Lessons Learned : Learn to Quit (Part 2)

Last week, we talked about QUIT COMPLAINING!

This week, I want to talk about another thing that we do WAY TOO OFTEN!! What I am about to say to you is going to make no sense whatsoever when you first begin to read this BUT if you read the entire post, you will understand why I am saying this.

We need to QUIT trying. Yes, you read that right. Quit trying. We are always TRYING to do something. We are always TRYING to impress our boss, neighbor, friend, family member, spouse, teacher, coach, and the list can go on. We are always TRYING to make a difference. We are always TRYING to be something we are not created to be. So, yes you need to QUIT trying.

God's Word tells us that its not by MIGHT nor by POWER but by MY SPIRIT says the Lord. (Zech. 4:6) When we realize that our talents, our abilities, and our personality will only get us so far but God's anointing finished the work; TRULY what a DIFFERENCE we can make. IN OTHER WORDS, we need to GET OUT OF THE WAY, and LET GOD MAKE A WAY where there seems to be NO WAY!!

I read a story last month after Billy Graham's death about a crusade he had in London in 1966. You see prior to that great crusade, some of the London media accredited the success of the 1954 crusade, not to the power of the Gospel but to the emotional draw of the song that the crusades always closed with; "Just As I Am." When the reports reached Rev. Graham, it began to bother him. So through prayer, he consulted the music director to not sing that song after his message and prior to the altar call. The story went on to say that Rev. Graham preached his heart out and you could sense the presence of God in that room and when it came time for the altar call, Billy Graham stated that there would be no music tonight. He continued that if you felt God tugging on your heart and soul to come down and they would pray for you. He then stepped back and folded his hands in prayer. Witnesses state that for 15 seconds (which is a long time in church for some reason) there was complete silence. Then one by one, chairs began to squeak as people came to the altar. Throughout that crusade, 30 nights, they never once played a single note of that song and when it was all said and done, 1 million people attended and over 40,000 people decided to follow Jesus Christ.

You see, Rev. Graham understood that even though he wasn't playing on the emotions of people as he was accused; he still had the faith and confidence that if he stepped out of the way, God would still draw people. When we QUIT trying AND start BELIEVING and knowing beyond a shadow of doubt that God is MORE THAN ABLE (Eph. 3:20), we will see a shift happen in our lives.

Now to clarify to those of you out there that maybe saying that, "Well Pastor said I don't have to do anything, blah blah blah."; God still requires us to go. God still requires us to be active for the kingdom, but instead of trying, start DOING things by faith and by His anointing and you will truly see a difference. You will begin to see favor on that job. You will begin to see your marriage improve.  Paul reminds us in 1 Cor. 2:4, that its not with enticing words but by the DEMONSTRATION and POWER of the Holy Spirit that we need to operate in the church. Lean on God and not on your own abilities and see what God will do in your life.

Lessons Learned: Learn to Quit (part 1)

This is going to be a two part or even three part series in this portion of "Lessons Learned".

You read the title right, "Learn to Quit". If we are ever going to grow, we have to learn to quit. Now I know that goes against everything we have been taught in life. But now that I have your attention let me indulge into this. There are certain things that we need to quit doing in order to grow. There are other things that we need to do MORE EFFECTIVELY in order to grow. And finally there are other, very important things, that we need to keep doing and put at the forefront of our lives in order for us to complete this destiny that God has for us.

But in this next 2 or 3 parts, I want to focus on things we need to stop (quit) doing.

Numero Uno. We need to QUIT complaining. Listen to yourself talk. How many times do we complain during the day? It ranges from us not having enough sleep, the way our body feels, all the way to how people are dressed, how crazy people drive, to how horrible our job is. We have to remember that there is LIFE and DEATH in our tongues. What you speak HAS POWER! So when we quit complaining and began to rejoice, what can/will we accomplish. In Philippians, Paul reminds us to "REJOICE ALWAYS and again I say REJOICE!" (Philippians 4:4) God inhabits the praises of HIS people. So when we turn all of that complaining to PRAISING, what change can that bring. I am reminded of many stories in the Bible where God used the praises of people to confuse and destroy the enemy. That still stands true today. When the enemy is attacking, praise God.

I am reminded of James 1:2-3, "Count it all JOY, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."

I want to close with this. When we look at our circumstance as a stepping stone into a higher and deeper relationship with God; the heat of the fire isn't quite as strong. So I encourage and challenge you this week, QUIT COMPLAINING!

Lessons Learned : Being who GOD created ME to BE

Have you ever imitated someone? Maybe a cartoon character, your favorite movie scene, Forrest Gump and his voice, or maybe a boss or family member? We all at one time in our lives, imitated someone.

What I am afraid that has happened in churches is that we have became cookie cutters. We take a formula that works and we just copy it from church to church to church. But God is not in the copying business, God is a CREATOR!!

I have learned his lesson this past year and it was a tough one. I have to remind myself daily that I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE!! There is no one else on this planet like Dereck Jay White. So I can't be like other pastors or ministers, I have to be who God created me to be.

So let me encourage you today, BE who GOD called YOU to BE!!! God made you to reach people that I can't reach, to do things that I can't do, and to accomplish feats that only you can. Don't get discouraged when things aren't happening as fast as it seems it is with others; your time will come. Just hold fast to God's promises and stay in your lane that God has you in. He is never early or never too late; HE IS ALWAYS ON TIME!

Name Change

I saw this a few years back and it humors me...enjoy.

I know this is humorous but let me ask you this one question is all seriousness...

Aren't you glad, God doesn't call you by your past? I am glad that I am no longer a hypocrite, sinner, lost and undone person. I am glad that I am saved and that God calls me His own!! 

Be blessed today!!

Lessons Learned : Giving

I know, I know...all preachers talk about is money. Well, some preachers talk about money to get your money and others talk about it because Jesus talked more about money than He did about heaven or hell. BUT, He (Jesus) never talked about it, in the way it would, get you rich or help you to keep up with the Jones'. When Jesus talked about money, it was to grasp their attention because that is where the people's heart was at when He was talking to them. You don't have proof to back that up, OH YES I DO.

Usually when Jesus talked about money, He talked about not so much keeping the money, but giving it back. 11 out of 39 parables talks on money. He was usually conversing with either the Pharisees, Sadducees or His disciples when He was discussing money. When He turned the tables over in the tabernacle, it was because of 2 things, they had the dove in a cage and selling it for sacrifices (that's for another post) and secondly, they turned the house of prayer into a money making scheme. They were manipulating people when it was time for the burnt sacrifice into purchasing and exchanging animals in the temple INSTEAD of following what God has put into place back in Leviticus. Sound familiar??? We have some that manipulate the scriptures to make money off of the Gospel and that is just plain wrong.

So you might be asking yourself, is this preacher telling me NOT TO GIVE?? NOOOOOO!!! I AM TELLING YOU TO GIVE BUT WITH THE RIGHT INTENTIONS!!

Jesus said in Matthew 22:21, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things of God's." In other words, pay your taxes like you are supposed to and give your tithes like you are supposed to.

Whenever I teach on giving, I teach on the act of obedience. Obedience is BETTER than sacrifice. Let me let you in on something I have learned in my short time, my lesson learned; tithing is obedience and saves you from the curse, BUT your offering is what brings the blessing. Whenever the woman with only 2 mites gave, Jesus said in Luke 21:3, and I am paraphrasing here, this woman gave more than all of these people because they gave from their abundance, in other words they gave what they gave because it honestly didn't hurt them. They had the extra and wouldn't miss it anyways but this woman gave out of poverty and gave all that she had to the Lord. She gave with a heart of gladness and not to be seen. She was giving in the act of obedience.

My wife and I learned a long time ago, that when we give and give with a cheerful heart and not treat our offerings like another bill; God gives us favor in the workplace, in our health, and in our homes. I am not going to sit here and tell that everything was picture perfect and we had money overflowing after we gave, no sir/ma'am. But God always took care of our needs and our necessities.

When we give with the right intentions, and that is out of obedience to the WORD OF GOD and not TO GET ANYTHING IN RETURN; God will take care of you. Giving is not a get rich quick scheme BUT it is a command from God.

Lessons Learned: Praise & Worship

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share some life lessons I have learned in my short time on God's green Earth. This little mini-series will be called, "Lessons Learned" and I hope they bless you.

I remember while growing up how different situations would change my actions. If I got what I wanted, I was happy. If I was corrected or something didn't go my way, I pouted. If someone made me mad, took my favorite toy (I wasn't the best at sharing..haha), or my friends picked someone else's idea over mine; I would get angry and throw a hissy fit. In other words my current situation picked my attitude and my demeanor. It affected how my emotions showed and how I would act towards people.

Paul said in I Corinthians 13:11 that when he was a child, he spoke and act as a child; but there was a growing process. He continues and I am paraphrasing here, he says but when I grew old, I gave up those childish ways. We all know one person that who stills act like a big baby or child. Their immaturity isn't that of their age. But this also happens in the spiritual realm. Now you might be asking, how does this title of praise and worship have to do with this? Here is your answer.

We often too many times allow outside circumstance and situations affect how we praise and worship God. We let our finances, intense moments of fellowship with our spouse, a child who rides on our nerves, a co-worker that annoy us, a church member that gets on our nerves truly affect our worship. But a life lesson I have learned is this, there are 2 times to praise God; when you feel like it and when you don't. This is called putting childish things away. Look at Psalms 150 when you get a chance. David says this one phrase in verse 6, "Let everything that has breath, PRAISE THE LORD." He didn't stipulate to praise God when every thing was going your way, if there was money in the bank, if your spouse was the best thing since sliced bread; he told us to PRAISE THE LORD. If you have breath, you are commanded by God's word to praise.

I challenge you this week to give God everything you have in worship. Hold nothing back. Worship unashamed because God has told us in His word in Psalms 22:3 that He is enthroned in the praises of His people. In other words, he INHABITS the praises of His people. You want to see God show up, PRAISE HIM! When praises go up, BLESSINGS come down.

Who Do You Blame?

A couple of months back, while I still had my Acura (which was one of my favorite cars that I've ever owned), I turned into Starbucks Drive-Thru to grab my usual cup of coffee. As the young lady handed me my coffee, I placed it directly buy the gear shift instead of the cup holder which of course is designed to hold that cup. I got distracted as I easily do, and sped off spilling the cup of coffee into my leather seats which in return soaked the leg of my dress pants. I was on the phone with my wonderful wife, who heard my frustration that my pants where now ruined and my coffee was also ruined. I remember very distinctly getting upset with Starbucks and the young lady who handed me my coffee for a split second until the common sense section of my brain took over. 

I was willing to get mad and upset over my mistake and my wrong doing and blame someone who was totally innocent; because in all honesty I was an idiot. 

As I was driving through town this past weekend, this incident came back to my remembrance. As I begin to think about this, I laughed but then I thought of how many times I actually do blame other people for my own mistakes. Then I began to ponder, how so many times, we blame our current situation, our habits, our behaviors on our background and upbringing instead of taking responsibility for how we act. 

I understand that there are generational curses but I also know that those can be broken. Until we get real with God, God can't get real with us. Just like a GPS uses your "real" location to give you "precise" directions; God needs us to first be real with ourselves, so He can be real with us. The first solution to any problem is first admitting their is a problem.

I am reminded of a passage of scripture found in John 9:1-3, though I encourage to read the entire 9th chapter of John because it is an amazing story. Anyways, the disciples and Jesus come across this man, who was blind from birth. They ask Jesus who sinned, the man OR his parents. Jesus answered, "Neither." In other words, quit looking for someone to blame and just know that the answer lies in Jesus Christ. When we quit blaming everyone and everything and just get real with God and ourselves; that is where healing begins. 

I encourage this week to get real with God. Don't hide anything and don't hold anything back. Remember, James told us that we have not because we ask not. 

Maranatha.