Lay Down My Pride

I want to tell everyone about something that has been on my heart and have experienced first hand,

something that everyone should be careful not to experience.

When you are called to do something you are basically chosen to do a specific task, now if you are called to

do many different things, then you have to discern the timing and the season of each purpose. Just be careful

not to do what someone else is meant to do.

When you attempt to do what someone else is designed to do, you are doing something in your own

strength and energy, which is a sin and will frustrate you as well, because you are doing something that God never intended for you to do & are disobeying in your own purpose.

When you do something you are not called to do you will fail in a number of ways, first in health, then in life, then in purpose, lastly in spirit. You will find that you will get discouraged, frustrated, or even resentful. This also could effect those around you.

When you try and do things in your own will, you will find it very hard and frustrating and will often give up on your own purpose because of how much of your own energy you have wasted doing what you were not suppose to do.

In the next two stories I am going to tell you, they will explain everything I have just told you.

1 Samuel 15:1-35

1SAMUEL TOLD Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people Israel. Now listen and heed the words of the Lord.

2Thus says the Lord of hosts, I have considered and will punish what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way when [Israel] came out of Egypt.

3Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

4So Saul assembled the men and numbered them at Telaim--200,000 men on foot and 10,000 men of Judah.

5And Saul came to the city of Amalek and laid wait in the valley.

6Saul warned the Kenites, Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

7Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.

8And he took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, though he utterly destroyed all the rest of the people with the sword.

9Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; but all that was undesirable or worthless they destroyed utterly.

10Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying,

11I regret making Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not performed My commands. And Samuel was grieved and angry [with Saul], and he cried to the Lord all night.

12When Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, he was told, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up for himself a monument or trophy [of his victory] and passed on and went down to Gilgal.

13And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed what the Lord ordered.

14And Samuel said, What then means this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

15Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we have utterly destroyed.

16Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me tonight. Saul said to him, Say on.

17Samuel said, When you were small in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel?

18And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites; and fight against them until they are consumed.

19Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but swooped down upon the plunder and did evil in the Lord's sight?

20Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

21But the people took from the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things to be utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.

22Samuel said, Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.

24And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

25Now, I pray you, pardon my sin and go back with me, that I may worship the Lord.

26And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.

27And as Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of Samuel's mantle, and it tore.

28And Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

29And also the Strength of Israel will not lie or repent; for He is not a man, that He should repent.

30Saul said, I have sinned; yet honor me now, I pray you, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.

31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

32Then Samuel said, Bring here to me Agag king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.

33Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

34Then Samuel went to Ramah, but Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.

35And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death, though Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord repented that He had made Saul king over Israel.

Now in this next story it will explain how if you do things in the Lords will, you will find the work effortless and fulfilling.

John 21:1-6

1AFTER THIS, Jesus let Himself be seen and revealed [Himself] again to the disciples, at the Sea of Tiberias. And He did it in this way:

2There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, called the Twin, and Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, also the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples.

3Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing! They said to him, And we are coming with you! So they went out and got into the boat, and throughout that night they caught nothing.

4Morning was already breaking when Jesus came to the beach and stood there. However, the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

5So Jesus said to them, [a]Boys (children), you do not have any meat (fish), do you? [Have you caught anything to eat along with your bread?] They answered Him, No!

6And He said to them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find [some]. So they cast the net, and now they were not able to haul it in for such a big catch (mass, quantity) of fish [was in it].

A lot of times when people try and do things in their own will it is because of their pride, they allow their pride (or others to pressure them) to tell them that it is their strength and work that gets them what they want.

But in truth when we lay down our pride and use our strength to love and praise God, He replenishes our strength and energy more than enough to get through the day and to fulfill our purpose’s in life.

God's Disciples?

God has given me a message to tell to you today, In my time as a teenager and as a youth pastor I have met a lot of disciples of God people supposedly chosen to spread the good news that has been put in all of us.

But one thing troubles me where are these disciples? Because every time I go to Church and meet a pastor or go somewhere and meet a minister, I see either a hypocrite or a self-righteous man or woman. Granted there are some pastors and Ministers that do what is right in their walk with God.

Then I meet someone that is still looking for answers, still looking for a purpose in life and even though they do not know it God is already with them in their walk. These kind of people have such peace and compassion for more people than most so called disciple’s would ever have toward another human being.

Why have some servants of God walked away from what they are supposed to be doing? When did we start thinking ourselves as Godly people? God is God and no one else. Disciples are servants and ambassadors of Heaven and nothing more.

We are not here to be Idols for the Lords people. We are here to be a light of hope in the darkness. We are here to tell people of what God has and will always do for us.

I have seen people that we call sinner’s help others in their time of need. And when an opportunity comes for us to do the same we ignore it.

Why do we see ourselves better than sinners just because we know of God. It is one thing to know of him it is another thing to follow in his footsteps. Even though we try hard to be perfect in our walk with God we tend to make mistakes such as these. I am not saying that all of God’s people are this way, but a lot of us tend to make these mistakes.

Those familiar with the life of Christ know that He did not get along very well with the religious sect of the Pharisees. One interesting thing about this is that when it came to many of the controversial questions of the day, Jesus and the Pharisees were in agreement! Both Jesus and the Pharisees believed in angels, but the sect of the Sadducees did not. Also, Jesus and the Pharisees taught the resurrection, but again, the Sadducees did not (Matthew 22:23-33). Not surprisingly, the Pharisees really liked it when Jesus put those Sadducees in their places! But that is about all the Pharisees liked about Jesus. Jesus did not care for their religion either. What this means for us, of course, is that we do not want to be either like the Pharisees nor the Sadducees when it comes to our worship, beliefs and practices. Jesus began a long treatment of what was wrong with the Pharisees' religion with the following words: "The Scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore, all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them." (Matthew 23:2,3). Right away, we see something drastically wrong here. When Jesus spoke of the Pharisees having sat themselves down "in the chair of Moses", He was simply saying that when they instruct you from the writings of Moses, listen to and obey those instructions. Just because it is a rascal who is speaking the truth does not mean that is an excuse to reject the truth. During His lifetime, Jesus taught His disciples to obey the Law of Moses. This was God's covenant with them. Soon would come a new covenant that would replace the first one. We are now under the covenant of Christ (Hebrews 8:6-13; 9:15-18; Galatians 3:23-27; 5:1-6).
Something else we notice here; the Pharisees expected others to obey the Law but always found reasons as to why they did not have to themselves. Jesus said that "they say and do not." They were great at excuse making. They were more interested in appearing that they were righteous than in really living righteously. This is why Jesus calls them hypocrites. This is why we want to be sure that our religious life is not like that of the Pharisees!

They Do Deeds To Be Noticed By Men

"But they do their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments." (Matthew 23:5). them.

They Block Entrance Into The Kingdom

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." (Matthew 23:13).

They Convert Others To The Wrong Side

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." (Matthew 23:15).


They Lie

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated." (Matthew 23:16).

They Neglect The Weightier Matters

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law; justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you ought to have done without neglecting the others." (Matthew 23:23).

They Are Hypocritical

"Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." (Matthew 23:26).

They Reject The Prophets

"Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city." (Matthew 23:34).


All I have left to say is why do we preach these stories about Pharisees and what Jesus said to them, and yet we do not take this word and apply it to our own beliefs, This is something we must change.

God is Just!

I noticed yesterday that many people felt torn as to how they should react for the death of Osama Bin Laden, but I want you to know God is not passive about Justice and his Love, The Bible says God is a jealous God. The Bible says God’s love is like fire that cannot be quenched.

The Bible Says that love protects. By the description of the characteristics of God, you can see that he is not passive.

King David rejoiced every time he went to war and won. He did not rejoice because he killed many, he rejoiced because he was able to protect his nation from being killed themselves:

Now a lot of people, including me, would think that the death of this nations enemy would be good, one less troublemaker to worry about. But there is another thing to think about, it is also a time for grief because Osama is a lost soul; now that he is dead he will not be going to heaven.

But since he went to hell it was his own fault, he did the crime so he is reaping what he sowed. In exchange for all the lives he took, his life was taken from him.

Now this was not wrongly done, even the Bible says that when dealing with someone that is without God (without Jesus as Lord & Savior, which is the only way In) you should treat him with the Law. The law says, “The law is for the lawless”. (An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, etc.)

Now there is still one issue with his death- did he bring it upon himself? (Both his nation and our own nation is known for covering up the truth.)

Did we bring it upon ourselves? Did we do the right thing?

The difference between Justice and Murder/Killing is, Justice is done with the conscience of what it is right & wrong and holding someone accountable for their own actions. Murder and Killing is done with the conscience of what is right from wrong, and choosing the evil of wrong.

Whether we as a nation did what was right, I think with the little information the government tells us, the right decision was JUST: Ultimately, God, who is Omni present and sees all things, He will have the final judgment on that day.

On a personal note I think this is what I believe, God in His love, grace, and mercy is Just!

Put Childish Ways Behind You

I want to start by reflecting on one of my previous posts about keeping your inner child; I know some of you are wandering why the title seems like I am double minded about this subject of growing up, well let me ease your confusion, keeping your inner child or your childlike heart is a lot different than childish ways.

I am turning 18 years old in about 3 months and week, and something I learned is that in growing up, it doesn’t mean you give up your child-like heart, that is to say “innocence and purity”. To believe God at his word.

The Bible talks about growing up too: 1 Corinth. 13: “New International Version (©1984) When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.”

Something God wants everyone to know is Keeping a childlike heart is basically staying pure and innocent and still trusting and knowing God’s voice.

Being Childish is being immature, selfish, playing mind games with someone and messing with someone’s heart, these are some but not all examples of being childish. Even King David said that in the above scripture about putting behind childish ways.

God wants us to grow up mature and be the men and women he made us to be but he wants us to keep our child like heart, and put childish ways behind us.