99 and a Half Won't Do!

A few years ago Hezekiah Walker had a song that said 99 and a half won’t do. The chorus went like this

 “ Lord I’m running…. trying to make 100, because 99 and a half won’t do”. 

Today, post will get right to the point. 99.5% obedience to what God is telling you to do, equals 100% disobedience to God.  In I Samuel 15 we come across an example.  I am going to paraphrase. The Prophet Samuel comes to Saul to let him know that God has made him king, and to heed (to give careful attention to)to the voice of the Lord.  Through Samuel God is telling Saul His plan to punish the Amalek, and then God gives Saul specific instructions. “Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all they have, and do not spare them. But kill man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey” (I Samuel 15:3 emphasis added).  What does all mean? The answer is all. These are pretty clear instruction, there is no grey area. God is very specific to the assignment.  Now Saul and his army roll up on the Amalekites and lay the smack down on them. Then we get to verse 8, “he also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive” (I Samuel 15:8 emphasis added). That's not what the plan was, but ok let’s keep reading verse 9 say “but the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatling, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, they utterly destroyed” (I Samuel 15:9 emphasis added).  That was not what Gods  plan was, it is the total opposite.

Paraphrasing in the Maurice version, God tells Samuel that our boy didn’t do what I told him to do.  Go check him.  So, Samuel finds Saul hanging out on the block admiring a monument of himself proud of his disobedience. Soon as Saul sees Samuel, he goes over to him and say “Blessed are you of the Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord” (I Samuel 15:13). Samuel response is in verse 14 was “REALLY! Then why do I hear all these animals and stuff”? (paraphrased in the Maurice version).  Then Saul response in verse 15  was “They keep all the good stuff and destroyed everything that was worthless” (paraphrasing in the Maurice version). It became Saul’s will verse God’s plan. He was blatant in his disobedience.  He knew that wasn’t what God had told him to do and he did it anyway.  Some of us are willfully being disobedient and expecting God to still show up on our behalf without realizing that there are consequences that come along with being disobedient.  For those of us that have children we expect them to do 100% of what is asked of them, when we ask.  If they don’t there is a price to pay. Why should we expect God to be any different. We figure we have an escape goat through repentance, but it does change the fact that God is still requiring us to do what was asked. 

As you read on you see that Saul tries to justify his disobedience by saying I did 99 and a half of what You asked and I was going to even give You a sacrifice off of it (I Samuel 15: 20 Maurice version). Let’s look at what God’s response was through Samuel and what Saul’s disobedience cost him. “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offering and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold to obey is better than sacrifice” (I Samuel 15: 22-23 emphasis added). He also adds in verse 23 that blatant disobedience is like practicing witchcraft and worshiping idols (I know you're thinking that couldn't be me).  God is very clear on the consequences “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king” (I Samuel 15: 23b).  What are you costing yourself and your family for being disobedience? Being disobedient removes you from the will of God. It  says in verse 35 "and the Lord regretted that He made Saul king over Israel". Does God regret He placed you where He wanted you, because your disobedience is causing more bad then good? I don't want God ever regretting that He chose me. He says in Isaiah 1: 19-20 "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken".

99.5% Obedience to what God tells you to do, Equals a 100% Disobedience to God !!!!

House of Mirrors.

A house of mirrors or hall of mirrors is a traditional attraction at fairs, carnivals and amusement parks. The basic concept behind a house of mirrors is to be a maze-like puzzle. In addition to the maze, participants are also given mirrors as obstacles, and glass panes to parts of the maze they cannot yet get to. Sometimes the mirrors may be distorted because of different curves, convex, or concave in the glass to give the participants unusual and confusing reflections of themselves, some humorous and others frightening.

In reality, battles sometimes take place within a hall of mirrors. This is a great way to symbolically show the trickery potential of the enemy. He (satin) uses this tactic as one of his best tricks, its misdirection. It takes the attention off of who God says we are and puts on who he suggest we are.

Let us take a look at Gods affirmation of Jesus…. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17 NKJ emphasis added). This is right after John the Baptist had baptized Jesus and God affirmed Him immediately, He was then led to the wilderness by the Spirit (that’s a whole other topic that I will discuss in the future) for 40 days  with food or water. The identity of Jesus was the first thing that satin tried to question… Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread”. (Matthew 4:3 NKJ emphasis added)… and in verse 6 he says “If You are the Son of God”.  He is trying to bring up some doubt about who Jesus was. He had nothing to bring up in Jesus face. I suggest you read Matthew 3-4 in context to get the bigger picture.

Unfortunately, for us when he brings up doubt about who God says we are he has an arsenal of things. You are a liar, theft, idolater, whore (male & female) ect.  He uses the mirrors of distortion and the maze to keep us from recognizing our full potential and authority that we have. He keeps us focused on our insecurities. Yeah, maybe we did all these things, but that is not who we are!! Through the blood Jesus we can become new creatures. We fearfully and wonderfully in the image and likeness of the Father.

To sum it up, if we focus on the mirror that reflects Gods nature and His character; He will navigate us out of the house of mirrors into His divine will for our lives.

Scandal Returns

Bored one day I was scrolling through web looking for nothing in-particular. I came across Scandal. So, I wanted to know what all the fuss was over the show. I did what any normal person with about 8 hours of nothing to do.. would do. Which is watch the full season all 7 episodes without moving. It had me locked in, you could have put an APB out on a brotha, cause I was gone. Okay, let me tell the truth. No, I did watch every episode and no I didn't even watch 1 episode. So, I can't tell you anything about what's happening. What I do know for the Scandalnites it returns tonight @ 10pm/9pm central on ABC <-----y'all like that plug. Men word to the wise don't try to cuddle tonight, let them get it in. Ladies remember this weekend will the be the playoff games, don't try to cuddle Saturday or Sunday.