"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