Take your pick...

When I say things kept getting in the way, I’m not exaggerating.  As expected, since I have decided to give the Lord, and anyone wanting to read, my first fruits “Here come the Tare”.  My plan was to move forward, but there is one more observation to share. Ephesians 6:16 comes to mind because the separation from the tare requires some effort on our part. I’ll wait while you read that one real quick.

Let me diagram my recent revelation:

Decision

Distractions

      Disappointment     Discouragement

Shield of Faith – Delete The dis’s Above

            The Dart quenchers

Discerning

Determination

Dedication

            That one is for free, but the rest is going to cost you. Now you have to read the rest of the lesson on the fruit of the spirit …LOL  Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  I’d like to share a little irony for me that happened as this lesson was revealed to me. First, I LOVE FRUIT! The other is my Spiritual name for my prayer group is Fruit. Anyway on with some serious stuff.

As far as I know Scientists have not developed a tree that bears more than one fruit at a time. I’ve yet to see an orange-peach tree. Same principle applies to the “fruit of the Spirit”.  There is only one quantifying Love; God’s. Joy is joy; peace is peace, etc. Each element of Spiritual fruit may have a variation, but there is only one!

A question could be how is that applicable when there are nine things mentioned? Glad you asked, cause a tree bares one type of fruit until death. Trees also develop and mature and with each new blooming comes a new element being add to the whole tree. Now understand one other thing about the tree, the branches are key. The only example that seems to draw the picture clearly is the fruit at the top after many blooms will be full of all the elements the grower desires. The lower branches may only be have a few of the characteristics, but still one tree. To apply it to how this walk may progress for some is like this; the morning harvest will depend on which level of the branches you pick. Some days your reach may be mid-level, but as long as you are tending the other levels can be harvested later.

An important fact to remember is the elements don’t just happen, there has to be a tending of the tree. Getting to know someone or something requires time, effort and dedication (there’s that dart quencher again). So, I’ll ask are you tending your tree?

Like Cain, are you picking from the branches that require little or no effort to reach in the mornings? Where are you gathering your first fruits? I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m climbing the ladder every chance I get. I want to live each day FULL! Psalm 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. I hope I tied this all together enough, but will see what happens. Happy tree tending Thursday! Smooches~~

Jump, Shout, Let it all out pt2

     Thanks for stopping back for the rest of this study. Now let’s get into the meat of the matter. Matthew 13: 24-30 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.  When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. ‘The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? W here then did the weeds come from?’ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” 

     As I was reading through chapter 13 this was the parable where I found the most meat.  Then reading a little further in the chapter Jesus gives an explanation/meaning of this parable.  Matthew 13:37-39 “ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.”

     Before I go any further I need to take a minute to explain one thing that is mostly forgotten about the spirit of God. I recall hearing many worship singers and ministers say the Spirit is a gentleman and will not come where not invited.  John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”

     Here is where things get a little complicated.  Now if the wheat is growing in God; the tare is also growing in the knowledge of how the Spirit operates.  How smart would it be if the wheat could be deceived by one who appears like itself?  How easy is it for us as people to relate to someone who looks or acts or sounds like we do?

     This when it is most import to operate with the spirit of discernment. To be able to distinguish the wheat from the tare the parable leads us to believe the power of the angels is necessary. Well the thing most of forget is in Psalm 8:2-5 David speaks to God and confirms that the son of man was made a little lower than the angels. So, if we are in fact endowed with the spirit, we should have the ability to detect the tare without much effort.

     When I looked back through the scriptures for the actions or the results of being filled with the Spirit of the Lord, what I found was even more fascinating than I had ever learned.  In the Old Testament the spirit of the Lord is discussed and in every instance the spirit was full of wisdom, knowledge, peace, calmness and tranquility.  The utterances given and just about every occurrence those filled speak with prophecy.

     Let me just point out one thing here, Matthew 13:26 “But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.”  As we grow and are endowed with the wisdom and knowledge of God and we are walking in our ministry the enemy has been right there and knows what areas are our weakest and that is when it becomes more apparent who/what is the tare.

     Because until we bare fruit then the enemy is content to just hang with us and not be a problem. Once you’ve taken that step of faith, spring up, the enemy will be right there like a mirror image reversed. For every step the tare will be there to entangle your roots, the knowledge given that allowed you to spring forth, but the beauty is once you’ve cried out to God he will send his angels to rid the kingdom of the tare.

     ‘When I think about the word “tare” all I can imagine is being pulled away from something and in all actuality that is exactly what the tare does.  It tries to separate us from other wheat to tare us away from our purpose and God’s promises to us. The other thing I noticed about tare is it not only grows with the wheat, but it grows intertwined with the wheat. So much so, that a reaper would have to kill the wheat to get rid of the tare until the wheat is fully matured.

     After much time and meditation it is simply this, no matter what you have done or what you struggling with or the hindrances we’ve been taught keep us from God, NOT SO! If God planted you, he already knows what will distract you, but hold on and just keep being that stalk of wheat. Watch the actions of the tare and you will not see: Galations 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

     Tomorrow I will do my best to expound on the fruit of the spirit. Just something to think about is the word fruit is singular. With that I pray you’ve received something for my words and find peace through the night. Jumped, shouted and let it all out Monday! Smooches~~

Jump, Shout, Let it all out!

               One thing that was always disturbing to me is when I would find myself in a church service where the praise and worship leader and singers are trying so hard to usher in a spirit of praise. What they don’t seem to realize is that they are losing the few that may be ready with the repetitive unfeeling songs.

                Having been a Praise and Worship singer one of the things taught was never force the worship. The one thing we always had to do was pray to get on one accord, which sometimes, no matter how much effort put into, it may not happen with the proposed group of singers. It is so difficult at times to come into an atmosphere that is stifling and try to force the praise of a God we know is worthy of all praise.

 Then sometimes I think for too many years the church pulpit has been a stage for some to perform. To garner the trust of the people with a good emotionally stirring sermon. As I was studying and all night I found myself wrestling with something that has been on my mind for a very long time.

One of the things which has come to be expected for some to qualify the service as good is when the “Holy Ghost” has control of the service. For decades the Pentecostal ways of praise have been held as the standard by which we praise. What is considered is the day of Pentecost that has been assumed to have occurred at Azusa Street.

I will forever be thankful to my first Pastor who hammered into us how important it is to study the word. To find out for yourself what God really says about a whole matter and not what has been interpreted by someone.  The study tools available today make it so much simpler to find and research is not as tedious.

Well what I’ve found is just that, things I’ve found in my quest to know God better and be a better servant for him. I was torn on what direction I wanted to take my blog and who I was ready to get flak from for my opinions and observations. Over the years even some of our most prolific evangelist have followed a pattern of service designed by men. By men looking at the time for means to spread the gospel. Men who understood fully the best way to get cooperation was to hit an emotional trigger. To stir up the emotions of people already disturbed by problems is easy when the right things are said.

I get so upset when God is portrayed to be like a genie in a bottle and with the right rub, your desire will be granted. Or even more upsetting is when God is made to be like an ATM, put in a hundred here and God will give you a tenfold blessing. I’ve heard that so many times and have actually given and honestly, still waiting on my return, let alone a tenfold return.  This is where I’m sure I will get the most disagreement from those so set in the ways of a denomination. God is not an ATM, God doesn’t make people lose control and go wild, the spirit is not many of the things we have seen demonstrated in many churches.

When I began to search the scriptures for certain things, not one of them could I find. For example I did not find any instance where when Jesus healed, did the afflicted person have a highly emotional reaction. Yes, there was excitement, like to woman at the well and perhaps the one leper who came back to say thank you. But I sometimes feel we have allowed the enemy to get us distracted by emotional reactions rather than God inspired revelation.

Okay, just so I can bring some to the same page I am on, let’s look at a few things the word tells us about the spirit of God and then we will take a look in-depth at each of the fruits of the spirit. If my ministry is to be one of teaching, please understand what I teach I had to learn first. It is not only the student that will either accept or reject, but as a teacher sometimes I’ve been forced to look at the hard things and have to stand alone because precedent has been established and no one wants to disrupt. Well thank God, Jesus didn’t care about precedent, but he came to change that. To shake things up, to get people past emotional response and get the real spiritual answers.

This is one of things I believe has been a block for me to step out, the one to have to share the hard things. The one to shine a light on some of the areas we’ve allowed to be clouded with deception and cunning.  Really it wasn’t until the parable in Matthew 13, the wheat and the tare, was shown to me that I was able to see a deeper answer to one of my questions. Jesus told the disciples God put the wheat and the enemy placed the tare together, but what is missed is God allowed it to strengthen the wheat and not for the wheat to take on the characteristics of tare.

Because I only have so many hours in a day and this holiday sapped me of a lot of it, I will pick this up after work and continue thru the morning on this subject until I feel a release. My desire is to have a new post daily to this blog, but it appears some days and some things on my heart may take more time to put together. That being said, please bear with me as I get rid of the tare in my days so I can present all I feel strongly in my spirit.

When I became aware that my call to the ministry was to be one of hard not wanted to be discussed truths. I recall sitting on my cousin’s couch and asking, why do I have to be the one with this message?  Laughing I said okay, I’m going to do a Jonah move. Well little did I know my whale was going to be the small secluded town of Hobbs, New Mexico. I reminded the Lord yesterday Jonah was only in the belly three days, so why must I still be in the belly. I had to laugh when I got the response, “Well Jonah got the revelation a lot faster than you did!”

So, now I go off to the bill paying portion of my day and hope if you find my study intriguing, please come back tonight for more. Jump, shout let it all out Monday!! Smooches~~

Wobble Worship!

     Now I understand why it was so necessary for me to go the San Luis Obispo. I thank God for giving me more. While I was moving some stuff to its appropriate spot, I caught myself doing my wobble worship. With my knees getting weaker, I have to get my dance on when the pain is masked with medication. The best part of this morning was I hadn’t had any medication!

     Then the word from Bishop Jakes “War Between Two Worlds” was definitely for my ears and my soul. The revelatory nuggets have increase my spiritual bank account. This set me off into a study mode, so the blog will be short and late.

      
     I love how time flies when you are doing something exciting! Well back to notes and books. Study Sunday! Smooches~~