Use Me

Take me, use me, for the glory of the Kingdom,
I want to be used to bring utter wisdom.
I fail daily, but let me display,
my God, my Father to my dismay.
Imá wicked, selfish, necked man,
but you build me up, to be a lamp stand.
Your glory echos through the universe,
who can know your mystery,
all but a verse, in all of history.
You said don’t write, what your about to hear,
but this just compels me, to listen up and fear.
I will proclaim your name forever, though the good and the bad,
cause you made one and the other, and this makes me glad.
So my father up in heaven, just wants us to listen,
through the word, in meditation, not through the media and the people of the nation,
just tryin to get recognition, look how far its taken.
How can they know the secrets of the Father,
when they don’t even botha, to read the scrips,
take his tips, and realize that this is it.

Dear Flesh

Dear Flesh,
You full of sin, that displeases him,
can’t give you momentum, you’ll always win.
I fight with you daily, trying not to comply,
but what can I do, but pluck out my eye.
You desire sinful pleasure, all for selfish gain,
leave me now so I can remain, in him, I proclaim.
I wanna do right, but I do what is wrong,
how can I win this battle, my flesh is so strong.
This battle seems so pointless, but is this final step,
so you can overcome weakness, it takes all the prep.
Put something in, when you take something out,
cause this void may consume you, if you do You, without a doubt.
You are wicked, and sinful at heart,
gotta taste that Living Water, it ain’t tart.
Live for the King, put the self man to shame,
deny the flesh, and cry out Jesus name.

Heavenly Boss

Humble me down, to the foot of the cross,
where you picked up your crown, like a heavenly boss.
You died for my transgressions, and bore a new direction,
so we can have real relation, so we can see the destination.
To you- I pray, the Alpha and Omega,
your name- I say, echos forever-eva,
you are- the way, the truth and the life,
there ain’t no other way to get to paradise.
Gotta give it all to the King, he is sovereign let us sing,
blessed be your name, Christ Jesus you’re everything.

Overcome

In the darkness I can’t see, whom God wants me to be,
trapped by this lust so tight, but I gotta trust his insight,
the God who wrapped himself in flesh, and was tempted like the rest,
died a death not deserved, but through his grace was served.
Into the light I must go, so I can feel his Spirit flow,
through my veins, from head to toe, this Spirit within, over flow,
because unfading love, I am changed, beloved,
my God, you’re all I need, with you I am free indeed.
Sin can’t hold me down, I will overcome,
this life may make me frown, it’s just burdensome,
set your eyes upon the prize, kick the devil between his eyes,
yell from a mountain on high, Jesus paid my price.

Fight

I fight to win, and I ain’t cavin in,
my flesh gonna fail, ain’t no tellen when,
cause the devil skilled with his craft,
to steal, kill, destroy, and relapse,
but when I am filled with The Spirit,
I dominate sin, and I kill it.
There is only one thing to do,
put my faith in Christ, he do what he do,
giving me the strength for this fight through,
I know his ways, will always shine through,
gotta have the patience and endurance, stride through,
his will is mine that’s why I live for You.

Waking up

Had high hopes for the month of August, with the beginning of school coming up and starting the journey of life that begins with an apartment. Along with this transition from the dorms, the summer was in large part preparation for a Men’s Physique NPC competition which happened to be the same day as move in. This particular week I was somewhat overwhelmed by the multiple things going on.

Now that the setting is clear let me pick up from a rough weekend (above) and paint a picture the following week; I was without a functional phone for a week and some days and being without MY Bible. Now I don’t know about you, but these two things play a major role in my life as a young adult. No easy communication, notifications, or easy access. Cut off from the world around me. And on top of that I didn’t have the word of God with me. The struggle was real, both spiritually and worldly, and the message was clear. What was more important?

This whole week was draining. School started off rough with money problems and no phone or spiritual guidance. Not having my phone was, I might say, a complete pain in my ass- no work out tunes, no looking up random questions, no social media. It seemed like I was being cut off from the world. The basic things that seem like we can’t live without were absent, after 2 or 3 days without the phone, the anxiety faded, but the troubles didn’t.

Trial after trial, problem after problem, the week continued to suck. I had no life going into me. The word of God brings up life (Hebrews 4:12). It took a week without it to realize how much it helps me day to day. God’s Word endures and echoes through eternity. It will always last (Matthew 24:35).

Let’s look at the world around us. Chaos is happening all around us and we’re caught up on our Twitters and our Facebook; taking pictures and posting them, oblivious of this great unfolding. There is spiritual warfare all around us (Eph 6:12). Don’t get me wrong social media, and other networking is and can be very good. Look at its purpose right now, but really examine what’s going on in your life and what’s going through your body. Through your eyes and ears, coming out of our mouths. He who has ears, listen. We are being numbed; we are luke warm and may be spiritually dead. Wake up (Colossians 3:1-3)! We find reasons to complain about why our lives suck, but it’s most likely because something is missing (John 14:17). It’s because we’re all in need of a SAVIOR (Romans 6:23). Many of us say we are Christian and believe in God, but we live selfishly; we can’t even efficiently deliver the Gospel, let alone show love to one another while doing it. Many would rather take in the whole world and lose their soul, than to believe in a God they don’t try and know anything about. We must seek things that are eternally purposed(Eph 2:10), not living like zombies in the here and now, refusing to see what is happening.

You have to want your life to be transformed for it to be transformed (Romans 12:2). You will be given a new heart; you will be given a new mind, to understand the will of our heavenly Father (Proverbs 3:6-8, Ezekiel 36:26). But you have to want it. You will never find what you’re looking for in this world (1 John). This is the faith walk. We must talk the talk, and walk the walk for us to be light in the dark. Isn’t that what you want to be remembered for? Your legacy? It won’t be easy as you can tell by my own pity party this week, but his will is sovereign and just. How can we question a perfect God and his mystery? There is no way to understand his timing. All we can is put our faith in our one and only saving grace, Jesus Christ, and ask him to forgive us of our wickedness, and make his presence known to us. Picking up our crosses daily and battling for him. Proclaiming, explaining, and showing the love and grace through faith are the only ways. Our God did love us so much that he sent his only son to die a death not deserved for the redemption through his blood, as a debt paid to make us stand before him righteous and just and proclaim that Jesus is lord and that he paid my way and I live for him (Eph 2:8-9).

Few will grind through the straight and narrow, but for the one who endures, he will be oh so blessed. A relationship is mutual. You have to know him, who is Jesus, for you to enter eternity. It’s not a particular prayer or your works that get you to his presence in paradise, but the relationship with God; Father, Spirit, and Son (Matthew 7:21-23). Many will go down the wide road of destruction, but you have the power to change that. Spend time with him, give him your burdens and he will make all things new. Peace and Love.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Understanding why

Why? Why God, why does this have to happen? Seriously? Shock overwhelmed me as I walked back to the car with no shoes, and for the second time that month, a missing wallet. I decided to roll into the hometown from college to do some business I had been meaning to do for a while, which consisted of teaching myself to swim, knowing that I needed to take a lifeguard certification class and pass a pretest. After 3 hours of working from the basics up, more or less teaching myself to swim, I came back to my unlocked locker to find my shoes and wallet were taken.

We find ourselves saying all the time, “Why does this always happen to me?” “What have I done to deserve this. God, I’ve been trying!”

Four weeks ago I lost my first wallet, which contained 4 debit cards, drivers’ license, various other cards and lots of memories that I had kept over the years, which were priceless. Two weeks later, I decided to take a trip home, my car malfunctioned and I ended up sitting on side of the road for 3 hours waiting on a tow. This week I had just got a new wallet and started the rebuilding process, with 1 debit card and $155, which was what was left out of a short term loan after paying parents back for the car parts to fix the problems that elapsed a week or two before and making a car payment.

While swimming, someone chose my locker to look in and made out okay for the day, I suppose, seeing there is not camera footage available.

After pondering awhile, I started the drive home and I was filled with emotion. Having a rough start to the New Year, I just felt beat up.  I didn’t understand why things were going the way they were. Then I was reassured by the Spirit. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) I felt broken, but again God showed me. “More than that we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance.”(Romans 5:3) Just as swimming increases your endurance, suffering through trials and attacks from the Devil will build you stronger. For when you go to the Lord in prayer, he is sure to answer you who are in distress. (Psalms 4)

Knowing as believers that the Devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), we must hold steadfast and truly put our faith in Christ to provide us what we need.  We can’t lean on the things of this world to get us to that high, as my boy Andy Mineo says in the song Never Land,

“My new goal is to be close to the one that made my soul, man

 Them other highs will gon’ let you down

I’m trying to get so high I’ll never Land”.

FYI, amazing song.

Well it’s done, I can’t rewind the day. All you can do is to continue to fight the good fight and finish the race, like my boy Paul says (2 Timothy 4:7). I can’t hold a grudge (Ephesians 4:31-32). Obviously the kid needed some shoes and some money. I don’t have the insight, let alone the purity to judge the man who took from me. Jesus tells us that if someone asks for your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. (Matthew 5:38-42).

 Again we must remind ourselves that we will undergo trials and tribulations, but during these strifes we must put our hope in God for he is in control. We must love one another and not be mal tempered and understand that life as a follower of Christ is no cake walk. Stayin’ on the straight and narrow.