faith

Demons of Consequence

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Too often, people blame their circumstances for their behavior.

They blame someone else for their poor choice.

They blame their upbringing for their bad response.

They blame this one or that one for their own failure.

Tragedy comes to all us in one way, shape, form or another.

Trauma befalls every individual on the planet.

(If it hasn’t hit you yet, just keep on living.)

It’s not the events that matter.

As much as, it’s what you do with it.

It’s what choices you make to get out of it, to keep fighting, to win.

A champion never wins by staying on the mat when he’s knocked down.

A hurdle jumper never sees success by remaining on the asphalt on top of the broken hurdle.

A rower never receives the medal by flailing in the water once knocked out of the boat.

We’re not promised good fortune simply because of what family line, nation, or skin color we have.

Our modern society claims if you’re born into the right circumstances, you will always win.

And those same people claim if your birth brings you into the wrong heritage, wrong race, or wrong town, you’ll never achieve more.

Lies. All lies. Never embrace those fallacies.

Show me a person who cannot succeed when effort is made.

Show me a person who cannot achieve when sacrifices are made.

Show me a person who cannot triumph when the passion is deep within.

Does it mean some have it easier than others?

Sure. That’s the life we live.

But never hate someone for the blessings she has been given.

You never know the cost that has been paid.

Never curse someone for the accolades he is presented.

You never know the hell he had to live before you saw the crown.

Stay focused on your purpose.

Stay tuned in to your faults.

Grasp the convictions needed.

Stay fixed on your goals.

Your success never depends on them.

It depends on the determination within.

And sometimes, you’re no longer winning because you’ve lost the two vital ingredients to score:

Coaching and support.

Everyone needs someone better in their corner. Let them refine you.

Everyone needs someone to cheer them in the darkness. Let them soothe you.

But never let them coddle, pacify, or justify your resignation.

Fight to win.

Win to testify it can be done.

Extend a hand to someone else.

For this reason 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 what I have committed to Him until that Day.

2 Timothy 1:12

The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

Proverbs 18:15-16

Slay the Hidden Desire

/ The WheatandTares

Desires can make or break you.

Desires can thrust you into success or throw you down in shame.

And what you do with hidden desires will be the difference in honor or humiliation.

Desires have to be pulled out into the sunlight and exposed to verity and axiom.

Desires have to have the magnifying glass of honesty peered over them in full.

Desires have to be broken down with integrity and authenticity all wrapped in accountability.

Otherwise when concealed, neglected, and cloaked with insignificance, those same desires will become a dragon thirsty for flesh.

Those veiled desires throw off their disguises and unleash a furious reckoning that cannot be hinged.

So no matter how wise of a sage you have grown to be,

Those ignored desires will grow to be a beast not easily reconciled or silenced.

No matter the might you believe you posses,

No matter the expertise you trust you’ve acquired,

If those desires are held in secret, they will become your evil demise.

Reveal them to absolute truth and faithfulness, and those demons who seek your soul may be impeded and chained.

…Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

James 4:4

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battlewithin you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

James 4:1-3

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, yousinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

James 4:7-10

Significance

/ The WheatandTares

We all want to have significance. Don’t we?

But what will you do to get it?

Will you beg, borrow and steal?

Will you sweat, toil and sacrifice?

Will you push and prod, stepping over or on those who get in your way?

Will you eat humble pie and serve those around you to become great?

To what measure will you strive to succeed and become significant?

And to whom are you seeking the same and acknowledgement?

Remember this:

What you bow down to on your way up the ladder of success will OWN YOU on your way back down.

Choose wisely.

Choose sparingly and carefully.

For too many owners makes the slave exhausted and weary…

And the success so much less to be desired.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:21

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:19-20

Healing is Messy

/ The WheatandTares

Healing is never easy.

Healing is not for wimps.

Just as a broken bone takes time to mend, it takes time for a wounded heart to heal.

Really, more often than not, it takes longer for the heart to take the journey of reconciliation.

And sometimes, the healing, the mending, and the restoration of peace and sanity may come while reconciliation never does.

Forgiveness is for the heart to heal and for the soul to be freed.

Forgiveness may not bring the reconciliation that was once hoped for or demanded.

For some things can be so damaged, the body cannot be recovered.

For some things can be so destroyed, the explosion left nothing but the crater that had already been formed.

For some things can be lost forever.

Never demand harmony when you’ve caused the destruction.

Never demand compromise when you were the source of the wound.

These are hard words to receive and much harder ones to actually live out.

But we all live by grace, and by grace we go forward.

So, forgive again and again.

Repent as needed.

Heal over and over.

And leave the rest up to the Creator of your soul.

For He knows all, and He will bring healing that soothes the soul and brings redemption.

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.

Jeremiah 7:14

Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security.

Jeremiah 33:6

He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

Proverbs 28:13

Flippin’ Tables

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

What are you allowing in your life that Christ would urge you not?

What are you coveting that He would have already cast away?

Sometimes, our lives seem to be on hold, and we blame it on circumstances, being held back, and maybe even our own incapacity to overcome a certain handicap in our lives.

Yet, I have found too often, my limitations aren’t due to someone or something around me, but rather it’s from pursuit of something I should have never been chasing in the first place.

When we start chasing God stuff rather than me stuff, we will find success will come on a whole new level.

Ask Him what tables He would flip in your life, and let Him start cleaning house.

It’s a whole better place when He’s in charge and He comes to abide.

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

Matthew 21:12-13

Stay on Mission

/ The WheatandTares

Keep going.

Keep striving.

Keep achieving.

Their words don’t matter.

They didn’t call you.

He did.

Stay on mission.

We’re not home yet.

And we have a battle to win.

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do,forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14

Choose Well

/ The WheatandTares

It’s so true that there are many things of which we have no control of our choices.

Decade in which we are born.

Parents. Birth location. Upbringing.

Physical attributes. Talents. IQ.

These things are given to us, and we have no say.

Yet, we do have a say in how we respond, in how we handle, and in how we carry on once we have them.

And this choosing results in our character.

Which is also a choice.

And it also will become our voice.

How we respond to the things we cannot control will determine our promotions, our successes, and our influences.

We are never a victim.

Being a victim is a choice. And that choice brings about our character.

When we choose to hate these things out of our control, or maybe just fight against them in a rage that wounds all those around us, it shows our character as rude, spiteful and selfish.

When we choose to embrace these things out of our control as chains, and we are just a martyr for the cause, or maybe we just can’t do any better because of all that has befallen us, it shows our character as weak, whiny and self centered.

Yet, when we choose to accept these things out of our control, fight against the things that would try to inhibit us, and become overcomers inspite of the pain, the turmoil and the difficulties, it shows our character as bold, courageous and focused.

And when we take this tenacious attitude a step further and begin to show others how to overcome their own obstacles, it shows our character as loving, giving, and outward seeking.

We can be a hero or a zero.

The choice is ours.

What will you choose today?

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Romans 8:37

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Perspective Changes with One Shift

/ The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

HOPE To NOPE

(Deleted GIF because it was corrupted and changing other blogs.)

I saw this little gif today, and it made me think how easily our perspective can change.

NOPE can change to HOPE

With one little shift in a letter.

Something broken can be healed with one little dot of super glue.

A rainy day can become sunny with one little wind surge.

The altered state can seem simple, small, and even insignificant,

But to the NOPE, it becomes HOPE.

To the broken, it becomes mended.

To the drenched, it becomes dry.

To the hopeless, it becomes a tomorrow.

Let your walk be realigned.

Let your vision be refocused.

Let your speech be rearranged.

Let your mind be rallied.

Let your heart be restored.

Love can overwhelm you.

Hope can consume you.

And you’ll never be the same.

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

Romans 12:2

Music to My Ears

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

What is your favorite genre of music?

To be honest, I think I must just like music. Haha.

When I get the question, “What’s your favorite genre of music?” I want to return the question with, “What’s my mood today? What’s the season, or what’s something new?”

I might be better of to answer what music do I NOT like because that might narrow the field a little more.

To listen consistently, I can’t really handle the screamo-metal genre. And even that, my son has introduced a song or two that I really like. However for the most part, that genre is probably the one with which I can’t really hang for long.

And maybe Techno isn’t one of my favorites. Still, there’s some techno tunes of the 80s that still get me moving and singing along at the top of my lungs when they come on.

And I guess, I’d have to say if there’s a genre that often turns me off, not for the music but more for the vulgar language used, is today’s culture of Rap. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’ve listened to plenty, as our oldest aspired to be a rap artist when he was younger. So, I’ve listened ti my fat share, and if you’re not cussing or talking dirty, I’ll give it a good listen. Unfortunately, too many of today’s rap artists have taken the cheap route of filling their lyrics with more F-bombs and bedroom brawls than they have good lyrics and story telling.

But give me Easy Listening, Southern Rock, Hard Rock, Classical, Acoustic, Indie, Southern Gospel, Blues, Bluegrass, Alternative, Christian, Christian Rock, Classic Rock, Jazz, Big Band, Folk, Celtic, Pop, Rhythm & Blues, Hip Hop, Soul, Punk, Reggae, Disco, Ambient, Latin, Progressive, New Wave, Dubstep, Vocal, Choir, Rock & Roll… (did I miss any?) Y

ou name it. I’ll give it a listen.

I just love music. It’s melody that soothes the soul. I love the quote our Choir leader tells us, “Music is what feelings sound like.”

And something I love even more than man made music is the music of nature. The chimes of the breeze through the branches; the thunder of the clouds upon the mountains; the roar of the oceans upon the sand, or the chirp of the newborn baby birds calling for their mother. These are the beauty that will unfold in God’s creation, if we will but take a moment to listen.

A good song can uplift the broken heart. A good lyric can soothe a weary soul. A good tune can wipe away tears and being a smile.

And a well placed melody can write a book to express the deepest emotions that words just can’t describe.

So, turn up the volume just a little and tune into what someone is trying to tell you.

Let your words be few and your notes be many.

And let the harmony take you to places you’ve never been.

For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
And it shall be to the Lord for a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Isaiah 55:12-13

His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.

Isaiah 43:2

Define Freedom

/ The WheatandTares

What is freedom?

Is freedom being able to “do what I want when I want and however I want?”

Is freedom having an absence of confinement and restrictions?

Is freedom being able to speak, work, and live without rules and boundaries?

Truly, in this day and age, freedom seems to be negotiable to the person or parties making those decisions.

However, because we are children of God, our truth doesn’t change with culture nor with man.

Our truth comes from the Word of God; so, when seeking the definition of freedom, we must seek what God tells us is true.

Jesus said, in John 8:36, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

Then, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

And in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Christ has given us a clear picture of what freedom is and what He has meant it to be in our lives: true freedom can only be found in the redemption fo Jesus Christ!

So, if you are a child of the King today, YOU ARE FREE!

If you are saved by the Blood of the Lamb, and your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, YOU ARE FREE!!

Let us rejoice in His freedom!

Let us praise Him for the great things He has done!

Let us raise our hands and lift our voices with a grateful heart for the freedom He has brought us both within our spiritual lives and within this country that we live because we are free to worship Him today!

I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.

1 Corinthians 6:12