The power of the mind…

Have you ever had one of those conversations that you find yourself reflecting back on years afterward…?

I had one of those probably 4 years ago while talking with a Biker pastor friend of mine named Sid who has also been a construction worker for 40 years. I was at a dinner party with pastor Sid and began to convey to him a sequence of events that I was still highly emotionally attatched to. The night before, I was riding my motorcycle on the highway where a car had ridden 10 feet behind me speeding up and slowing down for over a mile, then swirved around me, pulled in front of me and slammed on his brakes. I was absolutely convinced that he was trying to cause me to wreck and I was FURIOUS! (If you are a biker, I know you are identifying with my emotion right now)

As I spoke with Pastor Sid, I made the statement, “If he hadn’t sped off I would have… “ and Pastor Sid very authoritatively said, “Aaron STOP…! Don’t even entertain that thought process! It doesn’t lead anywhere healthy and you can set yourself up for failure later if you continue to go there in your mind…”

I was a little taken back and said, “Pastor Sid, you know what I’m talking about…” and he stopped me again and said, “Aaron… Don’t allow your thoughts to go there!”

Since that time I have replayed that conversation over and over in my mind as it pertained to so many different situations. Pastor Sid is no Sissy but the wisdom that he was imparting to someone nearly 30 years younger than him was hard earned and priceless!

What I have come to understand is this, “What happens in the mind will happen in time” and I believe that this is what the bible is talking about when it says to bring EVERY thought into the obedience of Christ. Very little in life happens without a thought leading us into the scenario… Especially those scenarios that we regret!

The lesson I’ve learned in all of this is, I may not be able to control the initial thought, but I can absolutely choose what thought I continue to meditate upon… My encouragement to you today is when those circumstances come that evoke so much emotion in us that it is difficult to concentrate on anything else, redirect your thoughts to those things in your life that are blessings, thank God for what you DO have and what IS good…and intentionally think on those things…

God Never Wastes Pain…

As many of you know…A few years ago while on duty, a couple of guys tried to kill me and because of my injuries the doctors mandated that I retire in my law enforcement career as a Detective Sergeant and SWAT team member.

In one of my darkest seasons of depression, feelings of failure and difficulties involving PTSD a friend of mine came to me with an encouraging word that I will never forget. He said, “Aaron, one thing is for certain, God never wastes pain…”

At that time I had a lot of pain… both emotionally and physically as I spent several months in physical therapy and the next year on a psychiatrists couch trying to work through so many issues that at the time made no sense. But God is faithful!

It’s crazy how, as a pastor, having gone through my own pain has allowed me to better be able to relate with others… as I am now living proof that “ the most painful parts of your past can be the healing chapters for someone elses present…”

In my darkest hour is where Gods word proved most true when He says that “He works all things together for my good because I love him and am called according to his purpose”.

We all experience pain, some much worse than others… but the constant in all of our experiences is a loving God who cares about that which concerns each one of us individually.

Maybe you’ve lost a loved one this week, maybe a relationship just crumbled, maybe your job was just eliminated and you’re just not sure what to do and maybe like me someone tried to kill you… God is still God, His Word is still true… and HE IS FAITHFUL to help you through!

Many people will allow their pain to be the soil for bitterness to grow… and I think that for the great majority of us, this would be the natural response… However, there is another option…I’d like to issue a challenge to us all today to intentionally think differently and submit our lives and our pain to a loving God, knowing He cares for us and will take our hardest tests and work with us to mend them to be our greatest testimonies of His faithfulness and power in our lives… proverbs 3 says, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight…

Pain can make us bitter or pain can make us better, but where the rubber meets the road, the choice is ours. If we will give our pain to God and submit to the process of being bettered in it, I believe many times, our most painful experiences can also be the catalyst for our greatest growth.

How To Walk In FREEDOM!!!

Aaron Davis addresses what it really means to “Walk in the Spirit” and subsequently, FREEDOM!!!

Overcoming the Pain of Yesterday…

Chapter 24- Overcoming the Pain of Yesterday

(Rough draft chapter from my next book)

Joel 2:25

Amplified Bible (AMP)

²⁵And I will restore or replace for you the years that the locust has eaten–the hopping locust, the stripping locust, and the crawling locust, My great army which I sent among you.

 

I have purposely waited until this point in the book to address this subject because, for me, coming to this understanding was the turning point in my life that liberated me and set me back on course both in ministry, focus and destiny.

Much of what I have addressed in throughout the previous chapters, I had a pretty decent grasp upon going into the time when I learned this lesson, but when I was confronted with this realization, my entire life and paradigm of who I was shifted!

Like many who have spent any length of time in church, I was very wounded.  In hindsight I realize that people are people and everyone, including myself, has made mistakes and done things that would hurt others in some capacity.  Sometimes the wounds are superficial and sometimes the wounds go very deep.  But there is a common thread of pain throughout humanity and relationships…We’ve all experienced it and for many of us, the most difficult hurts have been at the hands of people who we cared about…

The circumstances that I encountered leading to my own disillusionment was actually multi-faceted and in a season where I became very frustrated with Christians.  I knew what the Word of God said, but I was immersed in an environment, living in the belt buckle of the bible belt where, almost everyone that I encountered claimed to be a Christian but it seemed that nearly everywhere I looked I was seeing blatant inconsistency between what people said they believed and their actions.

To be fair, not everyone that I encountered was exampling this inconsistency, but in the place where I was at emotionally and spiritually, the devil made sure to place those who would add to my frustration, right directly in my path and then whisper things like “see, there’s another one” so that my mind became consumed with cynicism and distain for Christians who, in my assessment were failing miserably in their walk with God and love for people.

In this season, some leaders in my life fell or showed me a side of themselves that I did not expect or want to see and I began to slide backward into a very negative mentality about Christianity or those who I DEEMED lacking a real relationship with God because they were legalistic and religious by my standards.  I was let down and hurt and it was very easy to see things from a jaded perspective.

In this season, after 9 years of serving as a youth pastor or an associate pastor, I was seriously contemplating forfeiting my ministry credentials and pursuing another career full time.  I was just in a place where I didn’t want to even be associated with Christians or Christianity and couldn’t seem to shake the pain associated with my experience which I realize now was rooted in a bitterness that was further feeding the flame of frustration.  It was a terribly unhealthy place to be as a pastor and I felt like a poser even allowing people to call me Pastor Aaron because I knew, in that season, I did not have a pastors heart.

Those who knew me best were concerned for me because this cynicism was also bleeding into every other area of my life.  On several occasions, my wife expressed deep concern to me for what she saw happening but felt powerless to address.  My parents were concerned as well.  I remember many conversations with my father on the phone when he would attempt to encourage me, but because I was in a dark place in my mind, I was not completely able to receive what he or anyone else had to say.

Emotional pain and offenses have a way of influencing so much about who we are and how we respond, particularly when we hold on to them and refuse to release them.  Without getting into details that would hurt other men’s reputations, but to make clear where I am coming from, I was holding on to feelings of bitterness as a direct result of feeling intentionally used, lied to, manipulated and taken advantage of.  All of which were factual without argument, but I believe my response to how I was treated was causing more damage than the actual events had and it was holding back my destiny and even causing me to question whether or not I even wanted to pursue it anymore!

I’m not proud to say, I lived in this place for a considerable time, a few years to be exact, and the longer I lived there, the worse I felt about the issues that were plaguing my mind.  I wanted to hear from God but the voices that I was entertaining actually kept me from clearly hearing what I believe He was trying to speak to me during that season.  I felt like I was alone, but what I didn’t realize is that my response to the pain that I had experienced positioned me in a place where I could not receive my breakthrough.  It was a catch 22.  I needed to hear, but I couldn’t hear because of the choices I was making which in turn caused me more frustration at the lack of direction!  I was just in a bad place!

God is Faithful

You know, God’s faithfulness is crazy to me!  Even when I was standing in the way of my own progress, God was planning to provide another means to reach me where I was at.  I wasn’t in a place to hear from Him directly because I wasn’t listening, I wasn’t hearing what people who loved me and had my best interest at heart had to say because I felt like I knew better than them and I sure wasn’t going to go to someone I didn’t know for advice…so I was left wanting answers that no one could give me…or at least none that I was able to hear…Then God intervened…

Divine Intervention

My parents came to visit from Detroit and my dad asked me if I would take him to the church of some preacher he had seen on TV.  I’ve got to tell you, I was not too thrilled with the idea of going to any church, but especially not some TV preachers church, in the heart of the bible belt.  My cynicism in this season had grown to an all time high and the lack of trust I felt for Christians in general, let alone some guy who was on TV was pretty much off the charts.  But, because it was my parent’s vacation, I complied with their request and took them to this Oasis Church in Nashville.

As is Gods M/O He started working on me before the first note of the first song and I found myself liking the vibe of the church and the people who were coming up to me and saying hi.  The church was very ethnically diverse, which I LOVED and was also very uncommon in this part of the country.  So, I found myself actually kind of intrigued as to why this place was different than others I had experienced.

The worship team did a really good job and then up pops this guy that dad had seen on TV, Pastor Danny Chambers.  My first impression of him was, he seemed like a nice enough guy who was relatively down to earth, so I was willing to listen and see what he had to say… and then he went into the message that shattered my world-How Long Will You Mourn Yesterday…?

How Long Will You Mourn Yesterday

I grew up in church, I went to a TV preachers bible college, at one time, my aspirations were actually to be that guy on TV so I pretty much had the impress me mentality about pastors because, from my arrogant perspective, there wasn’t much that I hadn’t heard or didn’t know about the bible.  As I listened to this pastor, he started sharing this story about the Prophet Samuel.

1 Samuel 16:1

Amplified Bible (AMP)

1 Samuel 16

 ¹THE LORD said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided for Myself a king among his sons.

Samuel was in a very uncomfortable predicament for a prophet.  You see, in his day and time, a prophet of God was held to a very high standard.   If they prophesied in the name of the Lord and were wrong they would be branded a false prophet and put to death.  So, when Israel wanted a king, God showed Samuel that a man named Saul was to be anointed as their leader and the king He had chosen.

1 Samuel 9:17

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁷When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, There is the man of whom I told you. He shall have authority over My people.

For a time, Saul led the Israelites faithfully and brought them victories over their enemies.   But Saul had an internal issue with insecurity and in a time when he should have listened to the direction of God, he succumbed to the feelings that he was losing the peoples faith in him and Saul disobeys a direct instruction from God and finds himself being rebuked by the same prophet who anointed him as king.

1 Samuel 13:13-14

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹³And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly! You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which He commanded you; for the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever;

    ¹⁴But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord has sought out [David] a man after His own ^[a]heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince and ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.

This grieved Samuel and actually placed him in grave danger.  Even though he had anointed Saul, as king, Saul could have had Samuel put to death for coming against him.  In addition to this, the people could have deduced that Samuel was a false prophet because he now appeared to be talking out both sides of his mouth and contradicting himself in saying that God chose Saul and then a few short years later now rejected him.

I’m sure that there was a bond that Samuel had with Saul.  He likely loved Saul and maintained a close friendship with him.  There were likely meals together, time spent in laughter and friendship with his family, times that Samuel spoke into Saul’s life and encouraged him to be the man that God created him to be and that Samuel believed he could be…and then the rug was ripped out!

Samuel’s first allegiance was to God and as a prophet I’m sure there were times, in this season that he questioned a lot of things just like you and I would in similar circumstances… Did I miss it somehow in hearing God…?  Did I fail Saul as his spiritual advisor…?  Did I fail my country…?  How am I going to move forward in this calling on my life after such a catastrophic failure and set back?

But in His faithfulness, God confronts Samuel’s wrong thinking by asking him, How long will you mourn yesterday?  God’s call upon Samuel did not change because his circumstances changed.  God’s positioning of him as a prophet did not change because of a temporary set back.  Going through a season that wounded him emotionally did not close the door to his future.  Saul, because of his own choices became a part of Samuels past but God did not define Samuel by the past.  Even though Saul was no longer the leader in Gods eyes, God was already planning to set up Samuel for his next fulfillment as a prophet by anointing David as king, who incidentally ended up being the greatest king in Israeli history!

Samuels’ destiny was not defined by a seasonal failure!  When things fell apart, God was already posturing Samuel for his next success!  I’m sure Samuel wondered if his legacy would be, the prophet who anointed the king who failed… But in true God fashion, He shakes Samuel from his personal pity party and puts him back in the game after, what appeared to be a career ending loss…  With God, a setback is nothing more than an opportunity where He can make what seems impossible a reality!

Once David assumed the throne, the failure of Saul and his connection to Samuel was a distant memory!  The memory of Samuel, through the faithfulness of God, became the prophet who anointed the greatest king of Israel!

Now, ask yourself, what would have happened if Samuel would have continued to mourn Saul after God told him to get back in the game!  What if he would have just continued to wallow in the memory of his loss and what he perceived to be failure beyond restoration?  What if Samuel had chosen to tell God, I’m through, I’m not going to anoint another king and be associated with another failure… ?  If he had taken that position, his every fear would have been confirmed and his legacy would have been defined by a failure that was never overcome!  Samuel did still have a choice to either follow God in what he knew was his calling in life or to throw in the towel and be the prophet who used to be God’s voice to his nation!

 

Get Back In The Game

I had read this story many times in my life but never heard it from this perspective.  I never placed myself in Samuel’s shoes or saw the parallel for my own life until that moment!  I realized that I was at a Y in the road and the choice I made would affect my destiny!  I felt like I was in the place where Samuel was when God asked him, How long will you mourn yesterday.  To me, it felt like God was saying to me, Aaron, it’s time to get up and let go of all of this stuff that is keeping you from what you were created to be!

I had lost my vision for tomorrow because of the pain and letdowns of yesterday.  Like Samuel with Saul, I was frustrated with relationships that I believed my future was tied to and I felt like, because of their failure and broken promises I was left hanging.  But, I realized that I had placed a faith in man that I should have only had in God!  I realized in that moment as I was listening to the preacher that I didn’t even care to see, that God, in His faithfulness, brought me to that place for that exact message and that it was He who had placed this call upon my life to do what He created for me to do and it is up to me to continue to walk in that because it is He who is faithful to complete what He began in me!

At one point in my life, I was so full of faith and I believed that God had purposed me for greatness and although I had lost sight of that by allowing people to sway my focus, I was seeing clearly the deceit of the enemy who was trying to steal from me the legacy that God created for me.  I reflected back on my earlier years in my ministry, when I would make statements like, I will follow God if everyone in the world turns away…and yet, I was in a season where people’s actions caused me to doubt that I even had a purpose anymore!  I had taken my eyes off of God and in this moment in a single church service, God was telling me, Get up, it’s time for you to get back in the game!  …and I did…

After the Rain

Matthew 5:45 says that the rain falls on the just and the unjust.  Occasionally I will jokingly say, with a king james slant, Manure Occureth. We all experience our Samuel moments of pain, frustration and setbacks.  It is an inevitable part of life.  I’m not minimizing or trivializing these moments by flippantly saying, Manure Occureth, I’m only saying that it’s par for the course.  I realize that for some, the pain one experienced may be much less than another’s and sometimes someone else’s setbacks seem much more temporary than our own.  I don’t have an answer for why that is in your life but, it is what it is.  We are the sum total of our life experiences and who God has called us to be!  We can allow our negative encounters to define us or we can allow God to mend them and use what we have learned from them to define our future.

The hurt that Samuel felt concerning Saul probably followed him all of his life.  Not from a wallowing in it perspective but from a love for a friend perspective.  The relationship between a king and a prophet was a special one and when everything happened and Saul was eventually killed, I’m sure it grieved Samuel’s heart.  But Samuel still had a destiny of his own to fulfill and he couldn’t allow himself to be held back because of a series of circumstances that restructured his life temporarily.

The rain will fall, that fact is inevitable.  But, what the rain produces in your life depends on the seed that is in you and whether or not you are cultivating it.  Each of us has a seed of destiny in our lives!  God has a plan for us that will put behind us our greatest disappointments if we will cultivate it and allow God to continue to work in our lives. We have the ability to keep our destiny seeds maturing by how we respond in seasons when God is attempting to better us in spite of our circumstances.

Romans 8:28

Amplified Bible (AMP)

²⁸We are assured and know that [^[a]God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.

This scripture doesn’t say that all things ARE good, it says that God is faithful to work them together FOR our good.  I am convinced that the devil throws things at us to destroy us!  Many times the rain that we are experiencing in our lives was meant for our destruction, but God takes it and works it around for our good.

I can say that there have been a lot of things in my life that I wish I could have learned a different way or avoided all together, but it is what it is… My experiences, good and bad, are a part of my story and something that God has used to help others.

If I hadn’t experienced the things that I have in my life, my ability to relate with you and speak from a place of authority on these subjects my have been compromised.  In essence, God took that rain in my life and used it to water the seed of my destiny when the devil was hoping to drown it!

God required something of me a few years ago that I spent a lifetime trying to not walk in.  I don’t like feeling vulnerable or exposed but I clearly heard Him say one night that, for me and my influence with others, transparency was to be an essential part of what ministry looked like for me.  In essence, He was telling me that being transparent will help others see that they’re are not alone and that God is faithful despite pain and perceived failure and if I would allow myself to be transparent, God would use those painful times to be a catalyst not only for my success but other people’s as well!

The lessons that I learned in that season in my life and put on paper here in this chapter are not limited to my experience any more than they were limited to Samuels experience thousands of years ago… My story can be your story!

Ecclesiastes 1:9

New International Version (NIV)

⁹ What has been will be again, 
what has been done will be done again; 
there is nothing new under the sun.

What you have experienced others have also had to go through in their lives!  Some have experienced less, and others more…but you can have the ability to speak into their lives and help them reach their own destiny if you will allow God to use what has been set against you to destroy you and turn it around for good.

It doesn’t mean that there is not a scar from the events or even that there will not be pain associated with the memories…but as you allow God to use you to help and heal others, you will find that you also experience greater degrees of healing yourself.

If you are still breathing you still have purpose here on this earth!  No matter how difficult the path has been getting you here, you must realize that your legacy does not have to be defined by your past but can be defined by how God works it together for your future.  As painful as yesterday was, realize this, with God you can step into a destiny fulfilled tomorrow.

As the opening scripture in this chapter said, God will restore the years that were stolen and He will make all things new..

Revelation 21:5

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁵And He Who is seated on the throne said, See! I make all things new…

 

I don’t believe that Israel would have been the same if Samuel had not embraced his calling and stepped back into his destiny.  I’m not sure that my sphere of influence would have been reached as efficiently as it was, had I not submitted to doing it…and I’m not sure that your influence can be replaced in the way in the capacity that you were created to have it… Each of us have a unique calling and God wants to use us FIRST to complete that calling!

I’m sure God could have raised up another prophet but Samuel was His first choice.  Israel needed his gift back then, and today, the world needs YOURS…How long will you mourn yesterday…?

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Living Free…

I haven’t been posting all of the chapters from the book in this blog, but this is an essential follow up chapter to chapter 13 (freedom) that was posted previously so I am posting this rough draft chapter for those of you who are my “faithful readers” and may benefit from the continuation of the teaching…

Chapter 14- Living Free!

John 8:34-36

The Message (MSG)

 ^34-36Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave is a transient, who can’t come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through…

 

 

After repenting of sin, renouncing the strongholds in our lives and experiencing our first tastes of freedom, there is a tendency to let our guard down in the arena of temptation and sin.  We hear the truths from God’s Word, like the scripture above stating that we are free through and through and even emotionally we feel so different, in that time it is easy to assume that those days of warring against those strongholds are over… But I want to caution you in this area of thinking because there is still a battle and there is still an enemy that we have to fight against!

So often I have spoken with people who are attempting to walk out their relationship with Christ, many for the first time, and when they come to this understanding of freedom that they can experience from the strongholds and sin that they have warred against their entire lives there is an excitement!  Emotionally, the realization of having freedom in an area that has been such a burden for them for so long is absolutely liberating! And rightfully so!

Although I do not want to discourage the excitement and anticipation of continued breakthrough in your life, I also have to warn you that when the emotion fades and reality sets in, the devil will be waiting for an opportunity to try to slap those chains of bondage back on you!  It may not be today or tomorrow, but it will absolutely happen at some point and you need to be ready both mentally and spiritually for it when it happens.  Failure to prepare yourself for the attack will likely result in significant disappointment and feelings of failure if you are not expecting the attack and prepared for it.

As we stated in previous chapters, we are in a battle and our enemy is not a physical enemy but a spiritual enemy.

Ephesians 6:12

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹²For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

 

Recognizing that Satan had a plan to destroy your life from very early on and that he obviously had a reason for placing those strongholds in your life at a young age, it would be safe to assume that he had a reason for doing what he was doing.  The devil does not want for you to reach your God ordained destiny!  He wants you to go through life and never reach your fullest potential because as long as you are deceived into believing that you are less than God created you be, then, you are no threat to Satan and he is free to operate unrestricted in authority in this realm and in your life.  The problems arise for Satan when those he has deceived, come to the knowledge of truth that they do not have to be bound any longer!  When this happens, Satan loses his authority to operate and cannot fulfill his hate filled desires to destroy man and rob them of their destiny!

Many people do not really think about this, but we were created in the image of God, and Satan HATES God!  We are a constant reminder of everything that he is not and never can be!  We represent the authority that stripped him of his every selfish desire to be greater than God!  So, he accomplishes several purposes when he attacks man.  He hurts God because God loves us, he fulfills his own depraved desires to destroy and pervert that which God created to be good and he fulfills the pride that got him kicked out of heaven to begin with when men surrender their will to Satans desires for their lives instead of Gods.

With that understanding, you must know that the devil is not done trying to own you!  For years he has occupied a thrown in your life through the strongholds that you submitted to and he will not be content to simply give up the ground that he gained over you during your lifetime.  He’ll be back…and when he comes, you need to be ready!

1 Peter 5:8

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁸Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [^[a]in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.

The authority that the devil had in our lives through sin and strongholds was surrendered to him by our choices.  And although you have taken a stand and renounced his authority in your life, your choices can open the doors once again to allow him access to reestablish the strongholds that you just overcame!  1 Peter 5:8 (above) was talking to CHRISTIANS warning us as Christians that we need to be vigilant and cautious because the devil is looking for an opportunity to destroy us!

It will not likely be very long after experiencing a victory over Satan that he will come back and try to take back what was previously his.  He uses all kinds of tactics, all are deceptive, but one I have seen time and time again.  The devil comes in confronting what you experienced with doubt.  He tries to get you to question the truth that you just encountered posing questions like, Did you REALLY get free or is this just emotional?  He’ll say things like, You’re never going to be able to make it, you are a failure and always have been! etc…

What the devil is attempting to do is uproot the faith that you have placed in the truth of God’s Word so that you do not have anything to stand on for your victory!  He knows if he can deceive you into believing that you have not experienced real breakthrough, then you are likely to simply go back to the stronghold that once ruled your life.  What you have to realize is this, Satan is a liar!  He can’t tell the truth and when he attempts to twist the truth to deceive us into believing a lie he is doing it with an ulterior motive!  Below is a scripture reference that further substantiates my position.  Here Jesus is describing Satan’s nature by confronting those who are bound by his strongholds.

John 8:44

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁴⁴You are of your father, the devil, and it is your will to practice the lusts and gratify the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar [himself] and the father of lies and of all that is false.

 

In Matthew Chapter 13 Jesus actually addresses the very thing that I am talking about in this chapter as it pertains to Satan coming against us and attempting to uproot the truth that we have come to understand in an attempt to reestablish the strongholds in our lives.

Matthew 13:3-8 & 18-23

The Message (MSG)

Matthew 13

A Harvest Story

 ^1-3 At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories.

 ^3-8“What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.

 

The Meaning of the Harvest Story

 ^18-19“Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person’s heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.

 ^20-21“The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.

 ²²“The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.

 ²³“The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”

Each person reading this book are the person Jesus was talking about in verse 23.  You are the ones who have heard the truth and are applying what you have learned to your life so that it can produce a harvest in your life beyond your wildest dreams.  But you will need to be aware that you are not beyond the devils attempts to deceive you into believing a lie. You can overcome him EVERY TIME but he will try to find a way back into your life!

What he wants for you to do is to reopen the door to him through your choices.  What I have noticed is that the devil will almost never throw a huge temptation your way initially.  Most of the time he will attempt to deceive you into making small compromises.  If you previously struggled with a stronghold, he will likely tempt you with sins that you perceive to be not as bad but lead you back to the bondage that you obtained freedom from.

I was speaking with woman named Gina who used to be a meth addict.  She came to me asking about smoking marijuana.  Gina said, I don’t have any desire to shoot up or smoke crack or do meth anymore, but recently I have been smoking a little pot just to relax at night… Based upon her experiences, she did not view smoking weed as a stronghold because she was never really addicted to smoking weed.  As a result, it seemed acceptable to her.

I asked Gina to think back on her life, before she was ever an addict, before she was ever involved in the sex industry, before her life spiraled out of control by her own admission.  Then I asked her, what was the first drug you used to get high?  She smiled at me and said, Marijuana… I then asked her, Did you ever planned on being an addict when you smoked that first joint?  She said, No… Then I asked her, If it had been meth or cocaine that was offered to you all those years ago instead of marijuana would you have taken it…? Again she responded, No…

I went on to explain to Gina how what she perceived to be a small compromise many years ago in smoking marijuana was the catalyst for her addiction and the horrible decisions that accompanied that addiction years later.  I then asked her, Why are you willing to take a detour from Gods destiny for your life through the neighborhood of your past weaknesses?

 

I pose that same question to you today… When the Devil attempts to tempt you with sins that seem trivial in comparison to what you used to do, take a moment and realize that you didn’t get to that point of bondage overnight and the way you ended up there last time was by making one small compromise at a time.

It’s in what we perceive to be little compromises that our lives become bound by sin and strongholds. How many of you have ever looked back on your life and said, How in the world did I get so messed up?! The reason for that feeling of shock is because it didn’t happen overnight and the small compromises didn’t appear to have much consequence attached to them until they set you up for the fall that the devil had been orchestrating for years!  Then, when you least expected it and likely in a moment of weakness, BOOM you are looking around at destruction and feel completely overwhelmed and dumbfounded as to how you ended up there…

The devil doesn’t care if it takes a year or ten years to get you back into bondage as long as your are progressing toward your destruction.  He has a plan and when you are blindly allowing yourself to submit to the small compromises, you are being deceived and manipulated like a pawn toward his big destruction for your life…One small move at a time!

This is why you have to be diligent and determined to not fall back into the devils trap for your life!  I have a saying that I use frequently when I counsel with people, Do what is right because it is right…  So many times I see people looking for a loophole to justify sin.  They are attempting to find a reason that it will be ok for them to compromise a little and they excuse it because they feel like they are doing so much better than they did before.

What you absolutely have to realize is this, sin is sin.  Big or small, the bible says that the wages of sin is death!

James 4:17

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁷So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.

You’ve already spent enough time Doing Time or living life in bondage to sin and strongholds!  Don’t get free and then let your guard down assuming that you won’t go back to that bondage.  You’ve already proven to yourself that you are capable and even in some cases, predisposed to being bound by those strongholds so it is necessary at this point, once you have repented of the sin and renounced your agreement with the strongholds that previously bound you, that you now place your agreement in the truth of God’s Word.

When the devil comes against you with his lies, deceits and manipulations, stand your ground and speak out loud against him!

I love what Jesus exampled in the Bible as it pertains to Satan trying to tempt him.  Jesus was physically very weak.  He had gone 40 days without food and the devil attacked him, much like he does us…When we are already weak…

Luke 4:1-13

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Luke 4

 ¹THEN JESUS, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in [by] the [Holy] Spirit

    ²For (during) forty days in the wilderness (desert), where He was tempted (^[a]tried, tested exceedingly) by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, He was hungry.

    ³Then the devil said to Him, If You are the Son of God, order this stone to turn into a loaf [of bread].

    ⁴And Jesus replied to him, It is written, Man shall not live and be sustained by (on) bread alone ^[b]but by every word and expression of God.

    ⁵Then the devil took Him up to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time [^[c]in the twinkling of an eye].

    ⁶And he said to Him, To You I will give all this power and authority and their glory (all their magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, and grace), for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to whomever I will.

    ⁷Therefore if You will do homage to and worship me [^[d]just once], it shall all be Yours.

    ⁸And Jesus replied to him, ^[e]Get behind Me, Satan! It is written, You shall do homage to and worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.

    ⁹Then he took Him to Jerusalem and set Him on ^[f]a gable of the temple, and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down from here;

    ¹⁰For it is written, He will give His angels charge over you to guard and watch over you closely and carefully;

    ¹¹And on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

    ¹²And Jesus replied to him, [The Scripture] says, You shall not tempt (try, ^[g]test exceedingly) the Lord your God.

    ¹³And when the devil had ended every [the complete cycle of] temptation, he [temporarily] left Him [that is, ^[h]stood off from Him] until another more opportune and favorable time.

There are a couple of things I would like to point out from this passage of scripture as we close out this chapter.  When Jesus combated the devils temptation, He did it with his spoken words!  As we addressed in the previous chapter, speaking out loud to the mountains in our lives is an aspect of how we use our God given authority in this earth.

The next thing I would like to emphasize is that Jesus spoke the Word of God against the Devil!  God has given us His Word and it is so important that we learn what it says as it pertains to the areas that we have previously struggled under bondage of strongholds!  That way, when the devil does attack, we can speak what God says about us and declare our agreement with the Word of God and who we are now in Christ, rather than allowing the lies of Satan to deceive us!

Finally, even after we experience victory, we have to realize that the Devil will be back when the timing is favorable or opportune (see verse 13).  So it is important that we continue to do what is right because it is right and make the choices for our lives that we know will please God.

If you are unsure of what that means completely, it’s ok, God is faithful to continue to reveal Himself to you and show you more and more what He desires for you and from you.  Just do your part by talking to God and asking Him to show you what you need to understand!

That’s the amazing thing about God, He loves us and wants us to succeed!  As we seek His desires for our lives, He will fill in the blanks with the necessary relationships, knowledge and understanding… This book is just one of those fill in the blanks for you today…  He is faithful!

Proverbs 3:5-6

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁵Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.

    ⁶In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.

Video: What do you say to the man who tried to kill you…?

Aaron Davis, aka The Tattooed Preacher, shares his story about the day a man tried to kill him and the journey he took to forgive him… http://www.TattooPreacher.com

I AM Inspired

I AM inspired

As I’m coming to the end of this book, I find myself reflecting on so much that has transpired in this season… So many ups and downs, so many tests of my character, so many opportunities to “give up or GET UP”.  It’s interesting for me to look back over the course of the past few years and to see how much I have learned and as a direct result, grown.  It has been these God lessons that have inspired me to document the journey in a season where many times I did not feel like picking up a pen.

In a previous chapter, I addressed a conversation I had with God where I was talking to Him and asked, “Don’t you think I’ve been in this season a long time”, only to have him respond with a very direct and unexpected, “You had a lot to unlearn”.

I believe that I’m finally on the “other side” of that season in my life…Not that I don’t still have things to “learn and unlearn” but that a new chapter seems to be beginning as I am now seeing multiple doors opening and opportunities presenting themselves that I’m confident this past season has equipped me to handle.

As I spoke into a Television camera on Sunday, addressing a live audience all around the world, my mind was flooded with a myriad of memories.  In a matter of seconds I reflected on how confident and fearless I used to be and how several circumstances over an extended season stripped that from me in what I believe was an attempt of the devil to not only end my life but also to derail my destiny.  But in true God form, He worked those things together for my good and used those circumstances that were intended for my destruction, to actually build me.

As I reflected, I thought about how God has restored and continues to restore a confidence in me that is now so much less a “Self-Confidence” but “God-Confidence”.  I have come to realize that it is HE who has begun a work in me and HE that will complete it as I surrender to His will.  And that leads me to one more moment of transparency and expose’ of weakness, trusting that it will offer you strength as it relates to your own circumstances.  Some of what I am about to share I’ve never shared with anyone but my wife.

I’m not any different than most, in that Transparency for me has been a difficult pill to swallow.  I don’t like to admit or acknowledge failure, weakness or difficulty, yet I realize that transparency has been the MOST significant tool of ministry that God has ever used in me.  Like so many of you reading this, I have struggled in the past with feeling guarded concerning my emotions and not wanting to reveal areas where I felt wounded.  But, truth be told, every chapter in this book was written in one of those seasons as I determined to declare the Word of God over my circumstances and encourage myself in Him while trusting that what I have written would also be instrumental in your development and progress.  And I feel like these final chapters needed to be written from that same perspective…I can say confidently,  every chapter thus far was without a doubt a revelation exposed through blood, sweat and many times… tears.

I have found through my experiences that the Devil is methodical in his attempts at derailing our destiny.  Like a chess match he will intentionally plan several moves ahead and will often use the pawns or “little pieces” to set up the greater failures one small move at a time, many times not even revealing what the set up was until the hammer falls and we see everything in hindsight from a 20/20 perspective.  I addressed some of what I am referring to with my own life and the issue of confidence in an earlier chapter, Embracing the Mamma’s Boy, but I can say that the Devil didn’t stop attacking the area of confidence with one move…as a matter of fact there have been several attacks since then that I had to overcome.  And I’d like to share a few more examples from my life with you in this chapter to model how the attack of the enemy comes against us as believers and how the Word of God is applied in those situations…

As explained in previous chapters, having an attempt made on my life in many ways sent my world into what felt like a chaotic downward spiral.  Physically I was a mess, not being able to accomplish many of the normal daily functions that I previously took for granted, walking, driving, making my own dinner…etc.  In addition, I also lost my job, benefits, even my ability to work in familiar conditions.

Emotionally, I struggled more than I ever had as I worked through the difficulties of physical therapy and psychological therapy, both of which at the time did not seem to adequately address the needs that I felt that I had.  Not to mention the attacks on my perspective of what it meant to be a man and provider for my family.  I felt very broken and inadequate… These were all foundations for some of the future attacks as the battlefield for the mental assault on my confidence and self-esteem was established.

One area that I never previously struggled with, was my ability to communicate or speak publicly.  In years past I was one of the most self-assured communicators that I knew.  Even in college I took a public speaking class and aced it without ever writing a speech.  I recall several times, on the day I was to make a classroom presentation, writing an outline in class while other students performed their speeches and then getting up in front of the class with nothing but a sloppy outline and not only “winging it” but “NAILING IT”!

This confidence proved to be a two sided coin and could be interpreted as blessing and a curse as I can also recall seasons of laziness, where I did not invest adequate “study time” into a sermon that I was to preach as a Youth Pastor or Associate Pastor or even as an Evangelist because I knew that I would be able to once again rely on that communication gift and even with very little time invested, I would be able to pull off a decent “performance”.

I believe that when God told me that I had a lot to unlearn, self-assuredness was a significant aspect of what I had to unlearn.  There is a difference between having head knowledge about a subject and having heart knowledge about it…and what I’m about to say, I have always known in my head but I don’t know that I understood it in my heart until the past few years revealed it to me.

Every day is a gift, and I realize now, in a much more intense way, that every opportunity that God presents for us to speak into peoples lives should be recognized to potentially have eternal significance and/or consequence.  In years past, I simply didn’t weigh in my heart the depth of not hearing from God before addressing people.  I knew what the scripture said and how to present something that was “good” and then, relied on my gift to carry me through…and although God was still faithful to minister to people IN SPITE of me I was not fulfilling my end with any form of excellence.

In hindsight, it comes as no surprise that while I was already dealing with issues regarding confidence, that the one area I still felt “Strong” in was also brought under attack in three occurrences that played a significant role in me struggling with the area that I believe my future and destiny (from a ministry perspective) were tied to…Communication.

The first was a Sunday morning.  My pastor, who is internationally recognized among top communicators and worship leaders, had the flu.  As is his M/O he was still at church and was going to preach even though he felt horrible.  Just before the offering he turned to me sitting next to him on the front row and said, “Aaron, will you greet the people and receive the offering, I need to save my strength”.

I didn’t even bat an eye. Before joining our church I had been a youth pastor and/or an associate pastor for 9 years and had conducted that part of the service hundreds of times.   So, I simply said, “SURE!”

When it was time to receive the offering, I took the microphone, jumped up on the stage, and in front of hundreds of people I froze!  For the first time in my life, I completely drew a blank in front of a crowd!  I looked out at the congregation, I looked at my pastor and for a brief second I literally considered running out of the church!  (which now seems very funny but at the time felt devastating… )

Then I heard it, in the awkward silence, a woman in the second or third row said the words that I had heard many times over the years as someone had difficulty with a special song or didn’t remember the words in the church Christmas play…but never in reference to me…!  Lil’ miss second row whispers out…”Help him Jesus…” and for the first time in my public speaking life, I was the “Help him Jesus guy”!

After an awkward 30 seconds (which seemed like an hour) of trying to get my bearings, I was able to complete the task that I was asked to attend to, but it felt like a train wreck to me!  It was no help that one of the pastors on staff (a good friend that was just joking with me) came up after the service pretending to be an airplane with outstretched arms crashing into the ground while laughing and then asking “What in the world happened to you Aaron…?!” I had no answer for what happened, but this situation literally plagued my mind for months as I began questioning my ability to do what I previously believed God had called me to do.  Although this occurrence was frequently in the back of my mind, I did my best to not think about it and figured that it was a bit of a fluke and wouldn’t likely happen again…Until IT DID!

On a Friday night during a special service, my pastor turned to me out of the blue and said, “Aaron, can you go and greet our online audience?”  Which basically entailed taking the microphone, walking over to the television camera and saying hello to everyone watching.  This time, I immediately reflected on my “last failure” and as I approached the camera I became more and more uneasy.  When the red light came on letting me know that I was “Live”, once again I drew a blank and had difficulty even completing a thought.  As I recall I gave the wrong website address, the wrong email address for contacting us… I may have even gave them the wrong church name…I stumbled over nearly every word and I was completely humiliated!  I hid it well, but this failure, after beating myself up as bad as I had the last time, floored me!  The first time I wrote off as a fluke, but after this time, I felt like I was seeing a pattern…and at that Y in the road, my already damaged confidence plummeted.  I questioned my calling and whether or not I was even pursuing something that was “God ordained”.  The devil made sure to keep it very alive in my mind and I struggled daily with feelings of frustration and inadequacy.

The final blow came a few months later, adding insult to what was already significant injury.  I was in our youth chapel with a member of our staff.  We were attempting to watch a video for a service that we were collaborating on.  Our youth chapel has a HUGE video screen where song lyrics, graphics and videos are projected for the youth services, and this seemed a good place to watch the video so that we could get an adequate feel for what we were desiring to present on the big screen the following Sunday.  While accessing the video clip on the computer, the staff member clicked on an icon in the computer to play a video and by mistake, the video footage from a few months ago of me stumbling over my words in front of a live audience came on and I had to relive one of the greatest feelings of failure that I had ever experienced… He fumbled with the computer, attempting to get quickly off of the screen, but by that time the damage had been done.  Not only had I experienced it the first time, but now I had seen it with my own eyes.  It was never intended that I see that by whoever put it there, but I did… and at that point, I also had to contemplate the reasons that the footage had been taken off of our server, made a copy of and placed on a huge screen in a different part of the church for others to view and to put it lightly, I felt horrible.

Let’s just say, the devil had a hay day with that one in my head…Although, I KNEW what I was feeling and thinking was not even realistic because I was dealing with people who loved me, I warred with the most improbable thoughts as I found myself feeling betrayed and exploited.  I pictured people laughing while watching me fail in bigger than life form, I felt anger, I felt sadness, I felt a lot of things…but a resounding Failure, Failure, Failure, Failure, Failure, Failure was what I heard constantly in my head!

Isn’t it typical, in circumstances where we do not know the answer to “why” , that the devil makes sure to try to get us to focus on the absolute WORST case scenario, regardless of how unrealistic that perspective may be…?  I had to reel in those thoughts quickly and not allow them to take root, particularly the ones leading me to feel offended.  I knew that these thoughts were not sensible and were intended to be a distraction and if they took root that the results could be destructive.

In reality, I realized, even as I was going through it, that this entire scenario was orchestrated in an attempt to continue to further discourage me, but it was still an incredible struggle to not feel disheartened…And, at that point, I pondered the possibility of giving up and throwing in the towel all together…Anyone been there?  Of course you have… We all have…

While meditating on this subject I was reminded of a story from the Old Testament. In Genesis chapter 11 we see the family tree of Abraham (Abram at this time because it was before his covenant with God).  Here are the last couple verses from that chapter in the Message version of the bible:

^27-28 This is the story of Terah. Terah had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Haran had Lot. Haran died before his father, Terah, in the country of his family, Ur of the Chaldees.

²⁹ Abram and Nahor each got married. Abram’s wife was Sarai; Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran. Haran had two daughters, Milcah and Iscah.

³⁰ Sarai was barren; she had no children.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and Sarai his daughter-in-law (his son Abram’s wife) and set out with them from Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. But when they got as far as Haran, they settled down there.

³² Terah lived 205 years. He died in Haran.

There is SO much that can be considered in this passage!  Abraham’s father Terah, had a son named Haran who died.  Although this was not elaborated upon any further, as a parent, placing myself in his shoes and imagining how overwhelming the death of his son must have been for him, I believe it would be safe to assume that this was an unplanned event in Terah’s life that rocked him to the core!

It is interesting to me that the bible says that Terah set out for Canaan.  Although there is no biblical reference for why he set out from Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan, I think, based upon God’s direct instruction to Abraham in the first verse of the following chapter to “Leave for a land that I will show you”, that Terah was at least being led by God if not directed by God to go to Canaan.

Gen 12:1-6 (The Message Version)

¹ God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.

^2-3 I’ll make you a great nation
and bless you.
I’ll make you famous;
you’ll be a blessing.
I’ll bless those who bless you;
those who curse you I’ll curse.
All the families of the Earth
will be blessed through you.”

^4-6 So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.

A point of particular interest to me in the short story of Terah is what happened in route to the “destination” and perhaps even fulfilling his God ordained destiny.  Terah, the patriarch of his family, reached a place called Haran. Now, whether this is a place that was named after his deceased son, or a place his son was named after, it shared the name of what was likely the single most impacting event of his life, the death of his son and it WAS where he settled.

Genesis 11:31

…set out with them from Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. But when they got as far as Haran, they settled down there.

How many times does the memory of our single most impacting life event effect how or if we progress to pursue our God ordained destiny?!  How many times have we set out to the place where God has called us only to settle at the point in the journey where we are reminded of our own limitations, inadequacy, failures, or pain?

My mind immediately questions, What if Terah had not settled?  Would he have gone down in biblical history as one of the mighty men of faith?  Would God have been referred to for generations to come as the God of Terah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?  Terahs entire life is summed up in six verses…But, what would have been his legacy if he had continued on through the painful memory of his greatest relational failure?  What if…?  I believe that these are at the very least logical questions to ponder.

Each of us has to face our place of Haran in our journey of life and each of us have to decide whether or not we will set up camp and settle or press through in those places.

The choice is ours.  We must determine that we will not be defined by our failures or willing to stop short of our God intended destiny!  In my life I have come to realize that my abilities are limited and there are areas that I fall short, BUT my bible says:

1 John 4:4 (Amplified version)

…He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.

Philippians 4:13 (Amplified Bible)

I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].

There is NOTHING that will derail our destiny if we will determine to press on through the adversity!  It is God who has begun the work in you and it is He who will complete it!

We simply must align our thoughts and intentions with God’s direction.  When contrary voices or memories or failures come against what we believe to be Gods directive, we must stand in the belief and understanding that God loves us, He believes in us, He placed destiny in each one of us and we will overcome!!!

Proverbs 23:7

“as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he…”

How do you see yourself?  We must choose to see ourselves as God sees us!  In Him we are MORE than sufficient!  God makes up in every area where we lack! If we are not careful we will view ourselves in light of our circumstances and failures and human inadequacy, but God sees us from the perspective of the work in us that is completed through Christ!

Jeremiah 1:5

Before I formed you in the womb I knew^[a] you,
before you were born I set you apart

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Several times during the course of these chapters I have written about how we establish the Word of God as our final authority and truth!  When our circumstances contradict the Word of God we simply go to His Word, find out what it says about what we are contending with and then stand upon the truth of His Word in spite of our circumstances… When the devil comes against your mind attempting to derail destiny we are to take that Word and apply it to our circumstances and CRUSH the devils warped philosophy concerning the outcome of our future!

2 Corinthians 10:5

We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.

We are who God says we are…PERIOD!

I am not anybody special and God is not a respecter of persons… What He has done for me, He will do for anyone who calls upon Him…He simply is faithful to His Word.

As I bring this to a close I would just like to encourage you to press forward even if it seems to be at a snails pace at times… Allow God to teach you through His Word and your circumstances and He will take those things that the devil intended for your destruction and use them as the foundation for fulfilling your intended purposes.  He is FOREVER FAITHFUL!  God placed you on this earth for a divinely inspired purpose!  He can’t wait til’ you get to see what that looks like!  You’re gonna love it!

… As I spoke into a Television camera on Sunday addressing a live audience all around the world, my mind was flooded with a myriad of memories…I smiled as I left Haran behind and set out toward my land of promise…

…I will fulfill my destiny!

I AM Inspired

www.AaronDavisMinistries.com

It Is NOT Over!

 

It is NOT over!!!

 

Dec 31^st 2010

 

I’m sitting in my living room listening to Ricardo Sanchez’s song, I Call Your Name playing silently on my Ipod which plays around the clock in my house and reflecting on the past year.  The good times…The not so good times… The laughter… The tears… The fun… The Pain…and I’m thankful.

 

Things didn’t always go the way I wanted them to go or even the way I thought that they should have gone… But, as I sit here and reflect, through the good and the not so good, I’ve been blessed.

 

The lyrics of the song really convey my heart and the emotion that I feel as I reflect back over the past 12 months that seemingly flew by…

 

Holy
Lord God Almighty
ancient of days
giver of faith
Lord I need you
Worthy
Lord your deserving
of all I have
I lay me down
Lord I need you

I call your name
Lord you reply
You bring your kingdom
To stand by my side
giver of life
all that I need
father your everything that is precious to me
There is no one like you lord in all the earth

 

 

I’m not sure where I would be or in many cases how I would have made it  without Him…As I said earlier, I am thankful…  I’m thankful because I choose to be… I could focus on what didn’t happen in 2010 and if I chose to allow that to be what I highlighted in my mind and heart for 2010 then I would enter 2011 with an ungrateful attitude…  But I CHOOSE to see how much good there was in this year and let the things that weren’t on my “happy list” simply be a small part of a greater whole.  God is so faithful!

 

I stood two feet from where I am typing this yesterday holding my almost 3 year old son, listening to music and carrying him around a dark living room praying over him remembering the day he was born… the weeks following in the NICU when machines were breathing for him and I couldn’t hold him or let him put his head on my shoulder like he was at that moment… and I was thankful…. Just him being here and all the fun experiences that I had this past year that he was a part of is enough to have made 2010 a good…a GREAT year!

 

The memories created with my family and friends… The people that I was able to influence… The lives that were saved and changed because God used me to be his hands, feet, and/or voice…. I choose today to remember those times… and I believe that 2011 will be full of MORE of those kinds of memories!

 

I believe that the rest of my life is the best of my life… I believe that seed sown always produces a harvest… I believe that what God observes in secret He rewards openly… I believe that my tomorrows are filled with hope and destiny!  …I believe!

 

I heard my pastor say yesterday, “Once you are where God needs you to be, you are one day from stepping into destiny”… He was referencing Joseph in the old testament who at 17 was sold into slavery by his brothers who told his father he was killed by an animal, then he was lied about, he was lied to, he was cheated, he wronged, he was put into prison for crimes he didn’t commit and he spent 13 years in that repetitive cycle that he didn’t deserve…but he was being molded and God used that season in his life to prepare him for the responsibility of becoming the second in command over all of Egypt (the most powerful nation on earth at the time) under Pharaoh…and that promotion took place for him overnight.  That promotion saved Egypt from starvation and devastation.  Although, the road to the palace was not paved with gold…It was that season that positioned him to save the lives of every one of his family members and an entire nation… I believe that, in spite of what we have had to endure, each of us has destiny to fulfill!  If you are still here, you still have a voice of influence!

 

A friend of mine recently said to me, “Aaron, I’m convinced that God never wastes pain”… I love that and am actually a walking model of it!  I’m not saying He is the author of it…I’m not saying that He is the reason for it…I’m saying that He will use it to better you and propel you beyond where you have been to where you need to be to have the most significant impact…I, for one will not be satisfied leaving this life without changing the world…Literally!  As the scripture says, “He works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purpose…So, as we close out a year that many have struggled through with blood, sweat and tears…Be encouraged!  He who has begun a good work in you IS FAITHFUL TO COMPLETE IT!  It may be the end of a season called 2010, but IT IS NOT OVER!!!  2011 is MINE!!!  Who’s coming with me?!

 

The rest of your life IS the best of your life!

 

I love you all!  Happy New Year!

 

Aaron

 

Voices…

 

Listening to Voices…

 

“The day has come where you do not have to fear the words of people Aaron…You don’t have to worry about how people evaluate you and talk to you…”

 

That is a quote from a man whose ministry was very instrumental in my progress during one of the darkest seasons of my life.  (Thanks Dr. Sandy Kulkin)  Recently, I have replayed over and over and over those words that he spoke to me a few years ago as he encouraged and spoke into me some valuable wisdom and direction from God…

 

Today, paralleling the quote above, I have been considering the subject of “voices”.  There are so many “voices” speaking into our lives at any given time.  And it amazes me how the voices often influence our perspective and outlook (sometimes even years down the road)…

 

Some of us have had the negative voices of parental figures bombarding our existence and still manipulating and molding us… “You are NOT,You will NEVER, You are ONLY…” Sometimes, even from the grave they degrade and belittle, and we can’t seem to shake the feelings that maybe the voices were right and “I am what they said I am…”

 

Others of us have had the picture perfect parental affirmation but still hear the cruel taunts of classmates that so tormented us during such formative years…And now, even years down the road, we still struggle with the insecurities that were birthed in a season long passed… “Fat,Ugly, Stupid, Nerd, Unpopular, Dork, Sissy, Panzee…”

 

Still others have been the perfect student, with wonderful life memories of School and family dinners and Christmas mornings…But there was an abusive spouse or relationship that blindsided us and robbed us of security and self-worth over months and years of abuse… “Worthless, Unlovable,Unworthy, Disgusting…”  It happens in some capacity to nearly ALL of us at some point in life!

 

People, words, intimidation, manipulation,hatefulness…Voices that still reverberate in our mind as if we were hearing them for the first time… Words that cut us to the soul and left a scar that is seemingly always just a thought away from resurfacing… Voices…

 

It’s amazing the damage that can be done when we buy into what the negative “voices” are telling us and accept it as our reality!

 

Over the past few years, I’ve also had to deal with, what”seemed like” my OWN voice in my mind telling me things that no one has ever said but that I felt about myself… “Failure, Failure, Failure, Failure, Worthless, Failure…”  I struggled with feelings and insecurities (voices) that I would have never assumed would be an issue in my life a few years ago. Yet, there they were!  I was out of work, my family was struggling financially, my wife was going to work every day while I stayed home with my infant son…The voices said,  “I wasn’t the provider that I should be… I wasn’t the man of my house… I was failing my wife and my family… I wasn’t fulfilling my place as the priest in my home…I was a sucky husband, I was a loser…” Over and over, day after day, these were where my thoughts would dwell if I even allowed them to wander for a moment…and the voices wore on me…ultimately leaving me to feel more than inadequate.

 

How does this kind of thing happen to a guy who had such confidence a few years before?  The faith preacher…?  The SWAT officer…?  How does one go from one end of the scale to the other…?  I’ll tell ya… I listened to the wrong VOICES!  I bought in to a LIE!

 

Yes, the voices that I was listening to confirmed what SEEMED to be my present reality… but what seemed to be my present reality did not make it the TRUTH!  Life is full of issues that look one way from one perspective only to be contradicted when presented with a different angle or element of REAL truth!  When light shines on a previously unilluminated or at least poorly illuminated surface the perspective changes as the light reveals what may have been previously hidden or masked in the darkness…

 

I had to make a determination…Whose voice was I going to listen to?  Was I going to listen to the voices of the critics who called me everything from an “anti-christ” to a “false prophet” (because of my stand on the love of God and redemption)?  Was I going to listen to the voices of some peers who didn’t “believe” in me?  Was I going to listen to the negative voices in my own head (which I understand were not MY voice but simply a lie from the enemy that I was choosing to listen to).  Was I going to listen to the voices of the ones who I know Love me and want what is best for me? Or was I going to listen to God, who ultimately has the absolute perspective of what “Truth” is for my life because He is the one who has ordained my destiny?

 

I had to make a choice!  I came to realize that the voices of conflict and contradiction will ALWAYS be there but their power to influence rests in our willingness to buy the lie or pursue the truth!  There is a place where we MUST decide that we will pursue the Voice of TRUTH at all cost! Because, ultimately, if we don’t, it may cost ALL!

 

With so many Voices speaking over us… We have to determine that there is ONE voice that we will listen to above ALL others!  That Voice is the Voice of God and can be heard in many different ways but is most easily discerned through the Voice of His Word…

 

When we want to know what God says about us…How He feels about us… Where we stand with Him…Who we are to Him…Who He created us to be… We can find that Voice so clearly spoken in the bible! I’ve heard it said, “Your life is moving in the direction of your dominant thoughts..”  I find it interesting, from my own experience that the voices that contradicted the Word of God got louder and more dominant in my thoughts when I did not meditate on His Word and His Voice…If I did not make the bible a primary voice and a part of my thought process…the other voices dominated…and my life mirrored my thoughts…

 

This is an example of why Psalm 119:105 says “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path…”  In times of darkness, there will definitely be voices calling our focus away from the light… but it is the Word of God that illuminates the path and confirms our direction.

 

I determined, in my own life, that God’s Word is TRUTH and the final authority…Understanding that TRUTH and applying it to my life was and is ultimately the catalyst for my freedom!  (John 8:32) …You shall know the TRUTH and the TRUTH shall make you free!

 

I have come to the realization that Jesus IS the Way, the TRUTH and the LIFE (John 14:6)  I have accepted and applied that TRUTH and His Voice is the ULTIMATE authority in my life!

 

The voices that speak and contradict what I know to be the TRUTH are lies… The bible is clear on the fact that the Devil is the father of lies!  So when we are listening to voices that contradict what we discover in the Word to be TRUTH, then we can be confident that the source is not credible because the one speaking is a known, unreliable, LIAR!

 

Yes, I am implying that it is the Devil at the root of the lies, guilt and condemnation that we so often feel and buy in to… I’m convinced of it!  He will reiterate the voices and accusations from your past…He will use the insecurities and feelings of failures to speak to your mind and attempt to distract you from what will ultimately cause you to progress, succeed and SET YOU FREE if you will grasp it (TRUTH)…He will even attempt to make you think it is YOU who are thinking it!  I intentionally used the words earlier, “Seemed like my own voice in my mind”, because, sometimes I believe that the Devil plants thoughts and voices in our minds and it seems like a perspective of truth from our own subconscious…but it only SEEMS that way until held to the light of the TRUTH which reveals the fallibility of the presented argument that comes from a lying, deceiving, and manipulating enemy who is hellbent on your destruction.  DON’TBUY THE LIE!

 

With all the “voices” coming from every direction…Commit your focus to the ONE that loves you! There is a Voice of Truth and that Voice speaks Life and will set you FREE!

 

If you can dig it…Say Word!

 

 

Victim or Investor…You Choose

Because I have been following a direction from God (I believe) to “Document the Journey” of my life in this season, it seems many of these chapters have arisen from conversations that I have had with people that God later gives me instruction or a download into my spirit regarding some application to my own life experiences.

I had a few hours this week to talk with a friend of mine who is a pastor and motivational speaker on a drive back from Paducah, Kentucky .  While driving, my medical retirement from Law Enforcement came up. I told him, “Even though I knew my season in Law Enforcement was coming to an end, it is still difficult for me (now years later) because of HOW it ended, ultimately because it did not end on my terms.  Even though God has taken and worked it all together for my good, I can’t help but feel like I was robbed…”

This conversation took place two days ago and this morning while making coffee I had a flashback to that conversation.  Then, I heard my pastors’ voice in my mind and a quote that he will often say in reference to his family and our church… “We don’t ever lose anything…We sow it…”

For those who do not understand the context of that quote, what he is referring to is that some people have a victimization mentality as it pertains to what has been taken from them…Instead, the way he chooses to view life is that he doesn’t allow things to be stolen, taken or lost…Instead he chooses to sow those things…Now, here is why that mentality is beneficial…

For years I have heard pastors say, “What the devil has stolen from you, he must return 7 fold” (Referencing Proverbs 6:31)… Which is a good thing to stand upon and believe for…I mean, a 7 fold return is a good return no matter what system of math and accounting that you are using… BUT, when you understand the law of “Seed, Time and Harvest” when seed is SOWN the return is 30, 60 and 100 fold (referencing Mark 4:20).

Mark 4:20 (Amplified Bible)

20And those sown on the good (well-adapted) soil are the ones who hear the Word and receive and accept and welcome it and bear fruit–some thirty times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some [even] a hundred times as much.

So, the minimum return on what is sown is at least 23 times more that the return on what is allowed to be stolen or taken…From a victims perspective, there is a 7 fold return, from a sowers perspective there is at least a 30 fold return…

Now, it doesn’t change the fact that something was taken or stolen, but, from this perspective, the source of the return is different based upon how you perceive and choose to receive.  If you place the demand on the thief, then the thief pays back 7 fold…If you give it to God and allow Him to use the circumstances and SOW it into the lives and kingdom of God…then, GOD repays on the seed sown… It’s a pretty intense perspective…

As all of this flew into my mind at the speed of thought today, I immediately went to the words of Jesus in two separate scriptures.  The first was instruction given in Luke 6:29 pertaining to how we should handle offense and disrespect…

Luke 6:29 (The Message) 27-30

“To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, gift wrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.” Another version of this scripture that is commonly quoted is “Turn the other cheek” …

Is this WHY Jesus was saying what he said in this chapter…? Is he saying, Don’t let ANYTHING be taken from you… SOW IT because the return is so much greater for the seed sown…Is He saying, if you allow anything to be TAKEN then the only return is what you demand… if someone strikes you in the face, and you strike back, then that fulfillment of fighting back is your return…IF you give them the other cheek, now you have sown, not allowing anything to be taken and are choosing to allow God to repay you for the seed sown…If someone takes your coat…You can demand your coat back with interest or you can give them your shirt as well, at which point, they have no longer stolen from you, but you have SOWN into them!  It is an interesting consideration for me…

The next scripture that popped into my head was Jesus speaking in John 10:18 where He says, “No one can take my life… I lay it down voluntarily…”

Upon consideration of what was being revealed, I believe that Jesus was actually modeling the very lesson that was relayed in Luke 6 saying, “You can’t take from me what I am willing to give…It will be sown by me before I ever allow you to steal from me and void the greatest portion of harvest!”

When things are stolen, the thief is given the glory of having victoriously overpowered and taken something from you…When it is sown, God gets the glory as the one who richly blesses and returns handsomely on all that we have sown into His kingdom…

As I considered this today, in a moment’s time, my paradigm changed… My career and money and time and insurance was not stolen from me… I choose to sow it!  I choose to put it in Gods hands and allow Him to multiply it to the Nth degree as He takes all of the circumstances and all of the hurt and all of the frustration and all that was attempting to destroy me and multiplies it by accelerating my growth, increasing my potential, compounding my favor and placing me above and not beneath because my return doesn’t come from the one who stole from me… Vengeance is not mine, it’s Gods… I don’t want a return from a thief, I want a return on INVESTMENT from the seed that I choose to have sown in this past season of my life…I want my return to come from the blessing of God!

I’m not a victim…I’m an investor… Even these chapters of this book are fruit of that investment… If any of them have helped you or if any ministry that has come through me in this season has benefited you…Then, you are recipients of that seed sown…

No more victim mentality… I sow it voluntarily for the furthering of the Kingdom of God and the progress of my family!  God is FAITHFUL!!!

If you can dig it…Say Word!

AFTER THOUGHTS:

After reading some of the comments left both publicly and privately about this chapter there are a few things that I would like to point out.  Each person is in a different place having experienced completely different circumstances,  This chapter is about me, my circumstances, how I have navigated them, what I have learned from them (and more specifically how I think that they would directly affect me based upon how I continued to navigate them..) and how it may apply to others in similar or parallel circumstances…

I have had time to heal…The wounds are not as fresh…The pain is not as pronounced as it once was and definitely not as severe as others have experienced.  Recognizing this, I realize that what is said in this chapter may not be compltely applicable to everyone on every level in every circumstance or every situation and it is not intended to be insinuated as such.  It is certainly not a “blanket” that covers all aspects of all levels of pain and/or abuse…As I stated before, this is about me documenting MY journey and lessons that I am learning along the way as it pertains to my circumstances… If you can derive some wisdom and/or direction from what is writen…GREAT… If not, that’s ok too…

Still, with that said, I do believe that, when taken in context, it can parallel many lives on many different levels depending on where a person is at in the healing process.  I understand that some may not feel that it is applicable in their parrticular circumstance and in that event, this chapter may be something to put on a back burner and re-apply when they are in a  different position.

This is simply an example of how I believe God spoke to me as it pertained to my situation…and I believe that there is probably “something” that can be taken from it and applied to nearly everyones life in some capacity or at some juncture, even if they do not believe that it is applicable to every circumstance…Whatever the case… I’m confident that it is worth pondering…and applying where applicable…