I am a Christian, can’t you see that? I go to church on Sunday even though I get there late, sometimes hung-over.  I may not wave my hands or give God praise like he is due, but at least I’m there.  Isn’t that good enough? I might gossip and talk about folk I say are my friends, but that’s alright, God said he’d forgive me.  I hate on people’s blessing because I feel like I should be getting blessed too, but that’s alright too, because God said he’d forgive me.  Doesn’t that still make me a Christian?

I sometime take my blessings for granted, I even misuse people; my friends, family, sisters and my brothers. I’m supposed to be my brother’s keeper, to be there when they need me but I’ll spread their business faster than a gardener planting seeds. I’m supposed to pick up those that fall, pray for those that are lost; but usually I’m only on “Christian duty” when it is convenient for me.  Isn’t that ok? Won’t God forgive me for it? I am supposed to pay tithes from the job that I am blessed with, but I saw this pair of shoes that I just had to have so I’ll pay God later.  Chile, God knows my heart!  I saw this man begging and even though I had the extra money, I decided not to give because he should get a job too. Humph, God didn’t say be a fool! But I am a Christian, can’t you see?

Who am I to choose when it’s ok to do God’s will? When he’ll see me through any situation, if I would just keep still. Who am I to choose what Sunday I go to give God praise; when God was the one that lifted me, my bowed down head he raised. Who am I to be a “fair weather” Christian, a some-timer for God; when he is the one that has kept me, all my problems he solved.

(Luke 8:43-47) There was a woman in the bible that had an issue of blood for 12 years.  No matter what she tried and after spending all her money at doctors who couldn’t give her relief, she was at her end.  But then she heard that Jesus was passing through her town.  She knew that she had to get to him, for if she could just be in his presence, if she could just touch the hem of his clothing (garment), she KNEW she would be healed.  So she pressed! Through the crowd, she pressed! Through folk saying she couldn’t, she pressed! With folk trying to hold her back, she pressed! And even with all of the people around him, Jesus felt her.  Not because she had touched him so hard, but because she had the faith to know that IF she pressed her way, her healing would come!

Isn’t that what we, as Christians, should do? When our life becomes hard, bills become more than we can bear, body is aching with pain, marriage isn’t going right, friends stabbing you in the back, family isn’t loving no more – shouldn’t we press towards Jesus?  When you don’t have a job, no food in the cabinets, no money in the bank, shouldn’t we press our way through? When folk say no, when man says death- shouldn’t we press our way through?

Shouldn’t we have that same determination to want to receive our healing?  Shouldn’t we have the same faith? That kind of wonder working faith that sends somebody when you’re hungry, a check comes in the mail that you wasn’t expecting or a call about a job that you had given up on.  

If her faith gave her healing from 12 years of suffering, imagine what your faith can do? But you’ve got to get up & press your way through your bad situation. Don’t throw in the towel when time gets hard.  Wrap it around your head to catch the sweat and press on!

When I walk pass you and smile, is it too much to ask for an acknowledgement?  You walk around in a funk because things aren’t going your way & then you say, “I got up on the wrong side of the bed!”  When the truth is, the bed is not the problem, it’s you! You get up on the same side of the bed & your feet hit the same floor every morning.  This doesn’t change.  You wake up with bad breath and an attitude and expect the world to join in. Chile, didn’t nobody tell you this world would be easy when God already promised trouble, in this life, before you were even born (Job 14:1). 

Your day goes bad because you allow it.  People make you mad because you allow it.  Your bills are past due because you allow it.  It is not because God hasn’t given you the necessary requirements to make your life better.  He woke you up, that’s a blessing! He allowed your mind to be right, that’s a blessing.  He gave you the ability to have a talent to get the job you got, that’s a blessing! But instead of thanking God for these things, we complain.  Please know, what you complain about someone else is praying about.