Filthy Language

An issue that will inhibit the power of God to flow freely through us is when our speech becomes either a condition, a crutch, or a condemnation.

1. Condition

Our speech becomes a condition whenever we unjustly evaluate our abilities without the Lord’s anointing in mind. It is evidenced whenever we say phrases like, I can’t, I’m too young, too old, too stupid, untalented, or too poor. When we speak these words about ourselves we internally allow that phrase to correctly define our condition.

I am reminded of Jeremiah’s call to ministry. God calls Jeremiah to greatness when he was young but Jeremiah used filthy language to respond to God. “I’m too young; I can’t.” God’s response is quick, “don’t say that.” Not sure about you, but I imagine God saying with a gruff, Mr. T-like voice, “Shut up FOOL.” In his response to Jeremiah, God let him know that, that type of speech was unacceptable in God’s presence. According to God, Jeremiah’s speech attempted to identify his condition when God had already established his condition of being an anointed prophet.

When our speech diminishes our condition it will significantly hinder growth in Christ. God desires to be speak blessing over your life but if all you do is diminish that blessing by speaking your own assessment of yourself than that blessing will deplete over time.

2. Crutch

Speech becomes a crutch when it is used as an excuse to shift responsibility or consequences. “I know I haven’t read my Bible in a week but I’ve just been busy.” “I know that the ministry that I’m over is falling apart but its because we just don’t have enough resources.” “I know that I haven’t communicated with my wife in the last month but I’ve just been really stressed at work.” All of these are examples of filthy language that are detrimental to a healthy relationship with God because they are excuses that attempt to shift responsibility or consequences.

I have experienced a few “dry” seasons of ministry in the last few years. Those seasons appeared to be eerily similar – lack of numerical growth, doubt of my calling and abilities, increased thought about the “next step” in ministry, great discipleship, poor  evangelism, a shortage of God’s voice, and an increase of excuses. The excuses for why things weren’t growing were limitless. Those excuses were the crutches that enabled me to hobble through a dry season. The only way I would ever get out of that season was by dropping the crutches and running after new things. The excuses seemed to sustain me yet they were inhibiting me.

I believe you can relate in some way. Regardless of profession, there seems to be frequent dry seasons where forming excuses and hobbling on crutches are easy. The excuses must be excused in order to advance.

3. Condemnation

Speaking condemnation over others is the absolute lowest form of speech one can partake in. When we take matters in our own hands through condemning, slandering, or criticizing someone else than we are doubting the power of God’s conviction. In other words, if we really think someone deserves our condemnation because they were involved in some type of sin and we go ahead and condemn that person without offering grace or mercy, then we don’t believe that God is able to convince that individual of their sin.

Too often, condemning speech is directed at those in places of leadership. Even casual conversations that criticize leaders can prove to be extremely unhealthy to how we respond to any authority figure including God. I do not believe that every leader should be above the critiques of their subordinates but it is fine to walk between critiquing and criticizing.

Sweetie the Dog

I am not an animal lover. I never really was. For me, the thought of animals living in a sterile environment where humans live just doesn’t make sense. The worst pet our family ever had was a mutt named Sweetie. Sweetie is the ultimate reason why I never want a dog or any animal for that matter. I was only nine but I can remember several reasons why I disliked her – she pooped in my bed, she ate my shoes, she cried at night by my door, she looked ugly, she reeked of garbage, she ate garbage, and she didn’t do tricks. Needless to say, Sweetie and I didn’t get along. Eventually Sweetie became a burden for our entire family and suddenly disappeared. To this day, my dad will not tell anyone what happened to Sweetie. It’s a dark part of my past that I can barely bring up. Maybe not, but I still wonder what really happened to Sweetie.

Regardless of how many times I called that dog, Sweetie it didn’t change her behavior. She was a mean and aggravating dog that had no sweetness in her. Close to two decades later I feel like I could have been a little nicer to sweetie. I could have at least tried to spend time with her by going for a walk, throwing the frisbee, or something else dog lovers do. I didn’t have the patience. I could call her Sweetie all I wanted but she would never be a sweet dog unless my family and I had the patience.

“Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” – Ephesians 4:2 (NLT)

Relationships with others are held together through patience. We can say that we love people but if we are not patient with them and make allowances for them then there is no sincerity in our bond.

Our speech is intertwined in our relationship. We can’t be impatient with others in our speech and expect an effective relationship. If you truly want a friend then you have got to exercise an immense level of patience for that person. It may seem unfair till you realize how much patience the other person needs to exercise in order to stay friends with you.

Lessons From Senior Adults Part 3

Mr. Bill Burrows was the first senior adult, besides my family, that poured something of value into my life. He invited me to be a part of the Altar Workers Ministry that he was over when I was seven years old. He approached me and asked me if I wanted to be in ministry, I excitedly said ‘yes’ without having any idea of what the “job” entailed. Mr. Burrows simply wanted me and my best friend Brant (who was also seven) to pray over children that would come to the altar and to lay cloths on ladies who were “slained” in the Holy Spirit. To a “grown up” this ministry position was meaningless and seemingly a waste of time but to me, it was life-changing. I learned the ministry from Mr. Bill Burrows. He mentored me as a child. He even corrected me when I didn’t do things right or when I did something that would cause reproach to myself or my friends.

I once was hanging around a group of “church thugs.” The church thugs found a brilliant new way of getting a drink to come out of the church drink machine without having to pay the steep price, fifty cents. While the church thugs were in the middle of their demonic, thieving ways, Mr. Burrows walked in and caught us. He sat all of us down and told us why stealing from the Lord was wrong. I cried because I thought I was going to hell! Mr. Burrows pulled me aside and warned me to not get too close to sin. He knew that I wasn’t stealing but just my presence there caused reproach on my ministry. He taught me integrity in ministry when I was still a child.

Mr. Burrows has since gone to be with the Lord. He passed away from a heart attack three years after I joined the Altar Workers Ministry. A week before he passed away he sat down with me and Brant to encourage us one more time to never give up on God. To this day those words mean the world to me as I try to follow his advice.

Lessons from Senior Adults Part 2

I always knew that God had called me into the ministry. I had made plans under the direction of the Holy Spirit to attend Masters Commission when I graduated from High School. The Lord led me to attend Central Masters Commission at Central Assembly of God Church in Haughton, Louisiana. If you are at all familiar with Louisiana you will know that North and South Louisiana are two completely different worlds. I lived in South LA near New Orleans in a city called Westwego. The church that I grew up in was 100% opposite from Central Assembly of God where I attended Masters Commission. Even though my brother was the youth pastor/director of the Masters Commission program I still felt like this was a world that I couldn’t be apart of. All of that changed in my first weekend when I met Coleman Driggers. Brother Driggers was a senior adult/usher at the church. He was a country boy through and through complete with an enormous cowboy hat which he proudly wore. The first time I shook his hand he yanked me in, gave me hug and told me, “I love you young people, boy I do!” From that moment on I had made a friend in Brother Driggers.

One day our group of Masters Commission Students went to his house to have lunch with him. After eating Sonic, his request, we sat down and listened to Brother Driggers share his testimony. He told us about how he was saved, called into ministry, and rejected in ministry before he began. He told us that God gave him a dream to plant a church. He acted upon that dream by going to the proper people that would have helped him to get his credentials as a minister and begin work on the church plant. The proper officials rejected Brother Driggers because he did not have any education. Brother Driggers was so hurt by this that he gave up on his dream. Years went by and Brother Driggers noticed in a church magazine a picture of the church that he saw in his vision. He read in the magazine that the church was started around the exact same time that he had the vision. Brother Driggers, with tears in his eyes told us to never give up on your dreams no matter who turns you down. He told us that he made a commitment to God to be faithful in anything the Lord asked him to do no matter what it would be.

The Lord directed Brother Driggers to serve the church faithfully. God never directed him to be a pastor but God did direct him to be an example of faithfulness to everyone including me. Brother Driggers was my friend and a great example for me to follow. I learned about faithfulness in ministry. I learned how to trust God even if I’d failed. I learned that if I kept my hand in the nail scarred hand then everything was going to be alright. But mostly, what I learned from Brother Driggers was how and why to love young people because of the way he showed love to me and every other youth in that church. This is ultimately why I decided to continue to pursue a calling in youth ministry. It wasn’t from a cool young “hipster;” it was from an old red-necked country boy.

After I finished Master’s Commission and ventured off into full time ministry, Brother Driggers passed away. He knew that this was about to happen so he decided to plan his entire funeral. He decided that carrying his casket would be eight young people that he specifically ministered to. I was so honored to be included in that number and to carry the body of one of the greatest men I knew.

Lessons From Senior Adults Part 1

I made it; I was in full time ministry. I was 19 years old when I became the youth pastor of Bethel Assembly of God in Shreveport, LA. I was single. I didn’t have a dollar to my name. I was too young to drive the church van, but I had finally arrived!

Br. Smitty was the door greeter at Bethel Assembly of God. He has been the door greater for more than two decades and if you were to go there today he will be the first one opening the door for you, handing you a church bulletin, and greeting you with the biggest smile no matter who you are. One day I asked Br. Smitty why he was the door greater. He began to tell me that after he gave his life to God he asked God what he needed to do for the church. The Lord told Br. Smitty to “Greet my people.” Br. Smitty told the Lord that he was willing to do anything and go anywhere but God still told him to greet his people. Br. Smitty agreed and began serving faithfully as the door greeter and has never left his post for over two decades.

Br. Smitty taught me that no ministry is more important than another ministry. I used to believe that youth ministry was THE ministry and every other ministry wasn’t quite getting it like youth ministry. Br. Smitty showed me how wrong I really was. He showed me the importance of faithful service no matter where you are called to serve. I have never seen this type of faithfulness to the call of God before or since. Br. Smitty has instilled a great ministry principle into my life – faithfulness to the call.

Fear of Being Weird

One of my fears is being labeled a weird Christian. You know, the type of Christian that stands in strong opposition to everything that is not considered to be “christian.” The ones that say you can only listen to Christian music, watch Christian movies, say Christian phrases, visit Christian websites, fuel up at Christian gas stations and pay debts to only Christian debt collectors. I sometimes crave for my faith to look cool and even hippie-like. I wish to be non-offensive, tolerant, appealing, relevant, and respected by sinners in everything I do for God.

In my desire to be cool I sometimes miss God. I tolerate things I shouldn’t. I listen to music I shouldn’t. I just generally do stuff I shouldn’t. Then, like many times before, I ask for forgiveness and receive God’s grace. I’ve missed the mark so many times that I have lost count. When I was younger I tried to make the mark only by not doing those grey area Christian sins. At some point along the journey I realized that the more I tried to make the mark by avoiding certain sins, the more I missed the mark by other sins that I just neglected to highlight that week. It was an endless cycle of falling and forgiveness. I needed to wake up but was clueless as to how.

Then, it just clicked; what if I focus all of my efforts on what I SHOULD do rather than on what SHOULD NOT do? My reasoning was that if focused on what I should do then I would depend more on God as opposed to focusing what I shouldn’t do and all of my efforts would be depending upon what I feel or remember is wrong. It required more faith and a deeper level of intimacy with God to focus on what I should do. In fact, it was liberating and totally uncool.

Listening to God as my guide meant that I would refer solely to his direction in those behavior/judgment calls. I learned to listen to God for everything. I still miss the mark but I miss it significantly less because I’m focusing on the one who created the mark rather than on the mark itself. This was liberty. This was freedom in the Holy Spirit. This was working out my own salvation.

The only problem to this style of living was that my cool factor would be significantly diminished. I can’t be the cool, relevant, tolerant, non-offensive, and appealing person to every sinner all the time because those who have no relationship don’t understand the ways of God. If they don’t understand the ways of God then cannot fully conceive his will. This means when I do the will of God that it will sometimes look weird and uncool. My fear of being uncool and irrelevant can never replace my obedience to God. For many it has. For you don’t let it. Obedience is not only better than sacrifice it is also better than the approval and acceptance of the world.

David’s Thoughts on Pimp Slapping

Sitting and writing at Starbucks my thoughts race from my empty cup of coffee, my facebook profile page, my black school bag that is turning navy blue or purplish due to the age, my color blindness may be getting worse, and the ugly shade of green of the man’s shirt in front of me. These thoughts are not divinely inspired. These thoughts, however are:

“Arise, O LORD! Rescue me, my God! Slap all my enemies in the face! Shatter the teeth of the wicked!” – Psalm 3:7 (NLT)

“O LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble?” – Psalm 10:1 (NLT)

“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” – Psalm 13:1 (NIV)

These are just some of the outlandish thoughts of David that are mentioned throughout the book of Psalms. We sometimes think that we can’t think certain things then while thinking about what not to think about we think about it anyway. Our thoughts seem uncontrollable and most of the times extremely dark. David was not only allowed to think some pretty dark thoughts, he was allowed to put those thoughts in the divinely inspired words of God.
I’m not suggesting that God wants us to consistently think about pimp slapping our enemies like David did, I’m simply saying that God is not ashamed of our thoughts and neither should we be. They are thoughts, not actions.

The healthiest thing David could have done when thinking these thoughts about his enemies and even the thoughts about the distance of God was to write them down rather than dwell on them continually. The dark thoughts should be written down in a book that only you and God could buy. Process through feelings and emotions through writing. David thought about slapping his enemy in the face but we see in 1 Samuel 24 that he could have easily killed his enemy, Saul while Saul used a cave as his personal bathroom. David was urged by all of his men to kill Saul but he only cut a piece of his robe. He later felt convicted that he even did that so he apologized to his enemy Saul who was trying to kill David.

Maybe David was able to show incredible discipline by not taking vengeance against the Lord’s anointed king because he was able to process through some of those dark thoughts through journaling. I like to think so.

3 False gods – Events, Emotions, and Experiences

There are three things that people who are attempting to worship God worship instead – events, emotions, and experiences. Those who worship the event will associate God with a moment in time in which they felt closer to God than any other time. As a youth pastor, I see this with teenagers who worship the God who lives at the summer campgrounds or convention center. Their love for the event in which God changed their life is so much greater than their love for God. For those who merely worship the event, it is extremely difficult to live for God with any consistency if they are not at that event. The event is not wrong but it’s also not God.

Another false object of affection is emotion. We can so easily fall in love with the way God makes us feel rather than genuinely falling in love with God. Emotion is what softens our hearts to receive Jesus and to remain consistently passionate for God, but when we only worship emotion our heart is in conflict with the heart of God. With that being said, when one is void of emotion then they are void of a key component that makes up the heart of God. Never fall in love with a feeling, fall in love with the one who created feelings.

The other misconstrued object of worship is worshiping an experience. In contrast with worshiping an event, people worship an experience by elevating a former level of spirituality once experienced in the past and trying as hard as possible to return to that level. It is less about an actual place and more about an actual period of time. This is evidenced when individuals say, “I used to be so close to God; if I could just get back to where I used to be then things would be great.” The truth is that the past, no matter how grievous or glorious, is finished. God is not interested in taking you back to some level of spirituality you once had, he wishes you to go deeper in his love than you have ever been before. I believe that experiences need to be cherished and remembered in the same way trophies are remembered. Every once in a while we pick up the trophy, tell the story of how we received it, and put it back on a shelf. Sounds like that would be a Bruce Springsteen song. Your experiences are meant to be heralded as things that have helped you reach to new heights, they are never to be goals in and of themselves. It’s the past. The God that we serve is fervently consumed with the future.

Saying, ‘I Love You’

Prayer is the basic way we communicate with our father but worship is the more intimate way we communicate. Worship is how we express our love of our father while prayer is how we express our friendship with the father.

When I was sixteen, I thought I was in love. Katie was the only girlfriend I ever had and we were about to break up for reasons I can’t remember. Basically, the relationship had run its course but I was unwilling to let it end. I uttered the only words that I thought would save the relationship, I love you. She looked at me, confused and nervous to exclaim her reply, “I’m not sure if I love you.” Oddly enough, I was relieved. Our relationship ended shortly after and now she is my cousins wife, She surely loved my last name!

When I was nineteen, I knew I was in love. Me and Becca, now my wife, started to flirt with each other at a time when I wasn’t allowed to date because of my involvement in Masters Commission. The moment I graduated I asked her to go out with me, or as I said it, “be my long distance lover.” During the summer I returned to my hometown which was several hours away. We talked every night; we even did the cheesy you-hang-up-no-you-hang-up routine. I returned to Masters Commission in the fall with specific rules stating that I could date in the second semester of the school year and during the first semester we could speak on the phone for an hour each week. Our one hour conversations began to get more serious as we fell more in love. Although I loved her, I couldn’t voice it due to my fear. My fear was damaging our relationship.

Two months into the program, I went to pray with Sister Harrison, a retired minister’s wife, who was attending our church. She was in her nineties and about to pass away. My friend Jeremy and I went to pray and encourage her and her husband but left the hospital room more encouraged then the Harrison’s. As we walked in her room, her husband was singing to her while brushing her teeth. Though I’m not the emotional type, upon seeing that unfold I started to cry. We prayed together and after saying “amen” he continued to hold on to her hand and say, “I love you, everything is going to be alright.” Both Jeremy and I, in love with girls we could not spend a lot of time with, wept like babies on the way home. Once I collected myself, I called Becca and told her for the first time that I loved her.

Worship is intended to be an intimate expression. In a sense, it is as intimate as a husband proclaiming his love to his wife. It is as intimate as Br. Harrison singing to his dying wife while brushing her teeth. Worship is less about excitement and more about intimacy. It must be something real since that is the kind of worship that God desires.

 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:23-24

Our worship is meant to be from deep within. I expressed love to Katie because I was afraid of losing her, it was rooted in fear. Our expression of love to God is oftentimes shallow and rooted in fear of what he may do to us if we don’t love him. But God desires something more, something real and intimate. The type of expression he is looking for is love rooted in a desire to sacrifice all. Worship is surrender, it is the intimate expression he desires.

Flying Roaches at a Prayer Meeting

Weird things happen when a youth pastor turns their back. I was twelve years old and had not yet learned to pray for more than five minutes. Worship was something I was able to do real easy but when my youth pastor asked us to pray for forty five minutes in the morning during the summer I was extremely uncomfortable. Two minutes in prayer and I had already interceded for the entire world, I opened my eyes and noticed that my youth pastor had left me and seven of my friends alone to pray. I lasted another three minutes until I realized that no one in the room was praying anymore. What we were going to do for forty minutes with no adult supervision at nine in the morning? Get on each other’s nerves until a fight broke out. Typical stuff you would do in prayer. My friend noticed a dead roach on the floor and took it upon himself to use an old styrofoam cup to scoop the roach up so that he could hurl the deceased insect at another friend of our who was terrified of roaches. We discussed the possible repercussions of our actions and came to the conclusion that this was an excellent idea. Hurling the roach, we observed in slow motion it’s carcass landing precisely in our friend’s hair. Thinking it was merely a random itch, she reached and scratched her head and discovered her greatest fear resting peacefully in her hair. She screamed in terror. The youth pastor, rushing back into the youth room thinking that someone received the Holy Ghost, discovered that we had been throwing roaches instead of praying.

The first lesson we learned from our youth pastor in that summer internship program was how to pray. At first, I was embarrassed that I was clueless as to how to pray until I noticed that the disciples needed to be taught as well. In fact they needed to be taught to pray after they were sent out to minister to others. They still needed to learn how to pray.

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus said, “This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. Give us each day the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation.” – Lk. 11:1-4 (New Living Translation)

At this point the disciples had already been used of God to perform many different miracles and were also witnesses of many incredible things but they still didn’t know how to pray. They noticed that Jesus, their teacher, would continue to break away for times of prayer. They desired to operate in the same power that Jesus operated in and thought that his frequent communication with God had something to do with it.

The disciples were used to prayer but didn’t know if Jesus had something different to teach. Apparently, John the Baptist’ teaching on prayer was influential at the time. We don’t know how John taught his disciples to pray but we have an idea that he never taught them to pray the way that Jesus would.

Jesus taught his disciples a pattern of prayer that was to be personal. He told them to address God in a way that they would rarely address him – Father. In this simplified pattern of how to pray Jesus commands them to honor the Lord’s name, pray for the Lord’s will to be done, ask the Lord to meet their needs, ask for forgiveness, ask for the courage to forgive others, and the strength to withstand temptation. The solution to this pattern of prayer was that they would have to keep it personal.