Domesticated in the Name of Jesus!

     This morning I woke up with a list of things to do which included cleaning the fish we caught the night before.  After pouring a custom Starbucks quality coffee in my cup, I went out on our back deck and proceeded to size up these tasks.  Gus (our senior citizen dog) came along for the fresh air as I opened up the ice filled cooler.  It was full of fish ready for the knife and as I looked over at Gus, he had the biggest smile on his face.  I then glanced back at the fish and shared a victorious smile with Mr. Gustavo.  This was a moment of reflection for me as I became submerged into deep thought.

     Obviously our dog wouldn't know what to do with a fish unless it wasn't processed into dog food and placed in his bowl.  In fact, if he were to be relocated out in the wild and was forced to fend for himself, the pour guy wouldn't make it.  This got me thinking about myself and if I was transplanted into a primitive situation, would I have the survival skills to sustain life.  This past weekend we took the family on a camping trip, ate wood fired food and slept in tents but it was only for a few days.  Embarrassingly I mustered up the strength to complain about the air mattress and fishing arrangements.

     There's less than a one percent DNA difference between everyone who has ever has, is and will live on this earth.  With that being said a question is presented, "Have I become domesticated like this dog?"  

     It's natural to compare yourself to other people and although they look like me, there's often a huge difference.  It's kinda like the side by side comparison of a dog and a wolf.  You'll also find less than a one percent difference between a dog and a wolf while they are very different in behavioral aspects.  Let's explore these creations and see if God is saying something here.

1.  The wolf matures considerable faster than the dog and can process or digest more food.  The wolf can break up and hold between 10 to 20 pounds of raw meat as the dog usually has a cup in the morning and a cup in the afternoon.

2.  A dog can breed several times a year as the wolf only breeds once between February and mid March.  These wolf pups are born between April and May which interestingly coincides with our resurrection celebration.  For those who do not know, Easter is the first full moon after March 21st and the Sunday that follows it.  Lastly, the dog is solely dependent on it's mother as the wolf is supported with a mother and father system.

3.  A dog will learn to obey commands like "sit and stay" to receive a treat as where a wolf has the ability and would rather get it's own food.  Another interesting point experts have discovered is that a dog will not share it's food as the wolf will wait until it's pack can join in on the feast.

This was very interesting to me as the Bible clearly informs us that there should be a difference between a Christian and a non-believer.  Unfortunately, we witness many times our brothers and sisters are disguised so well that you're unable to tell them apart from unbelievers.  In fact the sad thing is, I'm thinking about myself and wondering if I'm lacking to make an impact for the Kingdom.  Let's look at ways to put our faith in action and bring God's supernatural in our lives.

1.  Can you break down and process spiritual food or are you still living on the milk of the word?  Do you constantly need to be entertained and led to Christ through music, talented teachers and videos? Are you a Sunday only Christian? Do you spend time praying and living the Word and reflect the biblical values in your life? When I compare a former me from years ago, does my life illustrate GROWTH. Being fully transparent, I have thought about what Church we will be attending on Sunday and debate with myself. The worship is awesome here or there, this one the preacher is boring, this other one is just goes on too long.  What makes us choose a particular place of worship?

     Let's reflect on Acts:2:42-47 to be exact. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching AND to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. They learned what God said as they sat together to share a meal. They reasoned with one another, prayed for one another and bore one another's burdens. They sold all they owned to care for one another much like the example given in the wolf pack.  They never left anyone behind like Christ taught about the one sheep missing from the 99. Where is that today? Some churches do get this right in some aspects with "home groups" and allow their members to "share the meat" through fellowship.

2.  Am I being the father that my children need?  Do I resemble the qualities that our Heavenly Father has installed for a man of God?  A percentage of our society has become poverty stricken from single moms struggling on their own. Much as the female dogs raises the pups on her own, our men are not taking their place in their families either.  Where have we lost our way here? We need to raise up men who lead the way for their pack like it says in Titus 2.  Men, let's set an example for the younger men and hold each other accountable.  Galatians 6:1-2 "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

3.  Are we stewarding our blessings with a Kingdom mindset or trying to "get all we can, can all we get and sit on our can"? Are you sharing your "Food" with others? Are we a replica of Christ as He is a great example of a selfless servant leader?

     With this enlightenment, I wonder how many Christians could survive without having their spiritual food spoon fed to them.  What I mean is, if you took away everything including your Bible, could you still have a relationship with the Lord?  Much like the wolf and the dog, is there a difference between you and a non-believer? Have we become spiritually domesticated and have lost the ability to survive on our own? My thought is we have gotten so far away from New Testament Church living that this would be very difficult for most of us.  I'm not talking about "you," I'm referring to "us."  With all of the scriptures that we have memorized, are we confident that we could return to an Acts way of living.  Can I look at my walk and say that through prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit I could be lead without my Bible? That's certainly a good goal to set for ourselves.

     Brother Lawrence from 'The Practice of the Presence of God' wrote: "There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it." I want that. To elaborate a bit further, I witnessed during my trip to prison last year a brother who wanted a relationship with God like Moses.  Brother Perry wanted his face to shine so bright from being in His presence that he would need to be veiled from the people.  This man of God became a mentor of mine as now a year later I continue to challenge myself, my family and you. I believe that each of us in the body of Christ can make a difference towards a GREAT spiritual awakening. Beloved, it is time for such as time as this. You were brought to this place for a purpose!

 May the Lord bless you, keep you and be glorified through our faith in action.

The Gospel: What is it? WHY Kingdom Ministries

The Gospel: What is it? The chronological events of Jesus life seen through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John's eyes? Was it just the Holy Spirit inspiring (breathing) into each of them the stories and history of Jesus life on earth, years after these events took place? Was it just a record of events that they observed the times and places in each of their lives so that they could reflect on "life and times" of Team-Jesus? Or was it as many say...The "Good News"?? It was surely...all of these things but much more....! What is it??

If you will allow me to elaborate a little. I would like to share a pretty crazy experience I have encountered over the last 4 days. First, I located on YouTube a series of all 4 of the Gospels individually that were acted out as a verse by verse narration was read! Maybe you have seen it!?! The actors were speaking very softly in Aramaic(the original language of that time), however the reading was in English. Good for me because I cant understand anything else! lol I took one of these per night, which ranged from 2.5-3.5hrs and over 4 consecutive evenings of watching, note taking and reading my bible(NKJV) while listening to the narrator read in another similar version, the actors replayed the events verse by verse. Pretty cool!! I found myself starting @ 9p and finishing hours later. While viewing these 4 books of the Gospel as a transparency overlay, if you will, and comparing each of these books and going back to the book from the night before, therefore gaining a perspective of the content, I started to feel something that was like...."I cant stop", "I have to keep going!" Later into the night a presence from within was driving me on and to not stop. Even late into the night until 2, 3, 4am. This desire and fire had a purpose I knew, but wasn't totally sure other than the fact that I was remembering what was happening from the night before and with all of its details. I was excited to identify what it really was!?! As I read the events from one book to the next, I remembered things from the night before, therefore the night before with all of the events started to take on a new "full disclosure" that I had never seen or experienced ever before!

I felt within me, something growing and burning as I felt in a peculiar way that I, myself that I was in the book somehow! From having read these books many times before, I knew as I was reading the events were about to happen and everything that was going to happen later. However, I felt I was in this story for some odd reason!?! I knew that "the star" Jesus was going to die and go away, but I was starting to identify life, knowing that the story was about to turn ugly. I became more and more alive in the middle of the night while watching and reading etc....

I paused frequently over these last 4 days during the read, soaking it in and meditated from time to time reflecting on what I had just experienced. Much of the content was the same from book to book with some mentioned in one and not in another. I realized that on of the guys or the other may have not been there or ran out of ink or something! Furthermore,...The Nativity story, Jesus as a boy in the temple, the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist("the messenger"), tempted in the wilderness, the rejection of Jesus by his own town, Jesus teaching the disciples, the earthly stories with heavenly meanings(parables}, the healings, the compassion, the persistence of those to see Him who would not let anything hold them back from Him(faith), the one on one talks, another rejection , the sermons, the betrayal, the capture, the torture, the beating, the nails and the cross....the tomb...Defeating Death!

That fire of desire that started nights before grew stronger and brighter and kept me up into the wee hours to read and press into this project that I had no idea what to expect, but I made a commitment and the Holy Spirit supplied the power and gravitational force to complete this. It started to create a new light that shown on all of the things told about in the bible. In absolutely every story that I had ever heard or read from Genesis to Malachi I started to see more of His plan and purpose with a glimpse of what I had not seen before. The entire book started to come to life and It became even more evident to me than before that these were all a chain of events...strategically choreographed by God, the only God, the God who created me...! It was more evident than ever before that this same plan was fitting and overlapping into all of the stories in the bible.....and even that this plan was established and was put into motion and existed before time was created and certainly before I ever existed!! This further opened my eyes to see that it was Gods love providing for divine insurance plan...to buy me back...because He knew, that I was going to make all the wrong choices, screw it up and....reject Him and who He was...Just like His own town rejected Him...the people of Nazareth!!...

What?...Why?...I was trash!...I didn't warrant or deserve having someone go through all that on my account!!... As I became overwhelmed with this thought, and my emotions getting the best of me...I realized what it was!! That before I came to believe in Him, I had completely botched up everything! Because He created me to do just one thing...have a relationship with Him...I had completely screwed that up!!!...WHY??? WHY for me and WHY did I do all that?? I was sad just remembering the years I had wasted when I heard a still soft voice say. "I was there through all those years and knew that you would see!" "I knew the day that you would say...I had enough emptiness in my life"! The voice said to me..."remember that night when I called your name in that dark lonely place?" I said yes! He said..."that was me and wanted a relationship with you more that you did and I did all of that for you!" He also said...I would have done all of that even if it was just you!"

I realize now what the Gospel is.... What He did for me...so that I could experience true love, His love that made Him do everything that I couldn't...so that I could have a future...eternal life!

Luv, GDUB