"If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
Hello there and good day! I'm praying you're in a pleasant and receptive mood today. I also hope you took the time out to really read last week's post about honor. Especially if you decided to check out early because you weren't ready for the full dosage of my real talk. For those of you who digested the entire post though, (fist bump) did y'all get tested in honor yet or started seeing random manifestations and representations of it anywhere, like I have?
Yo, I kid you not, no matter where I've turned, I saw it; honor. It's almost like, now that I know more about what honor is, I can't un-know it. And the old saying goes,
"Once you know better, you do better."
So that's where I am at this very moment.
As a matter of fact, I am harassed by everything I teach. This is a gift and sometimes a curse.
Whereas, I can't get away with anything.
Come to think about it, I've never actually been able to get away with too much of nothing my entire life. Either I've gotten caught or conviction would send messages to my conscious like,
"You do know you're out of line right?"
Me:
Nothing like being confronted with something that challenges your whole way of doing things. Chiefly, when your way of doing things is a tad bit off and dated. I'll be honest, it's not at all the best feeling in the world.
However, when you're more open minded and amenable to these specific types of confrontations, you'll come to recognize an even more excellent version of yourself.
When it comes to men and women commissioned to be disciples and disciplers, God is inclined and will forever be in the mood to reproduce excellent over perfect.
Anyday. Everyday. All day.
Here's why I believe this to be true, every single agent in the bible wasn't perfect but God groomed them into excellence to be suitable enough to carry out His perfect will.
They were circumcised for excellence and sown into the fabrics of an amazing drama of which we can glean from today.
Dope right?
To make it even more plain for the people in the back, I'll use myself happily as an example.
I would like to believe I was yanked out of my previous lifestyle. Although, I've often made the mistake of attempting to paint it as if I chose my exit stage left.
I didn't.
God allowed my life with limited boundaries and low standards to manifest as a security guard, that would personally escort me out of my old world.
He let life hem me up, until I involuntarily gravitated towards the direction He'd set out before me. I had to undergo phases of transitions mainly due to the fact that I was a veteran party girl infected with rejection and a strong minded atheist which were the prime ingredients of my pride.
Pride is hideous.
It's like a cancer that silently eats away and perverts the good parts of a person. Leaving the not so good parts of a person exposed to impose all kinds of scornful offenses upon the unsuspecting bystander.
Pride stinks.
It gives off a pungent smell that runs off even the strongest most tolerant people.
Which is why it's a spicy spirit.
Hot like the hottest pepper in the world; The Carolina Reaper that's 200x hotter than the jalapeno.
It's unforgiving. It blinds. And it deafens.
No wonder why if the enemy can't get us tangled up in offenses, he'll intoxicate us with pride.
Originally, I was going to go down the "Pride goeth before destruction," route.
(Proverbs 16:18)
But I feel like that dead horse has been beaten to smithereens.
I want to find the head of this thing and press the gooey slimy pus out of it.
Sounds disgusting, doesn't it?
But hear me out! It's the only way I'll be satisfied, folks!
Shall we put on some latex gloves and surgical masks?
Okay, in me going through multiple transitions in my journey with God, I was prescribed His aggressive dealings with my pride issue.
He would allow me to experience situations that He knew would produce a far greater degree of humility out of me that was otherwise unknown to me.
I believe it was the late great poet Dr. Maya Angelou who stated,
"In order to gain humility you must risk being humiliated."
#Shooketh
I can't tell you guys, how many times I've been humiliated during this decade stretch in God.
I've been fired from things in the world. As well as ministry positions and endeavors in the church.
One time I was handed a letter right in front of the entire congregation at an old church I belonged to. The letter informed me that my services was no longer rendered in the praise team.
Another time, I volunteered for this event and was appointed to be the eyes and ears for the president of this youth organization and visionary of the event. When the event was over, she told me to follow her because she had a gift to give me. I followed her around this entire building and watched as she handed people gift bags.
I followed her into this small room where she begin to change into some casual clothes.
She looked at me as if annoyed. I responded to her expression with,
"You said you had a gift to give me?"
She replied with a pronounced irritation,
"No. I don't have anything for you. Those were for my dancers."
Hello there and good day! I'm praying you're in a pleasant and receptive mood today. I also hope you took the time out to really read last week's post about honor. Especially if you decided to check out early because you weren't ready for the full dosage of my real talk. For those of you who digested the entire post though, (fist bump) did y'all get tested in honor yet or started seeing random manifestations and representations of it anywhere, like I have?
Yo, I kid you not, no matter where I've turned, I saw it; honor. It's almost like, now that I know more about what honor is, I can't un-know it. And the old saying goes,
"Once you know better, you do better."
So that's where I am at this very moment.
As a matter of fact, I am harassed by everything I teach. This is a gift and sometimes a curse.
Whereas, I can't get away with anything.
Come to think about it, I've never actually been able to get away with too much of nothing my entire life. Either I've gotten caught or conviction would send messages to my conscious like,
"You do know you're out of line right?"
Me:
However, when you're more open minded and amenable to these specific types of confrontations, you'll come to recognize an even more excellent version of yourself.
When it comes to men and women commissioned to be disciples and disciplers, God is inclined and will forever be in the mood to reproduce excellent over perfect.
Anyday. Everyday. All day.
Here's why I believe this to be true, every single agent in the bible wasn't perfect but God groomed them into excellence to be suitable enough to carry out His perfect will.
They were circumcised for excellence and sown into the fabrics of an amazing drama of which we can glean from today.
Dope right?
To make it even more plain for the people in the back, I'll use myself happily as an example.
I would like to believe I was yanked out of my previous lifestyle. Although, I've often made the mistake of attempting to paint it as if I chose my exit stage left.
I didn't.
God allowed my life with limited boundaries and low standards to manifest as a security guard, that would personally escort me out of my old world.
He let life hem me up, until I involuntarily gravitated towards the direction He'd set out before me. I had to undergo phases of transitions mainly due to the fact that I was a veteran party girl infected with rejection and a strong minded atheist which were the prime ingredients of my pride.
Pride is hideous.
It's like a cancer that silently eats away and perverts the good parts of a person. Leaving the not so good parts of a person exposed to impose all kinds of scornful offenses upon the unsuspecting bystander.
Pride stinks.
It gives off a pungent smell that runs off even the strongest most tolerant people.
Which is why it's a spicy spirit.
Hot like the hottest pepper in the world; The Carolina Reaper that's 200x hotter than the jalapeno.
It's unforgiving. It blinds. And it deafens.
No wonder why if the enemy can't get us tangled up in offenses, he'll intoxicate us with pride.
Originally, I was going to go down the "Pride goeth before destruction," route.
(Proverbs 16:18)
But I feel like that dead horse has been beaten to smithereens.
I want to find the head of this thing and press the gooey slimy pus out of it.
Sounds disgusting, doesn't it?
But hear me out! It's the only way I'll be satisfied, folks!
Shall we put on some latex gloves and surgical masks?
Okay, in me going through multiple transitions in my journey with God, I was prescribed His aggressive dealings with my pride issue.
He would allow me to experience situations that He knew would produce a far greater degree of humility out of me that was otherwise unknown to me.
I believe it was the late great poet Dr. Maya Angelou who stated,
"In order to gain humility you must risk being humiliated."
#Shooketh
I can't tell you guys, how many times I've been humiliated during this decade stretch in God.
I've been fired from things in the world. As well as ministry positions and endeavors in the church.
One time I was handed a letter right in front of the entire congregation at an old church I belonged to. The letter informed me that my services was no longer rendered in the praise team.
Another time, I volunteered for this event and was appointed to be the eyes and ears for the president of this youth organization and visionary of the event. When the event was over, she told me to follow her because she had a gift to give me. I followed her around this entire building and watched as she handed people gift bags.
I followed her into this small room where she begin to change into some casual clothes.
She looked at me as if annoyed. I responded to her expression with,
"You said you had a gift to give me?"
She replied with a pronounced irritation,
"No. I don't have anything for you. Those were for my dancers."
It took me until just recently to understand that none of these incidents were to punish me but to prune me. It was God's sovereign way to get rid of preexisting conditions that which He could no longer allow my gifts and anointing to camouflage.
When I understood this revelation, I was made free.
My earlier encounters with God's dealings with me, were ordained to renounce a pride that had been fashioned by my debiliating experiences in the world.
His latter dealings with me, which covers the later parts of my tenure in Him, were divinely authorized to strip me of the the pride that attached itself to me after various bad encounters with His people.
My earlier pride shaped this mindset: "You can't tell me anything, because I don't want to know."
My latter pride shaped this mindset: "You can't tell me anything, because I already know."
The first, was one that was in place to shield myself from a truth that could potentially kidnap me from my comfort zone.
The second, was in place to protect my vulnerabilities and to preserve self.
Neither of which God cared anything for.
He's not a fan of comfort zones nor is He a fan of parameters established to protect a part of you He wants to switch out and upgrade.
You see, pride is a sneaky spirit.
It's like a pick pocketer that runs off with all of your personal items and leaves you helpless and confused.
Yet it will have you thinking for a minute that you're in control.
#Negative
It is a hijacker of identities taking people out left and right!
Holy Spirit can't move fluidly and God can't extend His reach through you when you're shackled to this thing called pride.
Pride welcomes lack and an unrelenting hustle and grind.
We're not called to hustle and grind. We're called to subdue and rule.
An impossible feat, when we're prideful.
One kind of pride I've recognized God is putting in overtime to ensure that my little cute self never walks in; the pride that causes the overestimation of ones abilities.
The pride that feeds arrogance and looks down on everyone else as if they are God.
Wew!
People who are this way, are those who will have to be reminded that subtracting God is NOT the way.
Aside from God, in our own might we are walking embarrassments waiting to happen.
Sometimes in more critical cases, God has to allow you to embarrass your ever loving living self, for you to understand that you can't possibly do a God work without Him working in you and with you.
Please catch this quickly.
There are people out here right now, who have pride residing in the chambers of their hearts. So it makes them wicked, and conniving, and manipulative.
They will scheme and scam until there is no end.
Then there are people who have pride living in the confines of their minds. So it makes them smart, dummies!
They will Bible beat you blue but will look at you like Dora the Explorer when you tell them that their shoes are on the wrong feet.
In either case, they place themselves above reproach and correction.
They will surround themselves with people who will only reflect what's good about them and refuse anything that contradicts that image.
They will go as far as to assign cupbearers to them that are only allowed to taste test the cups of wine that are to come, not to question the cups of wine they've already consumed. Therefore, not knowing that there's a strong possibility that they've ingested poison designed to restrict repentance and humility.
My God on today!
I need to put this out there real quick.
If you feel attacked, I give you permission to leave here immediately and forever hold your peace.
This post as well as all of my other posts for that matter, is a general consensus stemming from a collection of years worth of observations.
I am in no way placing myself in the position to cap at anyone.
Every word I write is with a steadfast love for everyone.
Yet if the shoe fits and it's kind of tight right now, know that all is well.
Just make sure for me that it's on the right foot and don't cop defense.
In the words of one of my close friends,
"I'm a prophet. Not the opps!"
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
In the book of Luke, the 18th chapter and verses 9-14, Jesus shared the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. During biblical times, the Pharisees and tax collectors were notorious pests. The only difference between them was, the Pharisees were habitually hypocritical and the tax collectors were disdainfully feared.
Well, in this particular passage of scripture, a Pharisee and tax collector went into the temple to pray. The Pharisee begin to pray, "Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’
It says the tax collector on the other hand slumped down in the shadows and dared not even look up to the heavens.
He cupped his face and cried, "God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner." Jesus told those of whom he shared his parable with, that the tax collector not the Pharisee was the one that went home made right with God.
Thus prompting him to say, " If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
Listen, pride not only causes you to over estimate yourself but to do so in a way that compares yourself against another man.
Pride dresses people as thieves in the temple who steal the sweet of God's glory from Him and desecrates the innocent witness of other people!
This behavior must be discontinued with haste!
If not, demotions are in order.
Speaking of demotions.
I'm going to share this story and get off y'all nerves until next week. Ha!
When I was in highschool, I was in JROTC.
One Saturday, my drill team was invited to participate at one of our city's parades.
Once the parade was over we were taken back to our school only to discover that the doors were locked and no arrangements were in place to remedy the situation.
Our Sgt. made sure though that all of us were good to go home despite this mishap. The plan was that we would just have to wait to retrieve our things that following Monday when the school would be open.
Nevertheless, there was a small group of us who were dissatisfied with not being able to get back into the school, even though all of us had our basic personal belongings. Here's what we did, we pretended as if we were cool with the plan that was in place and waited for our Sgt. to leave.
When we thought he was gone, we broke into the school and ran to our lockers to get our things.
The main reason I tagged along was because I did not want to go back to my neighborhood in Englewood and be seen in that green uniform on a hot Saturday afternoon and run the risk of being gunned. (ridiculed).
Welp!
Guess what happened?
WE...WERE...CAUGHT.
Unbeknownst to us, my Sgt. had only pretended to leave and saw us break into the school. He cornered us when we came out and called our 1st Sgt (the head honcho) and put him on speaker. He gave us a chilly rebuke and told us he would see us on Monday.
Come Monday, we had a meeting where he went down the list of conspirators along with the position each of us would be demoted to.
I, went from being a Master Sgt, to a Private.
The lowest position in the ranks.
?Question?
Have you ever cried in your throat before? Like have you ever made an attempt to keep from crying and the tears did nothing but rest in the trenches of your throat and burn?
Man.
Some people did cry.
I just cried in my throat.
Here I was pridefully trying to self preserve and wound up being demoted from a high ranking positioned I'd worked hard to obtain to a low ranking position where I would have to start all over again. I didn't want to stand out when I got home so I went against the plan to keep from having to.
That's what pride does to you. In all efforts to either protect self or shield self you set self up for destruction and a fall.
Pride will even reject God's plan that's in place to sanctify, in order to go off and do what it prefers is best.
One of the most unwisest and unfruitful things you can do is walk in pride thinking it's helping you.
It's not. It hinders you.
And it will hinder you further lest you repent.
Here's what we're going to do.
We're going to give up all of self to be examined and chastised.
We're going to start by praying,
God whatever it is that you need me to do to get this pride up off me, you have my permission to do it.
If you need me to love the unloving.
Be friendly to the unfriendly,
Be helpful to the unhelpful.
Be faithful to the unfaithful.
Be committed to the uncommitted.
Be kind to the unkind.
Be pretty to the ugly.
Be of service to the underserving.
I will. I'll do it.
If it means that whatever is ailing me and offending You, can be sent into remission in my obedience,
I'll do it.
This will be a very humbling request. Your answers will come back to you as tests that you're not even expected to pass.
Just willing to be pruned.
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