Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, August 15, 2023.
I told the Lord that I am afraid.
And, this was the counsel of the Holy Spirit.
"Be not afraid. Stand on God's Word. Trust Him. And, be content to burn for His glory."
It requires faith that God's glory is the best and most desirable outcome, even more than my survival.
This is impossible in the flesh and it's extremely difficult even in the Spirit, but by His grace, I can. I will. I press.
"Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and we believe He will deliver us, but if not, we will not fall down nor worship any other…"
~ Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego (paraphrased from Daniel 3:12-30)
Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, June 27, 2023.
This is something God put on my heart for my family. My prayer is that it would be helpful for yours.
Our children, as we all do, go through a phase I like to call "Putting on and putting off" where they're examining the things around them, trying things on, determining what things are true and deciding what they will accept or reject.
Shepherding them through that process, allowing them the leeway to suffer the failure, pains and wounds necessary to emerge as their authentic self, all while helping them avoid death is a difficult and delicate process.
As far as I am concerned, this requires wisdom and skill far beyond my own, so I am dependent on grace and for Jesus, the Good Shepherd, to teach me how to shepherd my family.
Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, May 25, 2023.
Can this be said of the black community?
"Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
“For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?"
— Deuteronomy 4:6-7
We should repent.
We have failed to do this because we lack men to keep us in line (formation).
Grandma is a warrior, she's vital, but as much as I love her, she cannot do this. This calling and the anointing that comes with it is given exclusively to men.
Men, raise your head and lead. Let us, as many as the Lord will call, repent of our failure, endure the criticism, and lead: going before our people in loving obedience to God and in pursuit of righteousness with holiness.
There is hope.
"But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them."
–Deuteronomy 4:29-31
I understand there's a desire to organize a march to call our community to action.
However we decide to move forward, this should be the first step.
Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, May 18, 2023.
This, fellow entrepreneurs, is how you validate a business idea.
This guy made a garage door opener for motorcycles.
He identified a problem, developed a solution and made something potential customers could engage with (in many cases, it was just a photo of the product).
When customers perceived that his product met a real need they were having, that was enough to generate sales. No website. No logo. No slick marketing material. People got in line, offered money and were willing to wait.
Business validation answers one question: Will customers buy your product?
"That's awesome!", "I really like that", or "I would buy that" is not validation, a customer offering you money is.
Originally posted on Facebook on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.
There is a difference between faithful and religious.
Both involve work -exertion of effort to achieve an end.
But the difference is why it's done and who it's done in service to.
As I learned through a dark night of the soul, I can claim the things I do are for God but that are actually and ultimately for me.
This was evidenced by my nearly walking away from faith because I was doing "good" things but bad things were still happening in my life. It violated my expectation of "wages", that is, if I do good things, I should get good things –a payday.
It's like working for a company. Ultimately your work is in service to yourself, not the company. If they don't pay you, you will no longer work.
It is do to get.
Contrast this with doing something for a loved one.
I recently traveled hundreds of miles to help my beloved nephew (son) move out of college for the summer.
It was work. It was inconvenient. It was costly and I was delighted to do it. I gladly went at my own expense.
Why? Because I love him and I want him to know he's loved. I want to help him. I want to contribute to his well-being.
And, like most teenagers, there wasn't any real indication that he got it. But, I was more than satisfied and my heart was full of joy just knowing that I gave.
This is do to give.
A key difference between religious and faithful is who my work is done in service to: an employer (which is ultimately in service to myself) or a beloved.
But the main difference is why I work: doing to get or doing to give.
With religion, I can rigorously observe and follow rules and be just as full of hate and hell as someone who is completely without any moral code or regiment.
But faithfulness springs from love.
There's a reason the Apostle Paul refers to himself, not as a servant who receives wages, but as a δοῦλος –doulos, an unpaid slave of Christ.
It alludes to Exodus 21:5,
“But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ “then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever."
The Apostle Paul willingly gave His service because He loved the Master. He didn't just dispatch his duties, he was delighted to do so.
So, as I struggle with maintaining motivation and resenting the daily grind –"what I've got to do today", I ask myself am I being religious or am I being faithful? Who am I doing it for and why?
I earnestly desire to be faithful and live out Colossians 3:23,
"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men"
So, I call my mind again to my Lord, Jesus Christ. Even though I do it imperfectly, I do sincerely love Him.
When I remember everything I do and how I do it is an opportunity to help Him, contribute to His work, and to let Him know He's loved, my work becomes less about what I've got to do and becomes more about what I get to do.
But above all, I want a heart set on Him so that what I do is based on fealty rather than feeling.
That strength of heart does not come as a lighting bolt from heaven but only comes by way of exercise. I have to do cardio. I must exercise myself to godliness (1 Timothy 4:7).
Just like physical fitness, that spiritual strength of heart is only found through obedience –working out, and often against my short-term will.
Lord, by Your grace and by Your Spirit, please help me perfect my love of You and keep it ever before me that I might do all I do, not for myself but for You, and that I do it not for wages but because I love You that I might be found faithful rather than religious. For the glory of the Father, the purpose of Jesus Christ, I ask these things. Amen.
Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.
As a black community, I believe our first objective should be that which is currently within our power to do and universally that is stopping self harm.
As an example, our family has reached out to Dr. Brian Pugh to train us on financial stewardship and building wealth. His advice?
Before you get into conversations about stocks, forex trading, cryptocurrency or finding investments that earn high interest, he said, stop paying high interest!
While you may not have a lot of extra money to invest right now, you can increase your financial capacity by flushing less of it down the toilet to high interest debt.
In other words, stop self harm.
And, one of the very first places we need to stop self harm, is the relationship between the black man and the black woman.
We need to stop everything that is causing self harm in that area. And #1 for me is to affirm the value of black women and to stop the self harm of premarital sex.
As I've written before,"To guide on a way especially by going in advance" is the definition of leadership.
So, black men, #lead which means #youfirst.
We must commit to not tearing down black women in any way, including through premarital sex.
Let this be the start of a campaign to heal and grow the black community beginning with stopping self harm.
We may not have the capacity to do a lot of what we'd like to do yet, but we can stop doing things that harm ourselves right now, putting us in a better position to build it.
Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, May 8, 2023.
And, if Strength is the goal (God is our strength), we should not be doing anything to make any one else weaker.
"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." — Ephesians 4:29
"but, speaking the truth in love, [we] may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." — Ephesians 4:15-16
We'd be many times more effective as a church if we get our minds right about our approach to it. There's a lot we can learn from the gym. Let's help each other get stronger!
Originally posted on Facebook on Wednesday, May 3, 2023.
Just this morning, I was in Leviticus 26 where God is making a promise to the people He's bringing into the promised land and says,
‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.
Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.'
Leviticus 26:3, 7-8
What struck me was that even though God promised, they still had to fight.
"He didn't promise easy, He promised power," is an excellent summation.
Originally posted on Facebook on Friday, April 28, 2023.
Here is Pastor Gregory Jones at two different ribbon cuttings with me along my entrepreneurial journey.
As I prepare to open a third location, he immediately comes to mind. It reminds me that Pastor Jones was so much more to me than someone I would just consult regarding spiritual matters, he was a part of every part of my life.
So, on week 17 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for so much more than a pastor. Pastor Gregory Jones was my friend and the kind of pastor and person I hope to be.
Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, April 23, 2023.
Just today I enjoyed fellowshipping with New Horizons Christian Fellowship and received a powerful equipping message.
Guest Pastor Alan Hawkins preached that the church is not as effective as it should be in its mission.
He remarks that we "need to get saved enough" to fulfill the mission of making disciples (Yes, I hear this sermon almost immediately **after** my post this morning about discipleship. Coincidence?)
Pastor Hawkins then starts to draw this out from 1 Corinthians 10. He opens boldly, "I promise you this will blow your minds." Pretty cliche, right?
Has anybody revealed or explained something and afterward you're left wondering what just happened?
A taste:
"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."
-1 Corinthians 10:13
"How do you escape temptation?"
"Flee". See 1 Corinthians 10:13.
"To the Lord's communion." See 1 Corinthians 10:14-22
We must push back from the table of the demons of our idolatry and perversions, Pastor Hawkins argues. He continues, it is in communion with Christ that we are able to find "the way of escape" from temptation, and through taking on His life by consuming Him that we are equipped to fulfill our mission of making disciples.
