When you don’t fan the flame of your gift, people can back you into a corner and scare you into being ashamed of the word of God.#DontFightTheDarkness
Tag: Don’t Fight the Darkness
Christ Our Hope
Not only is He our current hope, but He is also our coming hope. He is our promise, the consummation of our expected confidence, and He brings with Him all that we will ever need.
Close Your Eyes
Occasionally, I enjoy wearing bowties. Wearing a bow tie provides me with a classic enduring style. When tying the bowtie, I usually stand in front of the mirror to get the best view oof the maneuvers. Most times, this works as it affords me a view of what I’m doing. Yet at other times, the view in the mirror actually hinders my ability to execute the proper moves.
Consequently, I close my eyes and tie the bowtie without looking. Closing my eyes prevents what I see from getting in the way of what needs to be done. This is what Paul means when he says, “Walk by faith not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). God says to you, in order to execute the next stage in your life, you’ve got to close your eyes and move by faith. – Don’t fight the Darkness
Party Time!
Attempting to find lasting pleasure in earthly things is like eating Chinese food, it’s delicious while you are consuming it, but you will be hungry again soon. So, our search continues. After exploring all the world offers and still finding that you are unable to satiate your desires, you are forced to conclude that what you search for must not exist in this world. (Thank you for that profound thought C.S. Lewis.)
You and I are created for someplace different altogether. Yet, we consciously and unconsciously engage in a search to fulfill what earthly pleasures simply cannot satisfy. The good news? John declares heaven is our final promotion. When we complete our task on earth, we will be advanced to the ultimate promotion party—Heaven. After the struggle, after the heartache, after the letdown, after the turmoil, we have Heaven. #DontFightTheDarkness
Dig Deep Ditches ~ (Elisha)
Depressed? In a deficit or in a hole? So, what are God’s instructions? “Make this valley full of ditches” (2 Kings 3:16 KJV). Dig ditches? An interesting strategy. So I’m already in a hole in my pursuit of destiny and God wants me to dig a hole? Yes! Digging ditches is about great expectation. What do you expect from God? Perhaps the journey has worn you down. The act of digging a hole or trusting God’s instructions actually deepens our faith. We must expand our expectation, mature our beliefs, and excavate our faith. The act of digging ditches pushes us to grapple with our boasting, proves to God that we believe Him, prepares the ground for our breakthrough, and points out exactly where God will deposit our blessings. When you dig, when you anticipate in faith, you are not saying that you are the source of the blessing, but that you trust God for the blessing.
#DontFightTheDarkness
Whimpering in the Wilderness
Teasing, Kicking, Pricking Promotion Imagine God having a conversation in Heaven about Ishmael. The angels ask, “Can you believe he just did that?” God responds, “Yeah, he’s an ass!” Ishmael, … Continue reading Whimpering in the Wilderness
Bypassing the Process
Skipping, Cutting, Breaking in Line
Judas—a universally scorned, notorious name. No maternity wards echo his name. No one teases a Judas in kindergarten; no one shouts his name at the ball game. No one wants to take a Judas to the prom. He is chosen by Jesus; yet, Jesus says of him, “One of you is a devil.” Judas’s name appears last in every biblical list except for the one in Acts, where he doesn’t appear at all. So complete was his betrayal that the mere mention of his name embodies all that reverberate sinister and disloyal. Why? Because no one likes somebody who skips, cuts, or breaks in line. Judas attempts to bypass God’s process of promotion. Cain attempts to bypass God’s authorized plan and murders his brother Able (Genesis 4). Abram and Sarai attempt to avoid the process of God and let’s just say they make an ass out of themselves: “And [Ishmael] will be a wild-ass of a man” (Genesis 16:12 ). Moses attempts to circumvent process and leaves a trail of blood in the sand (Exodus 4:25). Peter, normally skilled with a knife, swings at Malchus’ head, misses and hits his ear (John 18:10). Such is the aim of those who success outside the will of God—they miss it by a mile. Judas attempts to find a loophole in God’s process and gets hung by it. When we disdain process, we abort the plan of God in our lives. A life that bypasses process aborts the potential deposited in it.
#DontFightTheDarkness
Saved but not Delivered ~ Peter,Paul
Out of the Battle, Still in the War
Peter, a blue collar man, gets promoted to the white collar division of leadership; he upgrades from a fisherman’s collar to a priest’s collar. Once there he allows himself to grow comfy and doesn’t want to jeopardize his plush position by hanging out with the “wrong crowd”—the new Gentile converts. Paul, a veteran to prejudice attitudes, publicly straightens him out. What’s Peter’s problem? Peter is saved, but not fully delivered. He still possesses some trouble areas that need a little work. Paul helps Peter to navigate those rough waters of pride and prejudice. His guidance nudges Peter in the right direction with the spiritual nurturing that propels him into maturity. Peter gets the promotion, but requires additional training. Peter needs a gentle or Gentile nudge in the right direction. For every believer, the possibility exists to enjoy a saving relationship with Christ and yet, not live an abundant life characterized by deliverance. Happily, God will not stop the promoting process until He completes what He has started in you.
#DontFightTheDarkness
Sopping Grass or Soaking Rain?
Often, in our quest for advancement, we sometimes look in the wrong places and to the wrong person to elevate us to the next level. During a God-decreed drought, King Ahab and his servant Obadiah search for grass as opposed to praying for rain. Just as King Ahab and Obadiah embark upon a ridiculous search for grass in a famine, many times we abandon the unlimited supply of Heaven for fickle human networks and vacillating personal favors as well. We must give up the ridiculous search for the possibility of grass and trust Heaven for the raining down of our blessings.
#DontFightTheDarkness
You Board it, You Bought it
Sold as Is
The process to promotion can be tough. Compromising character, sacrificing personal integrity, and adopting conflicting views seem to represent the choppy waters of success. In chapter five, “You Board it, You Bought it,” the disciples learn while navigating the unpredictable seas of promotion that Jesus is the most important tackle they will need. When sailing the rough seas of progress, we, too, must bring Him aboard our ship. The disciples learn something special about Jesus during their stormy trek to the other side and readers will, too. Jesus enters our lives as cargo and waits in the background until we promote Him to captain. Let Jesus captain your life to the promised harbor of promotion. View my book,Don’t Fight the Darkness , Here
Don't Fight the Darkness 