Are You Game Ready? Ephesians 6  

Posted by Dat Other Hip Hop in ,

...and that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.  Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.
Ephesians 6: 10-18
  In other words fam...Be Game Ready!   Many athletic competitions are lost because the athletes involved simply were not ready.  The same is true for us as Christian we miss a lot of opportunities to reach people or advance the Kingdom of God because we are not ready.  As the Apostle Paul describes it this is a game with high stakes...it's a matter of life and death.  God has given us the tools and equipment and He has made the proper training available as well...it's up to us to properly apply them.  It's time to suit up and get up off of the bench...no more time for bench warming.  It's time to get into the game and play to win.
Today's Challenge:  Suit up!  Put on the whole Armour of God (see Ephesians 6).  In other words put on the protective gear that God has provided us, that way you need not be in fear of injury, but you can concentrate on playing this game to win.  In addition to gearing up...put ya game face on!  No half stepping here...go all out like you are a world class Olympian out to smash some world records and to get the gold.  Ya Heard!

 
Excelsius - Game Ready


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You Never Have Enough of it...Love, Romans 12 cont  

Posted by Dat Other Hip Hop in , ,

 Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.  Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.   Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.   Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."   Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. 
Romans 12: 9- 21 (The Message)


  Woah!  Did you get all of that?  Love from the center of who you are, being kind to your enemies, being humble and making friends with the nobodies!  Who do does the writer think we are Jesus?  Exactly...now you are starting to get it.  As followers of Christ we are supposed to take our cues on how to interact and even react to people.  After all we are Christians...and by definition we should be Christ-Like in all that we do.  The reality is that you can't accomplish what this passage of scripture suggest without first being a Disciple of Christ yourself.  When you submit yourself to become a Disciple of His...you will begin to adapt to His way of thinking and begin living life the way the He intended it.  
Today's Challenge:  Become a disciple!  Begin to follow the example set by Christ.  Be a true follower and not just one in title alone.  Let Christ and His example permeate everything you are and get right into the very heart of you so that you truly can Love from the center of your being.  Do it and then watch what happens to your life and in the lives of the people you have been trying to reach...ya heard!
Excelsius - Discipleship 101 

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Many Parts...But ...One Body Romans 12 cont  

Posted by Dat Other Hip Hop in , , ,

  I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

  In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

  If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.
Romans 12:4-8
I won't add to much to this today...for today's challenge I simply want you to reflect on this passage.  We are One Body.  Each of us plays a different role...but none of us is more important than the other and outside of the body we have no purpose.  We really need to avoid this trap of thinking that we are somehow better or more important than others because of our particular gifts or talents.  The sooner we begin to grasp this concept the sooner we will put an end to fighting among ourselves and the sooner we will see the fulfillment of the Commission we have been given...ya heard!
Change - One Love

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Place You Life Before God...Romans 12  

Posted by Dat Other Hip Hop in ,

Place Your Life Before God
  So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Romans 12: 1-2 (The Message)
   Religion is a bad thing.  Really it is, you see religion tricks people into thinking and feeling that they are okay with God...without ever consulting God.  Religion also gives people list of rules and doctrines that convinces you if you follow those rules and doctrines you will be okay, even if those very rules and doctrines contradict what God has spoken to us in His Word.  Religion gives you work to do on the outside to appear righteous...but that was never God's plan for us.  Instead God desires that we come to Him in relationship, through His Son Jesus Christ.  Through this relationship with our attention and focus on God He changes us from the inside out, removing the stony parts of our heart.

Today's Challenge:  Resist the urge to take the religious route!  It may make you feel righteous and Holy...but it doesn't bring you any closer to God and it doesn't make you any better.  Draw near to God...Focus your attention and Him and by doing so, you will find the freedom to be who he has called you to be and you will discover the new life that springs from a new Heart.  It's All About Knowin Him...and then Makin Him Known to others...Ya Heard!



Cross Movement - Huh What!


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Goodness to Repentance...  

Posted by Dat Other Hip Hop in , , ,

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom 6:23



  Another word for wages is cost or price.  The price of sin is death.  Many people have heard this statement before, but like Eve in the Garden of Eden, many of them fall for that old "You're not really going to die" trick.  We mistake God's Grace period and actually think that we will never have to actually pay the price for sin.  Don't get it twisted fam, payday always comes...and those times when you know it should have come but didn't...it wasn't because you are cool like that...it wasn't your skill or your street cred that got you through it was the Grace and the Goodness of God.

The Bible makes is clear that God's true desire is that no one should have to pay the cost of sin and He has offered His Son as a stand in to pay that price on our behalf.  Let's stop tricking ourselves and each other cause in the end the only trick is gonna be you!

Today's Challenge:  Whether anyone else knows or not you know about the sin in your life.  Beginning today stop making excuses and take advantage of God's Grace, recognize that you have been sinning, Repent (which simply means turn away from) and receive God's Grace and allow Him to help you live life the way He truly intended for you to...Ya Heard!


Flame - Goodness To Repentance


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Who Are You?  

Posted by Dat Other Hip Hop in , , , ,

A bystander said, "Master, will only a few be saved?"
He said, "Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you'll sit down to God's salvation banquet just because you've been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. Well, one day you're going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you'll find the door locked and the Master saying, 'Sorry, you're not on my guest list.'

"You'll protest, 'But we've known you all our lives!' only to be interrupted with his abrupt, 'Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don't know the first thing about me.'

"That's when you'll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace...
Luke 13:23-28 

I like how he says that..."you think you know me because you been hangin around the neighborhood."  Knowing someone and knowing something about them are two totally different things.  When it's all said and done it's whether you knew Him...or were you just hangin around.  He also points out that it takes work to know Him...every relationship does.  Focus less energy and attention on being critical of others and work on Knowing Him

Today's Challenge:  It's report card time...grade yourself.  How well do you know Him.  Make a conscious effort today to include Him in everything you do today.  You might be surprised at the effect it will have on your day.  Ya Heard!


Da Truth feat Tye Tribbett - Who Am I

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Perfected religion...  

Posted by Dat Other Hip Hop in , ,

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  James 1:27




  So you say that you have good religion...really...prove it.  Why is it so easy for us to believe and trust God for the things that "we" need and lose sight that we are supposed to be equally or more concerned about our brothers and sisters.  How is it that we are able to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the cries of those in need.  Don't get it twisted you can go to church and even manage to do all of the good stuff that fills up your check lists...but don't forget the bottom line.  Just remember the parable Jesus told, where the people were cast of of His presence...They pleaded for understanding...Lord...whats the deal why are you bouncing us outta here...and His reply was simple...He said "I don't know who you are, when I was hungry...you didn't feed me...when I had no clothes to wear you didn't come to my aid and when I was in prison you never visited me.  Their response..."when did we see you in any of those conditions...and Jesus comes back with, when you see the least of my brothers and sisters in those positions it was the same as if you were seeing me. 


Today's Challenge:  Put some hands and feet to your faith.  Don't just talk a good game strive to make a difference.   You might not be able to save the entire world by yourself but start where you are..open your eyes so that you can clearly see the people who are around you who could really use your help...ya heard!






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Fearfully and Wonderfully Made...like a Beautiful Tapestry  

Posted by Dat Other Hip Hop in , ,

God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
   I'm an open book to you;
      even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.
   You know when I leave and when I get back;
      I'm never out of your sight.
   You know everything I'm going to say
      before I start the first sentence.
   I look behind me and you're there,
      then up ahead and you're there, too—
      your reassuring presence, coming and going.
   This is too much, too wonderful—
      I can't take it all in! 
   Psalm 139: 1-6


   Boy it takes a whole lot of faith to stare into the beauty of creation and then think that it just accidently or randomly happened.  To see the delicate balance there is in life and then think that Chaos and Big explosions made it happen.  Whatever dude.  It's comforting to know that a loving creator took the time to not only fashion us, but to create a world for us to inhabit, but the beauty is in knowing that as awesome and glorious as he is...that he still takes the time to fellowship with us..and that in spite of our selves He continually provides a way of access to Him through His Son Jesus.


Today's Challenge:  Take a look in the Mirror and then Smile...because you are God's handiwork.  Then stop trying to do things to fix and make yourself better, rely on Him to clean and fix you from the inside out...ya heard!



Tapestry - Tony Stone

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Colorblind...but not Colorless  

Posted by Dat Other Hip Hop

Blogged with the Flock Browser

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