TESTimonies pt.1

As Spoken Word Church has grown and having seen countless people visit with us, I continue to get confirmation that there IS a GOD. Of course we believe in God, but there are times in every Christian’s life where our belief level is decreased a little or a lot at a given time.

After hearing various different stories regarding past experiences with demons, drug use, times of incarceration, various types of abuse, and so on, I couldn’t help but realize that there have been many people who have experienced the exact same circumstances in life that never got to live another day, or be able to look back on “what was”.

It’s one thing to have seen movies with characters or people of talk shows who have experienced horrible situations and have made bad decisions, and it’s another to actually sit side by side with them in real life. I can’t help but think about how awesome their testimonies are and how powerful they can be to help others, within and outside the church community. Haven’t you noticed that we as human beings are more at ease knowing that someone else has experienced the same things or who are more experienced in the path that we were/are embarking on…now think about each of our testimonies and how much of an impact those testimonies would have on other. If only one person was affected, that makes all the differences in the world and in the body of Christ.

I sometimes think, “What kind of testimony do I have?” , have always associated testimonies with stories of miraculous experiences with after drug use or after having a horrible accident. I realized that even experiences such as simply being into an occult related “fad” and coming out of it, is just as much as a powerful testimony as those who have experienced obvious life threatening situations.

What’s your testimony?

Discerning of Spirits-Visual

I was prompted to post this entry today after having bible study last night. We have begun to focus on the various gifts that are available to us as well as callings.

During the last portion of bible study we discussed further about discerning of spirits and in which way do those of us who have experienced or continually experience in recognizing spirits. For example, a person may “sense” a spirit, rather demonic or angelic. In my case, I see spirits as animals whether the animal exists in the natural world or not. I have always been a visual learner and fascinated with things that are visually appealing, whether it be weird, ugly, beautiful or simply interesting. I believe that the Holy Spirit allows us to operate in various gifts in ways that are appealing to us or allow us to use our natural functioning abilities.

Before I became a born again Christian, I saw and felt spirits around me. Unfortunately, most of my encounters were with foul spirits back then. I was never afraid of them for some reason, yet a simple horror movie about a talking doll would frighten me and keep me up ALL night. It was never the times when I would sit in the living room at night, in the dark, listening to felt like people walking all around me…usually from behind or the side of me. I have seen a manifestation of my grandmother, whom I had never met, standing just outside my bedroom door. That was the first time I had actually visually seen any type of spirit manifested in such a way that I could describe every last detail of her face and garment. This never scared me….however not long after I saw my “grandmother” , I first heard my desktop monitor creek, before I pulled the covers down from my eye level and saw my screen slightly shifting towards me before stopping and complete silence followed.

Ever since becoming a born again Christian, I have been able to see both bad and good spirits. This gift of discerning spirits has been a very reoccurring gift that I operate in when in prayer with others around. Other times, it’s just a knowing that comes to as a form of a word that is audible or visual, like looking at a text a word typed in thin air.

It was interesting to hear that others around me can see the same types of things. It kind of makes you feel as if you’re not the “only one” that can see the same things you see and sometimes at the exact same time. Of course we know that we aren’t the only ones with this particular gifting, but sometimes people can go a long time without knowing that their neighbor can see the same things.

I could easily go on and on about this topic, but I’ll have to leave it for a while and come back to it as I recount past experiences with discerning of spirits.

~The Darkness gets Darker

I use to be someone who loved to watch horror movies all day long…literally…at one point I only watched horror movies and nothing else, not even regular television programming unless they were about ghosts or paranormal activity…I have been able to be freed from that dark addiction through Christ.

This year has introduced such graphic and demonic films and television shows than any other year that I can remember! Television shows have made it normal to talk about ghosts and look up to psychics. It has even come to a point that celebrities on these shows downplay the severity of “playing” around with Quija boards, listening to ghost stories and trying to communicate with spirits through various other means. Vampire popularity has hit an all time high, psychics have become everyone’s best friend, yoga spiritualists have become increasingly more popular and so on.

The cinema has been inundated with films revolving immortality and attaining or maintaining youth. Usually there’s always a theme that the media follows for each season and for it being just days away from Halloween of course they’re going to capitalize on the fear, partying, gluttony and unsolicited sex that usually occurs during this time amongst teens and young adults. After years of watching horror movies it had really desensitized me…I attribute my ability to watch graphic surgeries, graphic images of all sorts, and so on to my past years of watching disturbing films and becoming so use to it that it wasn’t a big deal for me to see a dead body or see a murder attack their victim. Of course film is dramatized, but what most parents don’t know is that just because the acts committed in the film isn’t real, the content of the film can easily be recreated and does happen…It always begins with seeing it, then hearing, thinking about it, recreating the scenes in their mind, changing those scenes around, making themselves apart of the situation and then get the uncontrollable urge to act on it…

To be continued……………………………

CONflicted

The news stations have been constantly airing footage of the ‘Occupy’ protests in various parts of the country as well as all over the world. Lately, Oakland has been in the forefront of the news because of the sudden violence that had broken out during the “peaceful” protest, unlike what was going on in other parts of California and New York at the same time.

I know we are to stay informed and be watchful of the changes in the world, but like I have said before in a previous post, there seems to be a fine line between staying aware and getting anxious about what’s going on as you watch the news. I’ve noticed that for a while I would constantly watch the news and read headlines online, in the end it would end up making me feel neurotic. I remember experiencing the same thing a few years back when former President George Bush was in office and there was speculation of Martial Law being implemented and thus causing millions of people to be killed or imprisoned…However this is not necessarily farfetched for where we are headed now a days, there is still no reason to panic over ANYTHING… Just repeat that to yourself, lol

All joking aside, the upcoming presidential race, the ‘Occupy’ protests expansion, celebrity deaths, the wars in the Middle East, stock market decline, jobless claims will continue to try to take away your peace and distract you from the things of God and how God is manifesting all over the world. Don’t let your television, your chain emails or YouTube get you office track, anxious, nervous, worried, stressed or sad about the state of the world. The Lord told us that the world would get darker and darker and will seek man before the Son. The world has to close out the light sooner or later, but that just means that we are that much closer to the coming of Christ and the ending to this conflicting life and the beginning to eternity with Christ…..tell me, which is better…..staying focused and keep your mind on God and doing the things of God for whatever years we have left and reach the point of complete freedom of the attacks of the enemy… or spend the rest of your life in emotional torment and then eternity in even worse torment by Satan?  

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses!

I have noticed that a lot of Christians have been giving excuses one after another to get out of attending bible studies, church duties and fellowship opportunities. I would know about this topic because I use to give excuses for not wanting to go to a get-together with other members in the past. It seems that after I “sucked it up” and just did it I realized that I had been wasting my time giving excuses in the past. Of course there are times when you may not feel well or have other obligations, but for those times when you have nothing constructive to do or just don’t want to be around certain people, you have to just go anyway or find another church fellowship. It shouldn’t be a constant fight with yourself to decide to go to your church’s bible study every such and such day or to get up and go to Sunday service every week.

We all need some consistency in our lives, being sporadic prevent us from receiving whatever God wants to give us on a regular basis. We can’t be hopping from one church to another because we didn’t feel like driving out that far or don’t want to listen to that kind of worship music anymore.

Stop being picky! It’s one thing to move to a new church if you feel or know that the word that is going forth is not of God or if there is a lack of Biblical behavior going on, but it’s another thing when you leave because you don’t like so and so, don’t care for the worship music, don’t want to make the time to go there or feel like it doesn’t matter if you don’t stay put anywhere. 

Over the past year I have watched people come in and out of the church in such a short period of time. Sometimes I would wonder “Why do they come and express their enjoyment, cry tears of happiness, get healed and then walk away?” After a few comings and goings, I stopped worrying over it. It took a few months, however, by the beginning of this past September I have realized that it’s nothing to worry over. People come and people go, it’s up to them to realize that they are slipping up for not staying put for any season and instead hop around drifting with the wind to wherever it takes them.

Many of the excuses I have heard usually involve the reasons why they need to stay at that specific church, such as, “I won’t be coming back because my son or daughter is in the hospital” or “My parents go to this other church”…when days earlier they have mentioned that their parents weren’t being fed the word or weren’t getting the opportunity to use their gifting…These very excuses I have heard a few times now and yet we have to realize that some of our reasons for leaving a church, unless the Holy Spirit has told us, is the very reason why we need to stay put and pray, worship, get the word from the Pastor and be around other Christians who can give you that extra support to get through whatever rough patch you’re going through. 

There are excuses for stepping out of their church positions, such as leadership roles. Some Christians don’t want to make any sacrifices in their schedules to plan something for the church or do outreach activities, yet they were eager to take on those leadership roles. If you are caught in a leadership role that you did not want, felt that it was not your calling, or tried fulfilling the role but realized that you could not do the role justice, just let the Pastor know. Do not run away or give excuses for why you can’t do it, just be honest with yourself and others, because the Lord knows why you detached from the situation. 

To be continued……………