As I prepare for my first public teaching on health in Grambling, I began thinking about the irony of things. Those of you who know me know that I advocate personal ownership of your health over trusting anyone fully with your life or your choices, other than of course God who gave you life. No one should blindly place something as important as their life in the hands of anyone who is “practicing”, because bottom line is you have to live with the outcome. Make sure your eyes are wide open before making any decision concerning your health, both spiritual and physical. In reality personal responsibility or rather ownership of your life affects every aspect of what you do. Much like many who consider themselves just laity in the current religious system there is a consistent lack of personal responsibility for our spiritual health as well as our physical health. However, the more I think about things the more I realize that life is a practice and our ability to succeed in it will depend on who we choose to sit under. Just as an apprentice learns his job from whoever he watches we learn how to love based on who we sit under. This is a principle that effects every area of our lives. So who are you going to choose to sit under to guide you in this experiment in love?
“God Knows My Heart”
This is a true statement and one I hear often from people as it relates to their justification for their actions. This is absolutely true, and because God knows our heart he tells us what is in it. Scripture teaches us that the heart is deceitful above all things; and desperately wicked. (Jer. 17:9) That is a powerful statement, our hearts are deceitful above all things, which is why in order for us to walk in love and humility we have to deny ourselves. We cannot be swayed in our decisions based on what we want or what is in our best interest. We must remove ourselves from a situation and look from the fresh eyes of scripture. If we don’t do that we will fail in this experiment in love. Fear is a powerful motivator for a lot of people and the current environment of uncertainty has proven to cause the love of many to wax cold towards their brothers and sisters in the Lord. Many people are lobbying for their christian leaders the way the GOP is lobbying for the republican vote. The one tool more powerful than fear is love and few are choosing to walk in it.
By the grace of God I have been able to witness such unloving acts between believers, who because of their preference have walked outside of the will of God, while petitioning God for his support. I speak of these things not as one who has not been guilty of such acts because I have been, but as one who felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit based on what my actions revealed concerning my love walk, and as a result I have been made humble. Having become a living example of the truth of Galatians 6:1
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (Gal 6:1)
I have been both a witness of what happens if you don’t restore a brother in the spirit of meekness and a witness of the temptation to walk out of love when you think you are the one on the high and mighty road. Pride indeed goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Prov. 16:18)
How do we pass the test in this experiment in love?
The simplest explanation I heard came from the writer of an excellent book called Supernatural Childbirth, by Jackie Mize. This couple basically said this, of course in my own words, that they don’t form an opinion about anything. They formulate no personal opinion, they read what the word of God says about an issue and they say the same. They exercise following the Apprentice (YHVH), and apply that to what they say and do. My desire is to be a follower of Christ, and to be a good student I must do what I see him do, just as Christ said “I speak that which I have seen with my father.” Are we speaking only those things that our heavenly Father has said? Are we doing those things that our heavenly Father has given us an example to follow or are we sitting under another apprentice?
Transformation Lifestyle 