CHOICES: WE MAKE THEM or THEY WILL MAKE US

JOSHUA 24:14-16  CHOOSE YE THIS DAY
Praise the Lord everybody! because He is worthy to be praised. I pray everyone is enjoying Gods blessing. My wife and I are growing together in the Lord more and more everyday. I would like everyone who knows how to pray to pray for my Pastor and his family as there have been four deaths in his family in the last three weeks. Even with all that he continues to choose every morning to put his trust in God and serve the Lord.

Every minute of every day of our lives we make choices, from what to eat, wear, say, do etc. But the most important choice we make is who are we going to serve. Every morning when we wake up we need to make a conscious effort to choose whom we are going to serve that day because if we don't our flesh will try and make it for us. In Joshua 24:15 the people are asked to choose and Joshua lets them know he has chosen.
¹⁵ And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

The world is full of distractions, live and electronic, all competing against God for our attention.
IN THE COMING YEAR MY RESOLUTION IS TO MAKE A CONSCIOUS CHOICE EVERY MORNING TO SERVE THE LORD!!!
^" Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good."(ISAIAH)
"THOUGH HE SLAY ME YET WILL I SERVE HIM!"(JOB)
"TO WHOM SHALL I GO FOR ONLY YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF LIFE!!"(PETER)
"NEVER THE LESS NOT MINE BUT THY WILL BE DONE!"(JESUS)
Just as they chose we must choose. It is not a natural instinct but a free will choice to serve God.

Every morning from here on I'm going to make a conscious choice to serve God in every decision I make. The bible is filled with men who made the wrong choices and served themselves or other Gods like Nebuchadnezzar, Judas Iscariot, Satan and many more and we know what happened to them. So remember Make the right choices don't let them make you!
                                                GOD BLESS YOU ALL, AND

                                         HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

                                                                                       BROTHER DARRELL

TAKE IT TO THE STREETS, IT'S HARVEST TIME!!!

Praise the Lord everybody! for He is worthy to be praised! I pray everyone is enjoying Gods blessing as I and my wife are. We thank Him for what He is doing in our lives. It is a beautiful thing to be used by God and to totally trust Him in every aspect of your life. Here we are in these very exciting times, waiting on Him in these last days.

We believers have a mandate, Go out into the highways and byways and make disciples, the great commission we talked about in my last blog,"we are ground zero!". Luke 14: 16- 20 states
¹⁶ Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
¹⁷ And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
¹⁸ And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
¹⁹ And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
²⁰ And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

Jesus came at His fathers bidding to spread the good news of salvation and to be an example to us and after a three year ministry He turned things over to His disciples to go and fill His house for  his great supper, His coming back out party. Verse 18 says they all began to make excuses, all manner of excuses, refusing the invitation to the feast.

Today we as disciples face the same excuses. We offer the gift of salvation and we receive excuses like "Jesus is not God, He's just a man like me." or "Man wrote the bible, not God" or "I'm not ready to give up my sin yet and I don't want to be a hypocrite," Some can't forgive themselves and can't believe God is willing to forgive them of their sins either and some just don't believe there is a God. They question our faith and we must be constantly ready to defend and explain our reason for believing. often it is here that we fail.

Luke 14: 21- 23 states
²¹ So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
²² And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
²³ And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

To compel according to the dictionary means to: bring pressure to bear upon, to burden, coerce, employ force, pressure or put under obligation. The word compel is a verb and a verb is an action word. We must take action. Take the gospel to the streets, the highways and hedges. One of the things that make our message compelling is our testimonies, what God has done for us and how we carry ourselves in our day to day lives. we are instructed in Matthew 5: 16
¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
It's Harvest Time! Every where you look you see people burdened down in sin and
 the cares of this world and we have what they need, the good news of Jesus the Christ who says
²⁸ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.(Matthew 11)

We have to pray them in, talk them in, walk them in and live them in. We need to study so we can answer their questions intelligently while still maintaining our spirituality. We have to leave our comfort zones and meet them wherever they're at, just like God does. It's harvest time! Let's take it to the streets!!
                                  God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

 
 

WE ARE GROUND ZERO!

Praise the Lord, everybody and everything that have breath praise the Lord! I pray everyone is enjoying Gods blessing. Ruth and I are seeking God even more fervently as we head to another level in our relationship with him. He has been showing us so much the last two weeks it's amazing.
God wants to do something big in these last days and He's just waiting for us to get ourselves (the body of Christ) together.


The largest organized military invasion was D-Day during world war II but the offensive God has planned for these last days far overshadows anything man could ever come up with and we are GROUND ZERO.

The world thinks of ground zero as the World Trade Center on 911. The dictionary says ground zero is: The center of rapid or intense development or change.
Two thousand years ago twelve men turned the world upside down, it was the beginning of a movement that would change the world. Today We are ground zero for the biggest harvest season ever faced by the body of Christ and just as Jesus said in Luke 10:2 
² Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.

We are those laborers, It is time for Gods people to leave their cozy comfort zones and carry out Gods command of the great commission in Mark 16:15-18 
¹⁵ And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
¹⁶ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.
¹⁷ And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
¹⁸ They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
We can no longer count on the church up the street to carry out the mission that God has called us all to do. Wherever God has planted us we must be ground zero for whatever He has planned for that area. The world in its search for love, peace, forgiveness, and salvation should be able to see through us that Christ is the answer, not welfare, Medicaid, the lotto or a hot streak in Las Vegas. It may sound cliched to some but Jesus is the answer for the world today and we are His instruments of change and god likes His instruments to be holy and set apart to Him, wholly dependent on God. How can the world trust God if His own people don't fully trust Him? How can we lead people to Christ when we are only halfheartedly following him. After all the miracles and signs and wonders Jesus said
¹² Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
 referring to His followers His disciples.(see John 14:12)

We are His disciples! We should be healing people with our shadows and be bringing back people from the dead, I don't believe that was only for the early church. It was for such a time as this! The enemy knows his time is short and he is trying to take as many souls to hell with him as possible and our job is to lead as many as we can to Christ and salvation. We are responsible for affecting change in our environments, through prayer, by the way, we live our lives and by active evangelism.

Brothers and sisters, let us not live depending on others to carry our load. Let's each live our lives with a "We are ground zero" mindset, doing our best to affect as much positive change in our environments as possible.
                                        God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

"STRANGE FIRE" :STOP BLURRING THE LINE!

Praise the Lord everybody! For He is worthy to be praised! I pray everyone is enjoying Gods blessing just as Ruth and I are. We were blessed to get out to chgurch twice last week. We enjoyed our Pastors anniversary service last Sunday and God blessed us with a special anointing as He used my wife to sing a solo written by our church founder C.P. Jones called "Making the darkness light". Pastor Green really seemed to be touched by the service.

Eveybody was in a festive mood as they talked aqbout up coming holiday programs at their various churches and ministries. As I contemplated these things today God openrd my eyes and ears and began to speak some things and show me somethings. On the outside everything appeared in order, praises were going up, The spirit appeared to be flowing and ministering and everybody was pleased, except God. Some people were offering up "Strange fire"before the Lord.

The Lord put this scripture on my heart the next day as I was meditating on the previous days service. Leviticus 10:1+2  

10 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. 

² And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.

I did not understand at first but God began to make it plain to me.  God has asked for us to serve Him, live for Him and worship him a certain way and some of us have decided that doesn't matter and just like Nadab and Abihu we are being disobedient and are following our own way and God is not happy. we have blurred the line between right and wrong. Unlike in Aaron's day we are all called to be a royal priesthood in 1st Peter 2:9 
⁹ But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
The sacrifice God now requires is ourselves, a living sacrifice, clean and holy unto him,( see Romans 12:1) and He has given us instructions on how to present our selves as sacrifices yet some of us are sending up "strange fire". We have decided to present ourselves before God wichever way we are comfortable with, ignoring His teachings. Thru -out the body of Christ the sin of disobediance is running rampant, homosexuality, adultry, fornacation, gossip, back bitting, unforgiveness, molestation and abuse. Not in the world but in the Church, not just in the pews but in positions of authority and ministry. People have decided that "God will understand, He loves me." they say when they decide to give in to temptation and disobey God.

We've all done it, myself included. We come before the Lord on Sunday after willfully sinning all week and then we have the nerve to come boldly before Gods thrown of grace and act like nothing has happened, singing and dancing, praising and worshipping and hoping He doesn't notice. God notices! He spoke it after the incident with Aarons sons in Leviticus 10:8+10
⁸ And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, 
^10... And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;

God has ordained that there be a difference between holy and unholy, clean and unclean and He wants us to walk holy before Him. We must unblurr the lines between Holy and un-holy, clean and unclean. We must realize that God knows the condition of our hearts and He will not be mocked!
There is nothing wrong with humbling yourself before God in repentence, we need to stop hindering what God is trying to do through the Church. We need to stop being a stench in Gods nostril and be what His word says we are to be, Holy and acceptable unto Him. Not only on Sundays but every day. Let's stop blurring the lines!                                               God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman





 

HERE I STAND: MY MOUTH WIDE OPEN

P:raise the Lord everybody! because He is worthy to be praised! I pray every one is enjoying Gods blessing. I myself am enjoying what God is doing in my wife and I's life.

Sometimes God ask you to do something that you feel unqualified to do, something outside your so called "area of expertise" sort of like Moses must have felt when God asked him to lead his people. see Exodus 3:10 +11   
¹⁰ Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
¹¹ And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

Whenever God asks us to do something not in our wheelhouse we start to question God, "why me?" we ask. "There must be somebody better suited for this job." we say. we doubt ourselves and we doubt God. Has He not chosen us for a reason, can God be wrong? Who are we to question our creator? Would He give us an assignment to fail? I don't think so, God wants us to trust Him, to stand up by faith believing that we can do all things through Christ.

I can remember my former Pastor used to take me on some of his plumbing contractor jobs so I could make a little money when I would have one of my relapses. He knew it was hard for me go from being a professional Registered Nurse one day to a ditch digger digging up old sewer lines the next. He would say to me "Son you ain't much of a shovel man but what I like about you is your willing" That's all God wants from us, to be willing, to stand up by faith and be willing to let Him use us to carry out whatever it is We were called to do. Moses after trying to use his speech impediment as an excuse, finally became willing and went on to lead Gods people out of bondage.

Isaiah 1:19 states 
¹⁹ If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

Sometimes we are willing but we don't know what to do or say next. The answer to that is we need to show our willingness by just opening our mouths, by taking that first step, by making that first move, not knowing what we are going to say or where we are going. I can remember giving my testimony when I first got into ministry. I was always nervous but I was willing. I never memorized my testimony only my opening line right before I went up so I would not be so nervous and freeze up. After that God would take over and He used my testimony to reach many.

Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:18-19   
¹⁸ Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
¹⁹ And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Like Paul we need to be willing to allow God to give us what to say and what to do. Are we willing to just open our mouths and allow the spirit of the living God speak through us. I remember once I was called up to sing a solo at church and as I walked up the isle I was so nervous my legs were shaking. This was not unusual for me but what was unusual was that I heard a soft voice in my right ear say "relax and let me sing." All I remember after that is opening my mouth and closing my mouth when it was all over. I to this day do not remember singing that song but people still say "you never sang it better" That's because I didn't sing it the Holy Spirit did. I just opened my mouth.

Are you willing? Then just open your mouth! Psalm 24:6-8 
⁶ This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
⁷ Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

                God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

GOD BLOGERS: THIS IS WHY I BLOG!; revisited

Praise the Lord everybody! Because He is worthy to be praised! I love the Lord! I love the Lord! and if loving Him is wrong, I don't want to be right! I feel so good in my spirit right now because God has truly been good to me. These past three weeks God has taken me to another level both spiritually and physically. The last two weeks I have gone out more then I have the last 3months. My pain has decreased and my mobility has increased. Praise God my legs are stronger! Now I need to take advantage of this and work on my weight, I must lose weight! God give me the grace I need.

I have been waiting on the Lord for a word but for some reason a new word has not come forth, but God has put in my spirit to share with you again "GOD BLOGERS: THIS IS WHY I BLOG!" This is a reminder to myself and everyone else of why I do this. I pray again that it blesses you as it again blessed me.

                          GOD BLOGERS: THIS IS WHY I BLOG


Praise the Lord! I pray everybody is being blessed by God real good. I am truly blessed by God. I spent the last week catching up with my wife after a long absence due to scheduling difficulties. It was a blessing, everything except the fact that we couldn't go to church Sunday because the elevators in my building were broken again. We decided to have our own little service at home and God was faithful as ever as He met us there and we know He abides in our praises. We were blessed and God even blessed us more the next day when our Pastor came and despite not having any elevator service walked up with his wife and administered communion to us. Hallelujah!

Lately I've been reading other christian blogs on different sites and it has caused me to wonder about my own blog. "Why do I blog?" I asked myself. The answer for me is multifaceted, number one: God blessed me with the ability to write. Two: I believe God has called me to be a Watchman and to preach His word. Three: because of my disability my pulpit is not in the sanctuary but on the Internet. If you have read any of my past posts you have seen that God has given me a strong word. I repeat God has given me a strong word, I did not give them to myself. It is so easy to lose sight of what you are doing and why you are doing it in ministry. Being human we like to get feed back when we do something, Just being obedient and carrying out God's will should be enough but a lot of times it's not. We constantly seek man's approval and we want to know if we are reaching the people and we want to be known for the people we are reaching. We check to see how many "Hits" our blogs get each day, We say God gave me the word yet we don't trust him to deliver His word to the people He wants to hear it. We come up with all kinds of schemes to boost our readership, even compromising the word God gave us. Isaiah 55:11+12 says
¹⁰For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
¹¹So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
God's word, if it truly is from Him, will accomplish His will whether your blog is "viral" or only has a handful of followers. Our job is to plant the seeds it is God who gives the increase.

Some of the blogs I have read did not use any scripture to back up anything they wrote. I don't care how much since what you are writing seems to make, if your doctrine can not be backed by scripture than you are playing a dangerous game with God's people and yourself. My fear is that in my own zeal to do God's will is that I would equate success with the number of readers of my blog. Success is not measured in large numbers but in how obedient we are in writing what He is telling us to write. We are not to write to taste like a cook cooks to taste. The blank page is my pulpit and it is my privilege to send out God's word from that pulpit. 2nd Timothy 4:2-4 states
²Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
³For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
⁴And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Just as not everyone is chosen to preach or teach from the pulpit of a church, not everyone is chosen to preach from this pulpit. Matthew 20:15+16 says
¹⁵Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
¹⁶So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.


People have asked me "Aren't you afraid you will offend someone with some of the things you write?" and I say " If God is in it why should I fear? and besides God told me that he did not give me a spirit of fear." 2nd Timothy 1:7
⁷For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

You have to be fearless in whatever ministry you do for God because our enemy the Devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. I can not write to please man, I must write to please God.
I live at his pleasure and it is my pleasure to serve Him. This is why I blog.

God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

  

"TO WHOM SHALL I GO? THE DEVIL IS A LIAR!

Praise the Lord everybody! because He is worthy to be praised! I pray you are all enjoying Gods blessing. truly the Lord is good. I can't thank Him enough for what He has done and is doing in my life. I have grown through every trial and tribulation, at times I was slow on the uptake but when I got it God blessed me and moved me on to the next lesson.

Recently My wife and I, especially my wife has suffered an increase in attacks on our bodies health and these attacks have gotten to the point where we will have to make some major changes in our life's plans because of there effect on our quality of life. I was sitting down meditating on those things when the enemy had the audacity to whisper in my ear "why don't you just give up? go back to the way things were, make things easy on yourself." I could hear him smiling as he said it and I got immediately angry and said "Oh hell no!" I'm sorry but I said it, "I'm not falling for that one, If I give up on God where am I going? to you?"

I thought about Peter and the other disciples and how they reacted after what Jesus said in John 6:53-56
⁵³ Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 

⁵⁴ Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

⁵⁵ For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

 

After this many stopped following Jesus and He then turned to the twelve and asked them did they want to leave also and Peter answered in verse 68

⁶⁸ Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

I was feeling how Peter must have felt, eat flesh, drink blood or be born again, what ever! I'm willing to do it because Jesus alone has the words of eternal life. Just the thought of dancing with the devil again made me sick. The enemy had me drug addicted, homeless, filthy, lying and stealing. I cared only for myself and had no concept of love, how to receive it and how to give it. Jesus has changed all of that, He has given me a new life filled with love but the devil is a liar and everything he says is twisted.

I want to be like Peter, passionate in my desire to serve and follow Christ, take John 13:8+9
⁸ Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
⁹ Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

I want all the Jesus I can get just like Peter. I may not be the brightest bulb but I have enough light to see on what side my bread is buttered on. The blessings of the Lord are everywhere and He adds no sorrow to them. The devil lies to you and then laugths atyou when disaster strikes you.

Give up on God? Then what? To whom shall we go? There is life in Jesus and that life is more abundant.
                           God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

 

 


 

BE SURE OF YOUR CALLING AND IT'S COST!

Praise the Lord everybody! For He is worthy to be praised! I pray everyone is enjoying Gods blessing. I count myself as blessed just to be alive and be married to a wonderful woman of God. Then on top of that despite my infirmities He gave me something to  do, God gave me this ministry which led to ministry on a national prayer line. Now here I am at another fork in the road, My wife and I have another big decision to make and we want to be in Gods perfect will for our lives. Where do we go from here? We're waiting on God for healing that can free us up to better serve God and each other.

Have you ever believed that you have heard from God and you do whatever it is that you believe He told you to do and after holding on for years waiting on his promises to start to manifest you start to think to yourself,"maybe I missed the call." I can imagine that this is how John the baptist must have felt after years of paving the way for the coming Christ and then winding up in prison alone.
          Matthew 11:1- 5  states

11 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.

² Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
³ And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? 
⁴ Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
⁵ The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Many of us have spent many years preparing the way for God to bless us, bless us with healing bless us with finances and bless us with ministries. We stood like one crying in the wilderness shouting "my healing is coming!" "my blessing is coming!" or "my time is coming!" Then one day  it comes just like it did for John the day he recognized the Christ and said in John 1:29
²⁹ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

He would later baptize Jesus, his job was finished, He was a forerunner to the start of Jesus ministry, the time had come that he had to decrease so that Jesus could increase, he said it himself. Now we just like John have reached that place of healing, blessing or ministry but things did not work out like you thought they would and like John you end up in some kind of "prison" not really sure of what happened.

Jesus said in Matthew 11: 4 ⁴ Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
Sometimes we have to take a second look at what God said and what He is doing in our lives to figure out that He has already visited us and our situation. Sometimes we have to look back and see that God has already moved on your situation, you've already fulfilled your ministry like John the baptist had. Jesus was increasing while John was decreasing, the lame and blind were being healed and the dead were raised up, John needed to be reminded of his purpose. As I go through the various trials and tribulations I go through I have to remember my calling and recount the cost of that ministry on my life. Jesus talks about counting the cost in Luke 14:26-28
²⁶ If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
²⁷ And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

God keep me focused on you and your calling on my life each and every day so I wont be confused by unexpected happenings in this world, in Jesus name Amen.
                                  
                                                     God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman



  

"THESE ARE THEY!..."

Praise the Lord everybody!! For He is worthy to be praised! I pray that everyone is enjoying Gods blessing. My wife and I are about two weeks away from taking a step in our marriage we should have taken a year ago according to our way of thinking. Of course Gods ways our not our ways, His thoughts not our thoughts.

After over a year of various trials and tribulations we are finally about to bring our family together and take our ministry to another level. Even as the attacks on our bodies by the enemy increase, we continue to hold on to Gods word and his promises. My Pastor gave me the following scripture a few days ago and I have been chewing on it ever since. Revelations 7:9-14 
⁹ After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
¹⁰ And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
¹¹ And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
¹² Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
¹³ And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
¹⁴ And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

As I read verse nine I noted that this was the bride of Christ, the Church, spotless and without blemish praising God for their salvation and the gift of the Lamb. We are not Elders, we are not Angels or beast and we are not of the 144,000.  Verse 14 says "...These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." and that reminder of who I am in Christ brought a smile to my face and put a song on my lips. Their was a joy in knowing that the trials and tribulations I experienced were noted and recorded and credited to me and allowed me to one day stand with my fellow white robed brothers and sisters. 
I was in my place. This was Gods will for my life. Some times as we go through those "stretching" periods we feel unsure of where we are in Christ, did we veer off course? or are we still in the center of his will? The answer for me was "Yes" to the latter. I'm going through and I'm glad about it! But that's not all.

Revelations 7:15-17 states 
¹⁵ Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
¹⁶ They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
¹⁷ For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

I haven't felt this good in my spirit in a long time. verses 15,16 and 17 state that I will stand before His throne and serve Him day and night and He will dwell among us, and His very presence shall supply all my needs and all the tears created by all my painful memories God Himself will wipe away from my eyes. Hallelujah! The drugs, the homelessness, the lost opportunities and the pain all wiped away by the hand of God, all being replaced by the joy of the Lord.

One day we can all stand with "these" and be known as "they", to the glory of God.
                                       God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman
 

  

LORD BLIND ME THAT I MAY SEE!!!

Praise the Lord everybody! Let everything that have breath praise his Holy name!! I pray you all are enjoying Gods blessing. I'm starting to feel better and I started a seven day consecration with my wife yesterday. Please keep us in prayer as we wait on the Lord to guide us on what He wants us to do next and how he wants us to do it. We desire to live right in the center of Gods will for us, finding out what that is, there is the problem. What is Gods will for us on a day to day basis? We know that He loves us and wishes that none of us should perish. Evey day I wake up and pray that Gods will be done in my life and then I wait.

Acts 22:6-10 states
⁶ And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
⁷ And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
⁸ And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
⁹ And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. 
¹⁰ And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.

The first step in getting to know Gods will for your life is, you have to have a direction changing encounter with Jesus. You have to stop going in the direction you were going and allow Him to get your attention and turn you into a new person going in a new direction. The right direction. Like Saul many of us feel we are serving God until we find out we were working outside, and against His will. It could be as simple as standing on the wrong corner while handing out tracks, When the Spirit of God first gave you the idea He said "Get up and go pass out tracks on 28th street." but you decide to go to 38th street because you rationalize that there are more "sinners" on 38th street because of the clubs there. Just that quick you have stepped out of the center of Gods will and went off your own way, If God said 28th street you better believe He had a reason. Saul of Tarsus was operating outside of Gods will while persecuting Christians until he was blinded by the light of Christ.
Acts 22 verse 11 states
¹¹ And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.

The glory of God should be the light that blinds us from seeing the WORLD with all of it's distractions and keeps us reaching out for the guiding hand of God. Saul was blinded by the light and became Paul a man devoted to letting God see for him. He was blind to who he was, only seeing what he had become and where he had to go. He saw no other way out, often calling himself a "prisoner" of  Christ. A willing prisoner yet a prisoner all the same. Bowing to His will in all things.

In Acts 22:14+15 Paul begins to learn Gods will for him,
¹⁴ And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
¹⁵ For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

We are chosen to know Gods will just as Paul was chosen and confronted on the road to Damascus. Every morning I pray God would knock me off my horse and blind me to the cares of this world. I reach out my hand to Him for guidance and I trust Him as a blind man must trust his guide." Lord blind my natural eyes that my spiritual eyes may be opened that I may see and know your will."

                   God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

AT PEACE IN BABYLON PART 2: "THE ROAD TO BABYLON"

Praise the Lord everybody! Bless His Holy name! For He has done great things! I pray everyone is enjoying Gods blessing. My wife and I want to thank everyone for their prayers these last few weeks. God has given us a Holy ghost MRI and shown us somethings that only He could have seen. Thank God for His tender Mercies that allows us to get right concerning those things before we step off into eternity.
Last week I posted a blog called "AT PEACE IN BABYLON!" In it I wrote about learning to accept it and live with it and even prosper when you find yourself your own "Babylon" I didn't go into how I wound up in Babylon in the first place, mostly because I was well aware of why I was there. It did not occur to me that there are those out there that have found themselves in their own Babylon and have no Idea how they got there. The Lord states in Jeremiah 29:4 states 
⁴ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;

God is letting us know that He is responsible for allowing us to be carried into captivity by our sin. It is that simple. We have unrepentant sins in our lives that we've been covering up and rationalizing so long we don't see them as sin anymore and just like the Prophets of that time we "prophylied" to ourselves and to the people around us. We are our own worst enemies, God warns us, gives us a way of escape, a chance to repent but pride or ignorance causes us to go our own way. Jeremiah 25:3-7 states  
³ From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
⁴ And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
⁵ They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
⁶ And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
⁷ Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

The reason why I'm suffering in my body right now is because ten years ago while my issues were only my weight and I could still walk and work pretty good, the word of the Lord came to me saying "Get your weight and your body in order now before you have to suffer." At first I was obedient and God gave me favor concerning my diet and training but after a while I began to stray away from the program God had me on and went my own way. I made many excuses, I was too tired to cook after working, same thing for exercising, "I've got to save my energy for work." I said. I lost sight of what God had for me, maybe I never knew.

So here I am over ten years later with two bad hips, a great nursing career cut short and a life of chronic severe pain. While in my Babylon I have learned to make the best of it. (see AT PEACE IN BABYLON! PART 1) I am still trying to lose weight after all these years, the natural way, no surgery because God told me "no surgery".  With all that being said I have never given up hope. I still believe that God is going to heal me, and the fact that He has given me a wife tells me that time is near, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel Hallelujah!! 

                                  GOD BLESS YOU ALL, BROTHER DARRELL, A WATCHMAN 

AT PEACE IN BABYLON!!

Praise the Lord everyone! For He is worthy to be praised! I pray you all are enjoying Gods blessing.
I know I have, even when I didn't know God was blessing me, He was blessing me.
This past week I've been battling some sort of vertigo like symptoms and I have not been able to focus to well on anything. Even through all of that God has managed to encourage me through positive feedback about my blog and through His word. If you have been following my blog you know my wife and I have been going through trial after trial over the past year and have been waiting on Gods deliverance from "Babylon."

 I'd like to thank my cousin Juanita, my Pastor Johnny Green, Apostle Vivian Thomas from the prayer line, deaconess Carol Bailey and of coarse my wife sister Ruth for all your encouraging feedback. It was all very uplifting.
This morning in my devotions I heard the Lord say "I'm doing this for you." As soon as He said it I understood it immediately. God had a purpose and a plan for every trial and tribulation I was going through. then He brought this scripture to mind Jeremiah 29: 4-11 
⁴ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;
⁵ Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;
⁶ Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
⁷ And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
⁸ For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
⁹ For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord.
¹⁰ For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Praise the Lord! God let me know that He was with me in this, that I was not to worry about the situation or place I found myself in at this time. I was to go ahead and continue living the life I was called to live, "build houses, plant gardens and take wives and beget sons" be increased not decreased, living life trusting that what ever is going on in your life is part of Gods plan for you. Also He says "seek the peace" of the land you find yourself in so that you can have peace, the peace of knowing that God has a certain time set aside to come and visit your situation and put you in the place you were ordained to be.

Another thing it spoke to me was seek Gods peace that passes all understanding to help you experience peace even in exile. It's that peace that will help you get through every trial.
The scripture also talks about staying away from false prophets and don't trust your own dreams because they are caused by our own evil nature and desires. Take it from a former drug addict your mind will play tricks on you to get what it wants.
Romans 8:28 has almost become a cliche it's been quoted so much but truth is truth. ²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose


This is Brother Darrell coming to you live from my Babylon, making the best of a bad situation.
            God Bless You All!!!

THE ICHABOD: REVISITED!

Praise the Lord! Let everything that have breath praise His holy name!! I pray everyone is enjoying Gods blessing. I am beginning to see a glimmer of light at the end of this long dark tunnel that my wife and I have been traveling down these last ten month's or so. Some might say "don't get too excited, that light might be an oncoming train." My wife and I believe it is the light of God come to show us the way out this dark wilderness. We are about to start a three day consecration / fast so that we may be able to better hear from God.

I keep hearing in my spirit that it is time to revisit a post I wrote over six  months ago called "The Ichabod" The reason I'm revisiting it is I find myself back in the same spot, not having been to church in months due to health reasons mostly and now I wonder if this will lead to the "Ichabod" happening to me and my temple. That is something I pray against everyday, anyway here it is a review for some and an introduction for others.

                                           THE ICHABOD

Praise the Lord! I pray you all are enjoying the blessing of the Lord. Yesterday I went to church, the reason that this fact is blog worthy is because for the last couple of months it seems that the enemy was pulling out all stops in an effort to keep me at home on Sunday's. Broken elevators, transportation problems and bodily infirmities also contributed to a long string of Sunday morning no shows. The last few weeks the elevator again was the culprit. Ah but yesterday after much prayer the Lord opened the door for me to leave my apartment / prison and venture out to be with my church family.

The process of getting there was not without incident, but when I finally arrived the feeling of accomplishment and joy was overwhelming, but the pain of the press was well worth it. As I stepped off the van I was greeted by one of the church trustees who was surprised to see me. I had not told anyone I was coming because every time I had said I was coming in the past something would always come up and prevent me from attending. As I walked in they were praying for the sick and shut in and my name was one of the names being mentioned. Only a few noticed as I made my way in and as they looked up after prayer there I was. Home.

Our church is not a big mega ministry housed in some grand edifice. It is a modest building with an historical look to it with its old wooden pews lined up on either side of it's one narrow isle that splits the sanctuary in half from the pulpit to the door. The sanctuary definitely has a since of history about it, I had often imagined how it was "back in the day" with people dancing and falling out slain in the spirit during one of of those Holy Ghost ho-downs churches in Harlem were famous for. When I look at it now I see the faded glory of a ministry that had fallen on hard times at one time and is now being resurrected by God through the hard work and dedication of it's core group and a Pastor who God placed there over three years ago for this very purpose.

As I sat there I looked out at the sparse crowd and noted that only the core group was in attendance that Sunday, the faithful few who have been attending regularly for over thirty years in some cases. I am a new comer having come after the new pastor was installed by God. 1st Samuel 4:21 states
²¹ She named the boy Ichabod,^[a] saying, “The Glory has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² She said, “The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”
The word "Ichabod" means no glory or the glory has departed and as I sat there I was painfully aware that whatever glory this place had had back in the day was no longer present. The man of God whom God had put in place was obviously giving his all spiritually and physically yet the glow of Gods glory was absent from the faces of the people as they appeared to be entering in to the praise and worship but were without the anointing. It is a common occurrence in churches throughout the body of Christ.

The time has come for us to reach for a higher level in Christ, We are the Church, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are the reason for the absence of Gods glory in our temples. Haggai 1:2-8
²Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.
³Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
⁴Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
⁵Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
⁶Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
⁷Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
⁸Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.

We have restored the physical Church, with new tiles and carpets, lights and ceiling fans but in order to restore the glory we must rebuild our temples. We must consider our ways, are we living all we know for God? And if we are do we know enough? Are we studying to show ourselves approved? Are we concerned about others or are we just looking out for ourselves? Are we in the valley? or are we on the mountain top? We must consider our ways, we must get before the Lord and bring the wood of prayer and supplication and build His house. Let us build our temples and return the glory of God to the Church. God bless you all,
Brother Darrell, A Watchman

"YOUR LIPS ARE MOVING BUT..."

Praise the Lord! let everything that have breath praise His Holy name! I pray every one is enjoying the Lords blessing. My wife and I are still holding on to Gods promises as we continue to go through this "stretching out" phase He has us in. My Pastor, Elder Johnny Green(FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST HOLINESS USA NEW YORK), and I had a long talk yesterday concerning our situation and we're going to put plenty of prayer on the situation. I thank God for my Church family and my Prayer Line family(SPEND SOME TIME SESSIONS, APOSTLE VIVIAN THOMAS FOUNDER, MON. THRU FRIDAY 7:30PM EASTERN TIME, 916-233-2999 CODE 541324)
 Part of the reason God has not delivered me yet from this season of trials could be related to something I found myself doing the other day as I was listening to some praise and worship music. I began to sing along with the music but it wasn't long before I found myself "lip syncing" to the music. Have you ever found yourself in Church lip syncing? You know your lips are moving and the right words are coming out but your mind is on where your going to go eat after the service or your wondering what is the score of the football game or maybe your busy playing "fashion police" as you scan the sanctuary. Saying we are multi- tasking just won't cut it.

The Word of God says in Isaiah 29:13 
¹³ Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Here we are in the sanctuary lifting up holy hands singing "I love you Lord" but we haven't truly entered into worship, we're praising God with our mouths but in our hearts we are concerned about other things. We are clock watching, worrying about traffic, ball games and video games. We have no spiritual connection to God. We are just mouthing words. Whenever I start to sing a song now I check myself and make sure I am focused on the reason why we sing. Once I begin to think of all the things He has done for me, all the traps He has delivered me from, it becomes easy for me to praise God from my heart. I don't want to be a lip syncing Christian, saying all the right things, singing the songs and appearing to be holy and sanctified but after years have started playing church, that's all it is anymore, an empty shell. The word of God says in 2nd Timothy 3:1-5   

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

² For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 
³ Without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
⁴ Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 
⁵ Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

It is embarrassing for me to have to admit I sometimes have had trouble entering into worship, especially after all God has done for me. I love the Lord of that there is no doubt, but the world is full of pleasures and distractions and if your not focused you can become more concerned about your comfort than about God. You can not switch it off and on at will. You can't watch T.V. up until it's time to go to church and then turn on your spirituality as you enter the building. This is why God ordained a "day" of worship, the Sabbath day. Churches now are charged with the task of Getting us in the mood to worship God! What a shame. David said in Psalms 100:3,4+5 
³ Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 
⁴ Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.⁵ For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

I'm not saying we need to return to the traditional Sabbath but we need to start "bringing our minds in" well before we leave for service. We need to be in praise mode long before we get there. The song writer said "when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that He's done for me my soul cries out hallelujah! thank God for saving me." Start singing that on Sunday  morning when you wake up and keep on in that mindset thru-out the day and not only will your lips be moving but so will your heart and soul be moving towards God.
                                        GOD BLESS YOU ALL, BROTHER DARRELL, A WATCHMAN

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LOVE FOR GOD VS LEGALISM

Praise the Lord everybody! I pray everybody is enjoying God's blessing. I am truly going through the gamut of emotions this past week. My wife looks like she'll be back home for good by the end of August, God willing, that is great news. We still need God to do His part and bless us with the finances we need to get this done. We believe God. We have believed Him and will continue to believe Him because we know He is able.

The plagues of pestilence seem to have finally passed as God prepares me for my next "Growth experience." You see God never leaves you short, He supplies all our needs so that the Man and Woman of God have everything they need to accomplish the task He has set before us. 2nd Timothy 3: 16+17 states(NIV)
¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God^[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

We must study Gods word so that we have something to stand on and hold on to when the trials and tribulations come our way. It has been Gods word that has kept me throughout these turbulent times, knowing that "¹⁹ God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"(Numbers 23:19)

I pray Gods word! I try and live Gods word and make it a part of who I am every day. Does this make me "Legalistic?" To a certain extant I guess I am. People have called me "Legalistic" because of my love for Gods word and how serious I take His commandments.  Jesus said in John 14:21  
²¹ He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

I love the Lord! and I want Him to love me and manifest Himself to me. I not only want Him to manifest Himself to me but through me to the world. I am not interested in religion or religious ceremony, but I am interested in a "relationship" with God. It's That relationship that leads me to live Holy, to keep his commands and strive to have the "Mind of Christ" manifest in my life.

Legalism can also be all the things mentioned above but administered without love. The absence of love in any ministry leads to legalism and empty religious ceremonies and rituals. There are churches across America where dead dry religious ceremonies take place every Sunday, poisoned by jealousy, gossip and back biting. Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 13:1-3  

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

The life I live in Christ I live because I love Him and yield my life to Him. That same love must be evident in all my relationships with his people and even his creation.
                                 GOD BLESS YOU ALL, BROTHER DARRELL, A WATCHMAN

MEN, FAITH AND FEAR

Praise the Lord! Let everything that has breath praise His holy name!!!! I pray everyone is enjoying Gods blessing. I am still going through this seemingly unending stretch of trials and tribulations that for the last month has turned into a series of plagues that started with bed bugs followed by "water bugs". mice and now flies. I have been battling flies all week and when it finally looked like I had the problem under control something happened that caught me completely off guard. My computer shut down! My world went black just as my screen went black, I tried to reboot it and it worked for about two minutes and then nothing, "this is it!" I said to myself, "It finally happened."

I felt like Job must have felt when he said in Job 3:25+26
²⁵ For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
²⁶ I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

As I realized that my gateway to the world was probably broken I could feel my breath being sucked out of my body and my chest tightening up. To me at that moment this was the worst thing that could happen. I paid my bills on line, I wrote this blog on line, because of my disability this was my main source of communication. Add to that the fact that my wife was stuck in another state for the last few months and probably would not be back for another few months just made matters worst.

When Job said those lines he was referring to losing his family and his wealth to sudden calamities and disasters after years of praying for them and making offerings for his family just in case they did not do it for themselves. The room had to be spinning when the reports started coming in and so it was with me as I realized my computer was dead.

Fear is the lack of faith and at that moment I did not react from faith but from fear. The reason why it hit me so hard was because I knew that I had no money, no way of fixing it on my own. If I had 
$10,000 in the bank would I have been so upset? No because I could have easily resolved the problem by fixing it or buying a new one, but I did not have that option so I sought out other options in my mind, maybe call my brother or some other family member for some help or maybe my Pastor could help me with something. The thought of life without my  computer seemed unbearable.

Right in the middle of my anxiety attack God spoke up, He said "Darrell! why are you so upset? wasn't I in all the trials and tribulations? Wasn't there a reason for the pestilence?" I answered Him saying "yes" "So trust me I'm in this also" It's funny how we trust God after we've run out of other things to trust in. I began to pray with my wife who was on the phone with me when all these things happened. We prayed and I asked For forgiveness for my lack of faith and I began accept the fact that God had a reason for allowing this to happen.

As began to relax and accept the possibility that I was going to be offline for awhile I began to look at my fear and thought about 2nd Timothy 1:7+8
^7
8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

No God has not given us the spirit of fear, We give it to our selves. When our deep inner fears are exposed, our first thoughts are "How can I fix it?" we want to cover them back up as soon as we can, prayer and seeking God takes too long so that's not our first option.

After my wife and I had prayer there was no noticeable movement in the natural, the computer remained "dead". Later I prayed and had my normal nightly devotion. I anointed myself with oil as usual and I heard "anoint the computer" so I did. I continued to pray and when I opened my eyes there was a red light blinking on the computer! I said "thank you Jesus! this must mean something." I booted up the computer and I shouted "Hallelujah!!" as it began to run as good as new. After that, every time that computer responded to my commands I would break out in tongues and praises to God. God is great and greatly to be praised! He cares about us! There is no concern to small or to big! I'm learning that absolute Faith overcomes the sum of all fears. 
                                     God Bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

EVERYBODY WANTS TO GO TO HEAVEN; BUT NOBODY WANTS TO DIE,

Praise the Lord! For He has done great things! I pray everyone is enjoying God's many blessings. As for me and my wife we are yet holding on to Gods unchanging hand. As the weeks go by and the road seems at times to be getting rougher as He stretches out our faith. We hold on to the fact that God is in it with us. I thank God that He  has given me this blog to write and given my wife and I the "SPEND SOME TIME SESSIONS" NATIONAL PRAYER LINE FOUNDED BY APOSTLE VIVIAN THOMAS( 916-233-2999, ACCESS CODE 541324) This ministry has been a real blessing to us and to our ministry together as has been our home church, FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST HOLINESS USA, by the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR PASTOR Elder JOHNNY GREEN! MAY GOD BLESS YOU REAL GOOD!

"Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it" is a saying I've heard many times in the world but I never thought it would apply to my faith. We all want to be used by the Lord, We all want to hear "well done good and faithful servant" We all want ministries that reach out and touch many people. We want to heal, deliver and set the captive free and that is all well and good but most don't realize there is a price to pay to obtain that type of anointing. Paul wrote about it in 2nd Corinthians 12:6-9 
⁶ For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.
⁷ And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
⁸ For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
⁹ And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Everybody wants to be a pastor, standing up front, sought out by everyone and exalted, but why do we want it? and do we count the cost? Jesus states in Luke 14: 27-29
²⁷ And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? 
²⁹ Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

If you are in ministry just to have your ego stroked then chances are you won't last. The trials, the tribulations and the attacks of the enemy will test your metal. From the time I made my wedding  proposal till now my wife and I have suffered from constant attacks from the enemy along with numerous trials as God prepares us for that ministry.
I have come to realize that His grace Is sufficient for me and His power Is made perfect in my weakness. Paul said it best when said in 2nd Corinthians 12:10
¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

              God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman


  

PENTECOST! OUR 4th OF JULY

Praise the Lord! Let everything that has breath praise His holy name! I pray everyone is enjoying this fourth of July along with their family and friends. I find myself home alone this year as God is doing a new thing in my wife and I's life. As I sit here meditating on God, not wanting to question Him but seeking the grace needed to make it through. Truly it is not good for man to be alone, I miss my wife and because of my disability I am constantly In pain and I don't get out much as I used to. Don't worry though I'm not sitting around feeling sorry for myself. I sit here watching the world celebrate Americas Independence from England. Back in 1776 a group of people stood up and with boldness proclaimed themselves free from a country "greater" than themselves, of coarse they had to then go to war and take hold of it.

While meditating on that, I began to think of the early church. The Shepperd struck and the sheep scattered. In hiding they met in cemetery's and upper rooms. The bible says in Acts 2:1-4

1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
³ And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.


On that day they came together with one accord and they received power from on high, power to boldly stand up and declare themselves as believers in Christ, freed from the power or of sin and from the tyranny of the law of the Pharisee's and Sadducee's. Later That day Peter would go on to preach with boldness and power what today could be called "THE HOLY GHOST DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE!" Acts 2:14-40
¹⁴ But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

¹⁵ For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

¹⁶ But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

¹⁷ And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

¹⁸ And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:


^{19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:}
20⁰ The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:

²¹ And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

²² Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

²³ Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

²⁴ Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

²⁵ For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

²⁶ Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

²⁷ Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

²⁸ Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

²⁹ Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

³⁰ Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

³¹ He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

³² This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

³³ Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

³⁴ For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

³⁵ Until I make thy foes thy footstool.

³⁶ Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

³⁸ Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

³⁹ For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

⁴⁰ And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save youselves from this untoward generation.

Paul would later write in Galatians 5:1

5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

LORD HELP ME TO STAND FAST IN YOUR LIBERTY AND LET YOUR FREEDOM REIGN THROUGH OUT THE NATIONS!
                                 GOD BLESS YOU ALL, Brother Darrell, A watchman