INSANITY

First off, can I just say that I am SO PUMPED to finally be engaging in this workout program called INSANITY. You know ... the 45min a day, 6days a week, gut wrenching cardio regiment lead by the one, the only , Shawn T.

LOL...I'm only on Day 4 but Im feeling good ... that is, until God smacks me upside the head and looks at me with that, "So, where's MY time??" look. WOW...

Ever notice how EASY it is to find time to do just about everything else and even make excuses about why its Legitimate....except when it comes to the things of God.

So, I can spend 45min everyday w/ Shawn T killing every muscle in my legs, but I cant spend 45min with the Lord so that He can kill all the JUNK that tries to take root in my heart???

I'm not saying throw your Insanity in the Trash...I know im not!! But PRIORITIES are everything. Don't forget to put 1st thing 1st. Let Jesus be the head of everything you do .... and although, Shawn T.'s workout may be physically insane, it would be LITERALLY insane to let that come in between you and God's relationship :)

Selah

WHERE'S YOUR HEART?

Matthew 6:19-21 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

One of the things that's really plaguing the church throughout America, is the overwhelming sentiment that all of our actions and motives toward the things of God are propelled by the desire to be "Blessed" and/or "get a Blessing."

I often wonder where the heart of the American church would be IF THERE WERE NO PROMISE OF BLESSING. Conversely, Where would our hearts be IF THERE WERE NO CONSEQUENCE OF HELL? Where do we REALLY stand? Where is our heart?

DO WE REALLY LOVE GOD???

I burn w/ a Holy hatred whenever I hear "Men of God" proclaiming to people that if you tithe and live for God, then God's gonna bring you your new house, car, watch, gold chain, diamonds, etc. What verse?? This is simply just NOT TRUE. As a matter of fact, God is constantly telling us NOT to worry about treasures here on Earth and to NOT be concerned about the affairs of this life, but yet these "preachers" want to act like material things are God's primary way of Blessing???

How dare we INSULT GOD by dumbing down His power and ability to Bless his children to something as pitiful as a WATCH, when He can give you PEACE that surpasses all understanding!

PSA TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD: BLESSINGS FROM GOD DON'T ULTIMATELY OR PRIMARILY COME IN THE FORM OF MATERIAL THINGS. God wants to give you things that money can't buy like: LOVE , JOY, PEACE, AND THE POWER TO HEAL THE SICK AND RAISE THE DEAD! Things that can ONLY COME FROM HIM AND THAT NOBODY CAN TAKE FROM YOU.

My desire is that you take the time to think about why you serve God the way you do? What's the motivation behind your service, LOVE or OBLIGATION?

Because God is so much more than your "new car"....#ThinkAboutIt

Brokenness

Often times when we think of something being broken, we automatically assume that its lesser than, OR has been taken away from. But this isn't always the case; especially when you consider the life and the person of Jesus. Matt 14:19 records the miracle of Jesus feeding the multitude of 5,000 men PLUS women and children. Here he was faced w/ a NATURALLY IMPOSSIBLE task to feed all of these people w/ only 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread, but he understood the power of the blessing.
Matt 5:6 says, "Blessed are those who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled." Many times we feel broken and as If life has taken all that it can from us. But it's VERY important as a Christian to understand that you are BLESSED OF GOD! ... And the Bible says you will be filled.
Jesus Blessed the food and BRAKE it, but in doing so He wasn't taking away from it, He was MULTIPLYING it.
So, know that even in your state of Brokenness, that God has BLESSED you and promised that you will be filled...and that even though you feel like you're being taken away from, God's Blessing is actually MULTIPLYING YOU!

#RUNWITHFIRE

FRESH!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Man, I can't believe its been almost a year since the last time I posted a blog....WOW. A better observation would be, why do I always feel the need to catalog and blog thoughts at the BEGINNING of the year, but not the middle and end?? Could it be possible that we have to daily continue the tenacious fight to keep and maintain focus throughout the year?

Don't let this be another year wasted by Good Intentions, Good Ideas, and Resolutions never being fully followed through. Do whatever you can to set, pursue and FOLLOW THROUGH your goals this year! There's nothing worse than LESS time, but NO progress.

LETS START OFF FRESH! #EverythingFreshManEverythingFresh

By the way, Check out my band's new Video:

RUN WITH FIRE!!

TRENDY

Ever wish you were "in the know, Up on game, with the in-crowd"? OR ever heard these words: "Everybody's doing it!" "You're missing out." Yeah...me too. Trust me, I've BEEN THERE!...Wishing I had the next latest, greatest, and best things available so that I can achieve that ultimate level of "COOL".

Isn't it amazing how HARD we try to be "Trendy" sometimes? I mean, i know of those who will spend money on new kicks rather than RENT, just so they can have the "new new". THEN, by the time they feel adequately updated the most current style, they come to find out that the trend has yet again changed and culture has left them behind. It's a NEVER ENDING struggle to BELONG, BOOST EGO/ESTEEM, and GLORIFY SELF.

Let me show you 2 scriptures:

1 John 2:16 says, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the Flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the World."

BUT, then the Lord says this!

John 10:10 says, "I have come that they may have life, and have it ABUNDANTLY."

Right at first, it sounds like these 2 scriptures conflict with each other, ya know?...it kind of sounds like 1John 2:16 is telling us to stay away from abundance and/or material things, but then John 10:10 is ENCOURAGING it. What we have to realize, is that it is NOT God's desire that we live in lack! His desire is that we seek Him and allow Him to bring us into that place of abundance. What's the difference be a (normal) life and an ABUNDANT life? A normal life is what Satan offers you...Its the norm, the average, and the mediocre. Its the life where you spend your every effort to "fit in" and do whatever "everybody else is doing" but when it comes to the end, you still dont have enough. So, you're left empty.

Matthew 7:13-14 says, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 but small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Do you understand this?? There's a road that leads to DEATH and DESTRUCTION and ALMOST EVERYBODY is going!

SEEMS TO ME LIKE IF EVERYBODY WAS DOING IT, I WOULDN'T!! But yet everyday we find those who spend thousands of dollars, not on charities or good deeds, but on STUFF.....the latest purses, flatscreens, watches, houses......wow...the world is in bad shape.

An abundant life means provision, NOT JUST FOR NOW, but ETERNITY. Abundance is more than just having your needs met....but all your wants as well....and here's the best part: IT WILL LAST FOREVER. NO, I'm not saying that God's gonna allow you to bring your 52" plasma to heaven.....but abundance will last forever because "HE" lasts forever. HE is our prize and our ultimate end....when the focus is Him, we get HIM plus the stuff.....NOW THATS A GOOD DEAL. With Satan you get the stuff, but nothing more....and when the tv stops working, and the clothes are no longer in style you're left still "in want"...hopeless and destined for the path of destruction.

Moral of the story: Staying "TRENDY" with the world may seem cool now, but when you stand NAKED before the God of ALL CREATION....what will you have? STUFF wont be there....

Lets LOVE GOD, LOVE PEOPLE....and LIVE FOREVER.

Be Blessed,

The Watchman

MEMORIAL DAY

Hey Everyone...and Happy Memorial Day to you!

This is such an incredible day and I pray that all of you will take the time just to thank God for the many blessings that we have today because of the sacrifice of our military. We would not be who we are without them and God has richly blessed us.

Lately, I been trying to come into the full understanding of being IN this world but not OF it. You have to take yourself completely out of the physical realm and live your life in the Spirit. You see, the Earth is not our reality....HEAVEN is....you really have to change your entire perception of life as you know it and have been taught it. This flesh is nothing but an earthly shell to contain the REALITY of who you really are while you're here on the Earth.

All this being said, Ive tried to think about my life through the eyes of God and question myself by using earthly examples through SPIRITUAL insight. So, here we are at Memorial Day where we honor all members of every branch of the military. We honor them for their service and for their dedication to the ideals of freedom, life, liberty and all the other things that this country stands upon. In a sense, we can compare this to us as Christians. The Bible tells us that we are to suit up with the armor of God....this tells us that we are soldiers in his Kingdom. And furthermore, it tells us that there is a battle being waged and we will need protection in order to remain safe.

What if Heaven had a Memorial Day honoring those in the service of our King. Would you be one worthy of honor? Have you been in the service of your King....fighting to uphold all things that are righteous and Holy before our God? Have you been laboring to seek and to save those that are lost OR are you somewhere on the sidelines like a workman not even worthy of his hire?

This isn't a message for you, this was definitely a message for me FIRST! God challenged me with this on this wonderful Memorial day morning, and I pray it challenges you too. Be about the LORD's business....

If you once were but aren't anymore....be encouraged that the Lord is with you! Get up and get back in the game! Giving up isnt an option and i refuse to leave my fallen on the field of battle! Get up and go in JESUS name!

Hope you guys have wonderful day!

Christians and Politics in the LAST DAYS...

So...here we are again...Just past the beginning of a brand new president's administration. 100 days have past and we can now take an assessment of how America's "King" is performing under the pressures of The Oval Office. Now there are certainly some things that people like and most certainly some things that people don't like. However, the truth remains that this is who the American people have elected and, save a huge blunder on Obama's part, will be there for the next four years.

But what i want to talk about today is not Obama or his policies...its our role as the body of Christ in the politics of the Last Days.

Statistics say that 92% of Americans believe in God, but only 14% consider their religious beliefs when voting! WOW...

But even more staggering than that...the majority, if not all of that 14%, base that political decision totally off of whether the candidate is pro-life and against same-sex marriage. Now while I admire the effort of these believers to make choices in favor morality, I also question the BIG picture. For instance, HOW GENUINELY CONCERNED AND DEVOTED ARE "CONSERVATIVE" POLITICIANS TO THESE BELIEFS? ARE THEY SERIOUS ABOUT CARRYING THESE IDEALS OUT INTO LAW AT ANY COST?? Clearly the church is extremely adamant about the things of God being displayed in our systems of government....but are the politicians as serious about it as YOU are? Let me ask you a question: WHICH DO YOU THINK A PRESIDENT WOULD ACT ON FIRST? ECONOMIC STABILITY OR ABORTION? WAR IN IRAQ OR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE? As a matter of fact, you could probably name ANY TOPIC and put it up against these 2 moral issues and the moral issues would pale in IMPORTANCE to the President. They are probably the LAST things that any President would think of tackling!! How much do you really think that they could get done to combat these issues in a single term? Well lets just take a look at our last President. If I recall, he was the Christian "Conservative" choice right? He was Pro-life and against Homosexual marriage, but how much did he do? And dont bring up the 9/11 excuse. This man served 2 terms and life is very different now that it was 9 years ago, but we still have abortion and there are more states acting in favor of the gay agenda now, than EVER.

Let me send a reality check out there to every Christian in the realm of my influence: IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO JUST VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE THAT IS PRO-LIFE AND AGAINST HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE! DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT THEY ARE GOING TO DEVOTE THEIR ENTIRE ADMINISTRATION TO THESE ISSUES?? ALSO, WHEN DID YOU EVER SEE JESUS OR THE DISCIPLES TRY AND CHANGE THE GOVERNMENT AROUND THEM? NEVER....IS IT EVEN SCRIPTURAL??

Our job as the Body of Christ is not to CHANGE the world...(and when I say that i mean change the WAYS of the world). Our job is to bring people OUT of the world. I got news for you....SIN ISNT GOING ANYWHERE. As a matter of fact, sin IS GETTING and WILL GET worse. The Bible says that we are to be Salt and Light. What does salt do? It BRINGS OUT the flavors that are contained in an otherwise bland piece of food. The Earth is groaning for the sons of God to be made manifest in the Earth....meaning the Earth waiting for you to become who you were created to become....THE SALT..THE LIGHT. We are appointed to call people out of the world through loving them into submission to Christ, so that they may be awakened to the individual calls and purposes that God has placed inside of them.

The church is SOO CONFUSED! We spend so much time trying to "change" the world's ways, rather than focusing on how to BRING people out of the world through God ordained methodology. See, as Christians we hold "Dual Citizenship". We are members of the Kingdom of Heaven first, and citizens of Earth second. God has a higher law and a higher method to complete His will. Heaven is a Kingdom who's King is GOD ALMIGHTY and what he says goes. The idea of voting leaders into position, rather than them being God appointed, is a MAN MADE idea. So in essence, we are trying to subject the principles of God to a man-made method by trying to "vote in" God....and that WILL NOT WORK. God's way is already higher....His law ULTIMATELY rules.....and we should be awakening the Earth to that fact.

We pray "thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." This is us calling forth the will and the WAY of God. God's will is one thing and His KINGDOM is another. We can not just do the will of God...we must do it the way He has commanded us to do it.

The Bible tells us that sin will abound in the last days. Men will be lovers of themselves and not lovers of God. And even though we KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE END, we still walk around trying to change things as if to overturn the very prophesy of scripture!! I am not saying we are to just sit around and do nothing....im saying that the present way that we are going about things isn't right. We must ask God for more clarity and understanding of the times so that we may correctly discern our role and our actions. Study Scripture and study Jesus...

food for thought......