OBEDIENCE: A KEY TO THE KINGDOM!

Praise the Lord everybody!! Lift up your heads oh ye gates!! Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in!
I need you now more than ever Lord, come and quench this thirsting in my soul. As I am being purged of my impurities so that God can lift me up and use me in these last and evil days. No matter how much you think your living right, there is always something deep inside that God sees that He wants to expose and free you from, and if we let Him have his way in our lives He will purify us for His service.

Deuteronomy 24:1-7 states     And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.

3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

7 The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.   

This scripture starts out saying if we would "hearken diligently" unto Gods voice and follow "all His commandments" that we will be blessed in all the ways written above. My desire is to be diligent in my quest to be fully obedient to God. This is no time for half measures, God is calling His soldiers up to the front lines and I am a soldier. An obedient soldier.

The more I search the scripture the more I realize how important holiness and obedience are to God, how important it is that His people separate themselves from the world. Paul said 2nd Corinthians 13:5  5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

The time has come for us to examine ourselves, those of us who call ourselves "Christians" and men and woman of God, I know I am. Jesus said in Matthew 7: 21    1 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

There it is again, the importance of being obedient to God's will. There will be many who think they are getting into Heaven who are going to be greatly disappointed. Jesus said in verses 22+23  22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.   

I do not want to be one of the disappointed, so I examine myself every day and I seek His voice and guidance in all I do and when He speaks I not only listen but I do my best to be obedient. I wish I could say I was always obedient but I'm trying and God is not through with me yet.
        God Bless You All, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

THERE'S BEING CHRISTIAN, AND THEN THERE'S HOLINESS: STEP UP YOUR "GAME"

Praise the Lord everybody!! because He alone is worthy to be praised!!He is Alpha and Omega, the author and finisher of our faith and I love Him. As much as I love him I know He loves me more. God has blessed me with many gifts and has invested a lot of time in me and He has seen, in my eyes, very little return on His investment up to this point. Yet He still loves me and cares for me. I am determined that for whatever time I have left, to put my gifts and my life to good use at whatever He asks me to do. Paul said in Romans 12: 1+ 2       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.

One of the key words in this scripture is "holy", holy, acceptable unto God. A lot of times we come to God in our "mess", unrepentant, and we expect Him to bless us and our mess(our sin).
Look around you and then look at yourself and then ask yourself, "how many truly holy living people do I know?" Uncompromising, Holy Ghost filled and living everything they know by faith people. The answer for me is very few, but According to everything I've read in the scriptures this is what God expects from His people.

 First Peter  1: 15+16 states 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.    

The dictionary says living holy means   Living or undertaken with highly moral or spiritual purpose; saintly: a holy person; a holy way of life. After contemplating on this a while, I began to realize that I had better step up my game if I want to make it in. My gifts mean nothing unless I use them in a holy way. there are well over 500 scriptures that mention the word holy the term Christian is only mentioned three times in the Bible. There are a lot of people going around claiming to be Christians but how many would dare to claim that they are holy men and woman of God? very few, yet it is obvious that this is what is required of us.

  1st Peter 2:9 states    9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

I'm not trying to burst anybodies bubble but there is being Christian and then there is Holiness, and it is we who have set the tone. With all our compromising and inability to stand up to temptation and our secret sins we have brought forth a sort of Gospel light where "it's all good" as long as we do it with love. Peter was not preaching "Gospel light" neither was Paul or any of the Apostles, just ask Ananias and Sapphira ( Acts Chapter 5).

When you are trying to live holy you will be talked about, called a legalest, a fanatic, a zealot and a religious nut, mostly because people prefer to pull you down rather than climb up to you, just ask Nehemiah. All I have to do is think of Hebrews 12:14    14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

I want to see the Lord in the beauty of Holiness one day and if that means stepping up my "game" so to speak, then so be it.

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

IT'S ME OH LORD: MY OWN STUMBLING BLOCK!!

Praise the Lord everybody!! Because He alone is worthy to be praised. I can't thank God enough for what He's doing in my life, how He's shown me another level of prayer, shown me another level of obedience, another way of seeing things and another way of doing things. The reason I say "He has shown me" is because all God can do is show us the way but it is up to us to follow His lead.
God has equipped me for the journey but it is I who must still walk the path.
In my last post I wrote about obeying God on another level and I must be obedient right now and write about what God Has been dealing with me about these last few days. I was sitting around thinking about my old football playing days in high school and college, how much I loved the game and how different my life would have been Had I not gotten injured in my senior year in High School. I kept going over it and over it in my mind until God began to remind me of what really happened.

He reminded me of how I walked away from my college football career because I was not willing to pay the physical price it took to continue. Of course He was right, I began to look back over my life, my life before Christ that is. Not long after I quit football my sister and I started writing songs together and producing demo records, before long we started our own production company, things were going pretty good until we ran into some financial problems concerning studio time. I walked away from the music business to go in to nursing school, telling myself that the extra income would help us meet our expenses until we had our first hit song. Needless to say I never went back to the music business and despite a successful nursing career I never reached my full potential in nursing because of drug addiction and then physical disability.

I began to feel sad about all the things I did not accomplish over my life, all the missed opportunities but God said not to look back at what I didn't accomplish but look forward to what I still can accomplish. These two scriptures were brought to mind, Philippians 3:13-14   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. And,
1st Corinthians 9:24    24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 

I have decided to not only finish this Christian race but to run a race worthy of winning a prize, verse 25 states  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.

There are so many blessings that God had prepared for me that I blew because I pulled up lame as I came down the home stretch, too many to cover in this post. I am more determined now than ever to  not only to run but to endure to the end. Just as it says in God's word, 2nd Timothy 2:3,4         3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 

I had forgotten that we are all soldiers in God's army and I had to revisit one of my early blog post titled "I am a soldier"(check archives). Also it says in James 1:12    12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
This world is full of temptation, one of those temptations for me according to my history is to give up when the pain or the task becomes to tough on my flesh. Then I think about Jesus, Paul writes in Hebrews 12:1+2         Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

If Jesus can endure the cross for our sins then why can't I endure a few trials, tribulations and temptations for His name sake. I am a soldier and I will endure until He comes or calls me home. No taking down, No turning back.

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

DISOBEDIENCE: A HARD HEAD MAKES A SOFT BEHIND!!

Praise the Lord everybody! for He alone is worthy to be praised! I love the Lord, He has been so good to me and my wife, even in our trials, our tribulations and our acts of disobedience. God's grace and mercies are new every morning. We have tasted and seen that the Lord truly is good. Our feeble works are as "filthy rags" to Him as we try and earn His love and His favor. We alone cannot do it.

As I read through the Bible I see example after example of how disobedience can cause the man or woman of God to suffer many trials and afflictions. I am also a witness to that fact. The trial my wife and I are going through right now is due to me not totally obeying the instructions God gave me years ago, now I am reaping the fruit of my disobedience.

Just as Jonah had to spend three days in the belly of a fish because he didn't want to go to Nineveh, just as Sampson suffered at the hands of the Philistines because he let his hair be cut and he married outside of his people against his parents wishes. There are many more accounts of the consequences of disobeying God, David, Paul as Saul, Moses at the rock and the list goes on and on.

Being obedient is more than just going to Church, paying your tithes and offering and saying all the right things. Being obedient is listening to that still small voice and doing what it says when it tells you to put another $20 dollars in the plate when it comes around, when it says "don't take that job offer" when you've always wanted that job, when it tells you the one you love is not the one for you, when it tells you to quit your good job and go into full time ministry,this is obedience to God.

Fifteen years ago God spoke to me and told me it was "time to get my house in order" meaning my physical body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, I was over weight and my body was just starting to break down. He put me in a position to do so, He gave me favor with the ministry I was \involved with and they provided me with everything I would need, diet, exercise equipment and encouragement and I took advantage of it. Then I was offered a job, a job I really wanted but God said "no". I convinced myself that I had misunderstood and  God's "no" was really a "yes" and I took the Job.

To make a long story short, that was the end of the weight loss program, I eventually relapsed on drugs and my body broke down to the point where I couldn't work anymore and had to get on disability. All Though the relapse on drugs was short lived, I am still on disability and suffering in my body and struggling to lose weight. I am believing God for my healing but all this could have been avoided if I had just done what God had told me to do back then. God knows our future outcomes and what lays in wait for us around every corner. We can avoid these pit falls if we would only take heed of His warnings.

Isaiah 1:16-20 states    16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

If you truly want to be blessed and favored of God learn to be obedient in all things. Like my mom always says "a hard head makes a soft behind."

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

THE LIGHT OF GOD DOES NOT DIVIDE: IT UNITES!!

Praise the Lord everybody!! Because He alone is worthy to be praised!! I pray every one of you is enjoying God's blessing. God is in the blessing business, every time He wakes us up in the morning He's blessing us. Every breath we take, every move we make, every bit of food we eat it's by His grace and His mercy that we have these things. This week He brought my wife through three simultaneous surgical procedures safe and sound, hallelujah!! He gave us a new air conditioner before another heat wave came along. He has taken us to a higher place in Him. Getting here was not easy but it was well worth it.

I noticed something over the past ten years or so about being a holy man of God, filled with the Holy Spirit of God to the point where the glory of God is shining brightly from your face, and that is people try not to spend too much time around you. That includes other Christians. I'm not talking about myself in particular but other men of God like my Pastor, Elder Johnny Green and other strong men of God I've known over the years. People have a tendency to cross to the other side of the street when they see them coming and I was reminded of Moses in Exodus 34:29-33   29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh him.

31 And Moses called unto them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.

32 And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai.

33 And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.

The glory of the Lord is a bright, sin exposing, convicting, holy light that emanates from God and those who spend quality time in His presence and are filled with His spirit. I can understand the world running away from the light. The Bible states in John 3: 19+20    19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

This is why the world avoids the light but the children of Israel were Gods chosen people and today just as then many of God's people, Christians, prefer not to spend to much time in the presence of those who are spending quality time in God's presence. They not only cross the street, if they can when they see them approaching but they do their best to assault their character behind their backs. Why does this happen when the opposite should be happening John chapter 3 verse 21 states    21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

In other words, if you are living right before God there is no reason to hide, you want people to see what God is doing in you and through you. Also, let me say this, it is a wonderful thing to be able to freely enjoy the fellowship with the men and women of God when you are not concerned about how bright their light is shining on you because it just means more of God's love and warmth in your life. If and when you are overtaken by a fault, confess your sin, repent and continue to stay in the light. God's word says if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Brothers and sisters don't "hate" on those who have given themselves over to God to the point where they are filled with His light shines brightly through them, seek them out, emulate them, encourage them because there is a high price they have paid for such an anointing. Just a little something to think about.
                             God Bless You All, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

THE OLD LANDMARKS WILL NEVER LEAD YOU ASTRAY!

Praise the Lord everybody!! because He alone is worthy to be praised!! I love the Lord, and He is my all and all. My wife and I are learning more and more to accept what God allows and totally trust in the Lord. Right now the going is rough and whatever can go wrong has gone wrong, but what do I know, God IS in charge, He knows best.

As I sit and watch and wait on the Lord I notice that there are  more and more people walking around this country aimlessly, seemingly lost and a lot of them claim to be Christian. The Church is losing it's way and turning aside from the path of Holiness, distracted by the glitter of this world. We are losing sight of the pathways forged by our Church forefathers.

PROVERBS 22: 28 states    28 Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

It started when This country, which considered itself a God fearing Christian country began changing it's so called "blue laws" in the 60's allowing stores to be open on Sundays and sell beer even on Sunday mornings encouraging people to go shopping or drinking on Sunday mornings instead of  encouraging people to go to Church, which the "blue laws" were created to do. They've taken prayer out of Schools, taken down the Ten commandments in court rooms, taken down Nativity scenes from public displays and are taking "In God we trust" off our money.

Our Church's have lost faith in the power of prayer and the Holy Ghost and are turning to the world for things and ideas to draw the people in to fill their seats. Jesus said in John 12: 32 32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
We have to stop lifting up men, concerts, fish fries, the rich and the famous and huge edifices, etc,  which all have their place in fellowship. The time has come for us to lift up Jesus and let the Father send His anointing and draw them in, after all it is the anointing that destroys the yoke.(Isaiah 10:27)

If you want to just draw a crowd of people then give them free anything, but if your trying to save souls give them Jesus and Him crucified. Make our lives living testimonies, become that peculiar people we are called to be. The lost should be flocking to follow us not us following them so that we can both fall in the same ditch.
The old land marks are tried and true and stood our forefathers well and will stand us well till He comes.
                    God Bless You All, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

GETHSEMANE: PRAYING ON ANOTHER LEVEL!

Praise the Lord everybody!! because He alone is worthy to be praised!!"Jesus, Jesus how I've loved Him, How I've proved Him or' and or', Jesus Jesus precious Jesus, oh for Grace to trust Him more" I love the Lord, He's been good to me, better than I can be to myself. This morning I fell off my bed while half asleep, that may not sound so bad on the surface but when you are my size and your body is in the condition mine is in it can be a "call 911" catastrophe.

To make matters worse I hit my eye on something as I fell and it was only by God's grace I did not poke it out, but it is tender and bloodshot. Some how God gave me the strength to get off that floor without having to call the Fire department for help.
When I started writing this post over four days ago I had every intention of finishing it by the next day, obviously that did not happen. The fall did more damage than I thought and tomorrow I going to see an Eye Doctor. I would ask you all to keep me in prayer but by the time I post this it will be all over so I guess I better pray for myself and I'll write about what happens tomorrow, God BLESS.

God's not dead!! He's yet alive!! hallelujah!! No major damage to my eye! just couple of burst blood vessels from the trauma which should clear up in a couple of weeks. Now I just need God to fix this air conditioning situation, but that's another story.

This week I've learned the difference between praying and praying through. Jesus prayed through in the Garden of Gethsemane in 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,

 like Jesus, as I travailed in prayer I reached a breaking point. A point where I truly did not care anymore about what I wanted but what God wanted. I was ready to leave here if that was His will. Once I reached this point I felt I was actually near death but He strengthened me as He did Jesus and I was able to continue on more earnestly, but now I was praying on another level, more humble, more broken with an even greater realization of who God is and what He expects of me. I was praying with a new freedom.

I always had wondered how it felt to pray so hard that you sweat blood after I had read about Jesus in Gethsemane, now I think I have a small idea. I also often wandered why did Jesus continue praying even more earnestly after His  "never the less, not my will but thine will be done" breakthrough. I believe that now that He had accepted His fate He began to pray not that God would remove the cup from Him but that God would make Him ready, willing and able to drink it. I began praying the same thing after God let me know it wasn't my time to come home yet. I knew another heat wave was coming and I began praying for God to bring me through.

Now every time I pray I don't go to Gethsemane but I know how to get there when I need to.
Don't think I don't appreciate everyone's prayers but some times you have to withdraw off to yourself and go to your Gethsemane.

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