Who Are You?

I hope that today’s entry will encourage you to find out more about you than any other post I have done thus far because I ask the question who are you? This is last series message I did last year (2011) on identity. I’ve noticed something about Christians nowadays; we are so quick to allow ourselves to be defined by people who aren’t spiritual and have no relationship with God. We allow them to define us, our children, how we worship, and even how we serve our God. I don’t talk down about others religious beliefs nor about others beliefs period (atheists and agnostics included). I talk to a lot of people who believe differently than me in an attempt not necessarily to convert them (oh no we are always supposed to convert others…….shut up you overly religious spirit). I talk to them in an effort to sharpen me. People who believe differently than I have a way of challenging me that pushes me to seek God more and hear Him more clearly that I don’t get swayed from the faith. I want them to give me questions I can’t answer that I can seek God for wisdom like never before in areas that I wouldn’t have known I needed wisdom in if not for the encounter with them.

The thing is that though I may interact with them, I don’t let them define me. I don’t change who I am for them or anyone really. I heard a great statement made by a man who did all kinds of mess in sin and got his life together and accepted Jesus as his savior. He says, “I was who I was and I am who I am and I’m cool with both of those people”, do you realize the freedom power in that statement? That is a person who understands who he is and realizes he doesn’t have to adjust for anyone because that is who he was created to be. My good friend the late Minister Robert Jackson (R.J) used to always tell me that “God has a way of changing your destiny and not touching your personality. People want to change your personality to suit them and make them feel comfortable but God made me who I am and that is who I intend to stay.” These statements aren’t a license to just sin and say hey it’s part of who I am because the reality is it is not who you are. That part of you is the mask that you wear. It may have been put on by you or by others but it’s not you. It’s not who you were created to be.  But see therein lies the problem. We as believers in Christ don’t know who we are nor who we are called to be. We have no idea about our identity and because we don’t we become susceptible to every and any wind of foul demonic doctrine dressed as Christianity that comes along. We become spineless jelly fish  who couldn’t stand up for the God we served if someone had a gun to our head and told us to profess our convictions or die. It’s all because we don’t know who we are.

A huge part of us not knowing our identity comes from not knowing what your name really means. Parents I blame this on you (especially African American parents, that’s right I said it and you know it is true). You can not just name your child any random thing that comes to mind.  You name your child Damien and wonder why you have a hellish rebellious child. Or worse yet you make up some random name (Oceanna for example) because it sounds cute, but the name has no real meaning and when a word is created the creator has to give it a definition otherwise it is subject to the definition of the person who finds one for it and usually the person finding a definition for that name is not the child. Their peers or significant other or what ever define the name by causing the child to act whatever way the child acts. Lots of you reading this may think I am crazy but understand your name has meaning. I challenge you to look up the meaning of your name if you don’t know it and see if that definition doesn’t fit your personality. Your name is the beginning of you finding your identity and walking in your purpose.

The other biggest part of us not knowing our identity is because we don’t know what God says about us. We listen to what others including our pastors and church leaders say about us but we don’t hear what God says about us. If we seek Him to find out His word concerning our lives and allow Him to give us not just the direction but the definition to our lives we as believers will be much more effective.  If you ask the average modern day Christian who are they, they will inevitably say I am a child of God. The problem with that statement is they don’t know what that means nor entails. Jesus said that we are of our father the devil when we don’t hear what God has to say nor speak the language of God (John 8:42-27). How can one call themselves a child of God when they do the things that aren’t Godly and do not please God? According to Jesus you can’t. Because you don’t know who you are, you do and say anything. A facebook friend of mine pointed out a scripture I hadn’t read in years concerning false prophets. They prophesy falsely because they don’t know who they are and haven’t gotten in God’s face to find out. They don’t seek Him for direction of word nor of life. They live a life of a false identity (Jeremiah 23:21-34).

There are consequences to living a false lifestyle (i.e  operating with a fake I.D). I encourage the body to find out who you are in Christ and walk that out regardless of what people say about you or what they think of what you say. You walk as God has commanded you, you walk under the direction of the Spirit of God as Jesus did. You’re supposed to say things that people won’t like. People don’t want to hear the truth. But you speak and you stand on it. You walk in the truth of God.  For God has called you a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people (I Peter 2:9). If God is saying this about you (those who are truly His) how dare you live beneath what God has called you because you refuse to find your identity in Him. Seek God for your name’s meaning, seek God for the definition and purpose in your life, seek God for your identity that you may walk stronger than you ever have before and tear down the kingdom of Satan and the perverted spirit of religion that dwells and walks this earth as if it owns it. When doing this you can stand in the face of those who disagree with you and what God has truly spoken to you and stand firm without waver and unafraid to continue to seek God for deeper understanding and stronger revelation. Unafraid to speak what God spoke to you even when unbelievers or people of other religions and backgrounds come against you. Speak because you know who you are and whose you are. You hear your father and have your identity in Him. God bless and as always remember to Grow in God’s Grace and Abide in His Love!

Dating 102...Pursue the Blessing of The Lord

Today marks a kind of milestone for HPM’s Real Talk. This is the first entry that I will be allowing active commenting on the site as opposed to through email. I’m doing this partially because of the topic that I will be writing about today. Overall I will be talking about a whether or not a woman should pursue a man but at the same time I will be paralleling with how to receive your blessing. Let’s see how this works out.

We’ve all at one point in time or another if you have been in church for any length of time the scripture in Proverbs 18:22 “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD”! Which means we have probably all heard it taught that a woman should NEVER pursue a man and the person who taught that used this scripture to back up their statement. Well I am here to tell you that doctrine of teaching is absolutely completely incorrect. “WHAT?” That’s right incorrect! A woman not pursuing a man is like not going after the blessing the Lord promised you. Let’s look more closely at this.

The scripture says whosever finds a wife, now before you go any further you must understand what “wife” means. Wife is not a person, contrary to popular belief. Wife is a characteristic in a woman that a man should see before he takes her hand in marriage. The things that make up wife the character are found in the infamous virtuous woman scripture of proverbs 31. Things like it says in verse 12; “She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.” Or verse 26; “She opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness.” That chapter is a skeleton outline for the things that are made up of the character called wife which is a characteristic that should be found in a woman. A man’s ability to see that in you woman has nothing to do with whether or not you go after him or he comes for you. I was asked in response to the Dating 101 blog entry this question: “I’ve always been told that God will send you someone and you will know so does that mean one should never look around?” Because of what this person was told they were on track to missing whom God would send their across their path.

See, sometimes when God has something (or someone) for you, one must fight for it. Now before some of yall go crazy I’m not saying go out and break up someone’s marriage cus you believe God said that’s my boo. God don’t work like that contrary to what you may believe. Sometimes, however, God will send something your way but the enemy’s job is to keep it from you. So what are you going to do, sit back and watch the devil walk off with what God promised you? I hope not. The same principal applies to women and obtaining your mate. Sometimes God may speak to you first concerning the relationship because the man may be dealing with other things, issues, or spiritual battles and isn’t in a position to hear God about it. How can one see what God has for you if you aren’t expecting and looking for it? The children of Israel (at the time called the Hebrew children) at the time of Moses had to leave Egypt to get to the promised land, in other words they had to go look for it. Then when they got their low and behold there were people occupying the land they had to drive out, in other words they had to fight for it. To think that the devil is going to allow you to line up with God’s will especially in marriage is plum crazy. Much like I said in Dating 101 relationships are a give and take. The man you know is yours may have a fear of rejection and is petrified of asking you out but you are as bold as they come and stupidly awaiting him to come to you cus you think that a woman shouldn’t go after a man.

That ignorant doctrine comes from a time when the only women who pursued men where whores.  So in order not to be perceived as a whore they didn’t go after them but watch this; whores were also the only women other than married women who were caught alone with a man; don’t you allow dates to take you to the movies just the 2 of you? Well then, what is the difference? Asking a man out doesn’t make you a whore any more than going to a movie with him. It doesn’t matter who initiates the dating process, he still has to see the wife characteristic in you. That’s why the dating 101 entry is so important, it shows you how to seek God for your mate because as you do (coupled with you and God talking about the 3 lists) you’ll have no choice but to work on you and develop the virtuous woman in you.

What God has for you is for you that is a true statement but you can miss it if you see it and don’t go get it. That blessing isn’t going to sit and wait there for you forever. You’ve got to go claim your blessing. Yes your mate is your blessing; the end of that verse says that you obtain favor from the Lord. Well if the husband obtains favor don’t you think the wife does too? The favor of God lends itself to the blessing of the Lord. You can’t receive a true blessing from God without having His hand of favor on your life.

All of what I said can be applied as well to other blessings too. If you have a dream or a vision, go after it; stop waiting on it to come to you. Seek God on the when and how to pursue it but go after it. You don’t want your window of opportunity to close on you. You don’t want to get to heaven and see Jesus and hear Him say I had so much more for you son, I had so much more for you daughter but you never went after it. You let fear or people keep you from what I laid aside for you. This is the age and era of abundance for God’s people (be careful because it is also the age and era of judgment on God’s people). Whatever you want from God you can obtain but you must be willing to go after it. You must be willing to fight for it. There will be haters and opposition in the way but you must fight through it anyway because those haters will be made into believers when you get your blessing. They will see where you came from and what God has given you and have no choice but to say it’s the Lords doing and it’s marvelous in our eyes. It’s time to stop being spectators in God seeing others be married, others be blessed, others get their hearts desire an you still “waiting on God”, here’s a reality check God’s waiting on you and He has all the time in the world and then some, how much do you have. Go after what God has for you but again I say seek Him first and He will direct your path. Please feel free to leave your thoughts below. Remember Grow in God’s Grace and Abide in His Love.

Thank You!

Today is a day that I just can’t help but give God Praise, I don’t have much to say on today (shocking I know lol) but what I will say today is thank you. Please enjoy this song that has been on my heart all day today and  as you do try to be like david from here on out and say I will bless the Lord at all times and His praise shall continually be in my mouth! Click on the link below marked thank you and enjoy!

Thank You!

Remember Grow in God's Grace and Abide in His Love!

Purpose vs. Passion…..Which are you pursuing?

Since the latter part of last year I have been teaching at my church relationship, purpose, vision, and identity. Operating in these 4 principals will help propel you to where God would have you to be and allow you to operate successfully there in. My focus today is on purpose. I heard it preached by Steve Harvey (yes comedian Steve Harvey) that the 2 greatest days of your existence are the day you are born and the day you find out why. WOW, that was super deep to me because it is exactly what God was already showing me (I just love when God confirms His word, it helps me know I’m not crazy). Here’s the thing; and you’ll probably see me reference the message Steve preached (yes preached) a fair amount during this entry, the problem with the body of believers is figuring out the why part. I believe the reason we have a hard time figuring out the why is because we get confused concerning what our purpose is versus what our passion is.

I like lists (as noted by a previous blog post) so I used to teach it this way: If you write down 10 things you are truly good at I guarantee your purpose is in there (if nothing else the foundation for your purpose is in their). Steve Harvey put it in what I would say is a much easier and more concise way. He said, “Purpose (your gift) is the thing you do the best with the least amount of effort.” He gave an excellent scenario worth noting here. Steve talked about how as a celebrity he always has some waitress or something coming to him while he’s eating and asks him to look at their headshot because they are an actor and actress. He says when it happens he always asks the question, “what are you in?” He says he always gets the same answer, “I’m not in anything right now I’m trying to get in something.” He then informs them that’s because they are not an actor/actress they are a waiter. Actors have acting gigs. The principal of what he is doing is that if you want to figure out what your purpose is first look at what you are doing. Actors act, singers sing, athletes compete, lawyers practice law, etc., etc., etc. If the definition of purpose is what you do well with the least amount of effort then the definition of passion would be (in context to what we are talking about) what you want to do and/or can do well but it takes great effort to accomplish. If God’s ppl could just get passionate about their purpose as opposed to pursuing passion we’d be much further along.

One of the main reasons we pursue passion as opposed to purpose is because we don’t see the glamour all the time or the purpose in our purpose all the time but we do see the glamour and what we perceive to be the purpose in a passion. Passion generally comes from watching someone else and wanting what they have (I believe the bible also calls that envy). The danger in watching someone else and what they have and the so-called glamour of their purpose is you don’t know what they went through to get where they are at and trust me no matter what it is you are equipped to go through it. If you were God would have allowed you to go through and you’d be in that position too. It doesn’t matter whether you want to be a pro baller or a lawyer or the pastor of a church, if it’s not for you and isn’t your purpose don’t pursue it. Pursing passion can bring about struggle and hardships. If you reach what you are passionate about it can bring about attacks you aren’t equipped to handle. Pursuing passion can cost you time that you can’t redeem. Pursuing passion may cause you to sacrifice things that you are meant to keep. Pursuing a passion will cause you to step out of the will of God. But if you pursue purpose, the bible teaches us in Proverbs 18:16 that your gift (purpose) will make room for you and bring you before great men. Understand that your purpose is a gift from God a gift is also known as a blessing and the bible tells us in Proverbs 10:22 that the blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow. See when you pursue purpose rather than you working it, it will work for you. It may not be easy but it’s not a struggle either. And when you can become passionate about your purpose, there’s nothing within your purpose that you can’t do and accomplish.

I challenge everyone to find out what their purpose is and go after it with an unmatched vigor. Seek God for a vision for your purpose (see earlier post concerning vision vs. idea) that you know what to do and where to go within your purpose. I challenge you to look at your life and if you aren’t where you think you ought to be in God look at what you are pursuing. If you haven’t worked your purpose that’s why.  People don’t want to face real talk and be told that their lack is truly their fault, my lack is my fault. When you don’t do what God has created you to do you are going to lack. We as humans are the most disobedient of all God’s creation. He doesn’t have an issue getting the sun to rise and set on time, nor the birds to chirp, dogs to bark and comfort, cats to meow and sooth, trees to give shade and bear fruit, the earth to give sustenance and those are inadament objects. Why are we so stubborn and wanting to do everything but what we are created to do.  Again I challenge you to find your purpose, pray about your purpose, walk in your purpose and see if your life isn’t more fulfilled and see if you don’t get the blessing of obedience out lined in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. See if the blessing of the Lord doesn’t come upon you and over take you because you walked in true obedience. I challenge you stop pursuing passion because it’s glamorous and start pursing purpose passionately because it is what you were created to do, it’s why you are here.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at jesse.jones@highpraiseministries.com. As always remember to Grow in God’s Grace and Abide in His Love!

Whom do you serve?

As I was sitting trying to think of what it is that I might bring to you all today, I struggled because nothing was really coming to me. Then I had the opportunity to have a conversation with a friend and co-worker who is probably reading right now (hi lol) and our conversation sparked something in me to bring about this topic. I was asked a question concerning gifts which will be a post for a later time but during the course of the conversation a statement came about that jolted my spirit in to spiritual mind writing due to the context of the statement which for the purposes of you reading is inconsequential. What that statement jolted in me was to blog the topical question, who do you serve Pastor (man) or God?

See the body of Christ, the Kingdom of God holistically from my experience and a lot of circles I have been in have decided to put the Pastor and other church leadership in the place of God. Hence the question who do you serve Pastor (man) or God? The word man is in the () because it represents church leadership regardless of gender. We look to them as doctrinal teaching has taught us to do. Sometimes that leadership or even Pastor doesn’t have to be our own leadership. We will search out Pastors, Teachers, Evangelists, Prophets, Apostles, Ministers, Elders, Church Mothers, Deacons, Church Trustees, etc. If they have a church title we will seek them for it or even seek God to allow one of them to speak into our lives or concerning our ministries. We will seek them for affirmation of the ministry we are walking in. But yet we won’t seek God. That is a huge slap in the face of God. It says we trust them more (mostly because we can see them) than we trust God. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for church leadership and I believe in and know the role of the Pastor and the importance they play in the spiritual development of the people of God. The problem I have is they are not God and we have given them the authority that should only go to God.

Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. You believe that God has given you a gift but know that you aren’t sure how to operate in that gift so you pray and ask God to send you someone to train you and teach you the gift. You ask God to send you someone to impart the mantle of the gift, or you ask God to send you some to confirm that you even have that gift. All of that seems reason able right? I mean you’re seeking God after all right? But really look at the prayer that is being prayed. You are asking God to send you someone or put someone in your path to help you do something or understand something He gave you. If I have a problem with a Sony 45in flat screen tv, I’m not going to go to Toshiba to find out what’s wrong with it. I’m not going to call Sony and ask them for Samsung’s I.T department because I’m having problems with their (Sony’s) product. No, I’m going to go Sony. So why aren’t we going to God? Why aren’t we asking God the questions we ask our Pastor and Church Leadership? Why are we so dependent on man and so nonchalant when it comes to God?

Our relationship is supposed to be with God first. The only person we have to go through to get to God is Jesus Christ. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life: No man comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He is the only one that stands between us and God. So why do we act as if the Pastor or Church Leadership are the ones we have to go through. I hear many Christians make fun of Catholics because they do confessional. They say “I’m not stepping in no box and telling no man what I did wrong. I go to God and him only” , yet these are the same people who when they need an answer the first thing they do is, “Oh Pastor, I need your help. Please pray for me, I don’t know what to do”. When are we going to get out of that mindset and get into a mindset of I go to God first?

 Here’s some Real Talk for an answer, the reality is we don’t because we have no relationship with Him. We don’t know Him and He don’t’ know us. Now that is some sad news. John chapter 10 verses 4 and 5 teach us that if we are His sheep we should know His voice and not follow a strange one. We mess around and get caught up by every foul doctrine of interpretation (as will happen in the end times), because we seek man and not the voice of God. So when God really does speak we don’t recognize His voice. It’s strange to us. I don’t just blame us for not knowing His voice rather than the voice of the Pastor and Church Leaders. I blame them too. See leadership in a lot of churches (not all) spend so much time building their agendas, some much time seeking for their name to be on everything, so much time telling you to follow them and pointing to scriptures outlining commitment and outlining following your leader and no time telling you to seek God. No time telling you to develop a relationship with God. No time telling you to get on your knees and spend time in prayer and even fasting to develop and strengthen your relationship with God. Heaven is not like the club you can get into because you have a connection but your connection must be with the owner of the club not the bar tender who works the club. I work for the state of Ohio (at the time of this writing), I can’t work my 40 hours at my job and then expect a paycheck from my home state of Pennsylvania. PA can’t get me paid only OH can. Pastors can’t get you into heaven only Jesus can. Pastors and Church Leadership can’t give you spiritual gifts, they come from God. Pastors and Church Leadership shouldn’t be who you look to, to affirm your ministry it should be God. I have never seen someone pray in the name of (insert church leader or pastor’s name here) and someone be healed or blessed. No, it’s only through the name of Jesus. Stop seeking people and seek God. Stop serving people, churches, and ministries. Serve God. Otherwise you will be like the people who Jesus taught saying: “Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in your name? And in your name cast out devils? And in your name done many wonderful works”? But Jesus will say to them all who are like that but didn’t develop a relationship with Him: “Depart from me, worker of iniquity, I never knew you”! (Matthew 7:22, 23)

Do you want that to be you? Do you really want to go through all that you go through in this life, sacrifice all that you have sacrificed in your life, endured all that you endured throughout your life just to not make it in? Then stop slapping God in the face. Listen, I’d be highly upset if my daughter asked me to send her to someone that can show her what a Husband and Father should look like. I’d be upset if she asked someone else first how to teach her how to drive. I’d be upset if she had some other man to check out her boyfriend before deciding if he’s the right one. If I’d be as upset as I know I’d be, how much more upset do you think God is when we seek the people he placed here to guide us to Him as opposed to seeking Him. The bible teaches us to seek Him first and to serve God only. No man can serve 2 masters. The question is who are you serving, Pastor (man) or God?

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at jesse.jones@highpraiseministries.com. Remember, Grow in God’s Grace and Abide in His Love!

No more salvation?????

I’m going to preference this entry with this statement: Yes, I know I am only 30 years of age at the time as this writing, however I have been ministering for 18 years at this point (and still going), I have also walked this salvation walk for 25 years (and still walking and practicing the principals and fundamentals of a true Christ-like walk). I am no where near perfect however I am pushing for perfection in Christ. I’ve come under some tremendous teaching of the word of God from Bishop Clark to Bishop Griffin. I’ve been through numerous denominations from Cogic to Baptist to Non Denominational. I’m very well-traveled through out the east coast and mid-west and have heard a number of preachers, pastors, prophets and evangelists teach on a number of subjects. I give all of this info not as a pat on my back or to say look what I have done but really to say I am well qualified on the subject matter that I am about to speak.

With that said, I’ve noticed a severe problem with in the Kingdom of God. There has become a lack of our purpose as a body of believers. We have latched hold to every kind of message while leaving out the most important message of all. Now before you all get riled up and bent out of shape, I am not opposed to the prosperity message nor any other message that God has given a man or woman of God to preach. My problem is prosperity won’t get you into heaven, love messages won’t get you into heaven (it’ll keep you out if you lack it, but not get you in), forgiveness won’t get you in, the only thing that will get you in is the blood of Jesus Christ. We have stopped teaching salvation. In some churches you can go an entire service without even hearing the name of Jesus. This has become a severe problem. We have even gone so far as to twist the reason He (Jesus) came to this earth but not telling the full story.  Yes He came to show us how to love (the 2^nd greatest commandment: Love thy neighbor), Yes He came to show us sin has no power or authority over our lives, but don’t forget most of all Jesus Himself said the Son of Man is come to seek and save them that are lost (Luke 19:10). In John 10:10 I am come that they might have life, and they may have it more abundantly. If Jesus said these are the reasons He has come how can we say any different. How can we call ourselves walking in His shoes and we aren’t walking in His purpose. Yes Love and Forgiveness have its place, but understand you win them with love, they don’t get in because they love. There are millions of people everyday that die and go to hell (yes I said they are in hell) that have show love, compassion, and forgiveness to people. Those principals are only showing the attributes of Jesus and are important but if you aren’t covered by the blood of Jesus, if you haven’t repented of your sin and asked Jesus to be your savior according to Romans 10:9,10 then your ability to love and forgive is voided because Jesus said no man can come to the Father accept through Him (John 14:6).

I write this because we have gotten so comfortable as a body of believers with our ineffective messages that aren’t helping those that need it most. Yes you help meet the need (food, clothing, shelter, etc) as you have the ability but nothing is more needed than the salvation of their souls. What happened to the salvation message? I’m not even talking about preaching hell, fire, and brimstone. I’m just talking about letting people know there is a better way, that their life doesn’t have to be the way it is. I’m talking about telling people the sacrifice that Jesus made for them collectively and individually so hell wouldn’t be their portion but they would be able to dwell all the days of their lives with the only one who can and will truly love them unconditionally. We have preached love and they have gone out the doors the same because the love message is for the believer to show them what they need to do to win. We preach forgiveness and yet no one’s life is changed or made different because forgiveness is also for the believer to cause them to give out what Jesus gave to them (forgiveness) allowing them to realize the same grace God extended you is the same grace you need to extend to others (Matthew chapter 18). Believer ask yourself when is the last time someone truly got saved at your church? I’m not talking about someone got up and just recited after someone else the sinner’s prayer I’m talking about truly accepted Jesus and you began to see a desire for change in their life. When is the last time you or your church made a true spiritual difference in the lives of others? Why has salvation become a dead message where we politically correctly talk around it but not about it? How can the people hear unless someone preaches (Romans 10:14)? If we the ones who know (or are supposed to know the way) don’t teach and preach to those that don’t how then can we expect them to be able to come in? Someone had to tell you about Jesus and his sacrifice of blood and life on the cross, why would you assume others don’t need that same message. We’ve gotten to a place where we assume that everyone has heard about Jesus and the cross and that is not the case. Everyone has not heard, everyone does not know!

Allow me to say this while I am at it. Preaching and teaching the end time message that Jesus is returning is not effective if we haven’t first told them that Jesus has left and why He left in the first place. Telling them we are living in the end times and you need to accept Jesus does no good if you don’t tell people why? Why do I need to accept Jesus? What does the end time mean to me? It means that if you have not accepted Jesus; the one who sacrificed His life for our sin that we were born into in order to give us a chance at redemption and to give us a chance to be placed back in right standing with God which is our rightful place, hell is your final destination. Jesus stepped out of heaven and was born perfect just simply to be made a perfect, pure, and permanent sacrifice for our sin, He was born just to die a bloody excruciating death on a jagged old rugged cross. He went to hell so that you don’t have to , took the keys of death hell and the grave so that you don’t have to feel the sting of it. Ascended back to heaven to sit back by His Father’s side and with the promise to return for those who have accepted Him and Him only as Lord and Savior. The end time message doesn’t matter if you don’t make it till He comes back and even if you do if you aren’t saved (born again) then you still won’t’ see heaven. I promise you this above everything else we preach, we need to make sure there is a big dose of salvation and sanctification (the process after salvation) taught. For only through that shall a person enter in the Kingdom of God.

If you have read this and have been touched and know that you are not saved, know that you have never accepted Jesus into your life as your savior please aloud say this prayer (it doesn’t matter where you are or what you are doing, you don’t have to wait to come to church to say it you can be saved right where you are at): Lord Jesus, I come to you a sinner. I come to you unclean. Lord Jesus, I believe that you were born. That you lived. That you ministered. That you were crucified and died for my sins. I believe that you rose 3 days later and ascended into heaven and are soon to return for me. Lord Jesus, I repent of and all sin that I have committed, wash me, cleanse me, and fill me. Lord Jesus save me today. I believe that you have heard my prayer and I am now saved. I believed that you have accepted me as your own as I have you. I thank you Jesus for as of this day I am now no longer a sinner but I am saved and covered by your precious blood. I am saved, I am saved, I am saved.

If you have recited that prayer and truly meant it I say welcome to the kingdom of God, you are now a brother, you are now a sister in the family of Jesus Christ. Welcome, from this day forward your life will never be the same again. Don’t let anyone, no friends, no family, no one take away from you what you have received simply by believing and confessing Jesus Christ. You may still be tempted to do things you used to do, things that are not pleasing to God but don’t worry keep claiming you’re saved. You are walking through the sanctification process. You are saved nothing else is needed for your salvation. You are saved and God will help you with your struggles in this newness that you have. Find a good church home (not on tv, but go to a church) and get under a good pastor and hear the word of God that your faith can be strengthened. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17)

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at jesse.jones@highpraiseministries.com. Remember as always, Grow in God’s Grace and Abide in His Love!

Dating 101

Due to the nature of and feedback from the last blog (Relationship Roles) I have been asked to essentially do a blog for singles that details how I would advise going about finding your mate. I will tell you that the things I state are things I have used in my personal life. These are things I have advised others (successfully) to use in their own lives. The things that are going to be outlined in this blog will probably not make sense to you as to why I would advise doing it but again it works. To do what I am outlining to do will take some boldness on your part and will probably ruin some of your dates and possibly a relationship you are currently in that you are presently happy with but one of the things you will see is I am not concerned with present happiness. I look for long term joy and happiness. It’s not to me about what this person is to me know but rather what this person can and will be to me for where I am going. With that said, let’s have some Real Talk.

The biggest problem with relationships is that people unnecessarily waste so much time in through the course of a relationship with someone who isn’t really for them. Now when I say that please know I am not talking about the people who are in a relationship with some obvious jerk. I mean the one that isn’t that bad but just isn’t for you. Those are generally the relationships that hurt the most. The reason is because we often invest ourselves in them for months and sometimes years at a time. Then all of a sudden what worked just stops working and your left to pick up the pieces of why. What I council others to do is what I am going to divulge to you now. It is a method I believe God showed me after my first love dumped me. I was depressed and lost nearly 5 years of my life mourning that relationship. I started dating others to fill the void my first love left and never could do it. Then I realized I really don’t know what it is I want. (this is the part that some will find very familiar) So I began to make a list of qualities I want in my mate. Now I am sure many of you have heard and possibly even done this but then that’s when I got a revelation that I know in my heart came from God. My list was too short and incomplete. He showed me that I need to write the vision more clearly and more specifically. Meaning if I want someone that is romantic, I was not allowed to put I want a romantic person. I had to search deeper and outline what is romantic to me, if I want someone with a sense of humor I had to outline what is funny to me and so on and so forth. I even began to outline an age range (meaning how many years up or down I was willing to date, i.e no one more than 3 years older and 3 years younger than me).

With all of that it still wasn’t enough. The revelation then told me to outline what I don’t want and use the same depth that I put into what I want. Then there was a 3^rd list. This list was the most difficult. You’ve all heard of deal breakers right? Well I had to make a list of things I was willing to tolerate. In other words I’m not really thrilled about this quality but I can deal with it and not be miserable in the process. That list was the most difficult to do and it also had to be done in depth. See people forget that relationships are give and take. No one is perfect and if you are waiting for this perfect person to come and sweep you off your feet and you never have an argument or disagreement with them, then you might as well die now cus it ain’t going to happen. You aren’t perfect and there are qualities that you need to deal with too so you should allow for growth in the person for you.

Now after you have done all this, the next thing you need to do is pray. Take your lists before God and say this is what I bring to the table. I know that you know best so I trust you God. I trust you to move things around the way they need to be. Conform my will to yours that my desires line up with your desires. Say this honestly to God and truly be open to him changing your lists around. As a matter of fact you need to revisit your lists at least weekly but say that prayer daily. Every time you revisit that list be prepared to edit it. Be prepared because there are somethings you want that God is going to show you isn’t good for you. There are things you don’t want (like my wife originally didn’t want to marry a minister) that God will show you, you need. So be prepared to edit it. I advise while this process is going on that you REFRAIN FROM DATING ANYONE FOR 30 DAYS!!!!!!! This is very important, it gives you and God time together so He can begin to teach you what He has for you and prepare you like Ester to receive it. Don’t think you’re getting off scot-free. You don’t get to ask God to prepare you a mate and not have to go through the process yourself. Don’t ask for someone neat and your stanky behind can’t even wash clothes. Don’t ask for someone who can cook and you ignorant behind can’t serve a meal or wash dishes. There is preparation you have to do and that’s what this 30 days with God and your lists will do.

Now after the 30 days is up, that doesn’t mean your daily prayer and weekly time with God is over, it just simply means that you know can go see what’s out there. BEWARE OF COUNTERFEITS!!!!!!!!! You and God aren’t the only person who hears about your lists, satan hears them too and he desires to send you someone that will pull you so far from God you will never get back. His desire is to sift you as wheat and in order to do so he’ s got to send you someone that is nearly everything you ask for (he’s been doing that already that’s how you get your heart broke). He knows what you want because you talk too much. You spend your date time telling them what you been through and what kind of man/woman you don’t want. What you think he’s going to do, he’s gonna act the exact opposite of what you told him/her hurt you in the first place. So my advice, shutup and ask questions. But really you are out on a date, you may be too enthralled with the other person to go home and evaluate what you heard. So make them take a test. Yes that’s right a test. Before your date take a piece of paper and write down at least 10 questions that have to do with your lists. Be sure to gather your questions from all 3 lists. Don’t make them yes or no questions as it is too easy to guess. Make them small essay questions that will tell you about that person, throw in a few multiple choice questions too. Leave your answer sheet at home and take the test with you or have them answer the questions upon pickup.

A lot of people will be unwilling to take the test and that is fine because if they are unwilling they aren’t for you. A person who is for you and sees your value won’t mind going through a few hoops. So if they don’t like it tell them to take a walk (before or after the date your choice) and you keep it moving. Now for those that are willing to take the test, the will ask you what it is for and yes if you want you can tell them but don’t go into detail explaining it just tell them and have them take the test. When you get the test back, after the date, go home and score it. Anything below an 80% isn’t for you. I know so of yall are like but in school a 70% is still passing. Yes but 70% in school is a C grade, C means average when God does something He don’t do it average. He does it extraordinary.  So why not look for just that. If they score an 80% or better continue dating them but continue asking questions from your lists to make sure they are still where you’d like them to be and more importantly where God would have them to be. Never stop asking questions and never stop giving answers. That is how you grow together.

This process is designed to reduce the risk of you being hurt. It is not a guarantee no one will hurt you, but it will limit how hurt you may get. Understand that this process is going to weed out some people you may actually like. But this is not a process that is designed to get you a Mr. or Mrs. Good for me right now. It’s a process designed to join you with whom God has for you and that can grow with you to who God is calling you to be. I’m not just made for my wife and she for me for 2012, we are made for each other as the vows say till death due us part. Which means she has to be flexible enough to grow and move as God grows and moves me and vice versa. Lots of people are great for us now, but in 2 years we’ve out grown them. This process will help you realize more about you and what you need to get together and prepare to bring to the table to help build your mate. Relationship is a growing experience and just as we are to continue to grow with God we should continue to grow with our mate. The relationship you choose is supposed to mirror the relationship you have with God, if it can’t do that you are in the wrong place with the wrong person.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me at jesse.jones@highpraiseministries.com. Remember, Grow in God’s Grace and Abide in His Love.

Relationship Roles

I was asked to write an entry on relationships by a friend of mine who has a friend with a problem. The problem is her friend likes to basically emasculate her man. She makes more money than him and throws it in his face and tries to get him to feel like less than a man. Well in the words of Steve Harvey when he did is comedy special “Still Trippin” as he was talking about an email he got in what he calls the strawberry letter. “You came to the right one”! Here is the first thing I would say to her: You’re lucky he don’t leave you and if I ever met him that is the first piece of advice I’d give him. Leave her! I don’t think they are married so since that is the case leave her and leave her now. Don’t ever stay with someone (this is for ladies too) who you aren’t married to that treats you less than your value is. If you don’t know your value know that you are worth more than that. This won’t be the last person to take interest in you.  Then I would ask her to think about how much company her money can give her now that he is gone.

Now let’s assume that they are married. As I said in a previous post I am not an advocate of divorce so there’s got to be a way to work through this issue. First thing I would tell them is, he should have left before they got married. She didn’t just get like this over night. There is no way she got this way overnight. That notwithstanding I ask her to understand her role as a wife and him understand his as a husband. Which is the topic of this blog: Understanding your marital roles.

Here’s what I have found no one teaches you or trains you how to be a proper husband or wife and I mean according to the word. The problem is that we only use one scripture to explain the husband and wife relationship and that is Ephesians 5:22 and 5:25. We tell women to submit and husbands to love but never explain really what that means which is why there is always a backlash with women when you tell them they are supposed to submit to their husband because men use that as a tool to be a dictator in the home as opposed to a leader in the home. So I’ve decided as God has given me revelation and wisdom to explain a little of what the roles really are supposed to be about and what they mean and I am going to start with the man. If you want to skip man’ s role scroll down and you will see woman’s role after. There is also a message to both men and women at the very end. Be Blessed and enjoy!

Man’s Role

The man that was described to me I first have a serious problem with because he feels threatened by his wife making more money than he does and that is because most likely he doesn’t understand no matter how much money she makes he is still a man. Being a man isn’t about how much money you make, it’s about leadership and the weight of the family on your shoulders. No matter how she makes God is not going to judge her first for the things that go wrong and right in the house. The man is always ultimately responsible for the home. You want some proof look at the book of Genesis and the fall of man. It wasn’t until Adam partook of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil that God came looking for who…..Adam. Never once did he call woman. Woman was only introduced to the equation after Adam said “they hid because they were naked” and God asked “who told you that you were naked, did you eat of the tree”? Adam replied “the woman that you gave to me gave me of the tree and I did eat”. God asked question of Adam because that is who is responsible for the family man, so no matter how much she makes the burden is on your shoulders. Man up and own it. It’s your job to lead the home, teach the home, care for the home that responsibility is on you and no one can take that from you. Stop crying, saying she’s pulling my man card. That woman does that only because you let her. You are the authority in the home men, you are the shepherd that the members of that home follow. Where you go, they are supposed to follow. So she makes more money than you, be proud of her,  praise her for it, make her feel like she is special and I guarantee that she won’t continue to punk you like she does because at the same time you praise her and make her feel special you assert your love for her. See that scripture we always use for husbands that says for you to love your wife as Christ loved the church, you really have to understand what that means. It means your job your role is to as Christ did. He taught the word, he gave of himself everything he had to the church to build it up and see it succeed. He died for it and forgave it even in its wrong. Don’t get it twisted though because he also corrected its wrong and told it while showing it the proper way to go. Jesus never had to proclaim out loud to people who he was, he was doing the work so well and walking in His purpose so much that His work spoke for him causing others to recognize it. I never have to remind my wife that I am the head of the home and don’t get me wrong we have our battles on occasion because we don’t see eye to eye on everything but she knows who I am and respects the authority I carry and the burden I have to face. That’s not saying she isn’t strong because she is a very very strong woman but she doesn’t try to use her strength to walk over me because I won’t allow it but I do my best to do that in love. When I talk to her I do my best not to talk to her as if she is a small child because she isn’t my child she is my wife and I owe her the respect of treating her like the gift from God that she is. When you realize and treat a woman like the gift that she is, well first you have to realize she is a gift. If you want proof for that look again at Genesis this time go to chapter 2. Adam had been moping because everything had something of its own kind to be with but him and that’s when God said it is not good that man should be alone, let us make him a help-meet. That was God hearing the heart’s cry of Adam and blessing him with a companion. How dare you as man disrespect the blessing of God that’s a slap in God’s face. Once you realize that, the walls that she has (and all women have walls because of life and its issues) will come down. The question is can you be man enough to tear the walls down? Your role as a man is to be a support to her emotion and leader for her soul. Be strong as she needs you to be and gentle when she requires it. Be to her as Jesus is to you. Speak with her and not in a forceful and domineering way, but in a gentle and loving way that will penetrate to her heart and cause her to follow you. See the reality is and this is whether women want to admit it or not, they have a desire to follow. They aren’t really comfortable being the leader because that isn’t how they are created but if you read the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 you’ll see that a real woman will do whatever it takes to see that her house succeeds and is blessed and if that means take the lead from your sorry behind than she will do that. But if you are on your post the challenges will be few. Men you will never find anywhere in the word the bible telling wives to love their husbands all you see is husbands love your wives. Take that as a hint if the love isn’t in the marriage it’s your fault first. I don’t care if you agree or not it still is true it’s your fault first. Step up and be a man, love her, cherish her, correct her and treat her well and she will love you forever. If you do all those things and she isn’t doing her part than she isn’t for you, leave and ask God to show you who God has handpicked and crafted for you.

Woman’s Role

The woman that was described to me I have an issue with because she obviously doesn’t realize what she is doing to the marriage. Her actions aren’t that of a virtuous woman they are that of a contentious woman.  She wants to cause strife by trying to assert something that isn’t hers. She doesn’t understand her role nor the importance of it or his role and how she can help herself by doing what she is called to do and that is to be a help to him. First of as I said in the opening she is lucky that thus far he hasn’t left her, the bible declares in Proverbs 21:9 that it is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house. It is said again in Proverbs 25:24. In Proverbs 21:19 it states that it is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and angry woman. If he knew and believed these verses he probably would have walked along time ago. Proverbs 31 is the famous virtuous woman chapter reading that every woman aspires to and says she is, but the reality is that 9 out of every 10 isn’t.  For starters check verse 12, the bible states that she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. Trying to emasculate him is not doing him good, trying to prove that you run things because you make more money than he isn’t doing good, trying to assert authority that God hasn’t given you isn’t doing good, it’s hurting him and the house. When you as a wife tear down your husband the head of the house it makes it harder for him to lead properly. Verse 26 tells us that she speaks wisdom from her mouth and the law of kindness from her tongue. When the words that come out of your mouth especially toward your husband aren’t kind you aren’t a virtuous woman, when you aren’t using wisdom (wisdom not only being meant as knowing what you are talking about but knowing how to convey it in a receivable manner to him) you aren’t a virtuous woman. This chapter needs to be studied thoroughly and in depth in order for you to really see where your short comings as a virtuous woman are so that you can work on them just as he should work on being a man of valor. When you are a virtuous woman you understand your role as a help meet. Go back again to Genesis (for those that read the Men’s Role); when God said let us make him (Adam) a help-meet, do you understand what God was saying? Do you understand what a real help-meet is? A help-meet is like an assistant. An assistant at any job puts in mad work and honestly gets none of the upfront credit less they are under a wise leader. But the assistant also isn’t responsible for the vision; they are responsible to help the vision along. Let me give you an example of what I mean. I was working as the assistant manager for RadioShack and I had my manager call me on my day off because the store needed coverage. I was unavailable because I had previous plans. He informed me there was no one else to cover the store. I informed him again I wasn’t available, he wound up covering the store. Now, if he hadn’t covered the store the DM’s wouldn’t have come to me and said Jesse why didn’t you cover the store. They would have gone to him and asked why wasn’t the store covered, he would have said he told me to do it and when they found out it was my day off they ultimately would have come down on him because it is his store and he is responsible for it not me. The same with a wife you are a help-meet. You are to help-meet the needs of the vision not take over and do the vision. Your job is to support him and push him as much as possible. Build him up and keep him going. When the time calls for it your job is to step in and assist not take over. See what needs to be done and help it get done and while you are assisting you are doing so only till he feels that he can take it or needs to take it back. When and or if that happens your assisting role in that area is done. My wife generally handles the finances of our home. She is good at what she does but there are times I see what needs to be done and it’s easier to take it than to explain in detail what needs to be done. When I take it I let her in on what’s going on but it’s not a fight between her and I because through the word she sees that she is a help-meet and if I go wrong I gotta answer to God and believe me that is not a good talk when the house is lead wrong. Women, the burden isn’t on you, it’s on him. So because it’s on him that is why the bible teaches that woman are to submit to their own husband. Submission isn’t being subservient or a slave to him. It is understanding that he is responsible for the home and will be judged accordingly. God commanding you to submit doesn’t mean you lose your identity, it means you put and push him up front. If he is a real man, a man of valor, a Godly man when you push him up front he will take you with him because he knows he can’t make it without you. You make it harder on yourself and the home when you try to compete for a place God didn’t design for you. I know I’ve said that like 900 times but it is true. The role of head of the home wasn’t designed for you when the man is present. If he isn’t Godly you knew that from jump and had no business trying to pursue him. If you got saved in the marriage and he still ain’t your job is to pray for him that God bring him like he brought you. You have more power than what you think you do but just not in the area you try to exert it. Every man has been influenced by a woman. Whether he admits it or not it’s true. You can influence him that is the power of the help-meet, but that power is negated when you try to challenge him for his rightful position. Real talk if you aren’t ready to let a man lead then let that man go so you both aren’t led to destruction. Look at Ester, she prepared and because she was a virtuous woman she was able to use her influence to save her people. If she had been like half of yall her people would have been destroyed and her with them. The reality is that when you learn that submission isn’t a bad thing, it’s a God thing and learn how to submit to God first, then your husband your home will be better. The ignorant part is you know how to submit because you do whatever your boss asks you to do and if you complain you don’t do it to his/her face. So why can’t you give the man you pledged your life to that same respect when he is the one that is authorized and has the ability to cause an overflow of blessing in the home if you would just do your part so that it would help (there’s that word again) him do his.

For Both Men and Women

Lastly, for both men and women understand that God has called you to each other for a purpose and a reason. He called you to submit one to another which means respect each other and prefer each other over oneself (Ephesians 5:21). If you learn how to operate in your rolls and stop competing in the home. Love God first, put him first in your marriage, put him first in your home, take your battles to him instead of at each other the bible teaches everything else will be added. Meaning the home will be in order, you’ll love each other more and more each day, and the blessing of the Lord will overtake you as stated in Deuteronomy 28:2. I say to both men and women (including those that my friend brought to my attention) in the infamous words of one of my favorite wrestlers of all time THE ROCK: “Know Your Roles and Shut Your Mouths”!

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at jesse.jones@highpraiseministries.com. Remember, Grow in God’s Grace and Abide in His Love!

Prayer and Sex

Today as we are still in what is being hailed as love week, I decided to tackle an issue of relationship intimacy. Quite as it’s kept, there are a lot of unhappy people that feel stuck in a loveless marriage. Now though I have been divorced allow me to start off by saying I am not a proponent of divorce. The vows are till death do you part and unless God calls for the separation (as He did in mine and some other’s I know of) than your job is to make it work. The bible teaches us that love covers a multitude of sin. If there is true love than there really isn’t anything that you can’t work through provided both parties are sincerely trying to work through it.

With that said let us go on to the topic of relationship intimacy. There is a cliché that says the family that prays together stays together which is true to a point. A husband and wife’s joint communication is key to the continual growth and development of the marriage. There is another cliché that the world has that says not to be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good. Now even though this cliché isn’t biblically founded and we are commanded to set our sights on things above consider this: Jesus was moved with compassion because the multitude that had followed Him had been with Him 3 days and hadn’t eaten. He knew He couldn’t send them away because they would most likely faint in the way. So what did Jesus do, He fed them natural food (John 15^th chapter starting at verse 32). He could have been like I fed you all spiritual food, you’ve heard the words my father has given me to give you go about your way and be filled. He understood that not only does the spirit need to be fed so does the natural, in other words He wasn’t so focused on the spiritual that the earthly suffered hence don’t be so spiritually minded  you are no earthly good. There are other examples like this I could point out but that isn’t the point of this blog. Praying with one’s spouse that you may jointly be intimate with God is great but there is one key ingredient missing that “church folk” don’t like to talk that much about hence a huge reason that the Christian churches divorce rate is well over 50% at the time of this writing. That key ingredient is SEX.

Yes, Sex! But not just sex, intimacy period. I recognize that intimacy is made up of more than just sex but sex is the only act that 2 become 1. It is the time when if done right (meaning in true love and under the covenant of God’s marriage) than it will help to catapult your marriage and keep it above the fray of all the negativity that people (including bitter church folk or most of the church) will attempt to spew at you. How do I know this, because my wife and I practice it (and we try to practice it a lot). We do our best to make sure everyday of the week 2 things happen. We pray together and we are sexually intimate. Now even when we can’t be sexually intimate, we are still physically intimate. We make sure to touch each other, rub each other, and look into each other’s eyes with wanting love and desire. This happens in the morning. See, we desire to be intimate and close with God daily and refuse to neglect the gift that God has given us in each other daily. We aren’t perfect at it but again we practice it. Yes, verbal communication is important but sometimes let’s just be real you can talk too much. Sometimes your words can be misconstrued and taken in a totally different way than you meant it by your spouse. But your touch is very hard to mistake, a loving kiss is very hard to misconstrue. The 2 biggest reasons most every marriage breaks up (in Christ and not) is money and sex. Almost no matter what the situation is it comes back to one of those 2 reasons. Even neglect falls under sex, communication falls under sex.  When you are talking with your spouse about whatever even if it’s just how your day went or how you slept, you are communicating to their heart. That communication to the heart causes a desire for you from them. That desire manifests itself sexually.  A person can’t generally be with someone they are not attracted to, your communication helps that attraction happen and the proof is in the sex. Now there are a great many people who are reading this but I promise you their marriages (provided they are married) aren’t very fulfilling. Older couples who have been married 50+ years will tell you that even they (as much as you don’t want to think about it) still have that sexual desire for their spouse though they may not be able to fully engage in it.

Sex is very important in your intimacy with your spouse. It is your physical expression of your love for them. Understand how important sex is to a marriage. It is so important that to do it outside of marriage is sin. Talking to someone outside of marriage isn’t a sin. Why because sex was designed to show us as humans the love that God has for us in a physical manner. Whether a person admits it or not while the sex is going on (again under the confines of the covenant of marriage and true love) they never feel more close to their spouse. Another misnomer is sex has to be boring old missionary positions and what not (told you this is Real Talk), the truth is that just as you can pray to God in a manner that fits your personality and relationship intimacy with Him so can you with your spouse (as long as you aren’t trying to bring other people or animals {pause for a quick ewwwwwwww} into your sex) in sex. Hebrews 13:4 tells us that marriage is honorable in all and the bed room undefiled.  The word undefiled means it hasn’t lost its purity. Meaning that you can be free to explore and do things with your spouse that each other likes and don’t have to be ashamed because you did it.

Prayer causes your connection to God, sex causes your connection to your spouse. So sex is kinda like prayer to your spouse. I know some of yall didn’t like that one but it doesn’t make it any less a good analogy! The bible teaches that men ought to always pray (and that prayer is to God), so if we ought to continually pray to keep our connection with God open and allow our relationship with Him to grow deeper, than why are we cutting ourselves short in relationship with our spouses. We allow nothing as Christians to get in the way of our time with God. We will go to church services through the week that last till 11 that night and be there dead tired. We will put upcoming church services on our calendar so not to forget them. We will reserve a room as our prayer closet to make sure we get our prayer and bible reading time with God in. We do all of that but yet neglect the gift that God has given us. When is the last time you made some time to be intimate with your spouse? When is the last time that you decided to put on your calendar sometime for just you and them? When is the last time that no matter how tired you were, you were intimate with them just as you push yourself to do with God. I’m not saying your spouse is your God or even should be on the same level as Him, what I am saying is that the same effort put in to getting close with God should be the type of daily effort that you put into with your spouse. Don’t desire to be close with God and neglect the gift He has given you that is a slap in the face of God. You make sure you pray everyday especially in the morning and before you sleep why not try that with your spouse too. I try to send my wife off to work everyday with a smile on her face that comes from some type of close physical intimacy, no not always sex but again we touch each other and embrace one another and look deeply at each other. We have almost been late to work a few times as a result. Now some of yall won’t like I was this raw, blunt, open, and transparent and won’t believe I was led to deal with this topic in this manner, but I say to you I know what God says to me and I know what He shows me. This topic was inspired to uncover some mess that is going which is helping to destroy church families. The first step to saving church families is saving the marriages in the individual families. Restoring the love and intimacy in them causing them to grow closer to one another as they grow closer to God. So if you don’t like it, not too much I can say to you accept this is Real Talk and I don’t pull punches or sugar coat topics. I just speak as I am given to speak. With that said if you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at jesse.jones@highpraiseministries.com. Remember, Grow in God’s Grace and Abide in His Love!

A tribute to my wife

Today’s blog is a dedication blog. I do this not because it is Valentine’s Day because honestly this date is not a date of celebration for me. It marks an extreme tragedy in my life that I will probably never forget. I dedicate this blog because the person that it is dedicated to simply put deserves it. I dedicate this blog to my wife Mrs. Falonda Jones.

The bible declares in Proverbs 18:22 that “He who finds a wife, finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord”. In this woman of God I have found not just a good thing but a great thing. I have found a soul mate, a help meet, an encourager, some to push me, a supporter, a shoulder, a leader, a team mate, a follower, a friend, a lover, and much much more. Falonda came into my life at a time when I was in complete disarray and very few people knew it or could see it. I was going through a divorce and not that the divorce was bad but the circumstances that caused the divorce were. I was a very broken man. God brought her to my life at a time when I had all the baggage in the world and not much room to carry them in. She began to remind me of who I am without even knowing who I am or that she was doing it. She has this ability to (as I like to call it) shine up a turd. I was that turd that she shined. She unselfishly stood behind the ministry God gave to me before we were even engaged let alone married. She pushed me to push it and take some time to invest in what God had given me and not just use what God gave me and invest it in other’s visions and dreams.

Mrs. Falonda Jones

I find myself daily growing more and more in love with her and being challenged more and more by her everyday to be a better man, husband, and man of God. I love this woman not because of what she does for me but as a poem I wrote years ago says, I love her simply because she is. But don’t get it twisted now her attributes are as you can see are par excellent as well. Her smile is breathe taking, her eyes you can get lost in, her kiss is seductive, her lips are luscious, are body is elegant and sexy. One a scale of 1-10 she’s 1 in a million. When God created this vivacious woman he definitely created her for me. She is a true woman of God and not just a virtuous woman as described in the book of Proverbs but she is a woman after God’s own heart. Speaking of hearts, hers is as pure as snow descending from the sky. There is simply no one that can compare to the wonderful woman that God has joined me with. I have loved and lost, I have been married and lost, and even have one or two that may fall into the category of the one that got away but none of them compare to the gift that God has given me in Falonda none of them. I am truly blessed and don’t deserve her but ever so glad I have her. She is mine and I am hers and just as the Marvin Sapp song says She sees the Best In Me.

So today not because it is Valentine’s Day but because she deserves it, I appreciate her, I celebrate her and later I’ll ravish her with all that her heart desires to the best of my ability. My lady, my love, my wife the incomparable Mrs. Falonda Jones. I love you more than you will ever know now and forever and the rest of our lives till death do us part and even after that for all eternity. I love you, I love you, I love you.

This has been a dedication post entry. It has been dedicated to the one who stands by me always and that person is my wife Mrs. Falonda Jones. Remember,  Grow in God’s Grace and Abide in His Love! If you have any comments or questions please feel free to email me at jesse.jones@highpraiseministries.com.

What is Love

I know that I have just recently done a blog concerning love but I felt that since we are in the week (just one day away) of the day love is celebrated at least nationwide I thought it would be appropriate to revisit this subject. I’m going to try to revisit this subject with a twist to it because I want to do this in a way that hasn’t really been done or explored before.  So what is love? I wrote a song years ago or more apply I turned a collaborative effort (me and a good friend of mine) of a poem into a song entitled Love Is (Copyright 1995). The lyrics are:

The way you hold  me close to you in your arms you hold me tight.

Your warm and gentle touch, makes everything seem so right.

The way you often say to me all the words I wanna hear.

Gives me hope and brings a smile dries each and every tear.

(chorus)

Love Is, the way I feel about you,

Oh Love Is, the way you feel about me too.

It’s not just physical. Baby It’s emotional

Love Is more than just a word.

Now there is more to the song but I feel that is appropriate enough being that the chorus is what I want to get to. More to the point the last line of the chorus is what I want. Love is more than just a word. If love is more than just a word than what is love? I mean true absolute love in its purest form. Love encompasses so many things. Love is the greatest attribute of God and since we desire to be like Him, it should be our greatest attribute. Love is the ability to give and forgive without thought. Love is the ability to be free and help set others free as well. Love overwhelms you and causes life to seem as if there is nothing else that matters but the object of your love. Love should cause compassion and charity which is love in action. Love should be seen and felt but not just one time one day a year. For when True love is there it engulfs you endlessly day after day after day. Love makes you want to spend time with the object of your love. Love is not rude so when it is around the object of itself it’s always polite and giving. Love is not just an emotion, it’s an existing force that doesn’t come on by force. You can’t make someone love you nor can you talk yourself into love not true and real love. Love is a desire for that person and their well-being. Love is the air you breathe, the blood in your veins you would gladly give up to see your love prosperous. Love is me and should be in you and should be felt in different unexplainable ways by everyone around you. Love is your connection to Christ and the power that He left here on this earth to change the world. Love is a conqueror, love is an overcomer, love is a champion of champions. Love is the reason we are and the reason we continue to be. So on the day that is dedicated to celebrating love. I urge you to do it right or don’t do it at all. There is a question I’ve heard asked that should you spend more time trying to find the one that fits you or learning to love the one your with. I say when it’s true love you don’t have to learn how to love them you just have to learn how to exist with them and learn how they fit with you. Stop trying to make pieces fit that don’t. Find the one ordained for you and love them unconditionally with everything you got or don’t love them at all. Stop playing games for love is too important and too valuable to play with. It’s time to get to true love. Don’t wait till tomorrow start now. Allow love to develop in you and consume you as it has done me and I promise you that if you do you will never be the same again.  

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at jesse.jones@highpraiseministries.com. And as always remember to Grow in God's Grace and Abide in His Love!

Where has WWJD gone?

Throughout the 1990’s there for some reason was a craze that swept the country. This craze commanded deep introspection and self-examination. This craze pushed people to do better than just being themselves. It pushed them to be greater, more loving, more caring, more compassionate, more forgiving. It challenged them to reflect the life some of the life they were professing and aspire to the legacy that was left behind by Him. This craze was a mantra that sounded from sea to shining sea. This craze was WWJD!

WWJD for those that may not know stood for What Would Jesus Do. It was supposed to have been a way to curb our impulses and actions in any given situation. My question is what happened to it? Everybody back then was so gung-ho about it and then this great mantra turned into a cliché, then into the butt of a joke, then into a mockery whereby we substituted our own names or names of people we felt were better suited to look up to such as what would Brian Boitano do or what would Johnny Cash do. We allowed it to be a mockery for marketing during Black Friday by saying what would Jesus buy. So again I ask what happened to WWJD?

I think that thinking about what Jesus would do became too difficult for us. It started cramping our style because it made us turn the other cheek and be kind to our enemies and our neighbors. It made us forgive those who had done us wrong and seek out ways to bless even those that we didn’t know. It forced us to be honest with our friends, our families, and most importantly ourselves. WWJD forced us to be exactly who we said we were, Christians which is a term that is supposed to mean Christ-like. If you aren’t going to try to live as He lived and exemplify His character then how dare you attempt to carry the title? Jesus did more than go to church as a matter of fact He was inside the walls of a temple way less frequently than we spend wasting our time in church listening to someone try to help us better live a lifestyle we really aren’t living in the first place. I’m not saying I’ve got it all together because God knows I’ve got my faults and they are many (which I am working on by His grace). What I am saying is, how can dare to call ourselves something we aren’t really trying to be. It’s completely ludicrous. I know some of you readers are thinking to yourself “I’m doing my part, I’m trying to live as He lived”, well then I am not talking to you (less you are one that believes you are trying and are not). The name of this blog is “Real Talk”, so I’m just trying to have a real discussion about the state of things I see to help us (including myself) live a life of love and purpose as we should in Christ.

Jesus has become some craze, some fad that goes in and out of style especially when times are hard as they are now, but the moment things are good that fad goes out like bell bottoms and jheri curls. I believe we need to go back to the time when we put thought into what Jesus would do and say in any situation we come up against. Because if we apply Jesus to every situation in our lives we will come out perfect and I guarantee our lives will be better. So for the first time in one of my blogs I lay down a challenge and the challenge is this; for one month go back to WWJD and see if your life doesn’t begin to make a turn for the better. I promise you, you can’t go wrong when you use Jesus as your everyday model. I don’t know what happened to WWJD  but I do know I’m trying to bring it back.

If you have any comments or questions about today’s blog please feel free to email me at jesse.jones@highpraiseministries.com. Remember Grow in God’s Grace and Abide in His Love.

Watch Your Mouth!

Proverbs 18:21 is one of my favorite scriptures. I recite it all the time and use it in most everyday conversation in various ways. So to me it seems very appropriate that I would use this same scripture as the focus of my blog today. The bible declares: “Death and Life are in the power of the Tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” In other words what you say has power. It has the power to command life or command death over a person or their situations. So indeed we as believers need to watch what we say.

One of the biggest problems I find with believers (most especially) is we are uneducated in what we say (man I know some of yall didn’t like that but it’s the truth anyhow). We have no idea of the definition of the words we use or even more to the point half of what we say we try to throw in the statement I’m only joking. But this scripture makes it clear that what you say has power and you need to watch what how you use that power. The fact of the matter is that God comes for our words if you don’t believe that check out Matthew 12:36 “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment”. The things that you say God is going to hold you accountable for and the reason behind that is because he put power in your tongue. God showed me years ago something my brother Melvin used to do all the time and now (in a different way) I do. My brother Melvin used to read the dictionary and not only expand his vocabulary but he learned the definitions of the words and in most cases their origin so he knew how to correctly use them. God said to me if I am a king as the bible calls us (kings and priests) then I have got to know what I am saying because the spirit realm obeys the words we say. We sing ignorant songs like “I’m coming up the rough side of the mountain”. Well first of all who told you to climb the mountain? Jesus said if you have faith and speak to the mountain and tell it to move it will move (that’s disobedience). Then since you did decide to climb the mountain, why in the world did you choose the rough side (rough also being equivalent to difficult) instead of the smooth side (also equivalent to easy)? You are literally sing speaking trouble and struggle in your life. Or on the flip side we sing songs we really don’t mean then get mad at God because He honored the song. Songs like: “Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary”, then God starts preparing you and you got an issue because when He prepares you, you have to go through somethings to make you ready for what He has for you but you asked him to in song. Or how about songs like: “I don’t mind waiting, I don’t mind waiting, I don’t mind waiting on the Lord”, knowing you are an I don’t mind waiting lie! Then you get all frantic and upset when God seemingly takes His time and doesn’t give you an indication that He is coming, but didn’t you lie in song and tell Him you’re ok if you have to wait. Just cause God gave that song to Prophetess Juanita Bynum for her experience doesn’t mean you have to sing it. She was equipped to go through in her waiting are you?

The point I am making is what we say has power and if we don’t start as believers watching what we say we will find ourselves speaking a whole lot of mess over our own life and then blaming the devil and wondering why rebuking him ain’t working. It’s cause he had nothing to do with your struggle, your big fat mouth did. Conversely, however, we also don’t use the power of life that is in our tongue. We are always saying I’m broke, I’m broke, I’m broke (remember the But God Clause?) instead of I command financial prosperity to hit your account (don’t forget you still have to be lined up in the will of God through obedience and love). You’re sick, so speak healing over your own life, pray and command healing yourself stop worrying Pastor all the time. You’re taking him away from the time he needs to hear a word for not only your life but the church’s life that he is responsible for. It’s time we as believers grow up! Grow up and become accountable to ourselves for what we say because you already see regardless whether you do or not you will be accountable to God for them.

Finally as it relates to words, be sure of what you speak when you do speak stop being so wishy washy. Man up and stand on the word that God has given you. Stop double speaking, one day your full of faith and claiming what God has for you, the next day you are down in the dumps and unsure if it will come to pass. The bible declares a double minded man is unstable in ALL his ways (James 1:8) and not standing on what God said is being double minded. The bible tells us that this should not be life (blessing) and death (cursing) should not proceed out of the same mouth (James 3:8-10). And by cursing neither I nor the bible is talking about what we call profanity (what we call profanity is another lesson on words for another day, just look up what the word curse means to understand what the bible is talking about). One should not have life coming out of your mouth one moment and then death the next your unstable you are double minded and I rebuke you and that foul spirit in the name of Jesus. Say what you mean, mean what you say, and stand on it. It’s time to get this thing together and get it the right way. I know in the book of James it says that “no man can tame the tongue for it is an unruly evil”, however, you can ask God to bridle your tongue and teach you how to speak so that when you do speak the power that you wield will have an impact that will send shock waves through Satan’s kingdom and cause a halt to his intended plan for the day.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at jesse.jones@highpraiseministries.com. Remember Grow in God’s Grace and Abide In His Love!