Saturday, September 15, 2007

A Home in Zion


Is there a home for me in Zion,
That dear, beautiful, wonderful, marvelous City of God?
She's calling me to come up thither unto her and to rest in her arms filled with the love her
Beloved,
She sings songs of hope, joy, compassion, forgiveness,
completeness,
She sings not of herself, but of the One whose Spirit
emanates from her Bosom.
The glorious Savior has brought her forth
from His precious, bleeding side.
She is the Second Eve, the mother of all living,
her Beloved, the Second Adam.
She shouts songs of praise, victory, and triumph over Death, Hell, and the Grave.
The Evil One is placed under her feet.

She is adorned with precious jewels of mercy and grace.
She is clothed in the Glory of her Father and his Son.
She declares the goodness of her matchless King throughout
the generations.
She is filled with the children of many nations who bear the marks of
persecution and wear precious white garments cleansed in the Blood
of the Risen Lamb from the stains of iniquity.

Heaven and earth shout for the victory of the Master who has brought
His Bride before the throne of grace.
"Rejoice, O Zion," all of creation declares,
"Your King has won the war!"

Zion walks in humility and in grace.
She calls all sinners to repentance and to turn from
their wicked ways and seek forgiveness from the Lord.
Then He shall place them in that beautiful City of Peace.

So as long as I have breath, I find a home in Zion,
That dear, beautiful, wonderful, marvelous City of God.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Blessed Fellowship

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Hebrews 10:25

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Matthew 18:20

I had a wonderful time at Bible Campus Ministries' first meeting Thursday evening. We were going to start C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity but people didn't have their books. So I started by opening up the floor with reading passages from Genesis and Matthew's Gospel concerning Jesus' genealogy. Then the Spirit led us through passages in Galatians, John's Gospel, and a few others. Liberation comes from hearing the Word of God proclaimed. One of the sisters there at the meeting was set free to repent of hypocrisy which we all must realize, confess, and repent of it when it shows up in our hearts. A sister by the name of Cindy transferred from Harrisburg Area Community College. She's from York and a powerful young woman of God. She spoke the words of Life in that place. I was truly blessed by the fellowship in B.C.M. God is truly amazing.

Monday, September 10, 2007

In His Will

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."

1 John 2:15-17 KJV, emphasis mine


These last few days were rough. I had experienced a spiritual attack from the enemy last Thursday morning while I was in class. Then Friday evening I was set off by something that happened earlier in the day. For the sake of privacy of the persons involved I won't expound on the event. Then Saturday I learned that I was denied a student VISA credit card from my credit union, so they closed my checking account. I had a haircut appointment that day. I had to cancel it.

I went home to Philadelphia. I didn't go straight home. I went down to Borders Books on Broad Street. I was so perturbed I felt like I was a walking throbbing live nerve ready to be set off. I spent an hour in the Religion section looking for something to help me get through my trial. Dallas Willard's The Spirit of the Disciplines seemed like a good read so I purchased it.

When I got back to Millersville to work on my two packages for Broadcast News Reporting course. I didn't finish editing the projects (I don't know nothing about video editing). I was so distraught, so many thoughts race through my mind.

I'm walking my friend home, my sister in the Lord Aisha called me... just in time! I didn't know whether or not I should stay at Millersville or not. I knew in my gut that God has brought me too far to give up now. Aisha implored me to pray when I get home.

I spent some time with God. The Voice within rebuked me. Last night I learned that God has two wills, his permissive will, and his perfect will. (Disclaimer: This is the Pentecostal in me so if this too subjective for you, pray for discernment): The Lord told me that I was in his permissive will when I wanted to do my thing (i.e. culinary school), but He has called me to be in His perfect will. He said that I needed to stay at Millersville for one more semester because I'm not ready yet. There's things I need to do. I know this is true because I was so anxious and stressed about leaving Millersville. After hearing His Voice the peace of God passed over me.

I dropped my Broadcast News Reporting course today. I'm dropping my Still Photography course tomorrow. I will be full time with four courses. Next semester I will be doing an internship, taking Still Photography and another course.

After this prayer, a song called "Your Will is What's Best for Me" came to my spirit. I realized that God's perfect will is what Christians should strive to be in. It is our purpose to walk in His perfect will. If one will fully submit to the will of the Father, one must be forewarned that it will cost us. Jesus tell His disciples about counting the cost when following Him. To follow Christ, to live the way He lived-in full submission to the will of His Father is the duty of the believer.

Being in God's will is a mystery in the true sense of the word. It is an "hidden truth": O, may be search for this hidden treasure. May we be led by the Spirit of God.

So this is a new day for me. The road ahead is great and filled with life's vicissitudes. It's good to know that the Lord is with me leading me into the paths of righteousness.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Christ Really Matters!

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 KJV

I just got back from the Park City Mall in Lancaster, PA. I picked up some books for Bible Campus Ministries tonight. I still have a mild tension headache. As I reflect on the thoughts that I have this morning, I'm beginning to realize how much that I need the Lord Jesus Christ. I need Him to live. I need His strength, His peace, His protection, His Comfort, His Truth, His love, His grace. I need Him now more than ever before. I just don't need Him to save me (which is daily), but I need His leading. He is Lord and Savior. My God, He's the only Way out of this system of confusion. Proverbs declares that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge (1:7). I really need to reverence the LORD of Glory. His Justice, His Righteousness, His Light, His Salvation, His Power, His Anointing keeps me from drowning in the seas of doubt and despair. Though at times I feel like giving up the charades that Christians are prone to play by giving up on Jesus, His Love keeps me from falling. And if I fall, He is there to catch me. What a mighty God we serve!

It's almost time to facilitate the first session of Bible Campus Ministries. I really don't like the name but that's neither here nor there.
Christ Matters

"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Romans 5:10 KJ

I just got back from lecture given by a local print journalist in my Business Professional Communication. As I was sitting I was having spiritual warfare. The battlefield was my mind. I never experience such a cynical view of the Body of Christ. I felt a serious disillusionment of the Church. The issues that the Church is facing is staggering. How the Church handles many life-and-death issues is crazy. It's not one thing, it's the other. If it's not the Christian Right, it's the Christian Left. If it's not Pentecostalism, it's Cessationism. If it's not so-called "prosperity pimps", it's Liberation theology. If it's not Suburban nostalgia, it's urban plight. If it's not female subordinationism, it's gender feminism. If it's not perception, it's expression. If it's not anti-gay, it's pro-gay.

Not everyone in the churches of America let alone the world is of the Body of Christ, but that's for the Lord to know. Discerning who is of the brethren is difficult. How can I know who is God's and who is not. The debates concerning biblical interpretation, authority, and all the others is still going strong. Being in the multifarious evangelical tradition, I see this debate not subsiding anytime soon. It's been going on since before my birth for many centuries.

While I was sitting in that chair trying to listen to the lecturer, a million of questions seem to running in my mind. What is the Church? Who makes up the Church? Is the evangelical church the Church? is the black church the Church? Am I of the Church? Have we doing a good job representing Christ? Is Christianity about morals, standard, ethics, traditional family values, rights of the oppressed and marginalized, getting our piece of the pie before "going up yonder to meet the Lord"? Is is about all of these things?

When those questions arose I felt such a "spirit" of abandonment. It was that God was abandoning me, but it was as if I was giving up on the Faith called Christianity. Here's the crazy struggle: I couldn't be an atheist or agnostic because I know the Lord (I really met Him). I couldn't give up so-called evangelical Christianity because I believe the Gospel of Christ. I couldn't give up Pentecostal experience because the "graces" of the Holy Spirit are still real today as they were 2000 years ago at Pentecost and in the early Church. I couldn't be a Leftist Christian because it would be an intellectual and spiritual death sentence. I don't want to be a member of the Religious Right because there's too much moralism, hypocrisy, power hunger, and cultural captivity. The thing is the Right and the Left are both culturally captivated either by traditionalism or Enlightenment-tinged progressivism. I always wondered what progressives are progressing towards. As I perused their websites, I fear it's not towards Christ.

As I was wrestling in my mind, I heard the Spirit say "Trust me. Fix your eyes upon Jesus." I felt like giving up on God because of the excesses that have bewitched the Church in America. Sometimes I know why many non-Christians claim to "Love Jesus, but hate the Church". Though I know that the Christ said that truly if the world hates the Church, it's because they hate Him first. I see that sometimes Christians can hid behind the cliche "we're all sinners". But the redeemed of the Lord have no excuse to live unclean lives for the world. There's too much hypocrisy even within me. Too much vagueness. Where is the authenticity that says "But for the grace of God, there go I." The Gospel of Christ has been traded with many perversions: the gospel of prosperity, the gospel of traditional family values, the gospel of "to each his own", the gospel of "God hates gays", the gospel of "God made me this way", the gospel of inclusion, the gospel of "I want a God who accepts me the way that I am." Where is true holiness? Where is true grace? Where is Christ Jesus?

As one writer I read says that many of the churches in America are filled with pious atheists and agnostics.

I finished reading the small but powerful book Basic Christianity by John R.W. Stott, an acclaimed British evangelical preacher and author. He writes, "Christianity is Christ". To make Christianity about morals and ethics is to make Christianity about self. Self-preservation, self-aggrandizement, self-righteousness. Self-centeredness. It's about us. But the really is that Christianity is all about Jesus the Christ. It's about who He is and what he has done for us. He saves us from ourselves. We have to give up ourselves in order to truly find ourselves. So who are we supposed to be? What is our purpose in life as human beings? Through, by, and in Christ, we become new creation. God reconciles us back to Himself through Christ (His Sonship, His work on the Cross, His Resurrection) by faith (our response to the Lord Jesus).

As I am finish writing this it's been cathartic experience. I must cast my cares on Christ's shoulders because I know He cares for me. I'm learning that people are not the enemy but the devil and his cohorts. I'm learning to give grace and be merciful towards people I may disagree with either if they're for the Left or the Right.

I'm also beginning to understand that my allegiance is not to political ideologies or parties but to Christ and His Kingdom. That includes the Church. There is not solitary Christian in existence as theologian Ralph C. Wood says. I'm one of many members that make up the Body of Christ. It is my hope that Christians all over the world understands that a Christian is not a person who just believes in the ethical teachings of a poor carpenter from a small town in ancient Palestine called Nazareth. A Christian is a name giving to persons who believes and confesses that "Jesus is Lord." Belief is inward. Confession is outward. Christ is not a private matter. Christ is our whole Life and the Light of the world. The Way has made the way. Let us live in Him and walk after His Spirit.