That 1 Thing?--Give it Up!

"And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus." (Luke 5:11)

The verse above came from the radical actions of the first ever disciples Jesus called; Simon Peter, James and John. These men were ordinary men who fished for a living, one day they had an encounter with Jesus, Jesus gave them an invitation to come follow him and they gave up EVERYTHING for Him. Can you imagine, you're fishing, this is your business, your livelihood, everyone in town know that you are a fishermen and during your lunchtime at noon you have an encounter with Jesus and you give up EVERYTHING. One o'clock passes, Three o'clock passes, now it's getting to the end of the workday. Your business partners starts asking people "Hey, did you see Peter? He went to lunch since noon. I haven't seen him." Days later, someone tells them "Oh, Peter? That guy  left everything to follow Jesus." How radical is that? Whenever I read that verse, I think something AWESOME must have happened that Peter, James and John saw it worth it all to forsake everything to follow God. I mean the Scripture said, as soon as they landed they left everything. Now, that's radical! 

But here's another story, a true story that happened during Jesus' ministry. 

One day on the road to Jerusalem, a rich man came to Jesus addressed Him as "Good Teacher" and asked a question I think we all would ask Jesus during His earthly ministry. 

"Good Teacher, you are talking about this Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven you say? You say, it's near, it's here. You keep preaching there's joy, peace, rest, safety in this Kingdom and most of all eternal life. How can I inherit this internal life?" (My paraphrase of Mark 10:17)
Very good question to ask. He was seeking.
I think it's so cool, that Jesus already knew the answer but He wanted the young man to come around to His own answer and face the issue that was in his heart. So Jesus humored him. Jesus started listing all the laws that since birth the Jews follow that he knew this man also followed; "honor your father and mother" "thou shalt not steal"..... After Jesus listed those, I bet the rich young ruler must have been doing the happy dance in his mind thinking, "I'm so in! I've kept all those commandments!" Like many of us, the rich young ruler had all the rules down pact but I doubt if his heart was really engaged in the things he was doing for the sake of God and God's Kingdom .
Before the rich man can conclude his happy dance and go on his merry way, Jesus answered him, "Anh Anh Anh, not so fast my boy. There's still one thing you have not done."
The rich man was probably going over  the many many laws thinking "Well, maybe I must have missed one." but Jesus interrupts his thoughts again. Ready for this? He tells the man to Go and sell his possessions and give the money to the poor and he will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. (Mark 10:21)

"Excuse me Jesus, what?"

And here's where the rubber meets the road, where theology meets experience, where the difference between religion/speech and relationship/actions sticks out like a sore thumb. 
Earlier I said, the rich man was seeking which was a good thing. But the answer he got required drastic changes in his life, he didn't like that so much.
So what did he do? I would imagine he had a million thought passed through his mind about the enormous step Jesus told him to take. Somehow, this man felt that 'one thing' that Jesus asked for he could not part with, he 'needed' it, it was something that was part of his comfort zone, something that was part of his identity, his reputation (the story did start off saying he was a 'rich' man) that was identity. If he gave up his worldly wealth, would he still be seen around town as the rich man? or would he be known as the-fool-who-give-up-all-his-riches-to-follow-Jesus-guy. His identity and comfort zone was on the line. Little did he know he would have gain everything if he followed Christ.
PAUSE
Now many many people have taken this Scripture (Mark 10:21) out of context saying God wants all of us to give away everything. Whoo Hoo! Ummm... No. Not true. Only if He ask you to and He will definitely ask you to give your riches away if your riches have you and prevents you from following Him.
Let's Keep Going! 
So my question is what is that one thing that you are not willing to part with to fully follow Christ. Because that is your idol in your heart. You've done everything else. You honored your father and mother, you don't steal, you don't gossip, but what is that one thing? We all have one.
Me? I have many. I've been saved for three years now. I thought when I was saved, I laid everything down at the altar and I did. But as I went though my growth process/journey with Jesus, I realized "Hey! This is really a relationship" and we have our ups and downs and whenever we have our downs where I would doubt God or be hesitant in trusting him I would pick up those things that I have laid down at the altar three years ago. My comfort zones, what I am used to and familiar with, my barriers, my walls that I'm so used to putting up instead of trusting. So yes, I have many one thing(s) that I need to continually lay down, cast down, willingly give up ownership of, totally destroy for the sake of following Jesus forever.
As we know the end of the rich young man's story was he walked away, (BIG SAD FACE) he was not willing to give up or give in to Jesus that one thing because "he had many possessions." (v. 22)
The cool thing about this story is, I think if the rich young man on his way home said, 'You know what forget this, I'm going to do it. I want Jesus more than my wealth." and he ran and found Jesus again, I believe Jesus' offer would still be standing. That's how much Jesus loves us. He is a God of second, third, three million chances. Why? Because we need it! and He loves us so much. His heart is that NONE should perish (John 3:16)
Let me stop here and say when I was young-er (cough, cough) (I'm only 23), but when I was teenager around 14, 15 where I started knowing I had to make a decision about following God wholeheartedly or not. I thought to myself, "I will! BUT there's always tomorrow right? I want to enjoy what I feel like doing right now before I start doing what he wants me to do." I even went as far as to pick the 'right' age to be really saved. Me and my friends use to say, "We'll have fun now, we're still young right? God will let us in. Or we'll just pray and receive Christ when we are just about to die." or "I'll get serious about God when I reach 25, that's a good age to settle down. You know take God serious after I've had all my fun." Like I said I'm 23 years old, I got saved at 20, now who would have thought of that! God is good. AND THAT IS  A BIG PERVERTED LIE FROM THE DEVIL >> THAT GOD IS BORING AND THE DEVIL IS FUN> SO FUN THAT YOU GO TO HELL? I DON"T THINK SO. JESUS IT"S WHERE HE"S AT!
Anywhoooo... (lol)
I say all this to say, if you are in your right mind and you are not a toddler and you know right from wrong and you are reading this post (heehee). ONE DAY, you will have to answer to God. We will ALL have to answer to him. He'll say "I sent my Son. Everything was done for you to be with me. Why did you reject Me?" Isn't that sad? And unfortunately, that question/invitation that Jesus posed to the rich man and to all us will no longer be available on that day. So do it NOW!. Answer to Jesus TODAY!. Surrender to Him today. Don't let friends, family members or any other persons stop you from being with Jesus ALL THE WAY.

I promise you will never be the same. 

Miss-Leading

I always been afraid of  being in a leadership position especially as a Christian. Reading in the Bible about Lucifer who attempted to take God's glory and was cast down, various kings and 'leaders' who took praise that were directed for God and were also cast down. Not good. So yes, I had my reasons for not wanting to be even close to any leadership (up front) positions. Thank God for people who know how to properly balance that but I never thought I was cut out for it. Too much pressure.

Well, (turns page on life) God is good. He deals with every fear I may have, even about Him. He gives answer y'all. 
Obviously God is God, He knew my inner personal struggle and while randomly watching YouTube videos from Tenth Avenue North during one of their interview Mike Donehey spoke about this very topic.
The interviewer asked them, "How do you feel being famous, you know on stage?" (rephrase) and he broke it down by saying "Always check yourself and remember they are not following you, they are following Jesus." (rephrase).
A lot and I mean a lot of people who are doing good works, Christian, love God, are in ministry but 'they' themselves are the role models people look up to, hook unto and depend on. It should not be.Because if that person mess up, then people have an excuse to not continue their walk with Jesus. Jesus is the ONLY person people should be looking up to, hook unto, depend on. Yes, as babes in Christ, when something happened, he/she will skip over Jesus and call their pastor but as mature Christian we fall on our knees and cry to God first. If you are suffering financially BEFORE asking people for money, you tell God first. Come on, we got to stop playing God saying with our lips we love Him and honor Him but in every day life, we treat Him like He is not real or relevant in our lives.
So anyone who is in a leadership position, people are not following you. They are following God, Jesus. You must lead them to Him. Do not build your empire, you are part of an already established Kingdom.

Here is an awesome way to RE-Direct people's praises to God and not take it because first of all it's not ours to take. I love you all and Be Blessed. And remember all glory to Him. !!

Church Politics

I didn't know how far gone I was until I was having a conversation with a lady and realized she was talking to me about "Church Politics" and not what the Bible call Church to be.
If you have never heard of the term church politics, it just means Who's Who, Who is the doing what, Who's looking at Who is doing what, Who is jealous of who is doing What and the list goes on. I just hate the whole thing.
If we go back to when the Church was birth after Jesus ascended and God's Spirit came to dwell among us, we can see that the Church was first and always about proclaiming the Gospel of Christ and performing signs, wonders and miracles to God's glory. Soooo... what is this about "Well, I don't like the choir leader because he didn't pick me to sing the solo so I quit!" Hello! You are not working for the choir leader. It's not about you, it's all about God! It's all about exalting Jesus' name.
If it was about you, then YOU would have to have power to heal people and save them and YOU can't do that.
So, yes, my brief encounter with church politics reminded me that there is still mess and foolishness within the church and I think it has to stop for God to have His way. Another thing is I know that problems and disagreements will arise wherever there is people, but we are not like others we have the Holy Spirit, we have Jesus and He said that the world will know us by our perfect unity because we are in Him. John 17:23. So let's not get involved in petty church drama and keep our eyes focus on Jesus.

(Don't) Follow Your Heart

You know the age-old saying, "Just follow you heart"...well as a Christian this pose as a risk because God's Word says to us, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV). So we are called to NOT follow our hearts but to follow God's Holy Spirit in all things.
Living in this world but not of it is challenging because our faith in Christ goes against the present cultural standards, ways and mindsets.
When and Where are we called to "not" follow our hearts but the Holy Spirit:
1. In our relationships 
Thank God, for Heather Lindsey *Check out her blog here :)  and many others such as (Pastor Yvette Brinson, Terri Savelle-Foy, Christian Books) who have taught me the importance of allowing God into ALL aspect of my life and yes that includes who I enter in relationships with whether it be friends, that one guy, and even certain family members.
So, if you are reading this and you have been battling the next step in a romantic relationship (Should I end it? Should I not?) Do not listen to  your 'friends' when they say "Girl, just follow your heart..." or "What does your heart tell you". I'm not married but I can vouch to say that many women who are in an unhappy marriage relationship initially followed their hearts because their hearts told them at the time that they love this man and he is perfect for them.

2. When making big decisions
Such as which college to go to, who to marry (who NOT to marry *haha), what career path to take, what job opportunities you should take or pass on. All these things make or shape our lives and since they are so big, I would say  'DON'T' follow your heart, follow the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. Another thing is our eyesight is limited, we can only see so far ahead. We can imagine or make a guess-timate of what's to come but we cannot say for certain this is what is going to happen but God's Spirit knows ALL things. He knows the End  from the Beginning so don't you think the wisest thing to do since He can see further than I can is to trust Him? Just believe.

Finally, our heart can lead us places where we wouldn't necessarily want to go. Again, the Word says the heart is desperately wicked who can know it. (Jer.17:9). Thank God in Psalm 19:12,14 it says, "How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults... May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you. O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer." God can keep you. Be Blessed... LOL>