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