have upon us.
Allow me to explain further. Think of Sunday when you go to church and you will spend approximately 2 plus hours that morning and then the same that afternoon. That is 4-5 hours of positive charging of your spiritual batteries. Think of how good you feel Monday morning but as the day goes on (given you’re around the public) The sense of that positive “church” feeling begins to be drained. Tuesday is a little worse and so on till midweek service you can recharge your batteries. And the next day you are recharged again.
The more we are around positive or negative influences the more it will weigh on us the more it will move us into the direction we are eating from. This is why it is so important to have a consistent daily routine of recharging your spiritual batteries. You need to place good healthy food into your basket to eat. You don’t need junk-food because it will rot your teeth out. Eat unhealthy long enough you will become spiritually obese and out of shape. You will find it harder and harder to run the race.
In our daily routine we should be dedicated and consistent. The “New Years” Resolution Syndrome in our spiritual life can be just as sad as in our carnal life. Many people start out with a positive frame of mind but other things tear at them and pretty soon they have dropped off from the resolution and give up. These people were only TEMPORARILY changed in their mind. A pep rally only moves you for a short time. They allowed other things in their life to take control of their decision making. A wise man once said “the best way to get ride of a bad habit is to replace it with a good one”. You need a “Transformation of Mind”.
For a Christian we should start off the morning with
1. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord is simple but effective. Before you crawl out of bed just simply say thank you Lord for allowing me to wake up this morning. Thank you for the privilege of one more day. WHY? Well, out of every one that went to bed last night, how many do you think were allowed to wake up? How many would the statistics show that died in their sleep. Further more, out of everyone that wakes up this morning, how many would you say that will be able to make it home and go to bed tonight. Friend you know not the hour when he shall call you away, So be thankful for what time you do have.
2. Prayer - Prayer is like the phrase “I love you”. Everyone says it, but how many really do it? Everyone you meet, speak of prayer but how many of us truly take the time to focus on it instead of just repeating the phrase. It is not some great intellectual speech you present before a group session of congress. God is an awesome God and he is truly EVERYTHING but he is also compassionate, caring and long-suffering. We can come to him and speak to him as though he is our closest friend (which by the way he desires to be). We don’t have to be something we’re not, we just have to be humble, sincere and have a desire.
One thing we truly need to do is get ourselves into a closet. Now this is not meaning a literal closet in your home but it means to “tune out” the rest of the world. We need to focus of HIM and HIM alone. If you’re in a room full of people and you have a tendency to look around you may need to sit and kneel somewhere you can concentrate on your prayer. If you are sleepy then you need to get up and walk around (if there is room). We have to get into a “Zone” where we can focus on God. If we can just spend a few minutes in the morning in prayer. (Remember the better your prayer life, the better you relationship with God). You do this consistently every day you will see a change in your life.
3. “Scripture for the day” - We need to read a few scriptures a day (EVERY DAY) to put some bread in our basket so we have something to “chew” on thru the day. Remember when you leave your home and head to work most people fix a lunch because they will be hungry during the day. Your spirit is no different. If you are not able to take a bible with you to work then simply take a scripture. Write one down and read it thru the day and meditate on it. You will be surprised how much cleaner in your spirit you will feel. Plus it will help you when the enemy comes in like a flood. If you will read maybe a chapter a day, or just a few scriptures. Make sure you read them and not glance over them. Maybe read them a couple of times so they can sink in good and carry them with you that day.
I say that to say all of this, We need to put Godly food into our basket because when you step out of your home, you will be faced with many thousands of spirits doing everything they can to pull you into the mire and maybe to Hell with them. They will attempt to replace your healthy food with junk food. They will place rocks and trash in your basket also. If you walk into a public store and unless you’re a blind man you have to notice all the sinful nature of people nowadays. Be it lustful, hateful, hurtful or even selfish and cruel. The devil knows what will pull at you and I guarantee you, that will be the one thing you will see before the day is up. If it is something lustful, it will be flaunted in front of you. If it is drinking or smoking, somebody will walk up to you and make you smell it on them. Those spirits will make sure to blow that scent straight up your nostrils and you will get a good whiff of it to entice you
As you are allowed to wake up in the morning and as God has given you enough health to crawl out of bed you will undoubtedly go through a daily routine full of activities. Each person you come in contact with, will place something into your daily basket. Be it good or evil there will be something placed into your basket. Throughout the day you will “nibble” on these things and even on left-over’s from a previous day, but mostly on the things you have received from that day. The older the “yesterday” left - over’s are the less of an affect they have upon us.
Allow me to explain further. Think of Sunday when you go to church and you will spend approximately 2 plus hours that morning and then the same that afternoon. That is 4-5 hours of positive charging of your spiritual batteries. Think of how good you feel Monday morning but as the day goes on (given you’re around the public) The sense of that positive “church” feeling begins to be drained. Tuesday is a little worse and so on till midweek service you can recharge your batteries. And the next day you are recharged again.
The more we are around positive or negative influences the more it will weigh on us the more it will move us into the direction we are eating from. This is why it is so important to have a consistent daily routine of recharging your spiritual batteries. You need to place good healthy food into your basket to eat. You don’t need junk-food because it will rot your teeth out. Eat unhealthy long enough you will become spiritually obese and out of shape. You will find it harder and harder to run the race.
In our daily routine we should be dedicated and consistent. The “New Years” Resolution Syndrome in our spiritual life can be just as sad as in our carnal life. Many people start out with a positive frame of mind but other things tear at them and pretty soon they have dropped off from the resolution and give up. These people were only TEMPORARILY changed in their mind. A pep rally only moves you for a short time. They allowed other things in their life to take control of their decision making. A wise man once said “the best way to get ride of a bad habit is to replace it with a good one”. You need a “Transformation of Mind”.
For a Christian we should start off the morning with
1. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord is simple but effective. Before you crawl out of bed just simply say thank you Lord for allowing me to wake up this morning. Thank you for the privilege of one more day. WHY? Well, out of every one that went to bed last night, how many do you think were allowed to wake up? How many would the statistics show that died in their sleep. Further more, out of everyone that wakes up this morning, how many would you say that will be able to make it home and go to bed tonight. Friend you know not the hour when he shall call you away, So be thankful for what time you do have.
2. Prayer - Prayer is like the phrase “I love you”. Everyone says it, but how many really do it? Everyone you meet, speak of prayer but how many of us truly take the time to focus on it instead of just repeating the phrase. It is not some great intellectual speech you present before a group session of congress. God is an awesome God and he is truly EVERYTHING but he is also compassionate, caring and long-suffering. We can come to him and speak to him as though he is our closest friend (which by the way he desires to be). We don’t have to be something we’re not, we just have to be humble, sincere and have a desire.
One thing we truly need to do is get ourselves into a closet. Now this is not meaning a literal closet in your home but it means to “tune out” the rest of the world. We need to focus of HIM and HIM alone. If you’re in a room full of people and you have a tendency to look around you may need to sit and kneel somewhere you can concentrate on your prayer. If you are sleepy then you need to get up and walk around (if there is room). We have to get into a “Zone” where we can focus on God. If we can just spend a few minutes in the morning in prayer. (Remember the better your prayer life, the better you relationship with God). You do this consistently every day you will see a change in your life.
3. “Scripture for the day” - We need to read a few scriptures a day (EVERY DAY) to put some bread in our basket so we have something to “chew” on thru the day. Remember when you leave your home and head to work most people fix a lunch because they will be hungry during the day. Your spirit is no different. If you are not able to take a bible with you to work then simply take a scripture. Write one down and read it thru the day and meditate on it. You will be surprised how much cleaner in your spirit you will feel. Plus it will help you when the enemy comes in like a flood. If you will read maybe a chapter a day, or just a few scriptures. Make sure you read them and not glance over them. Maybe read them a couple of times so they can sink in good and carry them with you that day.
I say that to say all of this, We need to put Godly food into our basket because when you step out of your home, you will be faced with many thousands of spirits doing everything they can to pull you into the mire and maybe to Hell with them. They will attempt to replace your healthy food with junk food. They will place rocks and trash in your basket also. If you walk into a public store and unless you’re a blind man you have to notice all the sinful nature of people nowadays. Be it lustful, hateful, hurtful or even selfish and cruel. The devil knows what will pull at you and I guarantee you, that will be the one thing you will see before the day is up. If it is something lustful, it will be flaunted in front of you. If it is drinking or smoking, somebody will walk up to you and make you smell it on them. Those spirits will make sure to blow that scent straight up your nostrils and you will get a good whiff of it to entice you
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