ClydeStyle

Category: Truth

  • Why God should be the only judge

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    One of the greatest historical education summits is being held across our country, everytime a black man is murdered while being arrested.

    From New York to South Carolina to Florida, Michigan, Missouri and Maryland, we see public opinion very prominent and it reveals the heart of America — we are still bias, prejudice and racist. This current generation will not wait for the previous two generations’ learning curve on this issue. Now what we see from them is anger: uncut, uncensored, destructive and painful.

    It seems that those who know, won’t tell and those who have no clue keep talking. Bitter wounds of our racial past are re-opened with every killing and every judgment. The flesh won’t allow us to be fair.

    Our superficial judgment seat needs to be torn down in favor of a new seat of love and forgiveness. That seat is nestled between the grace and mercy seats of God.

    If our society could simply remember and respect what God has said on judgment, it would change the game for us. Jesus said in his sermon on the mount that the measure we use to judge each other, will be the measure he would use. Lord help us.

  • Another letter to God

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    Dear God,

    It now makes sense to me why people don’t like to examine themselves: Our image is broken!

    I feel bad sometimes when I realize that I live in a country that treats animals (primarily dogs and cats) better than poor people. I live in a country that does not forgive or forget.

    I live in a country that is racist, bias and hypocritical. And I am sadly a part of this country. I represent those who point fingers both ways. I represent those who realize that they are the things they hate.

    Father, l need you to search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Teach me a better way Lord that I might let your light shine through me.

    I am not worthy of your light. I am not fit for your use. I need you, Father, to cleanse me enough to say amen. Give me your words that I may never thirst.

    Heal my heart. Make me an instrument of righteousness that I may serve you with gladness. Help me not judge those who are not where I am. And please let me not covet those in the place where I want to be.

    Forgive me O God for I have sinned. Make me invisible so that those who see my good only see you and not me. Save all of my credit for heaven father. Don’t allow people to ever praise me here.
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    Thank you father for my gifts and I vow to do your name good with them.

    Heal the hurt I have caused and turn my negative to positive. In the name of the one who chose the cross for me!

    Amen.

  • Are you really faithful?

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    So there is this story about I guy who could teach people how to spin grass into gold. The people could not believe that he had such a skill. The man he taught reacted pretty much like you thought he would. With dollar signs in his eye he spun all of his grass,  his families grass and his neighbors grass into gold. He made tons of people rich with his new gift. And everyone was happy.

    What does this story have to do with faith you ask?

    We are encouraged by the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:6-7 to walk in Christ. And the way Paul says to do it is remember and apply what you have been taught with all thanksgiving.

    Do you think that the man in the story was joyous about what he had learned?  Do you think he thought any about the person who taught him? What do you think was his attitude about doing the work?

    The point is that when something is a benefit to you,  no one has to make or force you to do it. You do it because it brings you joy.

    Our faith in Christ Jesus is based on the gift God gave and the effects of that gift in our lives. As a result, we love and honor the work done by God and imitate it.

    This means that the joy and understanding I have on the inside of me will manifest itself in what I do. And by looking at that you see my faith.

    So I ask again. Are you really faithful?

  • So let’s talk about this Sunday thing…

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    So today is the first Sunday of 2015 and it wasn’t promised to any of us. What an awesome thing to be thankful for! Clearly we didn’t make it through the last year alone.

    Sadly, on this day, some will not seize the opportunity this day affords by worshipping God because he is worthy. That same some will say, “oh, I believe in God but I don’t have to go to church to worship him!” I’m not sure who said this lie first, but make no mistake, it is a lie.

    Now I will tell you that God does not want us to do anything that we do not want to do. He will only accept our best and everything needs to be spiritually understood and heart felt. So to know God is to worship God. God’s goodness is what spearheads my praise and honor to him. I praise (worship) him everyday of my life as I seek to live in a way that allows my light to shine so that others will see him working in me. I honor him through dwelling among his people and demonstrating my Christian virtues on them. How do you do that from home?

    In other words, if we are to endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and stir up one another to do good work (Eph. 4 and Heb. 10) am I really ready to give Jesus my standard answer for why I forsake his gatherings?

    While you chew on that, I’m getting ready to worship my father in heaven and encourage my brothers and sisters. I know where all the true worshippers will be, and oh I want to be in that number!

  • A new beginning?

    A new beginning?

    Starting all over again is rough.

    When you reach the stage of starting over, it is normally when you realize that you’ve made a mess of things and it’s time to regroup.

    Reflection becomes your best friend during this time as you attempt to understand what brought you to this point and how to avoid it the next time.

    You know that things can be replaced, but the people…it’s hard dealing with the people. It’s hard to expect someone not to respond with “I told you so” if they actually told you so.

    It’s difficult to deal with people who choose not to forget your mistakes and maybe even want you to suffer.

    I struggle dealing with this because I know we are supposed to be a Christian nation. A nation who claims to believe in Jesus Christ and accept him as the savior of the body.

    But we have forgotten his teachings.

    We who claim to be Christians live under a different creed than the rest of the world. We say that we are different, but when it comes to allowing, helping or accepting someone who is trying to change, we struggle.

    Despite the fact that Jesus teaches love and forgiveness, to us a thief is always a thief, a murderer is always a murderer, a drug user or dealer stays the same, and a sex offender is just that.

    Where did all the permanent categories come from? Why do we only understand forgiveness one way — God forgiving us? Why on earth do we expect a righteous God to be blind towards the way we treat one another?

    Dear reader, I pray that you grant people in your life a shot at a new beginning. Shouldn’t we honor God by allowing our neighbors, family, friends, enemies and anyone else we’re not speaking to a chance at a new beginning?

  • I’m thankful for…

    I’m thankful for…

    This week we celebrate Thanksgiving.

    This has always been a sore spot for me ever since my second year of high school. That’s the time that I learned about the betrayal and almost destruction of an entire race of people at the hands of the Pilgrims.

    Since that time, I’ve learn to find good in a day marked to celebrate their evil. Thanksgiving is somewhat like the Trojan horse. Both involved a festive occasion marred by betrayal and a massacre.

    But there is hope.

    Instead of thinking about the historic events that make this holiday ugly, I choose to be thankful.

    I am thankful that I knew to make the most of my opportunities.

    I’m thankful that I didn’t have circumstances like abuse, grief, drugs or poverty to hinder me from seeing the potential in myself.

    I’m thankful for all the people who are close to me. I’m thankful for their love and understanding. I’m thankful for their friendship and kindness. And mostly I’m thankful that these people formed a hedge around me to ensure that I  knew I was loved and shielded from hurt.

    I’m thankful for my parents. I am what I am because of the parents I have. And even though they were not perfect, they turned me into the best me I could be.

    I’m thankful for my race. Despite the tragedy and racism that still takes place, I am proud of the contributions of my race, the rich tradition of the African culture and our resilience. I still pray that more African Americans will come to know this truth. #cutitoutFerguson

    I am thankful to everyone who has ever disciplined me. I needed it and I realize how evil it is for others to go around not disciplining those in their scope of influence. Every child needs discipline and one of the problems in our school systems is that they lack discipline.

    I’m thankful to every man that has been or who is currently in my life. You have taught me about a very diverse brotherhood that I am thankful for. The closeness, intimacy and trust we share has made me the strong heterosexual man I am today. I am blessed to be able to draw from brothers who are White, Indian, Cuban, German and Black.

    I’m especially thankful for every woman who has ever built a relationship with me. You taught me love and respect the right way and made me less of a dog. I learned how to be intimate without having sex and I learned to appreciate beauty.

    I am very thankful for the three children I have. They are all little models of me. I’m learning so much from them. They make me a better man.

    I’ve saved the best for last. I am most thankful for my relationship with Jesus Christ. All of who I am and who I hope to be rests in Him. Christ, you represent all for me and I love you with every inch of who I am.

    Please take time to share your thanks with the people who have earned it!

    Happy Thanksgiving!

  • Fixing the disconnect

    Fixing the disconnect

    We have a disconnect between what we know of God and what we see in this world.

    All who say they believe in God would believe that all things are possible in him. We would say that God is the creator and controller of the universe. We would agree that God had no limitations.

    But almost in the same breath, we will look at circumstances in our lives and we will doubt, fear and totally give up when faced with great diversity.

    Equally problematic is that we who are finite speak of things sometimes as if we were infinite. We say how we think things are supposed to be. We strong arm people to conform to our way and we act as though we are in charge.

    Well, the only way to remedy this is to surrender what little control we think we have and trust in the almighty.

    If I believe that the living God is the creator of the universe and the savior of the world, then there should be a level of trust to match the level of belief I have.

    We all need to ask ourselves if we really trust God the way we claim to? We need to ask the follow-up question of do we believe what we know of him?

    If we do, then we need to take action. Now. We need to live what we believe and not waste any more time with fear and doubt.

    Let’s trust God! It will make the rest of this year a whole lot better and much more prosperous!

  • Can you take a hint?

    One of the most embarrassing moments in life is when you have been given hints regarding something about you and it doesn’t register.

    I’m not talking about the simple things like your pants are unzipped or there is something hanging from your nose. I mean really embarrassing things like you are obnoxious or you dominate the conversation so much that people hate to talk to you. Or something worse like your kids are bad or your spouse is cheating on you.

    These things can put us in very awkward positions and it really defines our true friends. I mean after all it’s our real friends who have the responsibility for making sure we are in step. Right?

    But what is it that makes us blind to the hints we get from those around us? Why is it that others can see things about us that we cannot see?

    There is a blindness that affects our ability to reason and be self reflective. This blindness comes from our inability to keep reality during a reality check. We already dislike when we are wrong. We don’t like when people point out our faults and we really don’t like to own up to any of it. Add insecurity to the mix and we instantly create a disorder.

    This disorder I speak about blinds our conscious, not our sub conscious. In other words we know these things are true about us, but the pain of this realization is too difficult to bear. So we lash out in denial and become defensive. We get upset and participate in other destructive behavior instead of just taking the hint.

    The hint is actually our help. It helps us to quietly get the information without it being broadcasted all over the place. It’s our last shot a maintaining our dignity and correcting our trouble spots.

    Can you take a hint?

  • For His namesake

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    America needs prayer. In times of trouble and civil unrest the best thing for everyone concerned is to pray. Most people will not argue that prayer changes things. Well why is it that we don’t think to pray first?

    Jesus, when teaching his disciples to pray, wanted them to learn a little something about the God they were praying to. So in Luke 11, Jesus tells a story about a friend who would come to another friend in the midnight hour needing help. The friend in the story would not help because it was too late, everything was shutdown and the family was in bed. Jesus then gives another scenario to this story. He says that the friend in the homeß will not assist his friend in need because he’s a friend. His says he will help because of who he is.

    This is extremely significant. My friends, our father in heaven does not respond to us based on how good we think we are. He doesn’t respond because he feels sorry for us. And he definitely doesn’t respond because of the religion we claim. God responds to us because he is God. Remember the 23rd Psalm? He leads me in the paths of righteousness for HIS NAMESAKE!

    Since God responds the way he chooses, doesn’t this give us a greater reason to pray. The bible is filled with stories about God responding favorably to his people. Why would we then hesistate to approach his thrown of grace and mercy?

    It would benefit this world greatly if just a handful of true believers began to pray for our government, our greed, our peace and our undone condition. If we would stand united in prayer that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven and if we sincerely prayed for God to heal our land, I believe he would cause a condition to happen. This condition would give the world an opportunity to repent of its sins and then healing would begin.

    I believe this. Do you?

  • Problems with the church?

    So, having problems at church, huh?

    I mean, we know that Christ gave us all a mission which is to go into all the world and preach the gospel. But I’m talking about a church where everyone not only knows the direction they are going, but took a role in planning it and have been praying for it since the conception of the plan.

    I bring this up because I have talked with many who feel that their congregation is going nowhere. They feel that “status quo” has been the plan for years and as a result the church is dying. This is a touchy subject because for some reason we believe that we’re not supposed to question the authority of the church for to do so is to question the almighty God. Yeah right!

    The church is only going to be as good as its commitment to follow Christ. No one would argue that Christ is the head, but we can’t just measure success by the mere fact that people still show up on Sundays. And I’m not saying that we are all supposed to have a Megachurch. What I am saying is that Christ did not leave his church without direction. There are some clear things that we should be doing so that the world will see Christ in us.

    It can’t just be that we say we are Christians, we have to prove it. The only way the bible talks about proving our discipleship is with love toward one another (John 13:34,35). In an age where church splits are more common than mergers; where letters of dis-fellowship circulate more than letters of encouragement; and where preachers are being fired at an alarming rate, it’s no wonder that the church is dying.

    It’s like in hospice, we serve families who tell us not to mention hospice around dad cause he doesn’t know he’s dying. And then dad tells us not to mention dying in front of his family because they don’t know he’s dying. Everyone knows, but no one wants to address the issues.

    In addition, fear makes it hard for us to respond the way we should. We have been conditioned not to go against the system or leadership even when we KNOW that the leadership or direction is wrong.

    Now before you run off and kick in the church doors, understand that you need to be a source of help. It is possible that the folks in charge don’t know what to do. It’s probably the case that they need encouragement and to know that they will not be harshly judged if they make a mistake. It is equally true that they may be arrogant and need to step down from their roles. Whatever the case, the church needs to be moving in the direction to bring about GOD’s result and not man’s.

    I suggest the following as a means to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace:

    1) Get involved! Don’t be the type of person who comes every now and again criticizing. You want things to change? Let that change start with you.

    2) Go to your leadership and tell them how you feel about the things that are going on and let them know that they can count on you to help make things better. Let them know of the high level of commitment you are ready to give.

    3) Always speak in fact, not fiction. When things are not going well, Satan has a way of spreading gossip and getting false information out to the general public. Make sure what you are saying is a provable truth. DO NOT bring gossip and hearsay to the leadership.

    4) It is never a good idea to have a meeting before the meeting. There should never be any secret meetings unless you are planning a surprise birthday party. People tend to get upset and defensive when they know that secret meetings are going on. Bring everything out at once. All things should be done open and honest before everyone.

    5) Make sure that you have scriptural backing for everything you say and do. You need to know and explain truth that is aligned with God’s word. DO NOT go to the leadership with “I feel”, “I think” and “I believe” statements. You must stand on God’s word. Personality problems are not God problems. If there is something truly wrong, then it’s wrong because you have scripture that says it is. Prove all things and hold fast to that which is good!