Fire, Fire, Fire!!!

I have a few co-workers that I have lunch and fellowship with every once in awhile. One of them dropped by my desk today and gave me a gift, a book called “Grace for each Moment”. Wow…
She thinks I’m being too hard on myself at times. (thanks for reading the blog) Wow…
It’s not all that surprising, to know God hears you and uses others to shine his light upon the darkness that seeps in through the holes I create in my spiritual life.

The past Sunday was a wonderful day of passages being shared, new souls being introduced to the church, and good fellowship, topped off by some lemonade at the local Denny’s with a few sisters and brothers. The get together at Denny’s is always really interesting. When I don’t sit quietly and observe, I sometimes fall into my own trap of failing to see beyond the flesh, which inevitably causes me to judge or catch “non-spiritual” feelings towards a brother or a sister…..and this feeling, whether good or bad, always distracts my focus from the soul and the love thereof. The soul that’s dwelled by Christ is what I need to be giving my attention to and whenever the conversation veers towards the world, it discourages me spiritually. I like to avoid all worldly social gatherings between brothers and sisters for the most part, but I can see how this is what people need in their lives, especially the youth. I’m sure through these gatherings, a lot of them gain or add to their spiritual lives. I, on the other hand allow myself to get discouraged when I see and or talk to people who I have no common worldly traits with, with whom I would undoubtedly be separated from within society without Jesus, the connection I have with the brothers and sisters of our church is only through Christ and when we get away from this, I feel disconnected. I feel like I belong elsewhere, compounding this feeling is the fact that I had a very dissimilar upbringing, a contrary life style to the background the others seem to have been raised in, and these thoughts lead me to want to go find another church. It’s more than just cultural differences I feel.

I’ve been really, really, meditating upon the passage in John 15 for the past few days. Abiding in Jesus and him abiding in you is something that’s kept me marginally content in what would otherwise have been a time of silly contemplations, and wasteful use of brain power and precious time. I try to wake up listening to Christian music and get out of bed to pray before I’m fully awake. (don’t get me wrong I don’t always do this) I think the moment we find ourselves being unable to see pass the flesh and judge one another through our fleshly eyes, we give a little bit of hope to Satan. With this hope he sparks a match to ignite the flames that can consume our hearts within hours and days. I think it’s important to always remember that the person you encounter, converse with, pass by on the road while driving… to keep in mind the soul that’s underneath. If you can’t compel yourself to have love for that soul, then I would find it hard to conclude that you have received and accepted the love of Jesus. When there’s smoke, there’s fire. You gotta make sure you blow out even the smallest of Satan’s matches before you become spiritually blinded by the smoke. We have Jesus. I have Jesus. For this, I can never be truly sad. How fawgin’ awesome is that?!

Don’t stop, keep going. Underneath the clothes, the skin, the mindless talks, and the corny jokes lies a soul. Hate it or love it, be consumed by the fire or be saved from it. 

God Bless and a big, teary-eyes thank you to my lord and my savior, Jesus Christ.

Brother jImmy