Choices And Relationships Go Together

Today I want to focus on Choices and Relationships. I am focused on this because I have had to make some critical decision in the last couple of weeks. For the longest time I believed good people bring good situations and bad people bring bad situations. I still believe this is true. Today I read, "Your associations empower you to succeed or fail. Choose godly friendships so you’re empowered to reach your God-given destiny." I thought man how true this is. I then read the scripture that was assocaited and it made me really think about my life and some of the things I was trying to do. Forcing relationships that needed to be severed and severing relationships that needed to be fostered. The scripture read, "Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces." (Proverbs 13:20 The Message). It is just that simple! My friends if there is someone or something that you need to let go, please release it. God has something better for you. Choose wisely in everything you do. We make choices everyday, basically all day long. The Bible says, “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster." (Deuteronomy 30:15 NLT) The choice is ours to make. It sounds easy, choose life and prosperity! To make it even easier the Bible then instructs us why we should choose life and details the benefits of choosing life. "For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy." (Deuteronomy 30:16 NLT) SOUNDS GREAT! Then why is it we choose death and disaster? Not speaking to or about anyone specifically, but some of the decisions we make are not wise and lead to death and disaster. That is where the wise counsel comes into play, PICK YOUR FRIENDS WISELY. Anyway God commands us to choose life but so many people ignore this command leading to disaster.(I have ignored it before) In verse 17 the Bible states, “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods(money, material things, basically anything but God), then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. (Deuteronomy 30:17-18 NLT) Well Thank God for his grace and mercy. I along with a lot of other people would have been destroyed if not for God's grace and mercy. All and all my friends this post is simple and to the point. Choose God and His Way, life will be a lot easier.
Until Next Time!



Long Live The Kane

Rude or Real

Today I want to address the concept of being real and being real rude. Some of you may think this is directed at you, but please don’t take it personal because God loves you and so do I. This is on my heart, and I am trusting God to inspire my words. In our society today people think it is okay to hurt people’s feelings if they are telling what they perceive as the truth about the situation. I don’t think that is what Jesus had in mind when he said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32 NKJV) You see if you go back and read this scripture in context, Jesus was talking being free from sin. Interestingly enough people have taken the John 8:32 and interpreted it as being real or telling others how they see the situation at hand. After all perception is reality, right? Wrong perception is not everyone’s reality; just yours. It is time that we realize that offending a person with the truth is not right. As believers in Christ Jesus we must understand the power of our words. The Bible says, “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.” (Proverbs 18:21 NLT) Words in truth may hurt but they should not be offensive. I think the key word is tact. When you use words that are offensive, it puts the receiver of those words on the defensive and the message you were trying to convey is lost. When we are trying to win souls for God, we are very careful not to offend the non-believer with the truth about God. However we will quickly offend someone about their physical features, financial decisions, and anything else we think isn’t the way our perception tells us it should be. This is simple the Bible states, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being “. (1 Corinthians 10:23-24 NKJV) Edify and well-being, how can something be edifying and well-being if it offends a person? When we edify one another we instruct, benefit one another morally and spiritually; uplifting the person we are speaking to. The bottom line is we should be tactful in what we say to one another. We should speak the truth but speak life into one another. I heard someone once say that they were just being real. What they said and how they said it was real rude. The next time you feel the need to tell someone your perception make sure you think about the tact that maybe required to get your point across without offending the person you are trying to help. Remember this, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” (Proverbs 27:17 NLT)


Until Next Time

Long Live the Kane

Change versus Temporary Adjustment

Today I want to talk about change versus temporary adjustment. People try to adjust their lives to fit in a certain place, whether it is to fit into a loved one’s life or maybe to fit into a crowd, it could even be at the workplace. Where you are temporarily adjusting yourself you are masking who you are in order to fit in. This can be very dangerous and extremely hurtful. With all that said people do it every day. You have adjusted your being to fit in, but at some point in time you will revert to who you truly are. Let us look at the definition of the word adjust; to settle or bring to a satisfactory state, so that parties are agreed in the result. Now let’s look at the definition of the word change; to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone. Is one better than the other I ask? Let’s dig deeper and really breakdown Change versus Adjustment. First off let me say that if both adjustment and change take place and the adjustment and change are for the better; well that is a blessing. If you are able to make permanent adjustments before change takes place you are blessed. However the reality is that adjustments are usually made after change has occurred in our lives. There is that old saying, “Hind sight is 20/20”. The Bible talks about wisdom, and getting wisdom. That in itself is another topic to be addressed later. Back to my point, the book of Proverbs sates, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding”. (Proverbs 4:7 NKJV) When we (no one in particular) should make permanent adjustments we make temporary adjustments that will satisfy, or bring about an agreed result. In my opinion a temporary adjustment just means that, you temporarily adjusted your behavior or mindset to reach a satisfactory state. Once that state is reached just like American culture after a certain amount of time we tend to forget why we made the adjustment and revert back to what caused the dissatisfaction in the first place. Think about it how many times have we adjusted our behaviors or thinking to make things better and then later find ourselves doing the very things that we had adjusted. This is being human so no one should feel bad. Proverbs 24:16 says, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.” (Proverbs 24:16 NKJV) The thing to take from this is not to feel bad that you made a temporary adjustment, but recognized that in order to keep the satisfactory state you have to change. What we (again no one in particular) do as people is make temporary adjustment in order to get what we want whether it is to stop or spouse or significant other from fussing, or just plain quick conflict resolution. Change is needed not temporary adjustment. I wanted to address this with you all because God has shown this to me. I had made temporary adjustments to my life only to revert back to the very behaviors and mindset that I adjusted. I now see that CHANGE was needed. My friends please do not be like me and wait until something tragic makes you change! Please I know I have been long winded with this, but God allowed me to be stripped of almost everything before I could see and understand what he was trying to show me. Again if you are in this same situation don’t feel bad. Jonah had to be swallowed by a whale before he learned the error of his ways. Samson lost his strength, his eyes and his life before changing his ways. Well I guess you can’t change after you’re dead. Anyway, my point is not to wait for tragedy to make you change. Change because it is the right thing to do. The other thing if you have lost something or someone because you made a temporary adjustment. Seek the Lord first, and he will give you strength, ability and guidance to change. Once you have change and have the counsel of God. You will truly know what to do to take back what you once had. This does not mean that you will get it back (God gives people free will). However if you have truly changed it will show, and if God wants you to have it you will. Pray, Pray, and Pray some more.

Until Next Time

Long Live The Kane

Take A Strong Stand On Behalf Of What Is Right!

In the Bible it states, "Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." (Proverbs 1: 7) What happens to those of us who know the Lord but slide back and forth between right and wrong? I mean some days I feel like I can conquer the world for God and then there are days when I just feel like doing whatever. In one of my earlier post, I mentioned being a man is doing what a man has to do. Well some days I guess I'm not much of a man. I try to be the best I can every day, but some days I fall short. Before I fall now that I truly know Christ, the internal battle within me is crazy. Knowing you are going doing the wrong thing and then actually doing it causes some serious identity issues. Once you have done the wrong thing you immediately know that you were not doing anything to bring Glory to God. That is the most disappointing part of this cycle. Knowing that I'm a child of God I'm always disturbed when this happens. Thank God for Jesus, because as it is in the Bible "We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Romans 3:22-24 NLT) This does not give us a license to sin, but it does offer peace of mind. Peace comes from knowing that God loves you even when you fail him and you are not headed to hell. I read something that applies to all of this:

But a man cannot act like the devil, and at the same time be a disciple of Christ Jesus. Let us not serve or indulge what the Son of God came to destroy.

To be born of God is to be inwardly renewed by the power of the Spirit of God. Renewing grace is an abiding principle. Religion is not an art, a matter of dexterity and skill, but a new nature. The renewed person cannot sin as he did before he was born of God, and as others do who are not born again. There is that light in his mind, which shows him the evil and malignity of sin. There is that bias upon his heart, which disposes him to loathe and hate sin. There is the spiritual principle that opposes sinful acts. There is repentance for sin, if committed. It goes against him to sin with forethought.

It goes against him/her to sin with forethought. The mind is where the internal battle is waged. We as Christians should always try to fight the good fight against our flesh. When we fail do not run from God because he knows our failures before we do. He is there and loves us. Understand that there is correction and sometimes it may be painful, but God corrects us just as an earthly parent corrects their child. With that said; when the battle is strong that means you are getting closer to God, because where there is no struggle there is no relationship with God. Just remember we can find peace in our father.

Until the next time.
Long Live The Kane!

KNOWING WHEN NOT TO SPEAK

In the past I have been quick to say things that I would regret saying later. Since then I have learned sometime silence is golden. The Bible states, "A man may show himself to be a wise man, by the good temper of his mind, and by the good government of his tongue. He is careful when he does speak, to speak to the purpose. God knows his heart, and the folly that is bound there; therefore he cannot be deceived in his judgment as men may be." Pretty simple keep your cool and remember Cooler heads prevail. The next time you are in a position where your emotions take hold you and you feel angry, take a step back remove emotion from the equation and please Try again. Short but to the point today!

Until Next Time

Long Live The Kane

INTEGRITY

Here is something that came up! My heart aches because for the first time in my life I truly feel like I have lost a part of my life. The bad part about this is I am at a point where I want to risk everything to regain that part of my life. I have been in several relationships in my life some good and some bad. However, when you realize that the one relationship you needed the most has gotten away from you, you have to do everything in your power to get it back. If it does not work out so be it, but at least you did everything in your power to get it back. (Ask God for guidance and He will direct your path) For all of you who have not experienced this type of loss consider yourself blessed and do everything in your power to never have to go through this. One time a person asked me, “How would it be different if they gave me another chance to be with them?” Honestly, I did not know what would be different other than I would try harder than before. Well trying harder does not cut it and you will fail. You have to change; not want to change, not try to change but you actually have to change. You have to change your thinking, your actions and reactions because if do not you are destined to repeat the same unhealthy trials that will cause you to lose. I have learned from my past mistakes, and from this very minute my integrity will never be in question. The Bible states, “Let me be weighed on honest scales, That God may know my integrity.”(Job 31:6 NKJV) If God knows, you have integrity imagine what others see. I want to make something clear many of us have integrity, it is sometime we tend not to display it depending on the circumstances we maybe facing. My integrity came into question because I was afraid of losing what I lost. No matter why I did some of the things I did, my integrity should have been intact. What upsets me more is that I had never had a problem with my integrity. My integrity has gotten me far in life and I let fear of losing what I lost change that. Ironic that I would lose the very thing that helped me gain the relationship. If there is anything you get from this post, please get this. INTEGRITY does not come in degrees – low medium or high. You either have it or you do not. There is a saying and it goes something like this, “It is easier to do the wrong thing, but it’s always better to do the right thing.” That is integrity. The choice between what is convenient and what is right. I have done some foolish things in my life, non as foolish as allowing my integrity to be subject to questioned by a loved one. Oh yeah, the person who asked me the question, well I finally have an answer. Things would be different because I see and feel what it is like without you in my life. People it is simple DO IT RIGHT ALL THE TIME. Character not reputation!

Until Next Time

Long Live The Kane

Remember – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13 NKJV)

Bowed Over, Upright, Bowed Over, Upright – Keep Trying

You ever want to do the right thing, but just seem to do whatever you want? In my lifetime and more importantly as of late, I have found doing the right thing is hard. Doing the right thing is hard when it’s not the popular thing to do or when it is not what I want to do. It is much easier: not to mention the right thing, usually more fun to not do the right thing, and do what everyone else is doing. It is some time safer also. Think about this, there usually is no danger of looking stupid, preachy or offending people. Seriously, let’s be real about this most of the choices we make on a day to day basis, most of the things we do, aren’t exactly life-shattering choices. Nobody dies and nobody’s soul is lost. Is that true? Every day I wake up with the intent to be the best person I can, however in some way or another I miss the mark. I may say the wrong thing (curse words aren’t good), I may break the law (speeding is breaking the law), or I may lust for a woman (this one usually gets me) being a visual person I’m naturally attracted to beautiful women. Anyway my point being no one was hurt by anything I just mentioned. No one was hurt, but me. SO WHY IS IT WRONG? Here lies the problem. The Bible states, “For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.”(2 Peter 2:21) OUCH! You see I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was in the 11th grade, so I know better. I was saved before I went to college (parties, women, and other things), and before I had children without being married. This troubles me, because now I don’t make as many mistakes, but I still have thoughts and act on some of those thoughts knowing it isn’t right. The good news is I know that God loves and forgives me. The Bible states, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-16 NIV) I’m sure He’s not happy with some of things I sometimes do. Thank God for Jesus! I used to tell myself, I may not always do things that are exactly right, but they’re not exactly wrong, either. That was and some time still is me justifying my falling. I used to tell myself that I was trying to resist doing the wrong things when in fact I was only choosing to do lesser things. The fact is most of us have not even made an honest attempt at resisting temptation. Some of us cave in immediately without much of a fight. "Well, I'll quit doing that next week." "Why struggle now when I know I am going to do it again anyway?" "It is just a matter of time, and now is as good a time as any." But temptation feeds on our weakness and bent desires. You see temptation is only the beginning. It is like a progression you start off small knowing that you’ll be forgiven, but if you aren’t careful things can get out of hand quick. When thoughts of doing something that is not right enter my mind I need to start seeing it for what it is, THE WRONG THING. I thought I had been putting up a noble fight looking for a pat on the back. Then I read this: In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Heb 12:4 NIV) I guess I haven’t been trying hard enough. I do know this and I say it not as an excuse but I offer it as a reality to all. GOD IS NOT FINISHED WITH ME YET! I know this because in the Word, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6 NLT) Now if he’ll do it for me, he’ll surely do it for you.
Until next time
Long Live The Kane
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Cor 10:13NIV)