You -vs- You

Ok so the scripture told me how to get transformed by the Holy Spirit by the renewal of my mind. Now I understood what it said but not really. I mean I knew what "renewal of the mind" meant but what I didn't fully understand was why? I knew that the world taught me things contrary to what The Bible teaches but the question still remained; why was this important? 

Before I had a full understanding, I was just another person going through the flow doing things (renewing my mind so I thought) because the pastor, teacher, church, or whomever told me so. So I would read the bible here and there, listen to my gospel, go to church (early to y'all), dance, and shout. But ultimately I began to become lazy with my holiness. I desired to read the bible more "but" I would put it off, I wanted to pray more "but" I was too tired, I wanted to draw closer to God "but" I was too busy, I should have had junk in my trunk from all those "buts".lol There was always something that distracted me or caused me to steer away from my routine. The crazy thing was, it was me that was the distraction. It wasn't my friends or family but me. I would be busy doing a bunch of nothing. Am I the only one? I mean I was on Instagram, YouTube, hanging out, texting, doing my hair, and anything I could find to take me away from renewing my mind aka reading that bible. I would have good intention to read the bible but I would do something that would distract myself. It was like I couldn't help myself. Then I ran across this scripture. (Galatians 5:17 NLT) "The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions." I found this interesting that I have a force (evil) in me, fighting me so that I don't carry out my good intentions. Have you ever had good intentions in a situation when approaching a friend or family member with an issue or problem? But somehow it took a turn for the worse and the next thing you know you're arguing, screaming, and now you look like the bad person? Because according to the scripture, two forces (good and evil) are fighting and one is trying to stop you from doing what God wants you to do or in other words live out your good intentions. But we're not even aware of this so our sinful nature wins every time. Hints to why you approached the situation with good intentions and then somehow your pride or ego has been tampered with and now you're out of character defending yourself. (I'll talk about why that is in another blog)

It wasn't until I stumbled upon Romans 7 when I realized I was in a war with a power far greater than I was and the enemies lethal weapon was my own flesh. Talk about an unfair fight! (Romans 7:23 NLT) "But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me." As I read this I saw two things: one that there's another power (satan), and two that its WITHIN ME. Not in the world, not the people I see on a daily bases, but in me! And to top it off, it's at war with my mind. WOW! (Romans 7:15-20 NLT) "I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it." Now this passage spoke to me on a different level. It single handedly changed my whole perspective on what I was up against. Not only am I up against satan but I am up against my own flesh and blood. Now think about that for a second. Now here I was thinking I was only at war with the enemy in my mind but now you're telling me I'm up against the evilness (sin) in my own flesh? 

After that I got all kinds of revelation (things being revealed to me). Like for instance, have you ever caught a toddler doing something that they knew was wrong and when you caught them they lied and said it wasn't them? Now think about this, they know how to lie before they know what lying is. Crazy right? They (you and I), as a toddler, know how to break one of God's commandments before they know how to use the bathroom by themselves. Now I don't know about you but that's evidence to me that we are born with sin/evil in us. (Genesis 8:21 NLT) "And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things." We were born into sin, meaning we were helpless from birth. The Lord Himself said "even though EVERYTHING they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood." 

So the realization that I was facing was that I was born with EVIL in me! All these years I thought I was a good person but now the bible is telling me that by nature I'm a liar, I'm a covetous, etc; a sinner. That's a tough pill to swallow. But God couldn't leave his children helpless and defenseless. He knew we couldn't win or fight this battle on our own. (Romans 7:25 NLT) "Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin." This is the reason Jesus Christ sent us another advocate: The Holy Spirit. Only through the Holy Spirit are we able to truly obey God's commandments. And the only thing that's smarter than the devil and our human rationale is God's Word. That's why we must study, meditate, believe, and have faith in His Word. Cause lets face it, I hope you don't think you are smarter than you? Which hints to the reason you have your life all figured out right. I think not!

I challenge my reader to become aware of these different forces in you. Pay attention to how your body reacts when you're reading the bible. Do you get tired, is your mind wondering, are you feeling sick, etc? We have to train our bodies to do what the spirit wants because for so long it's been doing what our sinful nature wants. Don't get discouraged because it's a process for us all. I pray this message touches the heart of someone who had questions or maybe didn't fully understand like me. I pray that you meditate on, not my thoughts, but God's word. I encourage you to read Romans 7 and Galatians 5 so that you can understand for yourself and know what you're up against. But I'm sure, for some of us, the force (enemy) is already fighting you and trying to stop you from reading the 2 chapters I have suggested. But I pray that your spirit wins this time so that you will began to know the truth. Thank you and God Bless:)

Conforming to "religion"

After I was saved or what the "church folk" like to say; born again, I assumed that my past was forgiven and now I need to clean myself up. The key word was "I" need to clean "myself" up. It became this long laundry list of things I can't do anymore or at least the things I thought I couldn't do. Not that I had ever read the bible so I based my clean up process on what I've been told how religious people are "suppose" to act. Therefore, I was conforming to man made "religion" instead of being transformed by the Holy Spirit. I cut the top of the weeds off without removing the roots. Now what does that mean? I stopped doing the things that I've spent 27 years doing such as partying, drinking, fornicating, lying, etc... And I thought that magically my life would be pure from this day forward. But just when I thought those things were gone, the weeds grew back stronger than ever. I couldn't understand why I was still wanting and gravitating to these things. It became a internal battle and a mere impossible one at that. I would pick up the bible and read from the beginning because that was what I was told. I learned how the world was created but lets just be honest, that wasn't helping me with the battles I was facing at that particular moment. I kept thinking, when will I get to the part in the scripture that would help me now? I was going to church every Sunday, reading my bible daily, but yet that magical new me that I thought would happen was not reality. I was just the same ole me, only difference was I finally admitted I was sick and in desperate need of Jesus Christ My Lord and Savior. 

Now the question is, how do I become transformed by the Holy Spirit? Or in other words, how do I get rid of the roots? Romans 12:2(NLT) say "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way we think". What does this mean? By reading scripture which is the living word. This will ultimately renew, reeducate, and redirect our minds. The things that the bible teaches is the complete opposite of the world. For instances, Romans 12:17  (NLT) says "never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable". Now this may ruffle some feathers like it did mine because I've been taught by the "world" that if somebody do me wrong then do them wrong. My actions then became justifiable because they did me wrong first therefore, I am not held accountable for my wrong doing. Meaning I didn't feel sorry for them because I believed they deserved it. But thats completely contrary to what the bible teaches. Cause if you think about it, the bible tells us not to repay evil with more evil. Well why does it say that? Because when we do evil in return, it makes them "think" there actions are justifiable. That's the key words "think there justifiable". Romans 12:20 (NLT) "if your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads". So He is basically saying, by doing good even after they have done you wrong, they have no reason to justify there actions and in return they will carry around that guilt or shame. We all know how heavy that burden can be. I know I have did wrong, knew I was wrong, and I couldn't justify it. The burden of shame I carried around kept me from doing that again. Are you keeping up with me?

Anywho, that is just an example to help you understand that God teaches us things contrary to the world. Because the ONLY way we will be able to walk the way of Christ,  is if we let the Holy Spirit transform the way we think. Not by conforming to man made "religion". 

I encourage my readers to read Romans  8-12 so that you can read it for yourself. Because until we understand what we are up against, we are unprepared and will loose every time. Stay encouraged and feedback is appreciated. Love you all and stay blessed!

The Alter Call

You're standing in the pews, with your head bowed, eyes close, listening to the pastor make an alter call. You feel something internal and not exactly sure what it is but something in your soul telling you to make your way to the alter. You wrestle back and forth with yourself because of shame and guilt. You don't want to publicly display the fact that you are a sinner and have not giving your life to Christ. What will they think of me? Is this something I'm ready for? These are some of the questions that cross your mind. They will see what I've tried so hard to cover up. Then you begin pleading with God; Father can't I just confess and repent right where I stand to avoid the agony of people's judgement burning through my clothes? But yet something in you is pulling at you, telling you, you should go up there. So you take a leap of faith and go up to the alter nervous and shaking. All eyes are on you while you take every apprehensive step forward. Others begin to join you at the alter and a little of the pressure is relieved when you realize you're not alone. You leave church feeling great and ready to take on the world to soon realize that the "real" battle has just begun. You have now entered the stage called "I'm saved! Now what?"

There will be a series of postings in hopes to help newly saved souls to continue on with there walk with Jesus Christ. I'm not a pastor, preacher, or teacher; I am simply sharing my experiences and things that have helped me strengthen my relationship with our Father. Ultimately the Holy Spirit gets the credit for my transformation. If you can relate, please post your thoughts. Thank you and God bless!