Under pressure

“Your justice is eternal, and your instructions are perfectly true. As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119:142-143‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A lot of people like to refer to diamonds when we are talking about being under pressure. How the diamond is pressurized and because of the heat and the pressure over time it becomes what we see and hold as a beautiful jewel. But in order for the diamond to become what it is, there has to be something on the inside of the area to form into that diamond. There has to be something there for the pressure to push on and to form together in order for it to become what it is. Those things have to work together at once to become the diamond.

HERE IT IS…

Don’t get upset because your under pressure. Look around at what you have around you and in the inside of you and realize that the pressure is going to work in your favor. The heat may get hot. The force may make some things happen that you never thought would. The constant pushing and force my drive some things away from you. But over time the pressure and the heat and the force starts to refine you. The finish product is good. Take joy in the journey that you have had and knowing that all that I have been through I didn’t break. I didn’t fold. I didn’t give up. Because I find hot in his commands.

Your not like that

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9 NLT

I can vividly remember trying to be something I wasn’t when I was younger. I was trying to act like I was thuggish, and act like I was about that street life. I had no clue what it was about. I tried it and wish I never did because it was like putting a round peg in a square hole. A lot of people didn’t take me serious because of how I was brought up, and what they saw from me growing up. It was hard to try and get that bad boy attitude when you have something much stronger on your life. I tried, I really did it just wasn’t for me at all. That’s because I was not supposed to even be there. Have you ever felt like you were somewhere and you know you weren’t? Felt like you were the odd person? The more you tried, and tried, and tried,  the more obvious it was that you shouldn’t be doing it? Even the ones that were doing told you you shouldn’t be there?

HERE IT IS…

God says, “you are not like that…” . God says that you have been chosen, you are his, you are to pull people out of the darkness and not get pulled in. Things don’t fit you because it’s not your size. It doesn’t fit you because of who you are in Christ. God has called you to a specific purpose and truth is it’s not what we think is cool, or fashionable at the time. When you try to be the opposite it’s uncomfortable. Well Rev. Why is it that God makes it uncomfortable when he wants you to move in his will and out of his will? Glad you asked. It’s in the text he says your royal priest and a holy nation. Show them it’s a better way. Not my will bit his will be done…

Break down

“The idols of the nations are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and mouths but cannot breathe. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭135:15-18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I have fixed a lot of cars in my day. I have taken things apart and put them back together again so they will work the way they are supposed to. The one thing that I do know is that when fixing these things and getting them back working again is that, they will break again. Sooner or later that same issue you had will come back up again. The things that men make cannot be counted on to last forever. These things will have to be repaired or replaced. I have never seen a tree break down and someone have to come and fix it to get it to grow again. It may die in its current state but it has been grounded in dirt to grow again.

HERE IT IS…

What have you put your trust into that is going to break down eventually? It can be a car. It can be a house. It can be your spouse. The truth of the matter is that you left trust should be built in nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness. He will never break down. He will never let you down. Your faith and trust should not be in the things man made but in the one who made man. God is the one who can sustain and keep you in all things and in every situation. Where does your trust lie?

Idols

““You must not have any other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20:3-5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

What have you made a god in your life? We over look the fact that we can unintentionally make things a god in our life without even realizing it. One of the things that we make a god is our jobs. They can easily become something that we put before anything else in our lives. What is even more amazing is that we make excuses to keep them there. Now, in now way shape or form am I saying that you should quit your job or something like that. I am saying however, that your job is not your source but a resource. We are not allowing God in because we have placed things in his place.

HERE IT IS…

Take a moment and inventory your life and look at what you spend the most time doing. Then compare that with the amount of time your spending with God. I heard someone say that if God is asking for 10% as a tithe l, that does not just mean money. You have 24 hours in a day. 10% of that 24 hours belongs to God. But I have this to do and that to do. Ok, so during our car ride prayer on the way to work what if God spoke to you with the same manner it which you spoke to him? “I have to many other prayers to answer, I can’t get to you right now!” Check your idols in your life and place God where he belongs.

God is the one

““Present the case for your idols,” says the Lord. “Let them show what they can do,” says the King of Israel. “Let them try to tell us what happened long ago so that we may consider the evidence. Or let them tell us what the future holds, so we can know what’s going to happen.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭41:21-22‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The movie Jerry Maguire is one of my favorite movies. An almost washed up football star who has made a bad name for himself because of his attitude has to hire Jerry to try and get him to get a great contract that he can go out on. The football star played by Cuba Gooding Jr. has been flamboyant about his talent, his money, and his attitude. Because he has been a great talent his ego has taken over. Now he has to find a way to shed the ugliness of his past by changing his ways. But, he has to do it without using his old antics.

HERE IT IS…

All those things that worked in the past were ways to help you get by in that present time. They had no history nor future to it. They were used to get by for the moment. When using idols and other things that may have got you by for the moment comes to a place to where they have to produce something long term and sustain it it fails. The only one that knows about your past and future. The one that knows all the stuff no one else seen you do. The true God that helps you because he knows the plans he has for you. When God is used he will be able to create a life. A career. A family. A marriage. Peace. Joy. Love. That will go beyond your right now.

Order in the court

““Listen in silence before me, you lands beyond the sea. Bring your strongest arguments. Come now and speak. The court is ready for your case.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭41:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬
All rise the honorable judge presiding. Court is now in session. We are here to here the case of idols versus God. Idol – Your honor I am here today to show cause as to why I am able to give your people what they desire. Instead of waiting in you I am able to give them what they want now! I am able to provide them with the finer things in life. It is my case that these people want and deserve what it is that makes them happy and I can give it to them.
Jesus – Father, I come before you to show that this idol has no idea what he is talking about. We are not here to refute the facts that he is bringing up. We are here to show that he can do nothing but hurt the people of your court. He can only bring further pain while you can provide eternal life.

HERE IT IS…

Listen to what God is saying to you and not what the idols can do for you. We often times get caught up in what we want and how fast we want it that we miss what God is saying to us because of our desires. We turn to evil and wicked things that sends us into a spiral of bad choices. Spiral of bad decisions. Spiral of bad thoughts. Then try to figure out how we got there. Stop representing yourself when you have a great God to represent you in every aspect of your life. He will give you the desires of your heart. It’s great to know that he knows when to give it to us so that we don’t mess up the blessing he has provided. Listen to him and follow his word.

Remember

““But as for you, Israel my servant, Jacob my chosen one, descended from Abraham my friend, I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭41:8-9‬ ‭NLT‬‬
I have always been told by my parents to remember where you come from. As a young man I thought it meant geographical location. Rockford, Il. The west side of the city. I was repping my city hard until I realized what they meant. Remember where you come from is remembering the struggle that others had to get me to this point. Remembering the things we had to go through as a people. Remembering that we don’t do any and everything because we have a level of integrity that we live by. We were chosen for something greater than just operating as if we have no home training.

HERE IT IS…

God had called you before you were even designed in your mothers womb. You have been selected to do something great and to affect a lot of people. You have the ability to change so many things all because of where you came from. You came from a long line of people who worked hard and love God. You have been blessed to not have to face some battles because others have fought them for you. You are a chosen member of an elite group. Hand picked by the one true living God. Now, walk in your authority and your right. Fulfill your calling. Live as you should as one of the Kings and Queens you are.

Ranch hand

“He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9:37‬ ‭NLT‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.9.37.NLT

When I was younger I was apart of a group of my church called the “ranch hands”. Rev. Salters called the youth the ranch hands and I could not for any reason think of why, till I got older. The definition of a ranch hand is “a hired laborer on a farm or ranch”. This is meant that we were the ones that would be doing the work in the field of the Lord
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Hired – by God because we are chosen by him. We were being cultivated to do the work of the Lord, and as I look at the youth from the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church from when I was a child I see greatness and things that was being instilled in us that we still live by today.

HERE IT IS…

Cultivate your ranch hands, and show them that they are more than what they see on TV and Movies. They will be the ones that carry on when we are gone. They will teach their kids what you taught them. Let them know that they are more than what the world say they are.
Ladies you are more than your face, hips, lips, and breast
Men you are more than a sperm bank, drug dealer, and rapper
You are a child of God thats what you are….

Trust

““Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬
One of my favorite verses of the Bible is this one right here. This embodies a lot of things we don’t do when it comes to God. He tells us in the Bible that he will never leave us nor forsake us. He says that we will never be begging for anything. He gives us the ability to come to him for anything. He tells us how to pray. He tells us whose name to use if we want it done. He gives us promises that he keeps. He keeps us safe in the palm of his hand. Yet, we always seem to worry about things that we don’t need to worry about. “Don’t let your heart be troubled.”

HERE IT IS…

Trust in the Lord. That’s what he tells us to do. Simply trust in God and to also trust in Jesus. Everything we are worried about. Trust in God. Everything that bothers you. Trust in God. All the things that may seem to come your way. Trust in God. When you trust in God then you red to trust in Jesus. The ones who died. The one who saved you. The one God sent for us. The one who carried your sins. The one who opens the doors that God promised you. “Trust in the Lord with ALL thine heart, and lean not to thine OWN understanding.
Where does your trust lie?

He’s moving

“On that day you will no longer need to be ashamed, for you will no longer be rebels against me. I will remove all proud and arrogant people from among you. There will be no more haughtiness on my holy mountain. Those who are left will be the lowly and humble, for it is they who trust in the name of the Lord.”
‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3:11-12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Are you ready for God to move? I know we say that we want him to move and want him to do something great in us and around us. Are you really ready for God to move? When God moves, he doesn’t seem to just move in away that we think he should. He doesn’t move a piece at a time. It seems that when God moves he takes out everything that is not good or going to propel you closer to him out of the way. Truth of the matter is we want him to move but we want to select what and when he moves certain things.

HERE IT IS…

Gods movement is not based upon your feelings nor your thoughts. He moves on what’s best for you. When he moves he comes and dispose of those things we think we need and keeps what we do need. Those things we try to hold on to will be gone. The things we thought could function with will be moved away so that we can focus on him. That’s what he wants from us so that we can inhabit what he has for us. The people who are left will be the ones who help push you towards God.