01:52 thoughts
1 Corinthians 10:23 - All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. (NKJV)
Blessings guys! I wasn't going to post until after exams but God has really been screaming at me to post this so I have to obey.
Before I start I just want to say that I have no idea where I'm going with this. I'm flowing right now but I pray this is edifying. I'm not going to edit my tone because I really want to capture the sense of urgency I'm feeling right now. This is kind of like a letter to myself but I'm sharing it with everyone.
I'm gonna start off by saying that as Christians we need to live in a way that glorifies God. We should aim to broadcast the fact that we're Christian without necessarily saying it. If you were to tell people that you were Christian, would they be shocked? Would they think that you're PRANKING them? My fellowship leader always asks us that if the 4 walls of your room could speak, would they be able to vouch for you and say that you're Christian? Your lifestyle matters.
Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (KJV)
It is not you who lives, it is Christ. This means you can't do what others are doing. Think ahead. Pastor David said something the other day that shoooooooook me to the core. He was saying the because of the mandate, your destiny and the places God is taking you, there are places that you cannot go. Some people want to be Pastors, Music Ministers, Teachers and Preachers but aren't behaving like it from the jump. You have to build yourself up. Being a Pastor may not be your destiny but living a life of consecration is what we are called to do.
Joshua 3:5 - And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” (NKJV)
At the start of your walk, it may be hard to pray, wake up and read your Bible and that is understandable. That is why you need to pray for strength and PUSH! You don't wake up one morning and start preaching.
1 Timothy 4:7 tells us to exercise ourselves towards godliness. You have to train yourself because your body will say sleep instead of pray, eat instead of fasting or watch shows instead of reading the Word. But you have to DISCIPLINE your body as Paul says and bring it under subjection.
If you can't pray for 1 hour now, how are you going to hold overnight prayer as a Pastor? Yes, we are not working by ourselves and we have the Holy Spirit to help us BUT God is like a gentleman. He won't force Himself on anyone. If you don't desire it then really and truly....
Something I've been seeing recently is the talk about secular music. This subject is very touchy but I'm not going to refrain because I think it's important to share why I, JOHN-PAUL (no I will not tell you my surname, creep) stopped listening to secular music.
Mark 4:24, Jesus tells us to pay close attention to what we hear. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by HEARING. All the way through the early chapters of Revelation in the letters to the churches, we see "he who has an ear, let him hear". What we are listening to matters. To be quite frank, you can't 'unhear' what you hear. You may forget what was said in your day to day life but your brain works by association. For example (moment of transparency) I have played some interesting songs when I was doing some interesting things with interesting people at interesting times of the night or even day. (I hope you get the gist)
Now, if you know me, you know that I have:
1. a very fast brain, I come up with things quickly and my mouth can't keep up.
2. I have a selective memory
3.I clear my brain storage like every day.
However, whenever certain songs used to come up on shuffle, my brain quickly associated it with those times and then I may start reminiscing and then that starts a whole cascade of feelings. This is my weight and I know and I have addressed it by cutting out secular music.
Some people will play certain songs that they used to listen to with their ex and then complain that they can't sleep because they're roasting at 3AM and then they'll ask God wHy
Proverbs 19:3 - People
ruin their lives by their own stupidity, so why does God always
get blamed? (MSG)
Proverbs 19:3 - People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord. (NLT)
(I know some people don't like the MSG)
Why what?? Didn't we receive free will? If you're similar to me and this is your weight, you have to cut things out. Yes the music may sound good, but we have to sacrifice. Christianity was founded on sacrifice so what makes you think you won't have to sacrifice things on this walk #PDAK.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy, but it got easier when I started being honest with myself.
You may tell yourself that because it's not a sin, and that it's ‘okay’. Please take a moment and scroll up to the top of this post and read my starting scripture.
It may be allowed but is it beneficial? Is it edifying? It may not be a sin, but it may be a weight.
Hebrews 12:1 - Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
A weight is something that may not be a sin but may drag you down on your walk. In this scripture above, you can see that our walk is described as a race. Now, how long do you think you will last for if you were running with weights? Would it not be easier to run without all the excess baggage. Hebrews 12:2 says we should fix our eyes on Jesus as we run but if you have all the bags on you, you'll be focused on keeping them on as you run. Drop them and run freely!
Key thing is that everyone has different weights. Mine is certainly music. At the start of the year Spotify did this thing where they told you your top artists etc etc. I stopped listening to secular music actively around June last year I think. I stopped listening to Chris Brown around March last year I think. However I was still in his TOP 1% fan selection????After how long??? Nearly 12 months and I'm still on his radar (yes I listened to Chris Brown, I was actually a very big fan. I even made a wild tweet about a certain situation that went viral and I actually got into so much beef for it). My point is that I'm not perfect but I know I had to change my ways and I urge everyone to do the same.
Listen to 'No Gray' by Jonathan McReynolds and read the lyrics on screen as you listen to the song. Whatever pops into mind when you listen to that song DROP IT.
Pray for God to reveal what your weights are and ask Him for guidance on how to manage them. Some of you have probably even prayed this prayer and now you're reading this post.....
Anyways, I'm done with my mental splurge. Yes I only used one meme today and I'm sorry. This is something I want people to understand and also I'm trying to keep this as raw as possible because you cannot do pick and mix, pick and drop or even pick and save for later with the Word of God. If you don't exercise yourself unto godliness, some people will be very very shocked on judgement day.
Hope you got something from this and I pray I didn't sound rude or 'condemning' in this post. Remember there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) and it's not judging if it's from the Word, it's conviction :)))
I'm not saying I'm perfect but I know that when the conviction came, I listened (eventually). Don't be like me and waste time. We need to pick up our cross and stop dragging it. Feel the full weight of sacrificing things that you used to like.
I'm gonna get my friend to proof read this and tell me whether I need to change my tone so I hope I sound nice.
For those of you who struggle with secular music, I'm gonna drop a few playlists down below. My friends blessed me with the permission to link their playlists. I even have an Apple Music one for the babies of the music world :)
One thing I'd say is open up to the plethora of Gospel. Don't limit yourself to just traditional Gospel. (click the red links)
1. Gabzino's Apple Music playlist - my boy Gabz keeps this updated on a regular - click here for his Twitter and another playlist that he gave me with BARE genres - (Spotify) - make sure to click 'public playlists 9' if you can't see all of them.
2. Winnie's Spotify playlist - my good sis Winnie. Her playlist is one of the first ones I listened to when I was tryna branch out. - click here for her Twitter
3. Chelsea's Spotify playlist -another good sis of mine Chelsea - click here for her twitter
4. John-Paul's Spotify playlist - This is my playlist and I always update it :)
Have a blessed day. Check out my other posts too!!
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