DEATH

deny yourself….

Dying sucks.

Clearly I’m not talking about a physical DEATH, even though that would be pretty cool since I am writing this. But I am talking about the many spiritual DEATHS we must take each and every day. Mainly DEATH to Pride.

Below is an excerpt from my very first blog post, from four years ago:

Four months ago I went on a Minister’s Retreat with my church, Blessed Harvest Institute, to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The name of the retreat was the Ridgecrest Conference Center. It was nestled in the mountains and exuded serenity. We arrived at about 10pm or so on a Thursday night and then had our first session at 2am on  Friday morning. At the first session we were each asked what has our Ministry cost us so far.

My answer was ‘nothing’. I didn’t feel as if I had lost or really given up anything for Ministry at that point. We took part in some more sessions and activities. At the end of that Friday night, right before we went to dinner, we were each offered a stack of turned down words and asked to pull one. I pulled the word DEATH.

I wasn’t alarmed about my word because I am a homicide detective and I deal with death on a consistent basis. I actually thought my word would pertain to something about work. However, we were told not to assume we knew what the word meant and to be open. As we sat at dinner, God whispered in my ear that the word DEATH did not pertain to my job, it was about me.

Huh? He said I needed to die to me. Self had to die now! He couldn’t use me the way He wanted to because of me. I didn’t realize that I had become my own stumbling block. I had become complacent and didn’t realize it. Selfishness had crept in disguised as me. Me wanting Ministry to be comfortable, me not wanting to be rejected, me not wanting to be inconvenienced, me not trusting Him, me concerned about what others thought, me wanting my desires met; me me me. DEATH to me!

When we are offended, or as we put it, ‘bothered’ with someone, something, or some situation, we hardly take the time to take a step back and see what we are contributing to the situation. And, even when we do we typically find a way to justify the stance or actions we’ve taken.

What happens when that thought flashes or someone says:

• ‘you could have handled that a different way’

• ‘it’s not about YOU’

• ‘why don’t you apologize?’

• ‘it doesn’t matter who did what first’

• ‘stop rehearsing it, because you are keeping it alive’

• ‘it’s not worth it’

• ‘forgive’

It’s been a while since I wrote. Literally a year to the day. Much has changed. God has blessed our family with a new baby girl and I am truly walking in His favor.

This morning he reminded me of this word because it wasn’t just relevant on that retreat four years ago. It will be a constant process in my life. And as I draw closer to Him, He will continually show me the things that have to DIE for me to be in His presence.

Today I want to boldly tell you that it’s not worth your soul to be unforgiving. There is no need to live in strife and tension. We must address situations quickly before they start festering and then stinking. It’s not worth your peace.

We can have peace at home, peace at work, peace at church, peace wherever we go because most of all we can have peace on the inside.

So I share my word with you.

DEATH.

What do you have to die to? Be honest.

Have a blessed day.

Blessings

JC

 

Why are you Afraid?

Lord, I love to praise Your name…

Dealing with the emotion of fear.

By definition, fear means an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. In some scenarios it is a necessary emotion because it keeps us alert as we proceed in different situations. It prevents up from walking thoughtlessly into danger and when warranted, it puts us in that ‘fight or flight’ mode that is necessary for survival. There is also the fear of God where we revere Him and repent from our sin for fear of punishment. But this is not the fear I want to talk about.

As I study the word of God, I notice that this is the greeting that angels gave to man when they came upon them; Fear not. I also noted that of all the emotions we have been given, God had to tell us that He didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). This reminder is actually crucial in our Christian walk. I say this because fear is the one emotion that paralyzes and cripples us. It causes us not to move. You never hear someone say they were paralyzed or crippled with love, or hate, or jealousy, or greed, or joy etc. Fear paralyzes.

The enemy is crafty and he knows this. He knows that as long as we are oppressed by the spirit of fear, and yes it is a spirit, we wouldn’t be effective for God. We wouldn’t want to go witness and evangelize because we fear rejection. We freeze walking in our spiritual gifts because we are afraid of critique and rejection. You see, most of us like to be liked and we like to have friends. So the thought of people not accepting us or what we have to say is a terrifying one. We are afraid that the plan God has shown us wouldn’t work. We see that as failure (we are afraid of that!). There are some of us who are afraid the plan of God will work; success (and we are afraid of that too!). This whole fear thing is a mess.