Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Psalm 139--God knew me & continues to know me


Last week, as I was reading my daily bread both on my phone and in my book, something truly incredible happened. For the first time in 4 months since doing this, my daily bread scripture was the same on my phone and in my book. Psalm 139, which is one of my favorite scriptures was my daily bread and I quickly thought to myself, was this a coincidence or was this God trying to speak to me. Shortly after reading it, I quickly begin to believe that perhaps this was God's way of speaking to me to spread this message to those who might need some uplift.

Thus I sent Psalm 139:1-14 out in text messages to the just about everyone in my contact book on my phone because it is to a degree the heart of the entire Psalm. I felt God wanted me to send people that scripture to encourage them like it had encouraged me and the response to the text message was truly magnificent. So many of my contacts called or texted praising me for sending them that scripture as if many of them were in need of a blessing or a word from God. Still that scripture needs to be further examined so that we all understand and rejoice with happiness for just how "Great God" is.

When I read the scripture, I realized immediately how powerful God is when he created mankind to live on Earth. Think about it, in verse 1, it states that God searched us and knows us. Now God searches us to make sure he knows every ounce of character we have and every fear we may have so that he will help us to get rid of it because God knows just what's needed to make us fearless.

Then as we read more God knows every movement we make from when we sit to when we rise as well as when we walk, talk and even what we think before we have even thought it. God's power extends well into the future and thus scripture puts it on full display. This scripture shows us that God knows everything before it is done and even before we have thought to do it.

God knows us more so than we know ourselves. God knows our words before we speak them, he knows what we will say, how we will say it and how it will be perceived because God knows us. Where can we go when we know that God knows where we will be? God is everywhere we go no matter if it is in the air, sea or land, God is there. God is there waiting on us and willing to show us just who created this Earth as well as the universe.

Psalm 139 embodies the whole spirit of our faith as believers because it shows that God will guide us no matter where we go. God's right hand will hold us when we need it and protect us from the darkness. And even if we decide to disobey God and go into the darkness anyway, God will shine light in the dark. Only God can make darkness in the day and light in the night because it is the Lord who created all of this. So for us to think we can hide from the presence of the Lord is futile.

Its like the scripture says, God created our inmost being, meaning everything from the blood that runs through us to the heart that beats steadily to the muscles and every other organ as well as body part in us, God created. It was the Lord that put us together while we were in our mother's wombs creating us fearfully and wonderfully in his image. We should praise the Lord always for creating us in such a glorious image. No matter if we are tall, short, skinny or thick, we should thank God. No matter if our ears are big, our nose is funny looking to some, we should be thankful. No matter if one of our toes is smaller than our pinky toe, we should be grateful because the Lord created us more special than others.

God's works are wonderful so we should not beat ourselves up cause we have acne,  no booty, no muscles, our abs aren't flat and we got moles in places that we don't like them. We were created just how God wanted us to be created so we should be thankful for that. We should know that God created us perfectly and we should be blessed that God didn't hold anything back when he crafted us from the depths of Earth. We must know that God knows our history because it was written in his book in Heaven so every move we make God knows. God knew when we would be born and he knows when he will ultimately call us back to him.

Thus God didn't create us to be perfect but to be perfectly imperfect in terms of no one man, woman or child looks alike or acts like thus there's no perfect man or woman walking this Earth. There's no perfect human being in terms of looks because we all are perfect cause the Lord created us. God spared nothing when he created all of us thus we should not take our existence on Earth for granted.

We should count our blessings for being here because God created us knowing that we are his children and no weapon formed against us shall prosper.  We must recognize that God is with us and that God will slay the wicked who aim to destroy his kingdom by getting to his children. God will not allow evil to go unchecked because nothing is more powerful than the good of the Lord.

Our Lord is merciful and will not allow those who speak of him with evil to go unchecked. It might not be when we want our Lord to check them but trust that God knows when those who misuse his name will be handled. God doesn't want us to hate them but to treat them with kindness because those who rebel against him will be properly handled. God will also make sure that you know they are not your friend and the Lord will search your heart to ensure that you don't fall prey to those who mean nothing but evil against you.

Therefore God will make sure that if there is any offensive in you, it will not remain long because the Lord is your shepherd and the Lord's staff & rod will protect you so that no harm against you shall prosper. The Lord will keep us forever in his everlasting presence but we just have to keep our faith and believe in God always.

Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
 1 You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.
 7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
   and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
   the night will shine like the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.
 13 For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
   How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand—
   when I awake, I am still with you.
 19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
   Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
   your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
   and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
   I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting. 

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

When God Speaks?


The last 3 years of my life since graduating from Tennessee State University have had its share of ups and downs. However through it all, I realized more and more about myself. I've realized that sometimes in life you have to walk away from things you love cause you found something else you love. I've learned that no matter how much you care for someone that doesn't mean they care for you the same. In fact the most important thing I've learned is love.



It might sound strange but I finally know what love is and what love ain't. Look I've read 1 Corinthians 13 and each time I read it, I thought I knew what love was but it wasn't until the last 3 years that it all applied to me.



    1 Corinthians 13
    Love Is the Greatest
     1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
     4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
     8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages[b] and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.
     11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.[c] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
     13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.



As you can see love is not fairy tale, it isn't perfect but it is rather imperfectly perfect. God's love for us is what love is. Love is forgiving and forgetting but most of all love never gives up, never loses faith and is always faithful which is why it endures every circumstance and every situation. Love does last forever because God lasts forever. Thus, love is about having full understanding of one's life and the lives of others meaning while you might not agree with the direction others are taking in life, it is not up to you to judge their will. Love is a powerful force that does not lie, nor does it take for granted the little things in life. Love is enduring and it is God's way for us.



Thus as I look at the last 3 years of my life, I went from being in a relationship for 2 years that I thought I found the love of my life but God showed me that our love was not for each other because we were unequally yoked. Then I went to an even farther more equally yoked person who only helped me to get over the girl I was with for 2 years. Now after going to Basic Training and AIT Training, I have now met a God fearing woman who loves me dearly. A God fearing woman who is quick to remind me of my faith as well as why I do what I do which is for God.



Thus while some might say, how is that love, well when God speaks and puts someone in your life who completes you, who has the same horoscope sign as you, who has the same blood type as you, who is of the same faith as you, who's strengths are your weaknesses and your strengths are there weaknesses. All the while, your mom instantly loves her based off one conversation and her mom loves you based off one conversation than it is clear that it is love indeed. Love is not blind, nor is it rushed but it is timed perfectly by the heavens above.



God's love for me has been a work in progress. Thus this love to the woman I will spend the rest of my life with has been a work in progress for 26 years and 8 months. So as I prepare to deploy in December, my love for this woman will only grow so the time is now to commit my all and give my all to the love of my life, the woman I plan to be with forever and ever. God knows love and puts love in your heart instantly, it is not a game nor anything to play with and clearly I love her and she loves me which is why God spoke to me to propose when I did.