INFIDELITY…It’s the universal act of betrayal that many, if not most, find it difficult to come back from.

No matter what country, religion or culture, infidelity marks the end of many relationships. It’s viewed as the ultimate proof that love is lost.

However, the ability to come back from infidelity may be the ultimate proof of real love.

How can I say that?

Because marriage is the analogy that God uses throughout the bible, not only to describe His relationship with Israel in Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Joel, Isaiah and Hosea, but also Christ’s (who represents the invisible God bodily) relationship with His church in Colossians,  Ephesians and Revelations. All of the aforementioned, Old Testament books are stories of Israel continually betraying God, only to have Him continually forgive them and take them back.

Israel loved God… but they continued to choose other God’s over Him.

Israel loved God… but…

God uses imperfect people to carry out His perfect will. That being said, we know that the church is made up of those imperfect people. It’s unavoidable that the church has historically made some mistakes. What’s important is that we continue to learn from those mistakes…and change.

I feel that one of the most damaging mistakes that’s been made in many churches is about GIVING. I’m not talking about HOW MUCH. I’m talking about WHY?

Too many people have been taught to GIVE SELFISHLY. Too many people have been taught and are being taught to approach God and give carnally. The ‘prosperity’ movement has reduced giving to a selfless act, based on our culture of greed, as a ‘tool’ to get what you want out of life from God. This allows the idolatry (Colossians 3:5) of worshiping oneself to pervert faith. They believe God can do it, but the motivation…

How many times have you heard someone say something like this, “In this day and time, you have to have…

A cell phone…

Internet access…

A vehicle…

A nice suit…

Electricity…

Indoor plumbing…

Soap…?”

God has blessed many of us to live in an abundant society. If
we aren’t careful, we can begin to look at many of our luxuries as necessities.

The age of children
with smart devices is getting younger and younger because many parents say, “We
have to be able to get in touch with them”.

All across America people wake up in the morning and take
for granted the blessing of being able to do the first thing we have to do when
we all get up…use the bathroom.

Years ago, no one had indoor plumbing. Even the wealthy had
an ‘out house’. Then, with the innovation of indoor plumbing it was a blessing
for the…

Having you ever noticed a child throwing a temper tantrum when he or she doesn’t get something that they want? This is a natural reaction that must be overcome as the child matures. The reaction is natural…innate…the child was born with it.

As you know, the debate continues as to whether people are born gay, or is it a choice. The purpose of this article isn’t to debate that question, but to address this fact…

The truth is that we are all born with innate desires, feelings and proclivities that we did not ask for.

Many Christians reason to excuse some behaviors by saying, “I or they was or were born this way”.

This doesn’t mean that God made a mistake because the scripture clearly reminds us that we were all born in sin…

Psalm 51:5 (NKJV)

 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother…

1 Kings 11:1-2 (NKJV)

But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— ² from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.

Anyone who reads the bible knows that King Solomon is recognized as the wisest man who every lived. They also know that he loved women and had many wives and concubines. So, it very be easily concluded that Solomon’s sex drive and love for women was a weakness. He allowed the women he loved to compromise his devotion to God – the wisest man who ever lived.

King Solomon’s wisdom was his greatest strength. His sex drive was his greatest weakness. And, both of…

Consider this…

You wake up, reach over and kiss your spouse. You then you turn on the television to check the weather and traffic. You go into the kitchen and grab a bite to eat and promptly brush, floss and take a shower so you can get out the door and be on time for work.

What’s wrong with this morning scenario?

You acknowledged your spouse…

You acknowledged the weather…

You acknowledged the traffic…

You acknowledged your hunger…

You acknowledged your hygiene (even your ‘low’giene:-)…

You acknowledged your job…

But did you acknowledge the One who made everything else you acknowledged possible?

Did you acknowledge God? Did you tell Him good morning? Did you tell Him thanks for protecting you and your family, while you were unconscious all night? Did you thank Him for waking you up? Did you thank Him for brand new mercies..

Lamentations 3:22-23 (NKJV)

I’ve found the most intimate refreshing place to pray at my home. I love sitting in my chair on my front porch and enjoying quality time with God in prayer. When I’m out there, it’s like it’s just Him and me. Yes I pray everywhere. But, that place is special.

And yes, I said sitting.

You see, it’s good to get on your knees in submission to God, but contrary to what many may have been taught it’s not mandatory. That is not the exclusively acceptable prayer posture.

Your proper prayer posture isn’t the position of your body, but of your heart and spirit…

To a humble spirit… it’s about humility.

Psalm 51:17 (NKJV)

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise

1- On Your Knees

Ephesians 3:14 (NKJV)

For this reason I bow my knees to…

I once heard a man tell his son in the barbershop, “Son, you aren’t old enough to ‘cuss’. When are you old enough to cuss?

America is obsessed with profanity. The enemy has convinced people it makes…

Words more powerful…

Jokes more funny…

Arguments more convincing…

Authority more authoritative…

Good parents will allow coaches to ‘cuss’ their children to ‘get the best out of them’.

People who deal with those who use profanity claim you have to ‘speak their language’ to get through to them.

Our movies, television shows, comedians, songs and sometimes even those in authority reinforce a culture of profanity.

God said very clearly that we are to not allow corrupt, unwholesome, coarse language come from our mouths…

Ephesians 4:29 (NKJV)

²⁹Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

He said…

For those of you who don’t know, not only do I blog, but I write songs for my wife who is Gospel/Jazz artist, Mechelle Johnson. She also sings classic R&B covers of many of the songs that make up the soundtrack of our 30-plus year marriage with her group, Natural Elegance. It’s part of our marriage ministry (Google SONday Blessing videos) that encourages strong, healthy, joyous Godly marriages between a man and woman. Our motto is…

You minister to the soul with a Gospel song, but you minister to a marriage with a love song!

We are based in a suburb of Memphis TN, and I must say that except for our very supportive church family at Oak Spring Church and a few others, we have gotten very little support from the ‘church community’. However, we have gotten MUCH SUPPORT from the local non-church community, and on radio in different…

Anyone who involved in ministry or cause that wears the name Gospel have either gone through or are going through periods when he or she may feel their efforts aren’t getting the attention or ‘support’ that it deserves.

You know that you’re anointed. You have prayed over your decisions and you feel confident that you’re doing just what God called you to do.

But, when we deliver a message, sing a song, write a song, book or blog, launch a ministry…invest our heart, soul, passion and yes, money into our ministry…it can be devastating when people don’t seem to ‘feel it’, accept it or appreciate it.

Other than my blog, I collaborate with my wife (GospelJazz recording artist Mechelle Johnson) to write songs for our music/marriage ministry. I have been an ordained minister for over 21 years, and I have found myself second guessing my callings and investments because of…

SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO REWIND

Many times after we have hurt someone, and they have ‘forgiven’ us, it angers us and hurts us when they bring it back up. We quickly remind them that ‘you are supposed to forgive and forget’. We remind them of how God says He will never remember our sins anymore…

Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

God is letting us know the power of His forgiveness, but do you think our omniscient, all-knowing God can’t recall what we did? Do you think He actually can’t remember it anymore?

This must be understood in proper context. God forgives us and doesn’t hold our sins against us WHEN WE REPENT. But, what is repentance? Repentance is godly sorrow over what we’ve done (2 Corinthians 7:10). Repentance is a change of…

When it comes to sex, married couples aren’t in the mood at the same time.

“I have a headache.”

“I’m tired.”

I’m mad.”

It’s a given couples won’t be on the same page sexually all the time, but the bible gives some sound advice and a good reason (warning) why in 1 Corinthians Chapter 7…

1 Corinthians 7:3-5  (NKJV)

³ Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. ⁴ The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ⁵ Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Hey! Don’t…

Even though I’ve never used them, I can truly understand sometimes why some people use drugs.

Some days responsibilities, burdens and uncertainties can stretch our faith to the limits. That’s what they are designed to do so our faith can grow.

Some nights anxieties won’t allow you to sleep or when you do sleep your mind doesn’t really rest.

We can go through entire seasons of our lives in a ‘fog’. Our days can be a blur and a shadow. As we live through the consequences of our sins, decisions and weaknesses sometimes all we can do is just sigh…

Psalm 90:9 (NKJV)

⁹ For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
We finish our years like a sigh.

 We can become so lonely, either or with people all around us, to the point that we can feel no one cares about us.

Through both the blessing…

Do you know anyone who seems to love drama? Dysfunction? Chaos?

Do you know anyone who confuses peace with boredom?

Some people can become so used to toxic environments, cultures and behaviors that they consider that to be normal. They are so used to negativity that they begin to unknowingly enjoy it. They enjoy creating it. They enjoy watching it. They enjoy talking about it….that’s why I think reality shows are so successful now.

They can create their own poison to what would be a good relationship…friendship…job. They sometimes aren’t even comfortable with peace within themselves because they anticipate something bad is going to happen.

I hope this is not you. We must be very careful that we don’t reject the very peace that God seeks to GIVE us. We must not be uncomfortable with the peace that God GIVES us through our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Not only…

Prayer is a privilege of a real relationship with God through our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Prayer is a powerful weapon of spiritual warfare. But, unfortunately we can unintentionally or intentionally misuse prayer.

“I’m praying for you.” We need to very careful how, and why we say it. How many times have you said it without sincerity or out of malice as a retaliation in an argument? How many times have you heard it said out of arrogance rather than concern?

God lets us know through James that prayers is ineffective and unheard when we pray with the wrong motives in our hearts…

James 4:3  (NKJV)

³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Be careful when we pray for others, about others and with others that we are praying for God’s will to be accomplished in their…

It happens to all of us. A situation arises where we feel we deserve an apology…but don’t get it.

Think for a moment about Jesus on the cross. As He was being brutalized and mocked, He still had enough love to say, forgive them…
 Luke 23:34 (NKJV)

³⁴ Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”^[a]

And they divided His garments and cast lots.

Think about the fact that Jesus offered this forgiveness and love, without an apology. It’s one thing that the Romans crucified Him, but His own people…those closest to Him consented to and called for His death.

One of the most difficult things to do is move forward with people that we feel owe us an apology…especially if they’re someone close to us.

Yes we still have to work with and relate to people who aren’t close to…

God wants a REAL relationship with us. It’s almost become cliché to say that He wants relationship and not religion, but it’s very easy, if we aren’t careful to slip into…

Religion…

Ritual…

Even let our faith be reduced to Superstition…yes just like a rabbit’s foot… a good luck charm.

It’s easy just to go with the flow of what you’ve been taught growing up.

It’s easy to ‘come to God’ simply because you are looking for something (not necessarily someone) to make your life better, or to get it on track.

It’s easy to worship and go to church because you think it’s the right thing to do.

But, God wants to be just as real to us as the people in our lives, and to be treated as such.

You spend quality time with the people you love. You communicate with the people you love (communication is talking…

Be careful of what’s in your heart when you decide to “KILL THEM WITH KINDNESS”.

That IS NOT what God told us to do. He told us to love our enemies.

Love’s intention is to give life, not kill.

Love’s intention is to build up, not tear down.

God says don’t seek revenge, that belongs to Him. God says don’t repay evil for evil, but instead to help your enemy.

The problem is, that many of us choose to ‘kill them with kindness’, ONLY to “heap coals of fire on their heads“. Many of us are only being kind because we see heaping coals of fire on their head as just another way to get even.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we may just be showing kindness to show them up, to annoy them, to make them feel bad…if that’s the intention then we’ve totally missed God’s meaning.

We can “Photoshop” inches (or centimeters) off our stomach and years off of our faces. We can add muscles, facial hair and fine tune ourselves to look exactly the way we want others to see us. How many pictures do you take before you’re satisfied? How much editing do you do. No matter how many pics we take, or how many edits we do…each picture is still us.

We live in an age of selfies, live videos and profile pictures. Everyone wants to look their best. Even if people don’t alter their appearance through plastic surgery, they alter their photos with applications and software to digitally alter our images. Hence, comes the term “Photoshop”, that because the software is so well known, it has become the term used for altering ‘images’ much like ‘Google’, ‘Frisbee’, ‘Klennex’ and ‘Styrofoam have all becomeeponyms extending to other brands and uses.

But, those closest…

John 13:34-35 (NKJV)

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 8:31-32(NKJV)

³¹ Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If youabide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.³² And you shall know thetruth, andthe truth shall make you free.”

Acts 11:26(NKJV)

²⁶ And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

Let me say first that I’m not excusing adultery, fornication or any other sexual sin. These sins also result from an innate, natural desire that we don’t ask for, and people make a choice to commit these sins based on that desire.

However, there are many people who are now trying to defend homosexuality by saying that Jesus never addressed it, or forbade it. They say only the Apostle Paul addressed it, and some even try to contend that he wasn’t really talking about homosexuality.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet.

We all know there are several sins that Jesus never directly addressed…

Rape…

Incest…

Domestic Abuse…

Bestiality…

Gossip…

Jealousy…

To name a few.

Jesus didn’t even say directly that getting drunk is a sin. It was indirect.

He did address marriage, fornication adultery and divorce.
And, no one disputes that the LORD only permits sex within marriage.

We all have them…regrets.

We regret things we’ve done…

Things we’ve said…

Things we’ve thought.

Even our regrets are an aspect of being created in God’s image.

Genesis 6:6 (NIV)

⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

 The word regret here, according to Strong’s Concordance, means to sigh, groan or ease oneself.

God’s ‘regret’ wasn’t lamenting over a mistake He made, because He makes no mistakes, but rather His comforting Himself as He progressed with His plan that eventually led to man’s salvation.

God gave us every emotion for a reason…even those we consider negative.

He gave us anger to lead to passion in order to make positive change.

He gave us hate to have hatred for evil and sinful behavior…not people.

And, he gave us REGRET to be seeds to repentance rather than depression.

Sometimes when…

Okay, you were hurt. BAD!

Not only that, but you were hurt by someone who loves you. Someone who is close to you. Someone who instead of having your back, instead of scratching your back…stabbed you in it…talked about you behind it…didn’t watch it.

But, you know what the word of God says…

Matthew 18:21-22 (NKJV)

²¹ Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Plus, the relationship you have with them is important to you. It’s bigger than the betrayal. It’s bigger than the denial. It’s bigger than the pain they caused you, so you make up your mind to forgive them. And, the fact is that you know that as much as…

SOME OF THE BIGGEST LIES WE TELL ARE…

Not intentionally (most of the time)…have any of these come from your mouth????

I love you…

I’ll pray for you…

I’ll call you back…

That’s okay…

I’m okay…

What’s wrong? “Nothing!”…

That’s hilarious…(and you don’t laugh)

Oh yeah, I remember that…

I don’t remember…

I don’t have it on me…(when asked for money)

That tastes great…

You look great…

I like that…

I’ve got your back…

I love everybody…

I don’t see color…

I’m doing this for you…

That didn’t bother me…

I don’t even care…

I’m over it…

It doesn’t matter…

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 12…

 Matthew 12:36 (NKJV)

 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

Take a moment and thank God for His grace and mercy for the lies…

Most cake recipes call for a little salt. Many of us like to satisfy our sweet tooth with a good slice of cake. In fact, when it’s really good, one bite just makes you want another. The right amount of salt makes cakes taste just right…making you want more with each bite. However, too much salt will make us quickly spit it out of our mouth.

Colossians 4:6 tells us to let our speech be full of grace and seasoned with salt. Ecclesiastes 7:16 says, “Do not be overly righteous,” Nor be overly wise:..”

It’s good to have passion for the Kingdom of God, but when we are over-zealous, arrogant, mean-spirited  self-righteous, we can turn people away rather than attract them to Christ. All things in moderation. If we are trying to talk about the Lord in EVERY conversation, claim we never do anything wrong, or down people who are…

God has said it to me many times.

The ‘N-WORD’

And I must admit that it’s very rare that I like it.

It’s very hard for me to hear.

Sometimes, I think it’s not fair.

I will think to myself, “You didn’t say the ‘N-WORD’ to him…or to her!”

I know that God is sovereign, and He can say whatever He wants to say.

I know He loves me…knows what’s best for me…and everything He does is always working for my good.

I know He knows me better than I know myself.

Yes, I trust Him, and I submit to His perfect will for my life.

But, that doesn’t make it hurt any less when God decides to respond to me with…

The ‘N-WORD’

Sometimes I reason within myself, He really didn’t mean that.

Sometimes I will keep pushing, trying to force a different response…

But, still His answer remains…

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (OR CHURCH)

It’s impossible to ignore the presence of slavery in the bible. Many people wonder if slavery is evil, then why is it in the bible, both Old and Testaments. To fully explain this concept would take a series of lessons, which I do intend to publish soon, as I get time to responsibly put them together. I will however give you a brief answer for general understanding.

First and foremost, we in the 21st Century have the tendency to view things only from a 21st Century perspective, but God exists outside of time and relates to us holistically throughout time, beyond time and the cultures we have created. God deals with us from and through the lens of HIS prospective. We must look at the many aspects of servitude throughout history.

IT’S CLEAR AMERICAN SLAVERY WAS EVIL

Slavery and servitude have existed in…