SOUL FAT / ENCOURAGE THYSELF: PART TWO

Praise the Lord! I pray everyone is being blessed by God real Good. As always I thank God for the privilege of being used by Him to write this blog for the people of God. In my last post "Christian! encourage Thyself!" I said that we would next go into how we go about cultivating a personal relationship with God.

I love the Lord. I love Him because of what He did for me. I was a crack head nurse, sleeping on benches at the Staten Island ferry Terminal at night and working during the day, borrowing money from my fellow "bench warmers" in order to get to work and clean my uniforms. The only way to get out of a hole that deep is to give your life to Jesus Christ, One day I broke down and did just that. Once I gave my life to Christ I developed an insatiable thirst for Gods word. I read it day and night and the words seemed to jump off the page and I couldn't put it down.

If you don't get excited over Gods word like that then ask Him to give you an excitement and a hunger for His word. Isaiah 55:2 states
²Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
All my life I chased that dream of living the "good life" I had a great profession, money and woman, but my soul had a hole in it that nothing could fill except God and His word. I stopped chasing that which was not bread and began a journey into Gods word that would make my soul fat and my soul delighted in it's fatness. I carried my bible everywhere I went, I ate with it and slept with it. People made fun of me saying "you just gave up one addiction for another" I responded by saying "I'd rather be addicted to Gods word than to crack!"
When you are rooted in Gods word you have something to stand on, you can't be moved by false doctrine or tricks of the enemy. Jesus used the word to fight off the Devil in Matthew 4:1-11 of course Jesus Is the word. What ever situation you find yourself in there is scripture that can help you get through it. As you study Gods word you began to take on some of His attributes. 1st Corinthians 2: 15+16
¹⁵But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
¹⁶For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.
Can you imagine? We have the mind of Christ, by His spirit and His word. Another thing we need to have that Jesus had is His prayer life. In order to have a close personal relationship with God we have to have an active prayer life, we, like Jesus need to spend quality time talking to the Father in prayer.
Matthew 6:6 states  
⁶But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

As you read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John you will see where Jesus often retreated off by himself to pray. In prayer He found strength, direction and comfort. Philippians 4: 6+7
⁶Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
⁷And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
The bible also says we are to 
¹⁷Pray without ceasing. 1st. Thessalonians 5:17

Prayer is the corner stone of having a relationship with God. It is a solid foundation to build on. As I work on my physical weight problem through bible study and prayer I work on my spiritual weight problem. Soul Fat is the only Fat ordained by God. God bless you and good eating!
                                                                         Brother Darrell, A Watchman

Christian! : Encourage Thyself

Praise the Lord! I pray everyone is enjoying Gods many blessings. I am truly blessed just to be able to be used by God to  bless His people. It is a wonderful, humbling feeling but it also brings with it responsibility and accountability. I thank God for you readers that respond to my "new post" e-mails and announcements on Face Book and GFB(Gods Faith Book).

As many of you know I have a weight problem that has been compounded by Degenerative joint disease in both my hips and sciatica causing me to be in moderate to severe pain all day and night. The Other day my wife and I were talking on the phone and she was watching some Christian television and somebody was telling there testimony about how God had healed their body of some terrible affliction. My wife meaning well said "That should give you some encouragement" and I kind of half heartedly answered her with something like "it does".Then I thought about it and said "you know what really encourages me? what really encourages me is the fact that I already know Him and He knows me personally." He has already delivered me from drugs and performed numerous miracles in my life and He had already shown me that I would walk again without a walker or a Cain.  Hearing others testify to the goodness of God is good but when you already have a relationship with Him it means so much more. I know what God can do because He has done it for me before. I know God has got my back.
Paul states in 1st. Timothy 1: 11+12
¹¹Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
¹²For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

I'm not saying that I'm an Apostle or anything like that but God has called me to preach and teach and because of this calling I have to suffer some things but like Paul "I know whom I have believed, and am fully persuaded" that He is able to keep me and bring me through these afflictions. I am persuaded because of our past relationship, our past experiences together. I know that "weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning"(Psalm 30:5) I know Him as a provider. I know Him as a healer. I know Him as a deliverer. He's also been my Father, mother and companion. He has filled every empty spot in my life when I have allowed Him to do so. I don' have room anymore for anger or hate in my life. Love has pushed out lust and greed,
1st Samuel 30:6 states
⁶And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

David at this time probably had never felt more alone in this world but he was able to be encouraged not by what someone else had said to him but because he himself had personal knowledge of who God was and what God had done for him in the past. We all need to be the same way. In those times when we feel distressed and all alone and we seem to be surrounded by enemies we should be able to encourage ourselves because of our personal relationship with God. If you do not have a personal relationship with God then you better ask yourself "Am I really saved?" "How do I get a personal relationship with God?" you ask, well that's simple just start talking to him, we'll cover more in my next post.
                                                  God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman

The "Transformers"

Praise the Lord! I pray everyone is well and enjoying God's blessing. Last Sunday was Resurrection Sunday and I and my wife were able to attend a wonderful service at our Church. God truly moved that day and the alter was filled with those touched by the word of God. I thank God He touched my body enough to allow me to attend the service and feel His presence in the place.

We had the usual Easter Sunday turnout. We had the faithful core group that comes out for almost every service, the casual crowd and the once a year crowd that come out once a year to get their annual blessing. Everybody was there including God. Our Pastor, Elder Jonnny Green, was in rare form and thunder and lightening seemed to be coming out of his mouth and as I sat there I was praying that some body would be set free and delivered that day. God wants to transform us from sinners to saints, from fleshly to spiritual. His word says in 2nd Corinthians 5:17
¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
There is a very popular movie series in the world called "Transformers" about these robots that look like normal cars, trucks, planes and other inanimate objects that can transform into these powerful intelligent robots and then turn back into objects again at will. Can you imagine driving a car and as you are driving the car stops and turns into a monster robot? Imagine yourself then walking home and finding that "car" parked in your driveway like nothing happened. Their jobs are to blend in with the normal machines until the time comes to take over.

There are "Transformers" in the Church, They sit next to you and they appear to be Christian. One day you are out fellowshipping with Brother or sister "Smith" and everything seems fine and then out of the blue Brother "Smith" says "Hey I feel like having a drink, you coming?" or as you are walking together he suddenly stops at a news stand and buys some porno magazines or steals something and then comes out and keeps walking as if nothing happened.  These transformations mostly take place when you are not around. Christianity has become nothing more than a loose over coat worn by many to hide behaviors and issues we don't want to deal with or confess to others. They can be removed and put on at will. Romans 12:1+2 states
¹I 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.
²And 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.

The word used is "Transformed" not transform, by the renewing of your mind, the word transformed speaks to a one time event. We are called out of darkness by God not so we can go back and forth from light to darkness. Paul tells us in Galatians 5:1
¹Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Paul also writes in James 1:8
⁸A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
No body is saying you can't be overtaken by a fault but to one minute claim to be holy and the next minute to willfully turn away from God and living holy to return to your former state of being ruled by your flesh is unacceptable to God. We are not called to be "Transformers" but "Reformers" bringing about change for the glory of God everywhere we go.
                                                                    God bless,Brother Darrell, A Watchman

There Will Be Blood

Praise the Lord! Here we are it's "Good Friday" a day when the body of Christ remembers the body of Christ. The broken, battered body of our Lord and savior that He willingly laid down to be crucified for our sins. The brutality of His death underscoring the beauty of His mission. Jesus fully understood the magnitude of what He was sent to do and the suffering He had to endure, yet He came down from glory and put a flesh suit on and walked the path assigned to Him. The word of God states in Isaiah 53:4-6
⁴Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

When you think about what Jesus endured for us and you think about how easily we fall flat on our faces every time we have to suffer a little hardship or endure a little temptation. We say things like "I tried but God knows my heart" or "God gave me these desires, what did he expect?" or even " I'm not perfect, I'm just flesh and blood!" These are excuses a lot of us make when we fall short of the mark.

Over the years we have become wimpy Christians only wanting to receive Gods blessing and rejecting every trial and tribulation as "from the devil" and not part of God's plan for us. The word says in  53:10 Isaiah
¹⁰Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Some times it is God's will for us to go through certain things in order to bring about His plans for us to grow and even prosper. It is not always easy to be obedient to God's will, even Jesus had his moments when He wanted to turn back in Luke 22:42-44
⁴²Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
⁴³And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
⁴⁴And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Jesus asked that God would let him out of the mission He was on, just like we all do when we are going through something but then Jesus gave into His fathers will saying "never the less not my will but thine, be done" This is where a lot of us part ways with God, our flesh wins out. Hebrews 12:4 states
⁴Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
How many can say that they have travailed in prayer until they sweat blood? How many can say they were broken and bruised because they stood for God against sin? Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 4:8+9
⁸We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
⁹Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
Today's believer needs to have that same attitude, willing to endure the utmost hardship even to the point of shedding blood knowing that in carrying out Gods will God is pleased and will be with you every step of the way. We need to keep our eyes on the joy that lies before us just as Jesus did as we go through our own "via dolorosa". Remember there will be blood, the blood of Jesus that covers us all.
                                          God bless you, Brother Darrell, A Watchman  
 

The "Profess"ionals: The Afterbirth part 2

Praise the Lord! I pray everyone is enjoying Gods blessing. "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!" "He is all over me and He's keeping me alive, Jesus is keeping me alive." I feel good in my soul today! My wife will be home in a couple of days and I'm looking forward to spending quality time with her and both of us spending quality time before God.

The Lord put this on my heart while I was writing my last post, "The Afterbirth" There is a problem that has affected the body of Christ especially in the United States. Today's church is full of "Profess"ional Christians. They carry out their Jobs in the church well, but that's all they are to them, just jobs and that's as far as their investment goes, They have not totally bought in.. Titus 1:15+16 states
¹⁵Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
¹⁶They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

I do not take pleasure in writing these things, but God's heart is obviously grieved by the lack of "fruit"from his Church. The church has gone from Holy temple to Events Arena. Pastors are no longer High priest, they are C.E.O.'s and the church is a large corporation. The focus has gone from bringing in souls to bringing in funds. The prevailing attitude has gone from being a blessing to others to getting the blessing we believe we have coming.

Apostle Paul was right when he said in 1st.Corinthians 4:19+20
¹⁹But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.  
²⁰For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
Talk is cheap! He was saying, I'm coming to see how much power you have, what are you doing to advance the Gospel of Christ and to destroy Satan's kingdom, and as I wrote in my last post "The Afterbirth", you need power to do those things. Matthew 12: 28+29 states
²⁸But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
²⁹Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
We are at war and most of us are stuck in stage one of our walks, the "profess"ional stage, the talking stage where we go around telling everybody about our testimony of how we got saved and everything is lovely, but before you know it ten years have past and your testimony hasn't changed and neither have you. You're still talking the talk but not walking the walk. Some even know God's word and that makes them think they can "scripture whip" others while performing legalistic "drive by's" on their fellow Christians and the unsaved.
It's time to move on from just professing Christ and time to get that "Afterbirth" power, that Holy Ghost power we need to be effective for God. UPGRADE YOUR TESTIMONY!!
                                        God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman 

The Afterbirth!

Praise the Lord! I pray you all are enjoying Gods many blessings. I feel particularly blessed, I just spent a wonderful week with my wife, and on top of that we became Grand parents last Friday.Our Son became a father at 12:45am Friday morning his fiancee gave birth to a nine pound baby boy named Daniel Jr. PRAISE THE LIVING GOD!! BABY "DAN" IS BORN!!
                                                                                             

Now we are praying that they get married and raise him up in the way he should go. The night baby Dan was born my wife and I went to a Revival service at our church and we knew it was going to be a "hot" service because of all the stumbling blocks put in our way by the "enemy" as he tried to keep us from attending, but we were determined to get there as long as the elevators were working and they were. We arrived in time to catch Praise and Worship and by the time it was over you could feel the anointing coming down from heaven. The spirit of praise was in the building, people were actually entering in to Gods presence. That was something I had never seen before from the faithful at First Church. People were lifting up holy hands unto the Lord, they were crying out to God. You could see God breaking up the stony hearts and setting captives free.

This was something I had been praying for from the time I fist joined "First Church." That night I could see God beginning the birthing process for the change that is coming. Every one in that sanctuary except maybe one or two were born again Christians, having professed Christ as Lord and savior but they have not experienced the "after birth." Peter is a perfect example of what I mean. Peter was the one who said "Thou art the Christ the son of the Living God." (in Matthew 16:16) Peter knew who Jesus was and even said he would die for him, but just like today's believers he could not back up what his mouth was saying. When the going got tough he denied Christ three times. Jesus knew this would happen because Peter, though he could be considered born again he had not experienced the "afterbirth".Acts 1:8 states

⁸But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 
This is what Jesus meant when he told peter "When you are converted, strengthen thy brethren "(Luke  22: 31+32)
This is the "Afterbirth" That is missing in so many christian lives, the reason for the lack of power in churches all over America. There is a power shortage at a large number of churches including the church I go to. If it weren't for the power that God charged our Pastor with there wouldn't be any power at all there. Acts 2:1+3 states

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

 ²And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

 ³And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
  They were with one accord according to Gods word, one accord with who? One accord with themselves and with the will of God! Some churches are in one accord with each other but not with God. They pursue their own agenda's and ignore the prompting of the Holy spirit. In Some all are seeking God but can't connect with each other because of all the jealousies and back bitings going on. We all need to get on one accord, one church, one faith and one baptism. We need get passed profession of Christ and tap into the power of God, only then will we see signs and wonders.

When a baby is born something follows that event, it's called the "afterbirth" or placenta and most people think it is something you throw away. But the placenta or afterbirth is used for many medicinal reasons.including certain creams and lotions. After our spiritual rebirth the spiritual afterbirth should not be thrown away but sought after and used to give us the spiritual power we need to make a difference in this world for Christ.
                                                            God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman 

The Weight

Praise the Lord! I pray that you all are enjoying God's blessing. I can't tell you how blessed I feel. Jeremiah said "It's like fire shut up in my bones!" It's not just that I like to write, it's that I have to write. God forbid that I don't write. There is a fire in my belly. John 2:13-17 states
¹³And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
¹⁴And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
¹⁵And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;
¹⁶And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.
¹⁷And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

As a Watchman I have been blessed with the ability at times to see things the way Jesus See's things. The bible says that David was a man after God's own heart(1st Samuel 13:14) and that is what I'm striving for, to be a man after God's own heart. Sometimes I feel the heaviness when I see some of the things I have seen over the years going on in His house and the things I see His people getting involved in.

God has given me a burden and I am finally carrying that burden. The bible says "let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."(Phil. 2:5) Though I have not yet gotten there, I am striving to reach that goal. With the mind of Christ I am able to see things the way He does and when I see what is going on in the body of Christ,His church, I can't help but be angry at times and disappointed. As a watchman I must point out what God instructs me to point out. I am mocked at times and called opinionated. "Who does he think he is?" they ask. I say I am nobody, just a man trying to be obedient to his calling. It hurts when your brother or sister in Christ question your calling and refuse to encourage or exhort you in what your doing as we are called to do in 1st. Timothy 4:13+14
¹³Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
¹⁴Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

The body of Christ is often guilty of two things, one is idolizing gifts and putting those with them on a pedestal or two: dismissing or downgrading the gifts of their brothers and sisters in Christ. I understand that there are many people in the body going around claiming certain gifts and titles that they don't have, testilying instead of testifying. That is why God has given us the spirit of discernment, those of us who are led by the spirit should be able to discern who is who and what is what.

After years of running from my calling, being afraid to say what I mean and mean what I say and enduring the chastening of God because of it, I have come to the conclusion that it is better to be obedient. I have stopped running and have planted my feet not on his word but in his word. I have immersed myself in Him and His word, I'm not concerned about pleasing man or even myself  anymore. I choose to stay under the burden that God has given me. No more stuttering when I speak or when I write, I will say what I mean and mean what I say and God will help me carry the weight.
                                        God bless you all, Brother Darrell, A Watchman