Got Blood?

Sometimes I wonder if God looks at us and calls us 'pale-faced'? In various places in the Scripture, lukewarm, undedicated, and hypocritical believers are referred to as scoffers, whitewashed, and/or unstable as the sea. But upon observing the life and times of today's Christian, the word pale-faced comes to mind.

Pale. Lacking color or complexion.  Yes, that is what pale means physically. But spiritually, being pale is different. While you may attribute being 'pale-faced' with vampire folklore, I would rather not mix mythology with biblical principles (lol, eventhough I do enjoy the Twilight Saga). What I will say, though, is that being pale-faced spiritually is a bit like the condition we know as Anemia.

Anemia, simply put, is a lack of blood or decrease in the number of red blood cells within the blood. As a result, a symptom of anemia is pale skin. Now, let's take this natural understanding of Anemia and apply it to our spiritual understanding. We know that Jesus' blood was shed for the remission of our sins; and, upon our acceptance of Him as our Savior, we are then adopted as sons and daughters into the family of Christ. When we come to admit, believe, and confess Jesus as Lord in our lives, we can think of this as a sort of Blood transfusion. It is His Blood that saved us, cleans us, and makes us whole.

Why, then, do we have so many people of the faith walking around looking so Blood-less? In Hebrews 9:14 (KJV), God affirms "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." When you are anemic physically, you have a lack of energy and life. When you are anemic spiritually, the same thing is true. And, if you lack life - this means your supply of the Blood of Christ has been hindered, inhibited, and/or cut-off temporarily. Clearly, this must be remedied by replenishing your Blood levels.

I am not telling you to go out and become a vampire like Edward Cullen on Twilight! But we must be intent on seeking the cross of Christ when we begin to feel ourselves being fatigued, lethargic, and lackluster spiritually. Where else will you receive power from the Blood but the place where His very Blood was shed? This means you will have to re-evaluate what things in your life are causing you to lose touch with God, re-affirm your commitment to God by finding ways to get active in the Kingdom, and re-fuel yourself consistently with the Word of God so that you can become Occupied with Christ. Let us all work diligently together to stay in the vein of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

"The World is Your Oyster!"

Yesterday I was sitting speaking with one of my co-workers, and we were discussing taking chances in life by attempting to accomplish what seemed to be far fetched goals we have thought of over time.  Through the conversation I blurted, "The world is your oyster!"  This outburst caught both my co-worker and me off guard, and we were both momentarily filled with laughter.  Neither of us paid much more attention to the outburst as we proceeded with our work day.  However, I could not get that phrase out of my head for the remainder of the day and night.  I kept hearing "The world is your oyster." 

Now I am not one to live my life by the words of clichés, but I do like applying analytical thinking to how they might influence my insight and ultimately my output.  Since I clearly could not shake this cliché from my thoughts, I did the only thing I knew to do which is inquire with God concerning what this phrase meant for me.  The traditional meaning of this phrase is that the world is yours to enjoy; it is there for your taking.  However, here is what I received concerning the cliché "the world is your oyster."

 

There are so many tasks to be accomplished through us.  We have bucket lists of goals we want to accomplish, projects we want to complete, skills we want to master, and new things we want to try.  However, we are the reason that none of these things are coming to be.  We are crippled by fear, frightened by defeat, and devastated by our past or our human limitations.  When we realize that we are simply vessels created by an ALMIGHTY FAITHFUL GOD to accomplish HIS GRAND tasks, we can open avenues of success in our lives.  To tap into the awesome power of God it might help to ackowledge and truly understand the words of David in 2 Samuel 22:33, "God is my strength and power, And He makes my way perfect."  David spoke these words after God had saved him from the hands of all of his enemies and from the hands of Saul.  David knew about the power, strength, and faithfulness of God.  David knew that whatever God did and wherever God led him would be perfect because God is perfect.  This is the same power, strength, and faithfulness that we have access to as heirs to the Kingdom, and this is also the same thought process we should carry with us on a daily basis, that God is perfectly faithful so we should trust Him 100%.

So yes the world is your oyster!  We can attempt to accomplish anything we can fathom for we are not relying on our human frailties, but we are believing in the indescribable, uncontainable, incomparable, unchangeable power of the Most High.  Attempt every goal.  Operate in ministry.  Attain a new educational level.  Gain more knowledge.  Whatever you can envision take it to God in prayer and with His leading move toward being His hands and feet to accomplish His work and bring Him glory.  Do not be afraid to try.  

The world is your oyster!  Sometimes we may attempt to accomplish a task, and by our standards we may fail.  Again, take it to God in prayer and allow Him to reveal the true outcome of your actions.  He is the only One that defines and determines true success.  So as you go out to accomplish the work of the Lord throughout the earth, know that sometimes you might find a genuine pearl in that oyster and other times you might discover a scrumptous mollusk to feast upon.  Whatever the result is, you will receive what has been prepared for you by the Father Himself.  If you do not attempt to harvest the oyster, you will not have what the Father has created and has waiting just for you.  

Hungry and Homeless

Sometimes, I wake up at night. And I find that I have left the TV on. And just before I turn off the tube, to give sleep my full attention, I notice the info-mercial that pulls at my heart strings. It happens to be a 'Feed The Children'-esqe advertisment imploring viewers for their donations to help starvings boys and girls in third world countries. There's nothing like waking up late in the midnight hour to see barren-eyed, pot-bellied children staring at you as if they can see you through the screen.

It is a sad reality that many in other countries are living only breath to breath, instead of paycheck to paycheck. However, this week, God has revealed to me that this problem is not simply a demographical issue. It is not even solely a social or political issue. It is also a spiritual issue. One that the United States knows all too well.

Maybe, some of us have been naive enough to think that being hungry and homeless are conditions that only manifest themselves physically and only effect less wealthy nations. Yet, upon visiting my old church this past Wednesday, I'm convinced that neither is completely true. At this prayer meeting, I saw several kids, all less than age 16 that were hungry and homeless.

They were not hungry in the sense that they didn't have any food to eat. Nor were they homeless in that there was no roof over their heads. Yet, when each child walked up to the podium to state their prayer requests before the members of the church, the same barren-eyed, pot-bellied look came across their faces. It was bitterly and painfully obvious that they needed some nourishment for their souls and a place that they could safely call home.

The enemy is working over-time right now to weed out the next generation. And he is doing so by continually dismantling the institution of the home. Home is the first place that you understand the basic concepts of what role the Church should play in your life. Home should be safe. Home should be a place of hope and guidance. Home should provide you nourishment and edification. Much in the way the Church should. Yet, these kids...these wonderful and beautiful children of the Most High God are out here in the world fighting alone against powers and principalities that they should not have to contend with at such early ages.

Where is the Church? Where is the Church when so many of our babies are Hungry and Homeless? Where is the Church that is actively showing our youth that God will never forsake the righteous nor leave His seed begging bread (Psalm 37:25)? Where is the Church that donates its time, talents, and treasures to ensure that not another child must face their burdens alone?

It is our earnest prayer, that in this time of learning to become more Occupied with the things of God, that we will all take a little bit more time to pray for, edify, and uplift our neighbor, especially our children. Don't give them a present. Present them with the filling Word of God. Nourish them with prayer. Feed them with love. So much that they will never again feel Hungry and Homeless.