It's the Small Things That Matter

On yesterday, I talked about being humble and I used the example of myself and "scooping" up after my dog.  I said that I would have a follow-up to that entry, so here it is.  The weird thing is that I got this revelation while doing the same thing....picking up after my dog.

A couple of days ago, I was walking Jo Jo (my dog) and as I got ready to clean up after him when the Holy Spirit spoke to me.  He said (and I a paraphrase), "God demands obedience with the small things too".  At that moment I had a "light bulb" moment!  Keep in mind that by now I have picking up after my dog a little over 4 years now and it is apart of my daily routine (sometimes 3 times a day).  I know it is not a great topic to talk about but it is a part of my life now and during my walks is the time I spend with God.

Most of the times, no one is looking at me. I don't have the dog police following me.  I do know that God is watching .  It easy to be obedient when people are watching because you have to be accountable to someone, however, when no one checks in on us, it's easy to dismiss some things as frivolous.  In the Book of Isaiah and chapter 1, Isaiah had a vision about Judah & Jerusalem and God spoke to him.  In verses 19 and 20, God says,

19) If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; 20) but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.

God knows all and sees all.  Just as there is no such thing as a small or large sin, there is no small or large areas of obedience to the Lord. I believe that a part of my obedience in this matter has allowed me and my family to "eat the best from the land" despite how our circumstances may have looked.  I do not brag or boast on me, however, I testify that God is (and has been) good, just, and a promise keeper to me and mines.

In addition to being obedient, God has called us to be Holy and we cannot do this if we do not keep his commandments (whatever He instructs you to do).  In 1 Peter 1:13-15, it says:

13) Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14) As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15) But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;

What small instructions of obedience have you been overlooking in your life?  I encourage you to find it, fix it, and thank God for revealing it to you.  Just by doing this alone, you have started the next phase of your walk with Him who keeps you.

Be blessed gang!

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:      http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

Read More

Being Humble - The Remix (Replay)

Hi All,

I hope that everyone is doing well today.  I wanted to share with you an entry that I did for WFTD back in March 2006.  I chose this because, this same message now has a response or rather a confirmation from God that I will follow-up on hopefully tomorrow.  At any rate, I wanted to make sure you had some background first so you can see how God will show up in your life to give you confirmation of what He has instructed you to do!

-------------- snip ---------------
March 1, 2006
Gooood Morning!

It's 9AM and do you know what's coming?  Yep, Word For The Day!  So How is everyone so far this morning?  Fine I pray.  This morning I want to revisit the concept of "Being Humble".  With out delay, let's hop to some scripture (all NIV):

Deuteronomy 8:2 - "Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands."

1 Kings 21:29 - "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."

2 Chronicles 7:14 - "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Ezra 8:21 - "There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions."

Psalm 25:9 - "He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way."

I think this [is] enough, but you see how many times humble appears in the bible.  I merely hand-picked a few.  If you were to do a search on Humble, you would receive more than 1 page of scriptures that contains the word.  But why?  Well let's look at what humble means: 

"Marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful; Showing deferential or submissive respect"

In all of the scriptures above, you will notice that being humbled is followed by some action OR if not humbled then some action will occur.  If you look at the definition of humble, especially at the part about not being "arrogant or prideful" and "submissive respect".  In order for God to work in our lives we have to first humble ourselves before him.  If we cannot move ourselves out the way and submit to His will then He cannot work for us, on us, and/or through us.

I will use me for an example.  I have 2 dogs as most of you may know (Boxer & Pekingese).  As you all might know (or might not know) picking up after your dog (or pooper scooping) is the law here in Raleigh and you can be fined for it if they enforce it.  Well, here I am from New Bern, NC....a small town straight in the country.  Now all my life, I've had dogs and NEVER in my life had I picked up behind dogs.  Shoot, far as I was concerned, it was all apart of nature and if we weren't there, they would do it any ways.  I wasn't picking up after my dogs...never had and never would, so I thought.  Well one day last year or so ago, I was walking my dogs and a I was letting them go to the bathroom near a mans property, close by the side walk, BUT not on his property...any way, he came running outside yelling at me and saying I'm suppose to be picking it up any way.  I was like WHOA....you don't have to yell bruh, calm down.....I'll just take my dogs elsewhere.....but the issue here was deeper than that....I AM suppose to be picking up after my dogs, but being prideful I kept on doing what I did for a while until one day the Holy Spirit jumped on me like Super Fly Jimmy Snooka from the top ring rope.....I broke down and caved in of course because you can't win something like that.

My point is that now I realize that after I humbled myself and picked up after my dogs, what I was really doing to the community.  What leaving poop around does for aesthetics as well as smell (especially in the hotter months).  However, I was not able to see that because I would not first humble myself before the Lord.  An example as small as this is great in showing how God wants you to see something but if you will only do one small thing for him.  Just be humble.  So if you find yourself fighting doing something and the Holy Spirit keeps beating you over the forehead, try humbling yourself.  The Lord may be trying to tell you something.

Be Blessed Gang....
-------------- snip ---------------

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:      http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

Read More

Learn Something From All Experiences

As we pass through life we have to learn that we will have good experiences and bad experiences.  It is how we react to those experiences that defines our character.  It is easy to be cool calm and collective when things are going good.  It is easy to take away positive experiences from good situations, however, when we have those bad experiences we struggle to put a positive spin on it.

Learn something from every experience that you have.  Even if you learn not to do it again, then you've learned something.  I would hope that you could pull something more out of your experiences to apply to the rest of your life, but sometimes simple is all you need.

Be blessed folks.

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:      http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

Read More

Doing It Anyway (Replay)

Today's entry is another replay back from February 8, 2007.  I wanted to resend this one because I am feeling that I need to just "do it anyway" feeling again.  Here it goes and I hope this helps someone.


-------------- snip ---------------
February 8, 2007

Good morning everyone.

I pray that everyone is doing well.  I missed Wednesday, but I'm trying to make sure it's in your inbox first thing Thursday morning.  I won't keep you long, but I wanted to talk briefly about doing something you don't feel like doing.  Some scripture please:

Isaiah 40:28-29  "(28) Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.  (29) He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength"

There have been times where I said I was going to do something or know I should have been doing something and then all of a sudden, I don't feel like doing it.  Is it just me or have you had that feeling too?  One thing that I said I would not let happen this year is that I will go even when I don't feel like going....or do it even when I don't feel like doing it.  The reason why?  I am convinced that when I feel this way, there is something that the Devil doesn't want me to see.  After doing something I just didn't feel like doing I typically feel better afterwards than I did before.  For example, if I was "sooo tired" I wasn't afterwards.  So, to overcome, I will do it when I get the feeling that I am tired or don't feel like it. I even have my wife on the job too.  When I don't feel like doing it, she will kindly remind me of what I said and she is more than happy to do so....trust me she told me so.

Be like Nike and Just Do It!
-------------- snip ---------------

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:      http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

Read More

Preconceived Notions

Have you ever had an idea of what something or someone was going to be like before you even saw them?  Have you ever envisioned how you think a certain event should occur without even stepping foot at the event first?  Well, I can tell you that these are called "preconceived notions" and we all have them.

According to TheFreeDictionary.com, a preconceived notion is "an opinion formed beforehand without adequate evidence" or it could be "a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty".  It is our human nature create these notions.  We have HUGE imaginations and we can look to the movies to see the results of these imaginations.  Have you ever looked at something which had a few pieces missing, but even with the missing pieces you could visualize the entire item as though they were not missing?  That is your human mind at work!


My Preconceived Notions
I am from Eastern NC and even though it is considered the South, I had reservations and ideas about what the "Deep" South would be like.  Television played a huge part in my opinions as well as the Civil Rights Movement.  To me, I wanted no part of South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, or Georgia. I had preconceived notions that if you drove through those areas (not to mention living there), you would face heavy racial discrimination and could be possibly killed (I mean no offense to all the good folk in these places).  I use to think that me driving down the road in Alabama would attract the attention of the KKK and I could be killed.  It may sound silly, but those were my ideas of what the "Deep" south was like and I am pretty sure others may have had the same idea.

The reality is that while there is still racism in those areas, it is no where as bad as it use to be.  Needless to say, I have been to Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and driven through Alabama and no one eyeballed me or hoped in their trucks and pulled out rifles to take me down.  I have actually enjoyed myself in these places.  Historically, my notions were correct, but today they are less likely to happen.  I just had to go to the places and see that things are not as bad as I believed.


It's Good But Can Be Bad
It is great to imagine and sometimes it is a fun game to make some assumptions about certain things to see if we are correct.  Where we go wrong is when our thoughts and view points about things we have never experienced hinder us from doing many great things in life.  We can even dislike someone before even getting to know them because "something just ain't right about them".  Well, how would you know?  Have you talked to them?  They may be thinking the same thing about you! 

The good thing is that we have a God and a Son who does not think this about us.  Many people have preconceived notions about Jesus Christ and Christianity before even understanding who He is. You cannot say you do not like something if you have never tried it...you cannot say that you do not like someone if you have never gotten to know them.  If you do not know who Christ is, I encourage you to get to know Him.  After you get to know Him and understand Him, then you can form an opinion based on the facts.

What are your ideas and beliefs about God that hinders you from getting to know him today? 

"Taste and see that the LORD is good..." (Psalm 34:8)


Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:      http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

Read More

JM: I'm Guilty

Today, I am feeling KJ-52's "I'm Guilty".  I love the fact that God's grace is sufficient! Enjoy!

Read More

Are You Being Educated Or Entertained? (Replay)

Good morning folks.  I hope that you are doing well this fine Wednesday.  Today is another replay from August 2008.  When I wrote this, I was going through a serious transition in my spiritual life.  I think a lot of folks may have been to where I was.  Even if you are not at the same crossroads (or have not been there), the question is still relevant.  Are you being educated or entertained at church?

-------------- snip ---------------
August 6, 2008

Good morning family and Happy Hump Day!

Well you've made it to midweek and I hope that it's all easy sailing for you all for the rest of the week.  Right now, I would like to thank God for what he has been doing in me and my family's lives!  He has truly been doing his thing, which leads me to today's topic:  Education vs. Entertainment.

Around this nation, millions of people get up on Sunday (or Saturday) mornings to head to church.  Some go for one service.  Some are at church before the sun is up and don't leave until the sun is going down.  No matter the length of time, people are going for a reason.  A lot of us get up and go because that's what our parents did all their life and that's all we know.  Their parents did it and their parent's parents did it as well.  All the while, is anything being learned or is it out of routine that we get up and go to sit in a pew to hear a sermon being preached from a pulpit.

So, I would like to ask you a question, but before I do let's get a working definition of each word (courtesy of http://www.thefreedictionary.com).

entertain:  To hold the attention of with something amusing or diverting
educate:  To provide with knowledge or training in a particular area or for a particular purpose

Now that we have something to work with, here is the question.  When you go to church are you being entertained or are you being educated?  Now granted, I think that both can happen at the same time, however, there is a fine line between the two.  When the entertaining starts to become more frequent than the teaching, then a little red flag should go off in your brain.  Let's go to Matthew 6:1-3;7.

(1) Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. (2) So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.....(3) And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men.

(7) And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Here, Jesus is actually educating his disciples on how not to entertain!  In verse one thru two, He tells them not to do their acts of righteousness in front of everybody just so you can say, "hey, look what I did".  He tells them to just do it an don't announce it to the world, making yourself known for your deed.  There are many people in this world who do much more for people (whom we do not ever see) than those who take the big screen claiming what they do or did to help their fellow man.  In verses three and seven Jesus speaks on how to pray.  There is more in between, but I wanted to draw focus on the part about being seen by men and babbling because of the many fancy words.

Now let's look back at your church.  When there is prayer, worship, etc. do you feel like a ticket goer in an audience where a show is about to begin, or are you actually preparing your mind to receive a word of instruction from one of God's shepherds?  When Pastors, Ministers, Deacons, or anyone else pray in your congregation, can you understand what is being said....is it biblically sound.....?  Or is it a bunch of "babbling like pagans" and pomp and circumstance so that folks can "be seen by men"?  Guess what, to be able to answer this question you HAVE to have been educated at some point during your many visits to church(es) in order to recognize what is happening.  If you do not know or cannot recognize what is happening, to a degree it is not your fault because its all you know, but ignorance of the law (or Word in this case) is no excuse.  A good example of this is when you are traveling on the highway where the speed limit has been 70mph all along, but then next thing you know you are being pulled over.  The police asks you if you knew how fast you were traveling and you say, yes I was doing 70mph which was the speed limit.  Well much to your surprise, the cop tells you that actually, the speed limit dropped to 55mph about one mile back!  Maybe you missed the sign or maybe it was hidden by a bush.  On that day, 9 times out of 10, you will have the ticket as a present to bring home.  So, ignorance of the law is no excuse.

So, how to know which is happening in your church?  First you have to look at the individual and ask if they want the entertainment or the education.  If a person only comes to church because they want a show, then they will never be able to see pass the production.    For the person who wants the education, the show may seem to "show up" every time.  So, here are a few questions for you to use in answering your education vs. entertainment question.

1. Can you remember what last Sunday's sermon(s) was/were about?
2. If so, did you learn something about God's kingdom, that you can apply to your daily walk?
3. Do you hear a lot of repetitive sayings or fancy use of words during prayer and/or sermons?
4. If yes, have you been educated on what they mean and do they have any biblical meaning or is it the way the church does things?
5. Do you remember what clothes XYZ had on this past  Sunday?
6. Do you remember who shouted or ran around the church this past Sunday?
7. Do you remember if the choir was banging or lousy this past Sunday

Those are just a few questions, but the answers to these will help you to realize something.  If you remember more about the non-related kingdom things than about how to apply the Word of God, then you are being entertained.  For this one reason among many others, it is important that we are familiar with the Word of God for ourselves.

It is ok to be entertained because as someone once said, laughter is good for the soul.  However, if you cannot remember the last time you've learned something to apply to your Christian walk and daily living something is wrong and needs attention.  Try grabbing more Christian books to read (in conjunction with the bible) or listening to different radio shows/churches on tv or visiting other churches,etc.  Knowledge is power and the more you know, the more you grow.

You all be blessed and have a Happy Hump Day.
-------------- snip ---------------


Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:      http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

Read More

IF YOU DON'T HUSH.......(Replay)

This is a replay of a WFTD (Word For the Day) that I did on May 4, 2005.  I am still amazed to see how we have all grown through the Word of God.  In addition, I love the fact that no matter how long ago the Word was taught it can still be relevant today.  I hope that this helps someone today just as it might have done over 5 years ago!

-------------- snip ---------------
May 4, 2005

Good morning folks.

I hope that everyone is have just a splendiforous (yeah, I know it's not a word *LOL*) morning!  You know last night at bible study, the minister touched on a subject that pretty much convicted everyone.  So today, I want to look at the Numbers 21:4-6 this morning.

"4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.  5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died."

Do any of you remember being a child.  Now through out the year leading up to Christmas, you may have told your parents what you wanted.  Normally if it is wasn't too outrageous, there may have been a "we'll see" or simply "ok" or "depends on how you act".  I think you get the point.  All the while your parents were ready to go out on a limb to fulfill your wants.  Well as time goes and you seemingly forgot your wishes, you begged for this and begged for that.  You may have even got in the store and acted a complete fool because you didn't get what you wanted at the time......then you got the worst....."IF YOU DON'T HUSH....I'M GOING TO....."   Your "..." could have been a whooping, punishment, etc. but you fill in the blank.

The point is that many times we pray to the Lord our wants.  He already knows what we need & want but he is making preparations for his children (you are a child of God ya know).  Look at the people of Israel.  God promised to deliver them into a land flowing with milk and honey, but they constantly took their eye off the ball.  Look at the passage above.  The Lord had just delivered the Canaanites to the people of Israel and the people go getting discouraged.  Things are taking a little longer than they expect, so they turn against God.  Oh my goodness out of all people, you turn against God.  Questioning him.  Worrying.  For what?  If you aren't careful God will give you something to cry about and he did just that.

Look at verse 6.  The LORD, (not the devil) sent serpents....not just any serpents, but fiery serpents to bite and kill most of the people of Israel.  I can see God saying, "...anybody else want some.....keep crying or I will give you (too) something to cry about".  Sometimes, one bad day.....or one bad event seems to cloud the blessings that God has for us.  Sometimes we aren't doing what we are suppose to do and is asking for more and more and more.  Just sit down, relax, and walk the path that the Lord has made for you.  It may not be what you want, but if HE just gave it to you, you wouldn't appreciate it.  So don't whine, don't cry.  Just do what you are suppose to do and when you are in position, your blessings will flow to you like milk and honey.

Be Blessed Gang.
-------------- snip ---------------

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:      http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

Read More

Finding Rest in a Tiring World (Replay)

This is a replay of a WFTD (Word For the Day) that I did on April 30, 2008.  I hope that this helps someone today just as it might have done 2 years ago!

-------------- snip ---------------
April 30, 2008

Good afternoon family and Happy Hump Day!

Yep, it's the middle of the week. I'd like to say we are 2 days away from the weekend and be optimistic rather than saying we are only half way through the week. There is a difference you know :-). It can be difficult to be optimistic all the time because the in and out activities of this world can just plan wear you out.

If you have a job, that in and of itself can wear you out. You have the people at the job, the deadlines to meet, and sometimes it can be just going to the job itself that make you tired. Now, couple that with having a family and juggling extracurricular activities, it can be a chore to find the time for yourself to even breath. It can be quite a circus act for sure and if you are not careful you can allow this world to burn you out. If you have ever been burnt out before raise your hand:raising my hand. It is no good feeling at all and it is usually at that point that your body say, "...get somewhere and sit down..."

So, the world keeps going and you have to operate in it (unless you are flying off the earth and that has its own issues) and find rest. How do you do this? I'm glad you ask. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus is speaking to a crowd and He says,

"(28)Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (30) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (KJV)

Now,I gave you the King James Version, but also, I want to give you what the The Message says in the same verses.

(28-30)"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Getaway with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Man,oh man. I can answer yes, I'm tired, worn out, and burnt out – and I mean not just on religion but just overall burnt out, but Jesus says come to Him and he will help you to recover. See in times of distress, stress, & strife, people typically run away from God. They tend to go off by themselves and try to sort things out by themselves but that only gives the devil wiggle room to grab your attention for a second. You know where that goes. You give the devil an inch and he'll take a mile.

Jesus says that He will teach you to live freely and lightly only if you just follow Him. Don't let the work of the world tear you away from the grace of the God. Walk with Him and He will show you the way. I don't know about you, but there is no other tour guide that I'd rather have than God showing me the way.

Be blessed gang and try to get some rest from the world.

-------------- snip ---------------

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:      http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

Read More

Drink from the Brook

What are you thirsty for today?  I suggest you to thirst after God, so come on down and drink at the brook. Psalm 42:1-2 says,

(1) As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.  (2) My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

Stop wasting time on those lame drinks and get yourself some Living Water.


Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:      http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall


"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

Read More