"LIVING JUST ENOUGH..."

Praise the Lord everybody!! because He alone is worthy to be praised. All glory and honor and praise belongs to him! I pray everyone is enjoying God's blessing. This is my struggle every day, to live my life in a way in which I can accept God's blessings and not feel ashamed. At the same time I hope I never reach the point where I feel worthy of these blessings He has bestowed upon me. time and time again God has delivered me from snares I put myself in, even before I knew Him, He knew me.

I have often heard myself as well as other Christians when asked "how you doing?" reply "I'm holding on." or "I"m living everything I know how." The other day God began to deal with me about those answers. Was I really living everything I knew how? or was I just holding on? Like the song writer once wrote "living just enough, just enough for the city" Just enough to be noticed by people but not enough to be noticed by God. For those of us who claim to have studied and shown ourselves approved, rightly dividing the word of God, living all we know how is a very strong statement. Apostle Paul a man of God who I am pretty sure was trying to live everything he knew how said in Philippians 3:12-15 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Paul never said "I'm living everything I know how to live." He knew there is always a "higher calling" to attain in Christ, an open invitation to "come up a little higher" in Him as he leads us from victory to victory. Paul knew that prize he was pressing toward was waiting for him at the finish of the race. No Paul never said "I'm living everything I know how to live." but he never said "I'm holding on" either. Paul knew that just "holding on" was not enough.

I have said it myself many times, "I'm holding on" when I was asked how I was doing. It sounded good to me, mature, something the old time saints would say. Then I realized God did not call us to just hold on. He called us to press on. Then God brought that Stevie Wonder song back to me where the chorus says "living just enough, just enough for the city" and that is just what a lot of Church folks are doing, living just enough Jesus to appear holy and be noticed by men but God is going to say "depart from me I never knew you." We cannot allow ourselves to be satisfied with just appearing holy. We have to run this race like we want to finish it, as Paul states in 1st Corinthians 9:24+25  24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.  

So from now on when somebody asks me "how're you doing" I'm going to think about where I am and where I need to be in Christ before I give a thoughtless answer. Just to remind myself I have not reached perfection yet and I'll never get there by "living just enough..."

Hebrews 12:4 states   4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.

                           God Bless You All, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

CONSECRATING OR JUST KILLING TIME?

Praise the Lord, everybody, because He alone is worthy to be praised! As always I pray everyone is enjoying God's blessing! What can I say but God has been good to me, and His mercies and His Grace are new every morning. The year 2015, the year of higher heights and deeper depths in Christ and already I have received a "D" on my first report card from the Lord.

Every week I set aside a personal day of consecration to the Lord, a day of fasting, prayer and quality time before the Lord. The other night after one of those consecrations I was lying in bed reviewing the day when I heard the spirit of the Lord ask "were you consecrating or just killing time?" Immediately I was convicted because I knew the answer was "killing time" especially the last two weeks. I have said this before and I'll say it again it is so easy to slide from true worship into an empty religious ceremony.

It all starts with what time I get up on those mornings. Recently I found myself getting up later and later, finding every excuse I could because the later I got up the less time I had to spend denying myself that day. It was subconscious but it was there. It is the beginning of a spiritual disconnect with God. God says in His word,  Matthew 15:7+8    7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

It's a wonderful thing being in God's presence, spending quality time communing with Him in fasting, worship and prayer just because you love Him but at times I find myself reluctantly calling myself into a consecration only because I need God to do something for me and I know this is a way to get His attention. What good is it though to get God's attention and then end up getting rebuked by Him?

Just as God is a jealous God our flesh is jealous also, but not in a loving way. Our flesh demands all our attention and needs to be fed all the time and it doesn't seem to want anything good, anything that would be edifying to the body. This is why we must deny our flesh(ourselves) so that the spirit of God within us can thrive. But talking about it does not equal getting it done. Just because I scheduled a consecration does not mean I achieved it. Clock watching and rushing through prayer and scripture does not equal quality time with the Lord. God is saying it's time to wake up and smell the coffee or at least drink some coffee, "WAKE UP!! Brother Darrell, this is the time of the great awakening ."

Jesus spoke it in John 4: 23-24  23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

There is no flesh in true worship, you can't bring your flesh when you want to spend quality time before the Lord. God chastens those He loves according to His word so even though it stings I'm going to take this "love tap" and learn from it, and I pray if any of you out there are experiencing the same thing will do the same.

                God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

DEFEND YOURSELF AT ALL TIMES: THE WAR AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER!!

Praise the Lord everybody! Because He alone is worthy to be praised!! I pray everyone is enjoying God's blessing. I must say that this year is starting off with high hopes and aspirations concerning my service for the Lord. I'm pushing sixty and my time is in the latter house and in order for the latter house to be greater than the former house I must get to that place in Him, that "Cleft In The Rock" where God wants me to be.

there is one thing I do know and that is that there is a war going on and I'm on the front line fighting "the good fight of faith" that Paul talks about in First Timothy 6: 11-12  11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 

I said this to a Christian friend of mine the other day and his reply shook me up a bit. His reply was kind of sarcastic "you do know we win in the end don't you?" he might have been joking but to me there was nothing funny about it. Too many believers in the body of Christ have this laid back, the battle is over why should I keep fighting, It's all good attitude that is weakening the Church. Instead of remaining alert/vigilant and sober minded as Paul suggested in First Peter 5:8     8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour
A great baseball player once said after an improbable come from behind victory that "It ain't over till it's over", and that is just what the devil is saying right now, he is not going down without a fight and he doesn't want to go down alone. I'm not saying we have to walk in fear or defeat. God wants us to walk in victory, see 2 Corinthians 2: 14+15  14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing

Even in a prize fight the referee tells each fighter to "defend yourself at all times!" because when a fighter is losing he tends to get desperate and turns to dirty tactics and we all know the devil is the father of lies and "dirty tactics". So even though we know the ultimate outcome of the fight as far as the body of Christ is concerned we still have our own personal battles to be prepared for. That is why Paul said we must put on the full armour of God daily, (see Ephesians 6: 11-18) Not to look good but to be able to stand and fight off the attacks of our enemy the devil so that we can enter into God's rest along with all the others who have fought the good fight of faith to their end.

Don't get sucker punched by the enemy, defend yourself at all times. In the end we may have the victory but let us live as if we want to make it to the end.

            God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

IN THE CLEFT OF THE ROCK

Praise the Lord everybody! Let everything that Have breath praise ye the Lord!! I pray everyone is enjoying God's blessing. I am truly looking forward to this new year and if God spare my life I'm expecting great things from Him. In my last blog post I laid out my hopes and desires for the coming year and that plan basically is to do whatever He tells me to do. God has tasked me with some assignments for the coming year and by His grace I intend to carry them out. I've been very close to some mighty big blessings over the years, then I would self destruct and miss out on a long awaited blessing that came so close I could taste it. Not this year, this year I want to feel Him all over me like I used to. This year I'm not asking for a little more Jesus, I'm giving Jesus more of me. In other words all of me.

A little over a week ago as I was meditating during my weekly consecration I told God these things and He brought to mind the following scripture and at first I did not get the connection, Exodus 33: 18-23  .18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

21 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:

22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:

23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
After awhile I realized God was letting me know that if I desired to get to where I wanted to be in Him,  that there was a place near to Him from which I could see His glory at work in my Life. A safe place where I would stand upon a rock, a rock Named Jesus and God would put me in a place in that rock, a cleft, a hiding place where I could stand and watch God work in my life.

Many times we who name Christ Jesus as our Lord and savior want to see God's full glory pass through our lives but we do not want to get in the place that God wants to put us so that we can watch him work for us and in us in His fullness. we have to get in a cleft of the rock. A cleft is a crack, a crevice, a split in the rock, a small place with just enough room for you to stand with no room for a lot of movement. To many of us want to move around trying to handle our own business along with our friends business instead of doing what God wants us to do "stand still and watch me work". Getting to these clefts is no easy task, it requires much dedication to prayer and fasting, denying oneself in order to experience God's fullness in our lives. When I was younger it was easier to reach those clefts but as I got older it became harder.

I'm tired of saying and singing "God is my all and all" I want Him to BE my All and All. I want to again abide in the cleft of the Rock, how about you?

                      God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall


           Psalm 91 King James Version (KJV)

91 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

King James Version (KJV)

2015: THE SECOND HONEY MOON!!

Praise the Lord everybody and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!! I pray you all had a wonderfully blessed Christmas. As this year comes to an end and I take stock of what God has done in my life this past year I realize He invested a lot of time in preparing me for His work in these last and evil days.
Things did not necessarily go the way I thought they would and proclaimed they would at last years Watch Night service. God has done a great work in me internally, that I expect will now show up externally this year in my ministry.

Again as I thought about what God has done in my life over the past year I couldn't help but think about what I did for Him this past year, was it just the same old song and dance or was there something in my walk with Him that was new and refreshing and showed Him my growth? It is so easy for our acts of love and worship to turn into hollow acts of Religious ceremony. We go from going to church to worship God, hear from Him and bask in His presence to going to Church because that's what Christians do. The programs we put together with love care and affection start to become so over done and by the book that all we have to do is get a copy of last years program, white out the dates and put in the current year and there you have it, this years program.

God is tired of our "left overs". In Lamentation 3: 22+23 God's word says  22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

God's mercy, grace and compassion toward is are "new" every morning, fresh and new and so should our love and devotion to Him be fresh and new every morning. I want to renew my vows to Him. I want this to be our second Honey moon. I love the Lord and I want that love to shine all over my face like a blushing bride. I want to get Goose bumps again every time I hear His name.

first I have to stop taking God for granted and take a daily inventory of everything God has done for me past and present. Stay and delight myself in His word. Stay before Him in prayer and meditation.
I must remain spiritually alert so that I can hear what the spirit of the Lord has to say to me at all times and then I must be obedient. There is a special joy that comes with being obedient to God and in the center of His perfect will. That is the place I want to abide in 2015 and every year after till He comes.
Psalm 27: 3-5 states  3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.

5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

       HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! and God Bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

"COME ON IN, THE WATER IS FINE!"

Praise the Lord everybody!! Because He alone is worthy to be praised! I pray everyone is enjoying God's blessing. I must say that God has been more than gracious in showing His love for me and my wife lately and we can't thank Him enough for what He's doing in our lives. The only way I can think of to thank Him is to live in holy obedience to His will and to His way.  As you may remember I have been attending Wednesdays "HOUR OF POWER" service at my church instead of Sunday services because my sciatica cannot tolerate sitting through a full Sunday service. What God is building at First Church of Christ Holiness USA in Harlem New York is truly a blessing to be a part of. I can't wait to see what God is going to do next. Please keep us in prayer, especially our Pastor Elder Johnny Green as we endeavor to go forth in the name of Jesus.

 There was a time during my walk with Jesus I would find myself from time to time lagging behind, following Jesus from afar off. The same spirit of disobedience and lack of trust that hindered my walk back then is still hindering many in the Body of Christ today. We can find examples as far back as Peter in Luke 22: 52-57   52 Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?
53 When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.

54 Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off.
55 And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.
56 But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him.
57 And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.

Peter, who was always very zealous in His faith when he was with Jesus and the other Disciples suffered a lapse of faith after seeing "the Christ" taken away without a fight and even though Jesus had warned them that this had to happen so God's plan could be fulfilled, he like most of us did not understand God's plan and that lack of understanding led to a lack of trust. After everything, Peter had seen and heard he forgot it all when the pressure was on for him to stand on that faith.

We do the same things when are around our non-Christian friends and co-workers and the conversation sinks to a level where the Holy Spirit says "alright it's time to step away" but we linger until we are caught up in the flesh and Gods spirit is grieved within us. Or we do walk away and then we are asked by someone "why are you leaving? too much for your virgin ears?" and instead of using the opportunity to proclaim whose you are and whom you serve you just smile and say "no, I just have to get back to work." as you walk away basically doing the same thing Peter did, deny Christ
Peter also again while appearing zealous also suffered another lapse in faith and trust in God even before his denial of Christ. In Matthew 14:26-31    26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit, and they cried out for fear.
27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

In these verses you see Peter do the same thing we all have done at one time or another, we hear God's voice, we know His voice but still, we ask "Lord, if it be thou..." Jesus said, "my sheep know my voice" still we don't trust Him enough not to "fleece" Him. Then after Peter knew it was Jesus he did step out of the boat on faith and began to walk on the water also but when things started to get a little rough he relapsed and began to sink. When Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the living word by whom everything that is created was created says to you "come" whether it is water, fire, flood, mountain or valley, we ought to be able to step out in faith that He is not calling us to fail!

The Bible says God's will toward us is "good and perfect" and that "without faith, it is impossible to please Him" We also have to TRUST Him. We have to trust in His word and trust that He knows what is best for us. The next time God asks you to "COME" out of the "boat"(0ur comfort zone) don't be afraid, dive on in, the water is fine!

                         God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

BEFORE WE CAST DOWN OUR CROWNS!!

Praise the Lord everybody because He alone is worthy to be praised!! I pray you all are enjoying God's blessing. I know my wife and I are truly blessed and grateful every time we open our eyes in the morning, that's where we are right now. As our Pastor always says "I'm all in" for me to live IS Christ. For Christ I live and for Christ I die. Even though I have not been feeling well and just found out why from my doctor(keep me In prayer), I am "all in", I can't thank God enough for all He has done for me His grace and mercy toward me has been unbelievable!


I was reading 2nd Corinthian 10:3-6    3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

As I was reading the chapter these four verses stood out and spoke to me. First reinforcing the fact that there is a war going on in the spirit realm that can't be fought in the flesh. Only God by His spirit can empower us with weapons that can reach up into the high places and pull down strongholds and high minded Imaginations. Where is the battle field? The battle field is the mind. Every time we are disobedient, every time decide not to wait on God every time we decide "I can handle this on my own, why bother God" we are building strong holds and high minded imaginations. We try and take the place of God in our lives. God delivers us from slavery to sin and before long we decide we don't need or trust Him either.

The day Satan questioned Gods authority and thought to himself that he would exalt himself above God and he did not repent, he sealed his fate. Jesus says in Luke 10:18  18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. We all know what is waiting for Satan yet we question God and His word everyday. When He asks us to do something that is out of our comfort zone or beyond our carnal understanding we either question God, or claim that there was "static" on the "main line" or just claim we never heard from Him at all.

Our father in heaven wants to bless us but first we have to trust in Him completely and turn our will over to Him. In a moment of anguish and weakness Jesus Himself asked His Father in heaven if He could complete His mission another way, a less painful way, then He repented of these thoughts and said "...nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.."(Mark 14:36 ) as He remembered all Gods ways are perfect as is His will. In order for us to successfully complete our missions we have to turn our wills over to God, trusting that He knows whats best for us and that He is more than able to take care of all our needs and solve all our problems.

So before we can even think about going to heaven and casting our crowns, we must make sure we cast down those strong holds and high minded imaginations that prevent us from being in obedient relationship to God.
                   God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall