PAYING IT FORWARD: OUR DEBT TO CHRIST

Praise the Lord everybody! For He alone is worthy to be praised! I pray you all are enjoying God's blessing as we quickly approach "Resurrection Sunday" which may even have passed by the time this blog is posted. When I think about the emotional roller coaster that Jesus and His disciples must have been on from "Palm Sunday to resurrection Sunday" it kind of boggles my mind. The highs of His triumphal entrance to the city, to his betrayal, capture and beatings, to His death and resurrection.

For Jesus after the joy of eating His last Pass over supper with His Disciples, I'm sure a time must have come where He began to prepare Himself for the trials and the pain that was coming. In Luke 22: 14-18 Jesus states    14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.

15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:

16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

After laboring with these men for three years in the fields of ministry He grew to love them and care about them and now their time together was about up. For all the joy Jesus must have felt during that last Passover there must have been an equal amount of despair as He later prayed at Gethsemane, so much so that His sweat appeared as drops of blood as He asked His father in Heaven if "this cup could be removed from me"(Luke 22:40-45) 40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,
Even after all this \Jesus was able to humble Himself and be obedient unto death, even death on the cross. He knew the Pain, the humiliation and the shame that awaited Him but He also knew joy that awaited Him too. That His enemies would become His foot stool as He was seated at the right hand of the Father and that His name would be exalted above any other name and that one day at the name of Jesus Christ every knee was going to bow and every tongue was going to confess That Jesus Christ was Lord of all.

So Jesus was able to face the cross and not turn back so how much more should we be able to face our so called trials and tribulations and not turn back but press on as we bring the Gospel to the lost, at any cost. We can never repay Jesus for the price He paid for our sins so our job is to "pay it forward" and spread the Gospel of Christ Jesus and let His light shine through us.
Jesus paid the ultimate price as only He could. Let's not forget that and pass on the blessing.

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

THE BLESSING POSITION!!

Praise the Lord everybody!! He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley, He is our Peace and the Author and the finisher of our Faith. He is our all and all and He is everything to me. I want to praise Him with my life, be a living testimony to His love, His grace, and His mercy. I wonder sometimes what God thinks of my efforts but even I must admit they are but "filthy rags" compared to what He has done for me. Still, I strive and press toward the "mark" that Paul talks about in Philippians 3:14, knowing I may never attain it but pressing just the same.

Over the years I along with many other Christian believers have come before our Father God asking for many things, some important, some not so much. Yet we always come expecting to get an answer in our favor, a blessing if you will and if we don't get the answer we want, the blessing we expected, we begin to question God. In 2nd Chronicles 7:12-14 God states     12 And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice.

13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

God wants to not only hear our prayers but He also wants to do something about them but He has given us some guidelines we must follow in order for us to be in position to be heard. Most of us have the prayer part right. We can put some words together that are like honey for the ears but we fall short when it comes down to humbling ourselves before Him, repenting of our sins and diligently seeking God's face.

We can't keep running to God with our petitions like everything in our lives are alright, just great when in actuality there is sin in our camp. Go read about Achan in the 7th chapter of Joshua and see what happened to him when he had hidden sin in his camp. The Bible says the sin of disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft and this is the sin we most often overlook. God has given us an assignment and we for whatever reason do not carry it out, we don't even try sometimes and then we go before God to ask of Him without confessing or asking forgiveness for our disobedience.

We all know that God is more than worthy of all glory, honor, and praise, and the good news is He has already blessed us and He wants to continue to do so. So when you come before the Lord come correct and be in proper position to be blessed.

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

SOME TIMES WITH GOD: MORE IS LESS!

praise the Lord everybody! because He alone is worthy to be praised! I pray every one of you is enjoying God's blessing. He blesses me every time I open my eyes in the morning and gives me one more day in the land of the living, and for that alone, He is worthy to be praised. Even though the weather and other circumstances such as my wife's surgery have kept me from attending church these last few months I thank God my wife's surgery went well and there was no cancer or nerve damage found. God is preparing us for something and I can't wait to see what it is He's going to do in our lives and our ministries.

Sometimes when you are pressing hard to be the man or woman of God you believe God wants you to be, as I do, sometimes and you find yourself missing and falling short of the mark, do you find yourself trying to make it up to God by promising to do even more things for Him like going out and handing out tracts or volunteering more of your time at the church's soup kitchen, or adding on two more fast days to your week, for extra credit on top of what God has already given you to do. Like when you were in College  So on top of the work God has ordained for you to do now you're adding your own stuff, your own burden when all God wants is for us to be obedient and do the job He has called us to do.

I find myself doing this all the time, trying to make amends for my own shortcomings, figuring if I add the burden of more good works God will overlook my shortcomings concerning the works He ordained for me to do. Now not only do I find myself carrying the load I was called to carry but now I have added a load I'm not even supposed to have. secondly, I have lied to myself saying I'm doing this to appease God when I'm really doing it to make myself feel better and more deserving of God's forgiveness, and all the time God is saying "I ain't mad at ya!" He knows your heart and He knows who is worshiping in spirit and in truth.

While all this is going on God is standing there shaking His head. In Matthew 11: 28-30 He 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.

He has called all who are burdened down by sin not to add to their burdens but to get to know him and take up His yoke because it is easy to follow and His burden is light, the "light" of the world which we are all ordained to carry everywhere we go, even unto the ends of the earth. When we fall short we must not punish ourselves by adding burdens out of guilt but we must get up confess our sin and continue in the race. God will chastise whom He will chastise and He chastises those that He loves. Even His chastisement is perfect leading to His will for us being fulfilled. We make shipwreck of our faith when we try to choose what we think our discipline should be when God can see our beginning and our end and only He knows what is best for us.

So I've decided to focus on what God wants me to be focused on and stop trying to get extra credit. You can't brown nose God.

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

LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU!!

Praise be to God! The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end and the author and finisher of our faith! I pray every one of you are enjoying God's blessing. I thank Him for His grace and His tender mercies which are new every morning. I thank God for my wife's recent surgery going without a hitch last week. I thank God for the help He sent us with those errands and chores that have become to difficult for my wife and I to do. I'm just sorry we could not make it to the revival last week due to the weather and my wife's recovery. we may not have been there in body but we were there in spirit and a revival has begun in our hearts and minds.

In the war for our souls our minds are the "Hamburger Hill" of the battlefield. Whoever controls that hill is well on their way to winning the war. The enemy is constantly trying to take the Hill and sometimes he succeeds only to lose  it back as our faith regroups. Then the enemy takes it back again as soon as our feelings change and our faith is tested again and back and fourth we go. The word of God gives us instructions on how not to keep letting the enemy regain control of our minds.
Philippians 2: 3-8 states
             3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

First of all the word says "let this mind..." meaning God is not looking for robots. We as believers have to make a conscious effort to allow our thoughts to become His thoughts. the Bible talks about us taking our every thought captive and making them obedient to Christ(2nd Corinthians 10:5)
and once we have attained this we will be able to humble our selves and become obedient just as Christ became obedient for us. Jesus was able to shrug off what most of us find almost impossible to do. He shrugged off His power, His authority and His place in line to the throne to become a man and die a horrible death and be buried in borrowed grave forsaken by the one He loved the most, His father. to put it in perspective how many of us would step down from being the billionaire CEO of Microsoft, leave EVERYTHING behind and move to the inner city to teach "bad" kids at a public school knowing that you will then be murdered by unhappy parents.                                                     
Apostle Paul talked about the renewing of the mind in Romans 12: 1-3      I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

The word of God states that "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new."(2nd Corinthians 5:17) This is true but our minds must be renewed and filled with His word to the point that the enemy has no place to gain a foothold.

So brothers and sisters let us allow God's word to scrub our minds clean and fill every nook and cranny so that we wont have to let this mind be in us that was also in Christ Jesus because it will be already there.
                          God Bless you All, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

HALT AND CATCH FIRE!!

Praise the Lord everybody! Because He alone is worthy to be praised! I pray you are all enjoying God's blessing. The weather here in New York has kept me pretty much home bound this month so far. But my wife and I are looking forward to the coming Revival at our church, First Church Of Christ Holiness USA, from Feb. 25th through the 27th. I know God has something special planned for us. Feel free to come and worship with us at 1935 Madison Ave. between 124th and 125th streets in Harlem.

There was a T.V. show last year on cable called "Halt and Catch Fire" about the emergence of the personal computer, kind of nerdy but I enjoyed it. As I sat down to write this the title of that show kept flashing in my mind until I realized that is what God wanted ME to do. "Halt and Catch Fire", It is time for me to stop doing what I have always done and like Skittles says "catch the Rainbow" God is saying "it's time to catch that Holy Ghost Fire!" I need to burn like the "burning bush" of Moses so that others will see and want to know how they can "get some of that". Matthew 5:14-16 states  

 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

There are two ways that I know of to create light. One is by electricity, by flipping a switch and the other is by starting a fire. Starting a fire requires some flammable material and a spark. I want the fire of the Holy Ghost to be the spark that sets ablaze all the dark, dry places in me that have accumulated over the years. I want it to burn out all the impurities that have dimmed my light. The word of God says in John 1:1-9    1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

Verse nine lets us know that God puts a little bit of His light in all of us when we come into this world, and it is our job to make it brighter and brighter or let it get snuffed out by the cares of this world. I am tired of my Bonn fire looking like a girl scout camp fire! I want there to be no doubt Who's I am and Whom I serve. There is a fire shut up in my bones that wants to come out and make me a Holy Ghost flame thrower. Not to hurt people but for them to see the light of Jesus shine through me brightly while burning away the fog and smoke of sin and the world.

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

"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