Pastor Ced  

Running toward maturity,

Cedric (Pastor Ced)

            “In hope against hope he [Abraham] believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.” Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was also able to perform. Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.                (Romans 4:18-25, NASB)

            Let me start this blog out by stating that this particular blog is not for everybody; in fact, as the title states, this is primarily a message for me, as my Father and the  Holy Spirit have both been dealing with me concerning myself over the past few days, especially since this past Sunday. Now for those of you who are brave enough to read further or listen further as I talk about myself, I take Jesus’ position on this one: “He that hath ears to hear, let them hear what the Spirit has to say.” For the rest of you, this might be a good time to stop reading or go to another room…

            It all started in earnest right after church services on Sunday afternoon. I had just gotten through attending a ministerial staff meeting and just happened to be sitting next to our co-pastor, who told me, “Cedric, I don’t know what’s going on with you, and I’m not saying that it’s bad, but I saw something today I’ve never seen in all the time I’ve known you in ministry.”

            “What’s that, Pastor T.?”

            “You were absolutely struggling up there on the keyboard! And knowing that’s not like you, I saw something… Whatever it is that’s on your life right now, you need to deal with God about it, because the devil is trying to take you out right now.”

            “I’ve been knowing that for years! What do you see that’s so different now?”

            “Whatever it is, it’s not the people around you; the problems aren’t even with your wife… It’s you! But once you press through this thing and you finally come into your breakthrough, the anointing on your life is going to be so tremendous, I believe God has truly gifted you to do whatever it is He wants you to do in any area He sets you in. Also, your greatest desire, your promised children, will finally come as a result.”

            For those of you who don’t know the way that I’m wired, that set off a holy frustration within me. You see, I come from a family that truly believes in high achievement and greatness, and I have been no exception. I tend to say that I’m a recovering perfectionist; in other words, once upon a time it had to be absolutely perfect, or I wanted no parts of it… Either I was all in, 100% into what I was trying to accomplish, (especially if it meant being the best at it,) or I could care less what happened… Also, I tend to be pretty competitive, and I hate to lose! What I’m saying here is that I hate the thought of being the reason that something’s not going right around me, especially if it affects others in a negative way. So, needless to say, that had me going before God and asking, “Okay, Father, what’s up with me? What’s wrong with me? Where am I missing it? Where am I out of line with you? Because I want to see more of Your presence in my life, I want to see more of Your power in effect, I want to be more like You…” Not immediately, mind you, but since that Sunday, this gut feeling has taken place in me asking me the question, “Do you trust Him like you say you do? Are you all in, or not?”

            Since we’re already this deep in it, let me add this by way of confession: I like to play no-limit Texas Hold ’Em poker. Online, (using play money, of course!) or on computer, I tend to be very, very good, and have won several tournaments. The most exciting portion of the game is when one person declares that they’re going “all in”, which means that they’re putting all their chips into the pot in hopes of winning the hand. Sometimes it’s out of absolute necessity, (meaning you’re down to your last chips and you have no other choice,) and sometimes it’s used as an intimidation factor, trying to force someone else to either go “all in” with you or relinquish their hand. But either way, the risk is the same: if you win, you double your hand at least, if you lose, that’s it! But what does it truly mean to go “all in” with God?

            First of all, going “all in” means I have to make a conscious decision. The word “decide” comes from the Latin word “decidere”, which means “to cut off”; in other words, once I make a choice toward something, I cut off all other possibilities around me. If my song is “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back,” that means that all other “gods” (Allah, Buddha, Satan, and yes, even Self and flesh) are to be cut out the picture. Now that I’ve made that particular decision, what’s next? I must get to know the One I have decided to follow; start off by reading His Word every day, which not only contains the Way in which I ought to live, but also His very precious promises to me, His child. (How do I look upon the Bible? As a set of regimented rules that must be obeyed, or as a Father’s letter of love to His children?) Next, I must trust that His Word and His promises are true. The Word tells me in Proverbs that I must “Trust in the Lord with all my heart, and lean not unto my own understanding. In ALL my ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct my paths.” Am I deciding to do that every day? This is the type of trust that Abraham demonstrated above, beginning with God’s initial word to him:

“Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you. I’ll make you a great nation and bless you. I’ll make you famous; you’ll be a blessing. I’ll bless those who bless you; those who curse you I’ll curse. All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram [Abraham] left just as He said. (Genesis 12:1-4a, The Message)

Now consider this: Abraham was 75 when he left, traveled far and wide for 25 years and made many mistakes along the way, but when it came right down to it, especially in the promise that he would be “the father of many nations”, (and that it would be through Sarah that the promise would come through,) he did not waver in unbelief, and was fully persuaded that God was not only able to do what He promised, but willing to do so. This is why James tells me in the Word to “Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open…” (James 1:6-8, The Message) I’m also reminded in Hebrews that “without faith, it is impossible to please [God], for those that come to Him must first believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder to them that diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

            In conclusion, since I have chosen to follow Jesus and cut off all other possibilities around me, since I have chosen to get into His presence and His Word on a daily basis, cutting off all other activities around me, and since I have chosen to take God at His Word and believe in His promises to me through His Word and through what other men and women of God have spoken over my life, since I have received those precious promises through the blood of Jesus and through His resurrection, I, like Abraham, am the Righteousness of God, and because I am, God has promised me that “no good thing will He withhold from me,” because I walk uprightly! (Psalm 84:11) But having said all of that, (and this is for those of you who are still reading or listening,) even if all of that were not the case, I will quote the famous French mathematician and Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal as I paraphrase his famous Wager: “I’d rather live as if there is a God and find out there’s not, than live as if there is no God and find out there is.”

Thanks for reading (or listening)!

Cedric (Pastor Ced)

P.S. Thank you, Libby!

           “…Men… I see that you are fearful of gods in everything. For as I passed by and saw the things you worship, I also found an altar with this inscr i ption: ‘TO THE UNKNOWN GOD’. Not knowing then whom you worship, I make Him known to you.”     (Acts 17:22-23)

            “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither worship the Father in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the TRUE worshipers will worship Him in spirit and in truth,  for the Father seeks such to worship Him.’”                                 (John 4:21-23)

            As a long-time minister of music and praise leader, I have been asked over the years to teach workshops and seminars dealing with the musical aspects of praise and worship. In so doing, I have often taught on the passage in John 4 where Jesus deals with the woman at the well in Samaria, particularly dealing with what it means to worship God “in spirit and in truth”. But I have to admit that I’ve been guilty of doing sometimes what I’ve often accused others of doing, and that is trying to go so deep into something that you sometimes miss the obvious, which was brought to my attention, and led to this blog: do I personally know the God that I worship? My saying this is significant because it will lead me to the very point of what I want challenge us to do at the end of this teaching…

            You’ve often heard me say here that “The Praise Party” is not a place for religious discussion, and that one of the things that I hate most of all is religion. And why? Because Jesus hated religion most of all! In fact, the one group of people in the Bible that hated Jesus most of all were the religious scholars and leaders of the day, because He would continually expose their lives and practices for the lies that they were, while all the time they professed to know and worship God. And yet, they rejected the very Son of God simply because they did not know who He was… One of Jesus’ greatest condemnations of the Pharisees and other religious leaders can be found in Mark 7, where we read this:

“…How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! You are hypocrites, just as he wrote: ‘These people, says God, honor me with their lips, but their heart is really far away from me. It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were My laws.’ You put aside God’s commands and obey human teachings… You have a clever way of rejecting God’s law in order to uphold your human teaching.”

(Mark 7:6-9, GNB)

            Jesus regularly avoided getting into religious discussions with these people because He knew they were only asking questions trying to trap Him with His own words, instead of honestly seeking to try to get closer to the God that made them; in other words, because Jesus did not fit into “their traditions” of their interpretation of the laws of Moses, He couldn’t possibly be who He said He was, could He?  I, however, sometimes wonder if we, who claim to have relationship with Jesus, aren’t also sometimes guilty of worshiping God our Father based on what we’ve been taught through our own upbringing, whether we grew up in the church culture or not,  and follow in the “traditions of our fathers…” We get up early Sunday morning, we get dressed, we go to Sunday School or early morning service, we do praise and worship, we pray, we sing, we give offerings, we listen to the sermon, we give the invitation, and then we go home, only to do the same things again and again, and have we stopped to ask ourselves, “Why do we do this?”

            In both the passages listed above, Paul and Jesus are focusing in on the same thing: trying to guide the people listening to the real heart of the matter, knowing Who it is, that you worship. As Paul addresses the Athenians in the Areopagus, he uses the opportunity to direct their attention from the worshiping of dead idols and man-made gods to getting to know the one true living God who created them by telling them that they were sincere in their worship, but ignorant of what it was they were truly worshiping, and directing them and their culture of “seeking after the truth” to begin to seek and pursue after the living God through getting to know Jesus, “the Man whom God has raised from the dead.” When Jesus was talking to the woman in Samaria, He does the same thing in response to the woman’s reaction to His “calling her out” about her marital situation… (Isn’t it funny that whenever one of our “hot buttons” is pushed, we react by getting either really angry or really religious, or both?) The woman challenges Jesus by saying that “I see that you are a Prophet… Well, tell me this: our fathers worshiped here on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we ought to worship. Tell me, who’s right, and who’s wrong, Mr. Prophet?” Jesus, in His own inimitable way, shifts the main focus onto what it should be all along, not on how and where you worship, but on whom you worship. Jesus tells her clearly, “You worship what you do not know…” The reason He could say this so emphatically is because the Samaritans only subscribed to the first five books of the scr i ptures, in other words, only the Mosaic law. They rejected the books of wisdom and prophecy, and although they worshiped the one true God, they did so out of ignorance (from further revelation) and traditions passed on down to them from their ancestors. (Before I make my final point, let me ask this question: “When we take God ‘out of the box’, is it only to put Him in a bigger one?”)

            What the real heart of the matter is, (and the real heart of God is,) is that we passionately pursue Him to get to know Him better, because the more we know of Him and about Him, the more we can truly worship Him in spirit and in truth. Where do we start? Simply by reading His word every day; find out how He operates, find out how He thinks, find out what He says about you in His word… Secondly, talk to Him! All prayer is is simple conversation with God, not begging, not pleading, not vain repetition that means nothing to you as you say it (and certainly doesn’t mean anything to Him…) And as you talk to Him, expect Him to talk back to You! No, not necessarily in an audible voice, but He will answer through His Word (His primary instrument,) through men and women of God, and sometimes, even through means like this broadcast here! (Let me add this as a pastor: your local fellowship and body of believers, if you have access to it, is your primary family that God intends for you to receive His blessing through; however, I am thankful for other means, such as this social network, where we can continue to strengthen and encourage each other in the faith as an extended family, which you all have truly become to me!) The bottom line is this: God loves being pursued, and He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek after Him…

            I know this is already long, but let me say this in closing: my personal salvation verses were Matthew 7:21-23, where the implication was that although you did all this “religious” stuff “in [My] name, …I never knew You!” At that point in time, I had been in church all of my life, but had never pursued trying to get to know Him on a personal and intimate level. All I can say is that ever since that time, and I haven’t always been that good about it, but I couldn’t think of any other opportunity that I’d rather have than getting to know God better. That’s what I try to show you on “The Praise Party” and through my web page, and my prayer for you is that He becomes as real and as tangible for you as He is to me!

Still running after Him,

(Cedric) Pastor Ced        

          “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”          (Philippians 4:6-7, MKJV)

(Personal Preface: Much as I’d like to take full credit for this one, I give credit where credit is due: thanks to my TBN co-worker, Mrs. Edwina Relf, who first shared it with the staff at WMCF-TV in Montgomery, Alabama, and then also with the Women’s Prayer Breakfast at New Life Church of God in Christ, Montgomery, AL. All embellishments are mine, however…)           

            We’ve all done it as kids, and if it’s been a while since you’ve been a kid, you’re reminded of it if you have kids or are around kids for any length of time… Exactly who you went to usually depended upon whether or not you were an only child, the oldest child, (such as I am,) or the younger child in a set of siblings. But here’s the scenario: it’s a nice day outside and you’re playing with your friends, your siblings, your cousins, or whomever you hung out with when playing. All of a sudden it happens: the neighborhood bully comes up, and you’re picked out to be picked on! Or if it wasn’t that drastic, one of your playmates either makes you mad or hurts your feelings, and then all of a sudden it comes out: you get upset and you say, “I’m gonna tell my daddy (mama, big brother, big sister, nanna…) on you!” and then you run off and do so! Whomever you went to tell, once you had done so, you relaxed, because you knew that whomever you told would go out and handle the situation; big brother or big sister would go out there to beat them up, or mama or daddy would go outside and lay down the law, and you could find rest in that thing, because you knew they wouldn’t be picking on you for the rest of the day… However, there was always the risk that if you did tell somebody, you would be labeled a “tattletale”…

            Now, the reason I even mentioned the very last part of that statement (and this wasn’t part of the original message,) is simply that being labeled a “tattletale” was a fear tactic; in other words, whomever it was you were telling your “rescuer” on would try to put the doubt in your mind that who you went to tell would not listen to you and there would be dire consequences if you did tell, if not that time, maybe the next time. Well, that’s exactly how Satan manages to keep most of us in bondage: by keeping us so tied up in fear that if we went to God to tell Him all about our problems, He wouldn’t listen to us, and then really wouldn’t want to deal with us because after all, we messed up somewhere along the line… But, as I hope you can clearly see, that completely goes against the grain of what we’ve read above from Paul’s pen: “Be anxious for NOTHING!” “…In EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication (humble and earnest prayer), let your requests be made known!”

            Jesus solidifies this position in at least a couple of passages: in Matthew 6, from The Message translation Jesus says this:

            “…don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body…

            “…What I’m trying to get you to do here is relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God fuss over these things, but you both know God and how He works… Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday concerns will be met.”

            Sounds pretty straightforward, doesn’t it? Jesus lets us know in no uncertain terms that “your Heavenly Father knows what you need before you even ask.” Jesus even offers Himself as a comfort to you in Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV):

            “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

            I could quote several other passages, but I think you already see the point of this one: we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, who cares for us, and did not design us to go throughout the day worried or concerned about anything! So, take your worries, take your concerns, take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there!!! When you go to Him, He replaces your worries with His peace, and it’s the kind you can’t explain, you just know when you have it, and there is no greater feeling in the world… So the next time the problems of everyday life threaten to get you down, or Satan tries to torment you with your past, take a lesson from your kids (or your own childhood,) and tell them all: “I’m gonna tell my Daddy on you!”

So BE BLESSED and stop worrying!

Cedric (Pastor Ced)

          “And David danced before the LORD with all his might…  And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD. And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honor.”  (2 Samuel 6:14a, 21-22) [KJV]

            Last time, we talked about making the conscious decisions that go against the grain of our everyday routines in order to attain the visions, dreams, and goals that God has put into each and every one of us and to bring them into reality. Well, today I want to talk about one particular component of that, especially if your goal is to develop a closer relationship with God and to see more of His presence and power work in your life, and that is what I call “intentional” praise, that is, making the conscious choice that, no matter what circumstances of life you may be facing, you can say as David wrote, “I will bless the LORD at all times, and His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1)

            Speaking of that particular verse, what I have always found fascinating is the very introduction of it: “A psalm of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.” For those who don’t know the story, (found in 1 Samuel 21:10-15) David was literally running for his life; he had just fled from Saul trying to kill him in Israel, and went into “the enemy’s camp”, in fact the giant Goliath’s hometown: Gath of the Philistines, to request shelter from Achish, the “Abimelech” (or king) of Gath. But when Achish’s servants recognized him as David, he panicked and pretended to go crazy, prompting Achish to dismiss him from the country. (Talk about going through hard times! But how many of us would actually pretend to go crazy vs. actually doing so? Hmmmmmmmm…) But even in the midst of all that, David makes the conscious decision not only to “bless the LORD at all times,” but to have the presence of mind to write it down where we now can read and follow, and the more you read it, the more exuberant it gets, and then suddenly David (and you) get a really bad case of the “can’t-help-it’s,” you just can’t stop praising God! But it began with a decision of his will, that, even in the most difficult of circumstances, he would praise the LORD. David’s determination to do so is what made him “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14).

            We see more of this determination in our above listed passage in 2 Samuel 6. The Ark of the Covenant, which was the very symbol of God’s presence to the nation of Israel, was in Philistine hands after Saul was killed and Israel was defeated by them. But the Philistines were cursed in their land because they had possession of it, so they implored Israel and David to come remove it from them. David and the Israelites went to do so, but instead of using God’s prescribed method of doing so, (Levites carrying the Ark,) they instead used a cart of oxen to transport it. When the oxen stumbled, a man named Uzzah put out his hand to keep the Ark from falling, and the LORD killed him on the spot. (Sounds drastic, doesn’t it? But stay with me here, there is a point to even this…) David, then fearing to bring the Ark back, left the Ark in the home of a man named Obed-Edom for three months, where the Bible says that “the LORD prospered Obed-Edom and his entire household.” When David heard that Obed-Edom’s household was blessed, he then decided to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem, so he does it this time in God’s prescribed way, (with the Levites carrying the Ark), and after offering a sacrifice unto God, “David, ceremonially dressed in priest’s linen, danced with great abandon before the LORD.” As the whole country celebrated with David about the Ark’s arrival, David’s wife Michal, Saul’s daughter, “looked through a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD. And she despised him with her heart.” (2 Samuel 6:16, MKJV) After the celebration was over, and David arrived home to bless his family, Michal confronts him, “How glorious was the King of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of all his servants, as one of the vain fellows who shamelessly uncovers himself!” (2 Samuel 6:20, MKJV) David answers her, “In God’s presence, I’ll dance all I want! He chose me over your father and the rest of our family and made me prince over God’s people, over Israel. Oh, yes, I’ll dance to God’s glory—more recklessly even than this. And as far as I’m concerned… I’ll gladly look like a fool… but among these handmaids you’re so concerned about, I’ll be honored to no end.” (2 Samuel 6:21-22, The Message)

            I know this took a minute, but I wanted to lay the groundwork for my challenge to you this week… First, your determination to praise God through all circumstances leads to His closer presence, and your blessing. We have a saying within my church circles that says, “When the praises go up, the blessings come down.” We always say here at “The Praise Party” that this is the place “where even Jesus Himself likes to hang out,” because the Bible tells us that God “inhabits the praises of His people.” (Psalm 22:3) For those of you who are parents, (or better yet, ALL of us are former children…) how do you know whenever your child really wants something from you? Isn’t it usually when they start saying good things about you? (“Okay, now, what do you REALLY want?...”) Because God created us in His image, we have to know that He’s the same way as a loving parent. But you have to come correctly with your praise, because secondly, God hates half-hearted praise! I was struck by something as I read the book of Malachi lately from Eugene Peterson’s The Message translation; hear what God asks through the prophet:

            “Isn’t it true that a son honors his father and a worker his master? So if I’m your Father, where’s the honor? If I’m your Master, where’s the respect? GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies is calling you on the carpet: ‘You priests despise me!’

            “You say, ‘Not so! How do we despise you?’

            “By your shoddy, sloppy, defiling worship.

            “You ask, ‘What do you mean, “defiling”? What’s defiling about it?’

            “When you say, ‘The altar of GOD is not important anymore; worship of GOD is no longer a priority,’ that’s defiling…”

            “Why doesn’t one of you just shut the Temple doors and lock them? Then none of you can get in and play at religion with this silly, empty-headed worship. I am not pleased… And I don’t want any more of this so-called worship!”  (Malachi 1:6-7, 10)

            This was Uzzah’s crime: he and his brother Ahio were the keepers of the Ark after the Philistines had brought it back to Israel, and they were the drivers of the cart that transported the Ark back to Jerusalem. However, being a Levite, Uzzah knew that only priests were allowed to touch the Ark, and even then, only under specified times and purposes. Even though he may have had good intentions to save the Ark from hitting the ground, because he touched the most holy thing in an irreverent way, God made him an instant example. Aren’t you glad God doesn’t punish us the same way when we give him half-hearted praise? So when you make the conscious decision to praise God, give it your best, give it your all, give Him everything you’ve got! “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!” (Psalm 103:1)

            Thirdly, you will not always feel like praising the Lord, especially when circumstances seem difficult. DO IT ANYWAY!!! This is what the writer of Hebrews advises us to do: “By Him [Jesus] therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.” (Hebrews 13:15) It also requires that we “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is [our] reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1) Once we really begin to understand and practice this, we come closer and closer to not only our breakthrough, but also the LORD of the breakthrough.

Finally, it may make you look and sound foolish, but here’s the reality: you will be persecuted for your praise. You will probably hear something like: “It doesn’t take all that to praise God!” Just observe Michal’s contempt toward David as she saw him dancing before the LORD, but watch what happens: David had just gotten through blessing the entire nation of Israel after the Ark returned to Jerusalem, and then returned to bless his family. Because Michal showed contempt toward David as he praised God, she was the only one in the nation that did not receive a blessing; in fact, scr i pture records that “she remained childless for the rest of her life.” (2 Samuel 6:23)

If you are ready to receive your miracle from God today, your breakthrough, your healing, I encourage you to “praise God from Whom all blessings flow!” As we here at my home congregation of Fresh Anointing House of Worship here in Selma, Alabama have received our Word for 2009, because you are connected with “The Praise Party”, I pass this Word on to you: your promise is in your praise!

Praising God for you and with you,

Cedric (Pastor Ced)

      "Anyone who trusts in Him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust Him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to Him.”  (John 3:18, The Message) [emphases mine]

             Sounds kind of harsh, doesn’t it? Being told you’re “condemned” or already put under a “death sentence” because you haven’t yet made a decision for Jesus? I mean, after all, there’s still time to make that decision later on after I get some more things accomplished, or “straighten myself out” before I turn to Him, right? (And don’t forget, this IS Jesus talking up above there…) But as we have started off this New Year of 2009, I’d like to challenge everyone (including myself!) to begin to make conscious decisions this year.

            So, what’s up with this “conscious decision” spiel? As we have all known and done, the new year always comes in with us making “resolutions” to do better in many things: “I resolve to lose weight and eat better,” “ I’ll spend more time with my family,”  “I’ll get out of debt and control my spending this year,” “I’ll find more time to pray and read my Bible this year,” and so forth and so on… These are all noble aspirations, (and believe me, I’m guilty of every single one of them this year!) but what usually happens is that we get so distracted with our daily routines and the way of life we’ve gotten so used to (which is the reason we got in this mess in the first place!) that a few days go by where we really haven’t put forth the effort to do what we resolved to do, and that’s where frustration comes in. Days turn into weeks, and we’re even deeper into our rut! Finally, we throw our hands up in the air and scream at God saying, “I can’t do this! I need Your help!” What do we do when we reach that point, or better yet, what can we do now to keep us from reaching that point? The simplest answer is to begin to make smaller conscious decisions that fit within the framework of what we’re trying to accomplish…

            James tells us in his letter that “faith without works is dead.” (James 2:20) In other words, your good intentions or high aspirations without your corresponding actions are dead, no good. To be practical, before we get back to today’s main thought from Jesus, let’s take a couple of examples… For instance, if my goal is to lose weight and begin eating healthier, I must begin my making smaller conscious decisions and acting upon them, like “I will drink four ½ liter bottles of water today” and make yourself do it. “I will eat an apple in the morning, a banana in the afternoon, and a salad for lunch,” and then follow through. “I will begin getting closer to God by reading one chapter from the Bible at my earliest convenience today, and another before I go to bed,” and then don’t go to bed before you’ve done so! I know it sounds simplistic, but hear me out: do you notice that the things that are best for us are always the harder things we seem to do during the day? (I mean, why drink water when there’s Dr. Pepper in the fridge? Why read your Bible when your favorite TV show is on, or you can play your favorite video game and get to it later?)

But the truth is, when we begin to make conscious decisions over what we will do throughout the day, we are actually setting our minds to do so, and then beginning to lead our hearts toward what we desire, rather than being led by our heart, which the Bible says is “deceitful, and desperately wicked…” (Jer. 17:9) The Bible’s terminology for that is repentance, or simply, an intentional changing of the mind toward that which is good.  I stress “intentional” because that opposite of that mindset is the great failure that gets us in trouble in the first place, passivity. Whether it is passivity by simple neglect due to other distractions, or whether it’s procrastination, (putting things off until later,) which I call “active passivity”, it is the great enemy of our time, our goals, and then eventually, as Jesus states in our opening thought, our very souls. You can see Jesus’ mindset in this as he tells Nicodemus that it is an active choosing to believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God that saves a person, in other words, a conscious choice; passivity (through neglect),  procrastination (putting it off until later), or active refusal to believe is what condemns the person. Simply speaking, you must make the choice! Putting it off until later will kill you! (Putting it off hasn’t done much for those resolutions, now, has it?)

So, how about it? Anybody else ready to dive in with me as we make more conscious choices for life today? First off, if you haven’t already made the conscious decision to trust Jesus for your life, both now and eternally, don’t put it off any further, do it today! The Bible declares that “this is the hour to receive God’s favor; today is the day to be saved!” (2 Cor. 6:2, GNB) If you’ve already made that decision, my challenge to you today is reply to this blog with at least one area of your life that you will begin to make smaller conscious decisions toward the betterment of it, and let’s keep up with each other and encourage one another as we urge each other on towards greater works, and let’s see how we’ve done at the end of this year!

Running with you towards the finish line,

Cedric (Pastor Ced)

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart;  and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.â€� (Proverbs 3:5-6)

WATCH THE DIRECTOR!

“Watch the director!� I cannot tell you just how many times I’ve heard that phrase or a variation of that phrase in my life, either coming out of my own mouth as a choir director or teacher, or as a student, first in children’s choir in church, then through junior high, high school or college band or choir. Whether it came from a choir director, band director, section leader, drum major, or otherwise, the admonition is still the same, “Keep your eyes on the director!� In other words, we were to be completely focused in on whoever was in front of us at that time either directing or giving instruction. The more we focused in we were on what that person did, the more likely we were to stay together and play or sing that particular piece of music. If we were distracted by anything outside of the director having our complete attention, the more likely we were to miss a note, drift out of position, or otherwise just miss the next instruction. If you were caught drifting off, the rebuke was sure to come, “Watch the director!�

 I was reminded once again of this fact when I recall one particular Sunday a couple of years ago just how valuable that instruction was when I was working with my youth choir as the church's minister of music. The previous Saturday afternoon’s rehearsal was probably one of the best we had ever had, and I felt pretty confident that the next day’s service would go just as well. Once we started on the first song, however, it became immediately evident to me that the attention was not there. When I happened to glance up into the choir stand, the reason was also obvious: about half the choir was looking into the audience, at the child standing next to them, or at me on the piano, everywhere except at the director standing next to me. Once again, I felt those words well up in me, so I mouthed out without speaking, “Watch the director!â€� I had no idea at that time that the Lord was setting me up for another object lesson and revelation in Him.  

 It is both amazing and astonishing to me (especially as I consider myself,) as to how many of us, as sons and daughters of God, also fail to comply with this simple directive in our personal lives, to watch the Director. Proverbs 3:6 clearly tells us that if we acknowledge God in all our ways, He will direct our paths. The problem, however, lies in our failure to comply with verse 5, “Trust in Him with all our heart, and lean not unto our own understanding.â€�  It’s amazing to me as to how, whenever circumstances and situations turn adverse and begin to get out of our control, that we begin to run here and there, we begin to run to this person or that person which may or may not be able to help us, (and oftentimes, are not able to help us,) and we begin to get so distracted and overwhelmed by our failure to pull it all together that we begin to question God as the disciples once asked Jesus, “Carest Thou not that we perish?â€� (Mark 4:38) The issue, then, becomes a simple matter of trust: do I trust Him enough to keep my eyes focused on Him, even though everything around me demands that I pay attention to it rather than to Him?

 Peter illustrates this point so beautifully in Matthew 14 as he steps out of the ship to go walk on the water with Jesus. Peter trusts Jesus enough so that when he asked Jesus if it were Him, to tell him to come out on the water, that when Jesus speaks the word, “Come,â€� Peter steps out, without hesitation, to go to Jesus. (Matthew 14:28-29) Peter’s problem, however, comes in verse 30, “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid…â€� Peter had enough experience with Jesus to know that He had full control of the seas (see Matthew 8:26-27), and had been witness to no shortage of Jesus’ creative miracles, so he trusted Jesus enough to get out and walk on the water. But when he began to think that what he himself was doing was impossible, (walking on the water in the middle of a storm,) and saw the wind and the storm, he began to sink, crying out, “Lord, save me!â€�  Jesus’ rebuke of Peter was a gentle, yet firm one, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?â€� (Matthew 14:31) Jesus could have very well have asked him, “Why did you take your eyes off of me? Don’t forget, I’m directing this storm…â€�

 Maybe that’s why God tells us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 to seek His face. Maybe that’s why Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33 to seek first the kingdom of God. After all, He is the Creator of the Universe. He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith. He is the one that reminds us in Jeremiah that before He formed us, He knew us, He sanctified us, or set us apart, and He ordained us. He is the Alpha and the Omega, He is from everlasting to everlasting, He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. To put it in today’s language, He is the scr i pt Writer, He is the Composer, He IS the Director.

The next time you feel distracted with life’s circumstances or overwhelmed with your out-of-control situations, ask yourself, “Am I watching my Director?�

Keeping my eyes on Him, (or, at least, trying!)

Pastor Ced