Do you remember how it was back in high school?
What do you mean?
You know how everybody can be sitting in class and then all of a sudden the PA system comes on and the secretary calls out a list of names or maybe just one name, “Will the following students please report to the principal’s office.”
(smiling) Yeah..I’ve had to make that walk before.
Well, I guess you can say that I’ve been called into the principal’s office.
You got in trouble??
I don’t know if you would call it trouble, but there has been a contingency of Believers: ministers, pastors, teachers, deacons who have pulled me aside to talk to me about the work that I do.
What’s the problem? I thought everybody could see that you’re serving??
Yeah, they see me serving, but when they read Intent to Distribute, some of them had questions about who I was serving.
You mean they don’t approve of your work?
No..some of them see my work as highly controversial and contrary to the core Christian message.
Why?
Different reasons. Some folks get saved and they never look back. They stop drinking, smoking, cursing, killing, drugging, lying, whatever it was they used to do, it’s like a light switch that goes off and they walk away from it all and they expect everyone else to do the same.They stop watching secular TV, they stop listening to ‘worldly’ music, they completely separate themselves from the ‘unsaved’ world. So when they see my work, they think my dialect and vehicle of delivery reminds them too much of their life before they got saved.
That’s wild. I don’t go to church too much, but every time I read your work, it gives me a better understanding of why I should go.
Hmph. What’s even wilder, is that they have no clue how much of my work I actually edited and ‘toned down’ a bit before I put it out for public display.
So you got all those busybody church folks giving you grief huh?
Naww, I don’t consider it grief, I actually consider it a blessing. Iron sharpens iron, they’re getting me ready for deeper waters. Because the Scripture says that if you see somebody coming out claiming to be down for Christ, then you should check him to see where his heart is at. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” – I John 4:1 KJV. So this whole experience has made me sit back and be more real with myself. I had to regroup and pray, meditate on the Word, fast and ask God for confirmation. I don’t want to be that n’ga that’s living outside of God’s will for my life.
Soo..did you get it?
Did I get what?
Confirmation..did God speak to you?
God speaks to me just like He speaks to everybody else who humbles themselves and bows down before Him, God speaks through His Word. And there is a Scripture that first got me ‘turned on’ to what a Believers work should be here on earth that I kept coming back to.
“He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” Luke 11:23 KJV
Uhhh...what does that mean?
It means that either you’re doing what you can to share the gospel of Christ into the world or you’re against Him..there is no middle ground. And if you’re riding with Him, you’re going to do what He puts on your heart to get in with the Great Commission.
The Great Commission? That sounds like some kind of gang.
It is..it’s the realest gang there is. It’s what I was talking about when I wrote Soldiers in the Hood. It’s the gang of Believers that’s going out into the world and teaching all nations about Jesus. Everybody is supposed to serve in the manner in which they are called. Some preach, some teach, some sing, some write, some evangelize, some heal, the harvest is plenty, but the workers are few.
Well..I can’t do none of that!! Does that mean that God doesn’t want me in the group?
No, that just means you haven’t discovered your talent yet. What you have to do is put yourself in position to receive it.
Position?? What kinda position?
It’s like this minister from Port Arthur preached at our church a couple of months ago. He said that when he tried out for his high school basketball team, it came down to the final scrimmage game where all the players trying out where in a game. And throughout the game he never got a chance to score, because they never passed him the ball. Afterwards, when the cuts came out and he didn’t make the team, he was a bit down. But one of the players that did make the team came up to him and apologized for not passing him the ball. “I would have passed it to you man, but you never put yourself in position to receive it.”
Soo..what does that have to do with God?
If you never put yourself in position to be blessed and to receive your anointing, He ain’t go pass you the Rock. You can’t just keep doing all the same things you’ve been doing and expecting different results. You’ve got to move around and put yourself in position. You’ve got to be more prayerful, you’ve got to study your Bible, you need to join into and be a part of a fellowship of other Believers. You’ve got to get IN the game if you’re real.
See, I hear ya..but its easy for you to say that because God has already given you your talents. Everybody ain’t got it like that.
Everybody ain’t got down on their knees and asked God to guide them either. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path. When’s the last time you went into a dark closet and got down on your knees and called on the name of the Lord??
What?? What are you talking about??
I’m talking about earnest prayer.
I pray to God everyday.
I’m not talking about that quick ‘God is great’ prayer you say with a mouthful of French fries..I’m talking about spending some time with Him, just you and Him, no distractions.
C’mon now..I didn’t say I was trying to be a monk or a priest!!
That’s not something only monks or priests should do, that’s something that all who are called by His name should do. It’s a crucial position to get into if you’re to be attentive to His voice.
Well..sometimes when I pray, I wonder if I’m just talking to myself in my head..ya know? I mean, sometimes I really wonder if God is even listening to me.
Yeah..I think we all have faced that doubt before. But the more you pray and the more you study the Word to show yourself approved, the more God will speak to you and give you confirmation that He is right there with you. He will let you know time and time again that He will never leave you or forsake you. Since I’ve been writing, I’ve had readers who didn’t go to church or even bow down and acknowledge Jesus as Lord, but they’ve changed their position and moved around and now they’re IN the church and striving to strengthen their relationship. And several of them have told me that my work definitely helped them get to that point.
Maybe that’s my problem, I haven’t gotten any solid confirmation like that. So I guess He showed you some things huh?
Yeah..He has. A lot of die hard church folks don’t like my style and a lot of folks who deny the deity of Christ don’t like my material, but I still gotta do what I know God put on my heart to do.
What’s that?
Let these fools know that Jesus is real. With my background, family and upbringing, God knows that I can speak the language that n’gaz can understand. And after that, I have to prepare myself to go out into even deeper waters, cuz I can speak the college educated tongue, sports tongue, technical jargon tongue, golf tongue..I know how to speak to different kinda folks.
Well I’m glad to hear that D. Cuz I can honestly say that I enjoy your work..reading http://www.servinemup.com/ has made me feel more comfortable knowing that God can save crazy n’gaz too!! (laughing)
Amen!!
