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Staggered by the odd goodness of God: Kingdom Mathematics don’t always add up

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Well, as much as I hate using an old address to sell plasma to pay for my rent at the Bunkhouse (hopefully someone at the plasma center won’t read this), I seem to be blessed financially anyway. For example, I have $4.57 in my account, I stop at McD’s for some dollar menu items that cost $4.08. Why does my account balance equal $2.49 the next day? Shouldn’t it be .49? Then a day or two later I get some chicken on the dollar menu at Church’s which should zero out that account. Today I check it and it’s $3.49. I could ask God for a full direct deposit but something tells me that would be putting God to the test. His blessings aren’t that obvious. You actually have to be quite anal(ytical) to catch them. And by the way, the last thing you want to do is make sense of God’s blessings!

Now I may get to be a part-time stock clerk at a local grocery store (with my experience that’s, n/m, none of your business. . .j/k :) Either way if I was offered the chance to be a store manager or a syndicated columnist with a content writing service, you would think it would be a no-brainer since being a retail manager would be nights, weekends, and Sundays. But after two years of scrounging a living as a freelance writer (not as bad as hard construction day labor) I pretty much decided this lifestyle sucks and isn’t consistent enough. I’m ready for full-time work again. But I probably need to finish my Bachelor’s (probably at University of Phoenix). My work though Elance has caused me to get into Web Development and it’s practical so I can probably pass the classes. and get a grant + scholarships since I haven’t worked much the last two years.

The plasma story reminds me of when Jesus said something to the religious zealots of His day about neglecting the latter for the former; i.e., focusing so much on the keeping of God’s law that you neglect a brother in need. Even Rahab lied to protect spies. Besides if you try to be completely honest at any job you would be fired. If you have that kind of faith, go for it. I know when I was a Department Manager the team stocking guide I filled out gave me 1.5-2 days to finish the job and I only had eight hours. Truck drivers can only drive so many hours but have to go over due to traffic. If they are honest about that they would still be canned for violating company policy. That would be called playing the game. The only alternative would be living on the streets and being a leech on society. Would anybody listen to someone share the gospel if they looked and dressed like a veteran hobo? I met a lot of “godly” people on the streets. Sadly I cannot tell who is real or just psychotic. I don’t think all the meds in the world would pull some of those people who have lived on the streets since the ’80′s back to reality. It’s really sad visiting that neigborhood. I know if I had to live there again I would probably be needing drug and alcohol rehab. However when it comes to drugs & alcohol and antipsychotic medicine, it’s a tossup which one is worse for you in the long run.

Bloom Where You’re Planted

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Hopefully Joel Osteen’s secret service won’t bust me for borrowing that title from one of his sermons a few years ago. Actually motivational speeches is more like it; but isn’t that what a true sermon is supposed to be?

Since God directs our steps that technically means we don’t master our own destiny. However, we are accountable for the choices we make because to a point they affect how God leads us. Choosing your own selfish will (sin) affects your destiny. Of course, God knows everything you’re going to do before you do it so He is still directing your steps; you just won’t be aware of it unless your eyes are open to His working in your life.

So do you choose where you are at on any given day? Yes. Did God lead you there? Yes. Could you have went somewhere else? Yes. Would God have led you there? Yes.

Is anybody else confused by predestination? It’s the topic that’s divided the church between Calvinism and Arminianism (not sure if I spelled that one right). The point is, God can use you anywhere; although wherever you go you will still have the same mission: To go fishing.

I heard a pastor once tell about the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. Even if his brothers hadn’t sold him into slavery, he still would have had the same mission that God called him to.

Or in my case, since I live in men’s dorm that serves as a homeless shelter (I don’t consider myself homeless as long as I’m paying rent of $100 something a month), I have the same ministry as I did at the Bunkhouse Men’s Dorm (not a homeless shelter and would have more freedom if I went there but saving money-don’t know if that’s a lack of faith or not); even though one serves as a shelter and the other one is a dormitory for men, there are still men at both settings that have hit bottom and have come to a place that’s cheap till they get back on their feet. Therefore, I would have the same ministry for two reasons:

1. Most of the guys are alcoholics, drug addicts, and mentally ill meaning they are in desperate need of the Spirit of God to be allowed into their lives.

2. When you’re at the bottom in life, there is only room to go up. It’s the best time to find God because you are usually at your most humble position and receptive to the call of God.

God always directs your steps towards Him, but when you don’t respond to His gentle voice you get deeper into sin and you can no longer hear His voice as your heart hardens. Those that really want God will respond.

As the Word of God warns, if you hear His voice today don’t harden your hearts like they did in the wilderness; you never know when, or if, you will get the opportunity to receive God’s gift of salvation. You don’t know what you’re missing if you’re in this boat. That goes for many “christians” that sit in church pews thinking they are right because they “believe” the right doctrine but have never trusted God with their life. The latter is the most dangerous place to be.
Blessings & Peace,
E Wooten Jr

Achievement v. Faithfulness

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Reading on this in my daily devotional time. I’ve actually heard some believers say they’re “only ambitious for the Lord.” Some actually go as far as to think a person’s goals & dreams are part of your sin nature and are to be renounced; therefore they spend years living a frustrated walk with God trying to renounce desires that He’s already put upon their heart. My friend, that could be a little self-righteous and pious behavior just even thinking that you are so far from God that you just manufacture your own desires. God gives you the desires of your heart, sin is where you try to pursue them apart from a relationship with God, and God promises to give you your desires when you delight yourself in Him; i.e., find all your fulfillment and significance in your personal relationship with your Creator. Jesus said apart from Him you can do nothing and He even said He only did what He saw His Father doing. So Jesus was fully human yet lived a perfect life because He was fully in tune with His Father through the Holy Spirit which qualified Him to be our Savior.

There is nothing wrong with achievement in and of itself except when you take credit for your achievements and start to become proud. Faithfulness is the realization of your God-given goals & dreams and pursuing them as an overflow of your relationship with God. Each day you pray for your daily bread which is what God gives you to do that day ask Him for His blessing as He sees fit. Jesus says whatever you ask in His name will be granted if you abide, or remain, in Him.

The key is to remain (abide) in the vine and find your fulfillment being lived out of your relationship with God. So faithfulness is a daily battle against Satan as you do what God puts upon your heart to do. Jesus said “what good is it for a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul?” You may have a lot of achievement but apart from God it’s filthy rags.

You can follow your dreams but God gives it purpose and meaning. The only way you should give up any dream or goal is if it keeps you from seeking first the Kingdom of God. If if does that, then it’s probably not a something God has put on your heart. Or you’re just not ready to pursue it yet. Hmmm. . .maybe that’s why I got sidetracked from my dream of being a freelance journalist.

Hard Worker or Efficiency Expert

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Do you feel overworked and underpaid? Think production goals are too high? We may be fooling ourselves with that though.

For starters, compared to other nations our minimum wage workers are quite wealthy. Also if you learn how to manage your money and live simple, you don’t have to make as much.

Secondly, one of the “sales reps” for a MLM scam told me that the average person only works 25-30 hours a week. Think about it. Out of 40 hours a week, how many hours do you spend “working” versus talking to coworkers. For those of us with office jobs, how many of us sneak onto Facebook? If we can’t get away with it on our computers, we have smartphones. Like you don’t sneak off to the bathroom to share something juicy with your best friend on Facebook or Twitter. Not that I can’t say I haven’t done it but I don’t think my “boss” is going to fire me. Although my clients might if I don’t meet a deadline.

If we were perfect and worked as hard as we possibly could, and smart, for starters we’d be perfect; we would also be working part-time. Our fleshly bodies are weak and by nature lazy. Even the most ambitious person take extra “breaks” if he thinks he won’t get caught.

So as my old motto goes:
“Work smarter not harder.”-Former Supervisor
“the less I have to do, the more I get done.”-E Wooten Jr.
Alan Jackson/Good Time

Lies From The Tablecloth

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Oh, the lies you hear in the world:

  1. You need a college degree to get a good job. That’s been proven wrong although a degree does open doors. Doors that could open by joining a getting an entry-level job and working your way up, joining a professional group and teaching yourself. Granted you have to have some form of postsecondary edjumacation. You can do this through community college and even some websites that offer free or reduced prices for various enrichment classes. Amazing how all schools are online now so if you have learning disabilities and can’t keep up with the fastpaced learning environment you are pretty much screwed.While you’re deep in debt to student loan sharks that campus recruiter is driving around in his rolls royce and living in his 6 bedroom house funding his pleasures.
  2. It’s a lifelong illness. There is no cure. It can only be corrected with medication. Obviously a trap by PharmaCo and the government which receives taxes from this business. Many “lifelong” illnesses are the result of chronic stress & repressed emotions; likely from falling into the debt trap inflicted on by recruiters and Sales Reps. You deal with the underlying issue and take care of yourself there is no issue.
  3. You have to go into debt to have nice things. Not necessarily. You ever hear of living simple until you make good on investments to get the money saved up to pay cash for those nice things? You actually get better deals if you can pull out cash. Imagine the look on the Salesman‘s face when he wants to take you to the Finance department and you tell him “don’t bother.
  4. Both couples have to work. Nope. The man is supposed to. The woman’s main job is to take care of the wife and kids and work outside the home if she finds a job she’s passionate about. Nowadays many couples can work from home and have more flexibility to take care of other commitments.
  5. Informercials that promise Financial Freedom. They are almost all MLM scams.
  6. “We work our butts off.” If you’re working that hard you’re probably not prioritizing. Many MLM’ers I’ve talked to are right about the fact that the average worker works 25-30 hours a week. So what do they do the other 10-15? Talk to other associates that’s what. So production goals nowadays aren’t that high. We are just lazy; which is probably why we get all stressed out and develop emotional problems. In the old days they worked sunup to sundown during the spring and summer to bring in a crop. What did they do the other six months of the year? As my dad taught me; life is only as hard as you make it. The Word of God teaches in Psalms that the way of the transgressor is hard if you try to live without God. Not having God at the center of your life makes your life out of balance automatically. Jesus taught us to seek first the Kingdom of God and all else would be added.

That’s all for now. You thought I was going to make a whole article and leave God out? Jehovah Sneaky strikes again. Man, is technology making us lazy. We can now see what our Social Media friends are listening to or reading online. I think it’s just Big Brother’s trap to get us to turn on each other. One thing is for sure; if we get any more dependent on technology we are all going to be glowing in the dark in  a few more years. I don’t think that’s what the Lord meant when He said “let your light shine before all men. . .”

EMF/Lies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlUidR6Fkhw

The Jesus 500: Running the race to the Son

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Actually more like running the race to the Father through the Son but that would have made the title too long. Paul, or whoever the writer of Hebrews is, compared walking with God to a race. However since we are all equal at the Cross we can all win; especially if we love our neighbor and stop to help those that lag behind. The ultimate sacrifice you can make in this life is using your spiritual gift to the point that the people you serve end up passing you up in the race. Maybe that’s what Jesus meant by the last would be first. However there are many OSASer’s who are still stuck at the starting line because they haven’t been grounded in their faith enough to know who they are in Christ. Paul talks about the faith of the believer in an unequally yoked marriage sanctifying the unbelievers. Maybe that could apply for those strong in faith asking God to transfer some of it (or overflow) into those that lag behind. So it’s more evenly distributed. Like a Pastor said once (Pentecostal obviously) being religious, meaning trying to be “good” because you feel you have to or it’s the “right thing to do” is dancing around the Cross. When you actively step out in faith and pursue God by embracing the Messiah and live out in belief in Him by following Him then you actually get up on the Cross and carry your own.

My song of 2011 was Mercy Me/Move

My 2012 song of the year is by the Afters/We Won’t Give Up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2ddmincSys

Follow the Leader and go fishing

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Sorry I haven’t been doing this much. I don’t want my content writing business to interfere with the devotional ministry. I also didn’t want to create more  than one website. So there is a business category for clients that I write content for; nonprofit and for profit alike. It’s also an online portfolio of everything I write so coming soon will be a link for published articles (only two so far through Reality Today Forum-I believe volume 2 or 3 from the last half of 2011. If anybody thinks what I’m doing is wrong don’t hesitate to call me on it and I will create two websites. After all it’s not as expensive as it was ten years ago for a domain name.

Jesus commanded His followers to follow Him and He would make them fishers of men. Since it’s all about a relationship, when you focus on the Lord the Holy Spirit moves in your life as you become more sanctified and set apart from the world. In doing this He actually draws seekers to you that are hungry and thirsty for deliverance and healing. Sort of a Charismatic Law of Attraction. It’s almost like you’re not even “working” the way things just fall into place. All we do is share our faith in God‘s Word and what the Spirit is doing in our lives and God baptizes true seekers with His Great Spirit and empowers them to follow Him as they place their trust in the Lord. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. That is hearing with you spiritual ears which means coming to the end of yourself and possessing the faith of a child; this can only be accomplished by the Holy Spirit. Like the Great Fisherman said, “with man this is impossible but with God all things are possible.”

Shabat Shalom and Baruch Hashem in the Might Name of Yeshua Mashiach

 

Shabat Shalom & Baruch Hashem in Yeshua

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This was intended for yesterday but thanks to the Christian church we can have a sabbath all weekend. Hey, I’m down with that. :) The sabbath is another example of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) helping you as you seek to honor G-d. Since I started a content writing business I made a decision to work six days a week and take the Jewish sabbath off. Actually since the sabbath starts Friday after sunset and ends Saturday after sunset I could literally work seven days a week. Of course the L-rd has been showing me the dangers of being overcommitted. Which I’m going to have to learn if I go back to University of Phoenix to finish my original major I started back in ’97-Communications. I wanted to be a journalist but they have a program geared toward Sales & Business writing but that’s another story entirely. Anyway the last few weeks I have been tempted to “work” on Saturday but for some reason that’s the one day I can’t seem to get motivated to pursue the cares of this world. Not that G-d is calling me to make that sacrifice. He doesn’t delight in sacrifices; just the committed that’s behind it. If He called you to make sacrifices then it wouldn’t be a sacrifice, it would be obedience. Jesus teaches us that the sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath. It’s to keep us from wearing ourselves out. Even though I don’t feel worn out yet, that could change any day with as many jobs as I bid on through Elance. All I have to do is get 3-5 jobs at one time then I’ll need a sabbath. If you don’t take advantage of the benefits of a sabbath, you may need a whole Sabbatical like I’ve been on for the last year. Now it’s ending as I prepare to go back to finish my Undergraduate, start a writing business, and get more and more involved at my new church. City Life Center at 915 Florence in Forth Worth 76102 if you’re in the area and looking for a church home that’s barely a year old.

 

The Value of Hard Work

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The book of Proverbs has much to say about hard work. Not necessarily vocational either. You have to work hard in every area of your life if you want to be successful The Word of the Lord says that the diligent soul will be made fat (if not financially then physically in my case) and that diligent hands will rule. I’m also reminded every time I feel tired and want to take a nap that the Word declares “a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty shall come upon thee as a bandit.” So I end up working about 5 1/2 to 6 days a week but usually around 30 hours scattered throughout the day (sitting in one place is kind of hard-I hear it causes hemerrhoids). Proverbs also credits the ant who saves up for a rainy day. Many believers take Jesus literally about not storing up treasures for yourself but storing up treasures in heaven. That doesn’t mean not saving money for the future. Everything Jesus taught dealt with matters of the heart so He was referring to spending it on yourself rather than being rich towards the things of God. However Proverbs does talk about not trusting in your riches. Whoever loves money will never have enough and it’s the actual love of money that’s the root of evil. The best way to defeat greed is to be generous with whatever God blesses you with for God loves a cheerful giver. Just look at your bank account. What you spend most of your money on is what you love the most. Is it on anything that glorifies God? Lastly, the book of Psalms and in Joshua it talks about true success being found in meditating on the Law of God. Many protestant christians talk about how we’re not under law but under grace and end up disregarding the law of God and anybody that does try to obey it they think are trusting in the own “works”. That’s another devotional entirely before I get off on a tangent. The most blatant thing I’ve heard “believers” say is that they’re only ambitious for the Lord which is basically just an excuse to not push or challenge yourself in every area of your life. In the show 7th Heaven the mom told young Simon Camden in one episode that if you’re not challenging yourself you will never be happy. My earthly father also told me once that not being happy in your work can cause your health to fail since that’s where you spend most of your time. This could be why we’re so sick nowadays-because we don’t work as hard anymore as well as why 80% of Americans hate their jobs; because they’re settling rather than doing what they want to do because of the effort they have to put into it. Or they’re afraid of the adversity that comes from mediocre people when you step out in faith to pursue your dreams.  So in observance of the actual Sabbath I try to take off at Friday sunset to Saturday sunset which means I get to work on Sunday afternoon after church (since the church I’ve been going to is attached to the best coffee shop I’ve ever been too in Forth Worth).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCIUf8eYPqA

Bachman Turner Overdrive/Taking’ Care of Business

P.S.; What business have you been puttin’ off? Go take care of it. :)

Our Unmet Need

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It’s true we will always have an unmet need in life. However whether we have unfulfilled desires depends on our drive, passion, and where we’re at with God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Spiritual hearing comes when you open your heart to the one true and living God, which is Him drawing you to the Cross of His Son; the more you seek after the things of God the more He fills you and you know what you truly want out of life. Then the Holy Spirit will empower you to git er dun. 2 Peter says God adds to faith virtue; this is moral excellence or a striving for holiness, i.e.; to be made whole. If you are not striving for this you are out of fellowship and your faith is small. To virtue He adds knowledge which leads to temperance. Knowing how to live right and having the self-control to do so by keeping your focus on Him. These lead you to steadfastness and godliness which leads to brotherly love (Phileo) and Charity. As we become more humble and dependent on the Holy Spirit for His Life we are filled to overflowing and able to supernaturally love God and others unconditionally. So the only unmet need we really have is for more faith which is where it all begins with the size of a mustard seed. Also when you do step out in faith God and receive His blessings He is going to continue to draw you to a deeper level of faith and dependence which only serves to enhance your ability to do the other things that follower; namely leading to a greater love of God and others which makes you more Christlike and fulfills the Law of God given to Moses.

Jeff Deyo/More Love, More Power

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3GmSupatEs