S.W.I.M.     by Minister Olivian Brown

Part 3 of 3 (July/2008)

EVERYTHING MUST GO!!

  These would be the right things to follow and the right things to do:

1. Fellowship – Fellowship- Fellowship! Hang out with men who have a similar desire to do the will of God and a thirst for the Ways of God
2. Keep your eyes of Jesus Who is the AUTHOR and FINISHER of your faith. Your wife (or mom or whomever) is human and is just as flawed as you are. Thank God for her, pray for her, and let it go. After all, you have to love God more than you love her in order to do it right anyway. Husbands, remember how Christ loved the Church? Remember how the Church treated Christ?
3. God is faithful – write out some things He has already done for you and know that He never fails. This is not too hard for God.
4. If you plan to stop one thing that isn't good for you, replace it with something that is. I don't mean tit for tat. If you're working on a habit, maybe you just need to spend more time alone with God. That can be your replacement for a bad habit.
5. Never, never, never, ever quit. No one knows you like Jesus does and He says you can do it through Him. Not by might and not by power but by His Spirit.
6. If Jesus thought enough of you to suffer, die, go to hell, and come back the way He did, that makes you pretty special. Don't devalue what He considers special
7. God has never lied. Even if it has never been done before, if God said it, you can bank on it. Why would He select you to be His first failure?

Those seven things to remember were not only for the men who go on retreats, come home, and then get discouraged. They apply to all of us dealing with habits and lifestyles that keep tripping us up.

There's a line in one of Kirk Franklin's songs that talks about learning how to dance and speak in tongues. He says ‘teach me how to live when the tongue is done'. I love that line because that's what God wants for all of us. Good solid teaching is what will last when we leave the church building. When we leave the sanctuary – we need to know how to live this life. That's what any good leader wants for the people. They want the people to have and live lives of victory outside the walls of our churches. They want you to know and behave like the Word tells us. To not only look good but to let Him Who Is Good work the Power that He has given us which is over all the power of the enemy. That includes habits, sins, weights and lifestyles.

Ii used to get so sick of people telling me that I should do better but they never had any practical advice on how to do that!

1. If you hang out with turkeys you won't fly like an eagle
2. Critical friends and family may remember the times you've failed but God will be with you until you succeed
3. Get over yourself and get on with God
4. If you fail to plan you plan to fail
5. Little is much if God is in it
6. A soiled $20 bill is still a $20 bill in worth (you may be flawed but God says you have worth)
7. Let nothing and no one separate you from God

If the thing you keep failing in has you so wrapped and warped, then it has become your God. Feelings aren't enough. Any treasure that can rust and be eaten up by moths won't amount to much in the final hours of your life. How many true treasures are you storing up? Is a feeling worth what you're paying?

Do you crave God more than you do ‘necessary food'? Is He really God to you or do you run to your habit more than you run to God? Is He really the Treasure they'll find when an ‘Estate Sale' is held for you?

I have found some of the most precious and valuable books and resource material at Estate Sales. Things that the children didn't find interesting or valuable were in the sales. Some of my greatest research has come from material I purchased at Estate Sales. A lot of them were stuck in a corner, on a back shelf, or even behind or under some flashy magazines. Precious tapes and books that hold so much information are sold for literally pennies. When I go up to the adult children to find out what the price is, sometimes they might say a quarter or even ‘just take it'. It might even be in one of their ‘free' boxes. You see, they don't know the actual value of what they have in their possession or even if they do, it doesn't hold that same value to them.

So, again I ask: What would be in your ‘Estate Sale'? Would it be the ‘stuff' you've collected while trying to fill that void that can only be filled by Jesus Christ? The crutches that never hold you up any longer than when the crowd is watching? Sometimes not even for that long? The hard earned titles and trophies that rust and moths eat? Is it the temporary, fleeting approval of man and the ‘never enough' feelings of the soul? Trust me, it never has been and never will be enough. There is nothing and no one qualified to fill that void except Jesus.

Shopping won't do it. Another woman's husband won't do it. Your husband can't do it. Drugs and alcohol won't do it. Busyness won't do it. The approval of a man or a woman won't do it. A degree (or many degrees) won't do it. Being smart won't do it. Being angry with the preacher, choir director, usher board, or the sound team won't do it. Losing weight, gaining weight, nose jobs, boob jobs, hair transplants, hair dye, and more makeup won't do it. A new boyfriend or girlfriend won't do it. Changing churches or jobs won't do it. Good sex, bad sex, no sex, or a sex change won't do it. A new house, another trip, more vacations, more money and more jewelry won't do it. Knowing momma, knowing daddy, time with or without them won't do it.

The only fix is knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and being in total surrender to Him is it. That is the only way to fill that void and to know what will be in your ‘Estate Sale'! Your life here will determine what you have in there. Your treasures must be found in Christ and Christ alone. Anything less than Him is counted as futile, empty and becomes dust to be blown away with the winds of this life. There will be an Estate Sale. Your Estate will be put to the test. Anything that ain't Jesus has got to go. What's in there? Will it stand once you're gone? Will it take you home to be with Our Ultimate Love?

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                       - 800.500.1119

Dddcrdtcmbadtt-Phil 4:19—He promised and He never lies. AKYM-Deut 32:3-I promised

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contact: Minister O. Brown swimatfreedom@yahoo.com