My Favorite Lyrics

I got these off of the site lyricsdir.com. These lyrics are from a rap by E'Miner and the Pilgrim featured on the album "Human Emergency". It is presented as a prayer and is entitled "Lord"

These lyrics were my prayer for about 1.5yrs.

[The Pilgrim]
Lord Jesus You're the King
And You reign over everything
Nothing is impossible to You not even anything
Forever never perishing
You're beauty never blemishing
You are the song that we sing
when we're worshipping
You're word is nourishing
and You're kingdom ever flourishing
Eternal never finishing, never ever diminishing
I'm relishing my relationship I'm daily cherishing
Through fellowship my thirsty soul You're replenishing
Lord, because You're just sin and lust You'll be punishing
Astonishing, how man rejects the admonishing
But knees will be knocking, hard nuts will be cracking and trembling
All high heels You'll be leveling
Mans long list of short comings
You'll be measuring and threatening
Over drawn accounts You'll be settling
Prodigal sons and lost souls
You'll be beckoning and tethering
And then will welcome them into the bretherin

[E'Miner]
Lord release Your power from on high through our lives
coz when we grip the mic we want to drop this right
we bring our bodies as a living sacrifice
that the deaf ears might be opened
and the blind receive their sight, and recognize
the way that they can identify
with You the Christ who Died
so that we could come into the light
and realise that You took away our sin
the way to You is open we can now freely come within
You're Holy veil
Lord, no more livin stale,
Lord, we can know You for ourselves for real
Lord and be secure in who You are
in everything we do worship
You and know that we is cool
that's why we, want to state plainly
the liberty that You have given us by You sovereignty
gratefully received
Cross Movement and MOD merge together as one like melody and harmony
a Godly symphony
sounding out the ghetto liturgy
globally, we bring encouragement to all You're family
faithfully, we want to serve You side by side with sword and trowel
till before You're throne on both our bended knees we take our bow

[Chorus]
Lord we declare humbly that You are here
We recognize ya
We raise our praise to Your name
Hallelujah
We come to represent You with no shame
because we love ya
There's nobody else who is above ya

[The Pilgrim]
Lord I thank You that to us Gentiles
who sat in the darkness You brought us light
through Christ
no less, sitting in the shadow of death
Lord this world is a mass grave
a tomb headed for doom, give me room
spreading from the left to the right
no depth or no height
holding forth the word of life yo
takin this game to the street, kicking tradition to the kerb
enlightening those who never heard bringing the word
faithfully spittin the truth, we're cuttin them loose
the sceptics providin them proof yo
we aint timid and scared, we're fully prepared
we're ready and keen 1Peter 3:15
me and my team
hit targets and getting annoyed
while The Word of God is accurate it never returns void
and if you're looking for Guns we ain't carryin
but I've got a Bible and some tracks in my hand you understand

[E'Miner]
Lord People wrestle You and try to fling You off like Dr Spock
Instead of gripping You like Jacob
Truly You are in this place and they know it not
like Clarke Gable, Frankly my dear the mans don't give a... what!?!
Do they know not
that they're headed for that hot spot
and when their flesh rots
they will still be burning non-stop?
We try to reason, but they treat us like we're talkin treason
wanning (going on) like they is the cream of the crop
so we use the hip-hop
to preach non-stop
rinse the Bible from bottom to top
Blaze the Word till we drop
because we can't stop makin it clear
that You are here and You truly care
and our burdens You'll truly bare
but beware because we know
You're judgement is drawin near
if we turn from sin, You'll bring us in
out of despair
You made the way clear
yet it does makes You're heart bleed
to see the gals dem bunnin the weed
driven by greed, mans out sowin wild seed
yet more wild flowers a breed
when will the people take heed
tell me when will the people them see
Lord You're here full of Grace and Mercy
us Your keen to receive
Tell me when will the people them see, Lord
You're here and You're wrath is ready if we refuse to believe

lesson learned leading women's ministry

For a large number of people the following hold true:

(1) Being cared for is more important than being challenged

(2) Being loved is more important than being admired

a subtle deceit

It was an easy thing to regard that initial commitment that I made to Jesus as a significant moment to be memorialized. Once I became His, I had only to enjoy the benefits of this amazing association. I had learned the new rules.

With this accomplished, I looked to occupy myself with other pursuits. New adventures, achievements, and relationships absorbed my attention and passions. I carefully applied the new rules to the same pursuits that I had before I began to follow Jesus. This, I supposed, was what it meant to believe.

This attitude is subtle and subversive. The truth is that the commitment that I made to Jesus was not about the moment of decision. It was to a lifestyle of seeking and yielding. I am unfaithful to that commitment when I am too concerned with my own desires and ambitions to seek God's pleasure and too tied to my own goals and pursuits to yield to His purpose.

In that moment, obedience becomes an inconvenient obligation to avoid if possible and endure when necessary.

Blackberry addict interviewed

Blackberry addicts being interviewed on television. They just can't put it down.

Someone just died

I can hear my mom calling relatives in the next room. I know the drill by now. Calling relatives across the nation means that someone has died. At best, someone is in the hospital.

In the first six months of last year we have had 3 deaths in the family. I am familiar with the routine. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

My dad just came in my room to tell me the news. My cousin, D., her husband was killed in a car accident last night. Our family is very close. I grew up with her being more like a sister than a cousin.

Please pray for D. she now has 2 teenagers, a baby, and a house to care for.

Chuck Norris

This one is good:

1. Go to Google
2. Type “find Chuck Norris”
3. Click on I’m Feeling Lucky

Confidence vs Arrogance

Confidence says, "I'm great!"

Arrogance says, "I'm better than you!"

The same answer

I asked for an answer to solve the conflict in my mind.

How can I believe when I don't understand? When I don't understand the motive behind the action or the intention behind the word, how can I trust?

The answer is the same as always.

Love. Love first. Love persistently.

INVENTORY OF CONVICTIONS THAT GOD HAS BUILT INTO MY LIFE

Singleness is a gift to be honored, appreciated, capitalized upon. Jesus had it his entire life. Paul, the apostle had it and thought so much of it that he wished everyone had it. It offers unique advantages over being married that unmarried people have a responsibility to utilize to their greatest effect.

Every authority is appointed by God. God uses authorities to protect and provide for me. God requires me to obey and honor every authority in my life, familial, governmental, ecclesiastical, spiritual, and otherwise. I am currently learning that this may also include cultural.

Building and maintaining relationships characterized by love is always the main goal in any endeavor. While it is easier to achieve when all parties concerned share this same goal, my aim to achieve it does not change even if I am the only one in the relationship working towards that goal.

God is my Father more than He is my Master. My Father is good. My Father loves me. He can be trusted.

Don't be afriad to shine

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

-Nelson Mandela

Yo Momma

Another one from my favorite web comic strip, http://xkcd.com.

Just for a smile

I read this comic at the Web Parish blog and thought that it was funny enough to share. To enlarge the image, just click it.

5 Things I've never regretted

Loving God
Loving People
Dreaming BIG
Being Diligent
Being Patient

The Worshipper

To look long upon your loveliness
And be amazed.
Inspired to eschew lesser things
Not worthy of you.

- The Worshipper

Faith follows focus

This is a sermon in development. I would appreciate any suggestions on how to make the point clearer, or even if you think I'm making the wrong point entirely.
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"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the father, and i will do whatever you ask in my name, because the Son wants to bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it."

-John 14:12-14

The issue isn't whether or not God is willing, it is whether I am willing to believe him. Now, this isn't a matter of me working myself into a fit of frenzy which will enable me to deny reality so i can have faith. Rather, faith follows focus.

This is most dramatically seen in romantic relationships. Think about a friend of yours. Someone who is hooked up with a guy or girl that doesn't seem right for them. They seem like they get on each others nerves and never agree. Your friend often confides in you how distressed they are about this relationship, but for some reason, they hold on. See, your friend is convinced that this will work. They Just know that if they hold on something will change. They have come to believe in this relationship because they have invested the time and effort imagining how good this can be. They have exalted this person in their minds to the point that they just know that all of the heartache will be worth it just to finally be able to have a good relationship with this person.

So, it is possible to come to believe in something just by keeping your focus on that thing. This thing will become a reality in your own mind and heart even if it is just your imagination or emotions getting the better of you. The difference between faith and believing in something just from your imagination or emotions is that faith is faith in God, his character and his promises as revealed by Scripture. You will grow in faith as you narrow in focus on these things.

This reveals the true danger of doing doubtful and sinful things. They distract us from focusing on God and we focus on our fears, our lusts, our status. When the time comes where we need to believe, then we may find that we can't. We can hope in God, but we can't believe from our heart. Our heart has been meditating elsewhere.

The promise stands that if we will believe, having faith in Jesus, He will accomplish that which we ask for in His name. Are you willing to believe? It will probably take more than a rote repetition of prayer. It will take a lifestyle of ever narrowed focus on living in light of the character and promises of God. This is what means to be a disciple.

So, are you willing to focus on Jesus, His character, His purpose, and His promise to develop the faith that it takes to believe from the heart?

Diminished

I am less important than I thought that I was. It was surprising and disappointing at first, but it was also calming.

Israel, Balaam and me- Pt4

It's been months since I started this. In Parts 1-3 I explored incidents where curses were placed on Israel and Balaam by accepting what God had granted them. (Read the previous posts for more info)

In this post I will draw conclusions about how their situation resembles my own at times. In each of these instances both Israel as a nation and Balaam as an individual were discontent with what God had given them. Israel did not like the food God gave them and became resentful and asked for meat. God told Balaam not to go with the king's men in answer to the king's request that he come and curse Israel. After the king offered to pay a much higher fee then Balaam went to God again hoping to receive a different answer.

In each case God permitted the request. Israel was given meat, and He told Balaam he could go with the king's men. Also, in each case there was a curse. Initially, this seemed unfair to me. If God gives permission for something then it is capricious or mean-spirited to punish people for doing that thing. However, it seems that this is the way that God does things. When, we refuse to be content to embrace his provision or his commands, and instead, pursue our lusts then He allows us to have what we want with the curse that attends it.

Below are a couple of other examples:

Divorce

Malachi 2

"16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself ^[a] with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty.
So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith."
Matthew 19:

"3Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"

4"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'^[a] 5and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'^[b]? 6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

7"Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"

8Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."

Sexual Immorality

Romans 1:

"22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done."


This is frightening to me. I can persist in asking God for somethings and get what I've asked for even though it isn't what He desires for me.

How will I know that I am doing what is right?
I'll stay close enough to know his heart and see it's reflection in my own.
I think that is what Jesus means by remaining in him.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John15:5

Sudoku

I just finished my first game of sudoku! This game is way more fun on the computer than it is using pencil and paper. Thank you GNOME Sudoku!

Easily Deceived

About this time every year, I make a concentrated effort to practice gratitude. I minimize the disappointment, regrets, and loses of the past 12 months, and I magnify all of the good things. Here is how I do it:

I remember God's comfort in pain and the lessons learned through trouble. I remember His promises and His character. I rejoice that I am His choice to be adopted into His family and that Jesus is not ashamed to call me brother.

I remember how much I enjoy friends and how precious the relationships in my life are. I decide to believe the best about people's motives. I remember how blessed I am to have so many friends.

I choose to believe the best about myself. I choose to forgive myself. I remember that my future is limited by my faith not by my failures. Then I choose to trust God.

Eventually, I begin to wonder how I could have spent any time being frustrated with myself, bitter at others, or suspicious of God. Then I remember how, I am simple minded and easily deceived.

Silly me

Made up mind

You could have asked!

You could have listened!

You could have cared!

I should have.
I thought I did.
I was trying to,
but I'd made up my mind before you spoke.