CHECK YOURSELF

Ice Cube once said, “You better check yourself before you wreck yourself.” Urban dictionary defines this particular phrase as, “Take a step back and examine your actions, because you are in a potentially dangerous or sticky situation that could get bad very easily. Often in a harmful manner.” May I say that some of us need to take heed? A lot of us like to wave the “I’m a Christian. I go to church on Sunday” sign, but how many know this is more than a Sunday thing? Imagine if Job was just a “Sunday Christian” You think if Job wasn’t living his faith out loud that he would’ve been able to “sin not nor charge God foolishly” after his possessions and kids were taken away from him? Check yourself.

We tend to think just because the punishment didn’t happen immediately, that we got away with it. Especially with God. That’s a dangerous mindset to have. Check yourself. Ever think that the punishment didn’t come automatically is because maybe God is giving you a chance to confess? Giving you a chance to repent? Some like to say that God is a God of a second chance. I don’t know about y’all, but I passed the 2nd chance a long time ago…I’m a least on…let’s just say another chance. Or as the song writer put it, “He gave me one more (chance).”  Check yourself.

Now this is a major check yourself. Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Mammon meaning money. The Bible says, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” People like to say that it’s just money, but it’s the love of money. 1 Timothy 6:10, to quote the whole verse, says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” I like the next verse that says, “But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.” Meekness does not mean weak. It refers to humbleness, and being humble, does not mean you go around saying that you’re humble. Moving on. Check yourself.

Ephesians 5, the whole chapter, is crazy, but focusing on verse 5, “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” As my dad once said in a message, “Ouch, amen.” Or as my pastor now says, “If you can’t say amen, say oh me.”

If the only time you open your Bible is at church, how do you fight when not at church? A young basketball player is usually not far from a basketball. Usually see them practicing in some form or another. Joshua 1: 8-9, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein for then: thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” And you only want to use this on a Sunday? Do you homie. Check yourself.

“Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:5. We all got stuff we need to check. None of us our perfect but we all strive to be in our own way. Hopefully something was said that was an encouragement. Hopefully you got something out of this, I know I did. Just trying to help.

Check yourself.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

PRAISE AGAIN

It is written, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."

The New Living Translation says it like this, "Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again--my Savior and my God!"

Tramaine Hawkins sang a song called, "I Never Lost My Praise" and it's a deep and good song. I was once a member of a choir that had that song on the set list. It says, "I never lost my hope. I never lost my joy. I never lost my faith, but most of all, I never lost my praise." Now may I throw this out there? I feel that if some of us were really honest with ourselves, some of us have lost our hope, joy, faith, and praise and still stand up on Sunday mornings and say, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Blood and his righteousness." to get over with the church goers. I recently heard a preacher say that we have been raised to lie in church. When someone asks how we are doing, we say something like, "I'm blessed and highly favored." or say what I say, "I'm good."

When we come to church honest and desperate, I believe that's when true work can be done. One Wednesday night, it was after a long week. I was heading to Bible Study, but I almost did a U-Turn because I was so depressed. To be honest I was ready to accept driving off road. Not going to go into detail, but let's just say, I messed up things like on a major level. So I was already beating myself up about that, but I pushed my way to church. Where I'd usually show up on time for prayer which goes on at 6:30, but I showed up right at 7 because again I was contemplating on whether even going to church that night or not. Come to find out, going to church that night was the best decision I could've made. I left that night feeling refreshed and healed. That night I really felt that the church was indeed a hospital. At least for that night, I found my praise again.

I used to loathe hearing people with the microphone say, "Y'all ain't praising!" My response would be, "How can you judge how someone praises God?" How can you praise something you have no faith in? I believe the level of your praise shows the level of your faith. If your hope is not where it needs to be, and you forget who God is and what God has done for you, of course your praise is not going to be where it needs to be. When the preacher says, "Give God a praise." and you give God a patty cake clap or you give God a monotone "Hallelujah." Expecting that to be enough. I'm reminded of a song that I heard growing up that said, "You oughta be happy, you oughta be happy, you oughta be happy just to praise the Lord." The Bible talks about the saints being the bride of Christ, right? I'm not married, nor have I ever been in a relationship, but from the outside looking in, I can tell if a wife really loves the husband. I can tell when a girlfriend really loves her boyfriend. Am I allowed to say that your praise level may show your love for Jesus?

I dare you to find your praise again. I dare you to hope in  God again. I dare you to forget about yourself and concentrate on Him and worship Him. One song says, "My Praise is my weapon." A weapon only works if you use it.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

GOT A STORY TO TELL...

2013 was a tough year for yours truly. I got fired from my job in January. And some months later I started having trouble sleeping at night because I couldn't breathe. I was told to go to the doctors, but I wouldn't go only because I hated the doctors. The old thing about I don't want to go to the doctors cause they might find something wrong with me thing? That was me. Went to California that July and still had trouble sleeping at night, but I did my best to no sell it. Everybody could see something was wrong but I was steadily trying to deny it. I was sweating more than I usually do, but still I refused to go to the hospital or the doctors, because I figured like a common cold that it would go away.

It wasn't until that September that I just couldn't take it anymore. I asked my sister to take me to Urgent Care. I was nervous. I couldn't lay flat back because I couldn't breathe. Every time I laid flat back I felt like I was suffocating. Come to find out my blood pressure was sky high, I had a lot of fluid, and I got diagnosed with Chronic Heart Failure, or CHF. Ended up staying in the hospital for like 3 or 4 days, but it felt like 3 or 4 months. One day as I was eating lunch, I got told by one of the doctors, that I'd be dead by 30.

When I got released by the hospital I was told to find a doctor. Didn't do it. Took my medicine for like the first couple of weeks, then I stopped. I was feeling ok, until...

Christmas of 2014, I was admitted to another hospital for the same thing. At least at this hospital I was given a couple of more years past 30. This time, with the help of my mom, I found a doctor and I continued to take my medicine.

Keeping up with my appointments, continuing to take my medicine, and with the prayers of the righteous, I can now say there's no trace of CHF in my body. And as of May 22, 2017, I'm 30 years old, and alive to type this post. I was sent tot he hospital for some test, and it came back that there was no trace of CHF, and my heart is beating regular. Now I just got to get this weight and blood pressure under control. Also finding a job wouldn't hurt either.

There's nothing to hard for God. I've seen Chronic Heart Failure kill a lot of people, and for some particular reason I'm still hear. Who wouldn't want to serve a God like this. I should've been dead. As a matter a fact, not too long from when I got out the hospital the first time, I went to a funeral or home going service, and I was struggling because I was telling myself this should've been a double funeral. But God. There are somethings I may not know. There are some places I can't go, but I am sure of this one thing, that God is real and I can feel him in my soul. Yes God real. He's real in my soul. Yes God is real for He washed and made me whole. His love for me is just like pure gold. For God is will for I can feel Him in my soul.


Stay Saved,


Daniel Richerson

FOR THERE IS NONE OTHER NAME...

"In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. We have the victory. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Satan, you have to flee. Oh, tell me, who can stand before us when we call on that great name? Jesus! Jesus! Precious Jesus! We have the victory!" ~ In The Name Of Jesus, congregational song

"There is power in the name of Jesus. There is power in the name of Jesus. There is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain, break every chain, break every chain." ~ Break Every Chain, Will Reagan

Peter said in Acts 4:10-12, "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (kjv)

It's also written that demons tremble at the name of Jesus. What I'm getting at is, we get so triggered at the names of people that wouldn't know who we were if they had a picture of us in front of them. From Bishop T.D. Jakes, Kirk Franklin, Tye Tribbett, Creflo Dollar, Brian Carn, just to name some. You mention those names in the midst of some people, watch the atmosphere change. Watch the mood change in the room. just because they were brought up. Some of these people have done nothing wrong, and I sit there and wonder, "What did they do?" To be honest, some of it is because they're different or they have made mistakes that were in the spotlight.

I don't think any of us understand what is like for anybody to be under the spotlight. I would imagine that it's harder for Gospel artists and ministers, because if they don't cross every "T" and dot every "I", the piranhas will eat them alive. Heck, even in the local church, if the piranhas smell blood, it's over. Why do you think B. Slade is not Tonex anymore? Piranhas.

Back on topic. We give people way too much power over us. I get it though. It's real easy to let anybody become a distraction. We as humans tend to find one thread of something we don't like about a person and then turn that thread into a sweater of reasons to not like the person. To the point where they get so much power that when we hear the name, our blood instantly begins to boil. I'm a wrestling fan, as some of y'all know, and when some of us here certain entrance music, our blood boils over. Examples being John Cena and Roman Reigns. Only reason is because the bosses see money in them. They see "box office", and as soon as we as fans realize that, we get so angry. John Cena and Roman Reigns really did nothing wrong other than doing their jobs. But because they are not who we chose to be the "top guys" we boo the decisions of the creative. Reason I brought that up is that some fans have given Roman Reigns and John Cena so much power that even hearing their names brings about an angry response. Some even begging to riot when Roman and Cena win at anything.

The only name that should have the kind of power to trigger anything in you is Jesus. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. It is written that all power is given unto Jesus, so we need to stop giving the power away. I believe if we start pleading the blood of Jesus over these common names that trigger such emotion, and over our own minds, we'd be able to move forward as a body. 

As my pastor often says, "You got to love me to go to heaven." Jesus is love.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

HE HEARS YOU TOO

It's gonna get to the point where you're gonna have to pray for yourself. You're gonna have to have a relationship with Jesus for yourself and stop trying to live off of someone else's. The topic at a recent bible study was, "Walking With God," and the first thought that came to mind with that topic is that you can't walk someone else path. You can't have someone walk your path.

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV

" Jesus said to him, 'I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.'" John 14:6 AMP

So we all got to go to Jesus for ourselves. Now at first we need to prayers of our parents and pastors to get the train going. But sooner our later you're gonna have to open your mouth. Like let's say you get an interview for a job. If someone else does the interview for you, they're going to get the job and you're still going to be jobless. The first couple of jobs I ever had, my dad helped me get them, but the bosses still wanted to know who I was. Daniel still had to shake hands with the bosses, even though the meeting was initiated through my dad.

Don't get me wrong there's power in residue. There's power in being in the midst of praisers and worshipers, but if the residue is powerful, imagine if you actually participated in the praise and worship. We got a lot of people trying to live off residue. The prayers of the righteous availeth much. So I understand asking those who really know God to pray for you. I get it, but let me say, don't use that as an excuse to not pray at all. He hears you too. That's one thing I had to learn for myself. One time my sister took me to somewhere to fill out some paper work. I asked her to pray for me because I was nervous and I know she's more spiritually mature than I am. But she told me, paraphrasing, "God hears you. It's time for you to pray for yourself." I did, and everything actually went fine. I was actually like the world was going to blow up if I actually prayed for myself. I do realize, a song says, "It's really no goodness of my own, but it's by the grace of God."

Romans 10:8-9 AMP "But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word [the message, the basis] of faith which we preach—because if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

In the King James is says, "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

So you're going to have to do some talking. The power of life and death is in the power of the tongue, right? Your tongue works for you. It's your choice of how your use it. It is written out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So it's not only a tongue issue, it's a heart issue.

I'm not a parent, but I know some parents. I've known my parents for at least 29 years, almost 30 (May 22). I know I've disappointed them. I've done things they don't like, but when I'm ready to talk they are willing to listen. I don't have to call my brother or my sister to talk to my mom or dad for me, even though sometimes I want to, but they are willing to listen. God is willing to listen. You got to be willing to talk.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

HYMNS

I was talking with God before falling asleep and I started thinking about hymns. I hear it in church all the time. "It's nothing like those hymns." or "I go back to hymns because they had power." So, being the mark that I am, I started thinking about what exactly is a hymn? If you look at Ephesians 5:18-21, it says, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." Then you look at Colossians 3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heats to the Lord." Donnie McClurkin had a 2 disc album called, "Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs" So again I ask the question, what is a hymn?

Webster defines a hymn as, "a song of praise to God." I do understand and realize that when the word hymn, our minds immediately go straight to the hymn book. Don't get me wrong, I love those old hymns. Those old songs are timeless. One of my all time favorites is Great Is Thy Faithfulness. So please don't get the idea that I'm burying those old songs. All I'm saying is that just because it's not in the hymn book, doesn't make it any less powerful. Personally, a lot of songs NOT in the hymn book have spoken to me. He's Able by Deitrick Haddon. It Could Be Worse by James Fortune. Made A Way by Larry Trotter, and not just because I used to sing lead on it. God Is by Dewayne Woods, again not just because I used to sing lead on it. Alpha and Omega, as sung by Israel and New Breed. Smile by Kirk Franklin.

I'm sure who ever is reading this, have songs not in the COGIC hymn book or what ever denomination you are in that have ministered to you. "...singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;" Another song I love that has been sung in churches all around that's called, "Sound of Praise" as sung by Larry Trotter. Song says, "There is a sound that is pleasing to His ear. A sound of praises lifting into the atmosphere. Every time you lift your voice, you need to know. Jesus loves to hear the sound of praise. Hallelujah the sound, He loves to hear."

I do agree that some of these new songs that play on radio is not the most church friendly type songs, but that doesn't make them bad songs. By church friendly, I mean, it's not the taste of music by the majority of the older members. Because we want the lyrics to talk about Jesus, but the music has to be what we like or it's not right. That's about how it is in the mind of some people. If the music doesn't sound like all the older songs, It's not gospel. It's not just the lyrics. It's the music. So when Christian rappers rap lyrics about Jesus, it's bad because the music doesn't match Jesus I Never Forget. Sigh.


Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

P.S. Yes, I was contemplating quitting these blogs, but as Steve Harvey once said, "He's not through with me yet." Keep praying for me.

Do we remember how to love?

An artist put a song out about 6 years ago called, How To Love. A lot of stuff has been happening lately. Not just in the "secular" world, but also in the "Christian" community. Someone makes one statement going against what the majority agrees with, then automatically they're buried so deep almost never to rise again. And all that got me to thinking, aren't we supposed to love each other? I guess nothing says I love you like I'm going to bury you alive because I disagree with your opinion. I always go back to this verse. I think I first heard it from Donnie McClurkin one time, I'm not sure, but as soon as I heard it, it stuck with me.

Jeremiah 31:3 "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."

An old hymn says, "Thy lovingkindness is better than life. My lips shall praise thee, thus will I bless thee. I will lift up my hands onto thy name." 

The Lord draws us with love, but besides drawing other people with love, we bury them because they're not like us. Dare I say, some of us hate Trump for doing publicly what we do privately. I believe that is called hypocritical. 

My mom recently preached a sermon talking about the church needing a heart transplant. She said some of us have spiritual congestive heart failure. She also said, you can't love God and you don't love people. Citing this verse as a reference, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" (1 John 4:20)

Needless to say we have a lot of liars walking around here. Not just in the church either. Some of these entertainers as well. Say they love God but hate anybody that disagrees with their logic. Amazing how some people in the church love to drag these entertainers for doing that, while at the same time they do the same thing. Can't have it both ways. Don't get me wrong, the truth is the truth, no matter who's mouth it comes out of, but as my dad always told me, "Don't throw rocks from a glass house." Better yet the Bible said it like this, "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." (John 8:7)

The truth can hurt. Usually when you're in the wrong, the truth does hurt. I believe that in order to be the church God is calling for in these days, love has to be restored back in our hearts.

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." Luke 6:45

If love is truly in the heart, then that's what's going to come out. Jesus is love, right? So if Jesus is love, and Jesus has your heart, then why are we hating and burying people? What is really the problem?

I hope you got something out of that. I hope it blessed you. I went into this blog thinking it might be my last one. Due to lack of feedback I get on them, I figured what's the use of continuing them? I don't know what's going to happen moving forward. I'll just ask God for guidance on what I should do.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

BE THE CHRISTIAN YOU WANT UNBELIEVERS TO BECOME

"The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyles. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." ~ Brennan Manning

There's a phrase that says, "Actions speak louder than words." So naturally so spiritually. I can say I'm a good basketball player all I want, which I'm not this is just an example, but until you see me with a basketball on a court, all I'm doing is running my mouth. There's a lot of us believers running our mouths and that's all we're doing. Not throwing stones either, because I'm guilty of it myself. A lot of us honor God on social media and in church because it's easy. We share posts that say stuff like, "Share this if you believe in God." or "Share this and you'll receive a miracle." With stuff like that, I see why some see Christianity as a fantasy. Someone that's on the fence about their spirituality will share one of those posts and then realize that miracles don't work that way, and that little thing right there can be the period on the sentence of unbelief.

We get mad at problems that we ourselves cause. It's like putting your hand on a hot stove then getting mad at the stove for being hot when we're the ones that turned the stove on. The fire usually doesn't start by itself. Someone has to ignite the flame.

You know they say, be the change you wish to see in the world. Let's put it like this. Be the Christian you want unbelievers to become. Good fathers live like the man they want to see their sons end up being. Good fathers live like the man they want to see their daughter marry one day. Nobody is perfect, but that's no excuse for on purpose imperfection. You can't purposely do something wrong then use the excuse, "Nobody's perfect." 

Being a Christian doesn't make you perfect, but it's you trying every day to be like someone who is. So when someone is not perfect, we shouldn't give them the scarlet letter treatment. Especially when we're supposed to be in the business of winning souls. We can't win souls when we're disowning with those who don't agree politically. We got to realize that even though we're all striving to have the mind of Christ that we are all still individuals. So we can still be saved and not think the same on politics.

If we can't still show the love of Jesus to Christians that we don't agree with, how can we expect to win unbelievers? Some of us, when we see a brother or sister in Christ slip just a little bit, and we forget that all have sinned, and we automatically assume that they never knew Jesus in the first place. I can't speak for others but what I try to do is pray for those who are going through. I've learned in life that prayer changes things that talking about them cannot do. Prayer can do what dragging on social media can't do.

Jeremiah 31:3 "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

HELP SOMEBODY

If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make the change
You gotta get it right, while you got the time
’Cause when you close your heart
You can’t close your...your mind! (Man In The Mirror, Michael Jackson)

Romans 12:2, KJV, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Philippians 2:5, KJV, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:"

Maybe sometimes the mirror needs to be turn around. I've heard it said many times that sometimes it's not the devil, but it's you. That's why Michael said that he was "starting with the man in the mirror." Seriously, how do you expect others to change when you're not willing to? My dad always told me, "Don't throw rocks from a glass house." In other words to busy commenting on other folks issues or the "world's issues" but not willing to take care of yours. Ever think that the reason some things don't seem to be changing in your atmosphere is the fact that you haven't took care of that? Now, "that" could be anything. We all got that nagging issue that doesn't seem to go away. Not saying we still can't offer help in the midst of of trying to help ourselves because honestly when I type these gimmicks called blogs I'm trying to help myself as well as offer help to whoever is reading this.

Matthew 12:33-34, KJV, "Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

So some of us need to make our mind on whether we're going to be good or evil? Some of us, including church folks, gasp, try to do both. You can't produce oranges by living like an apple tree. Jesus said he'd rather us be hot or cold because if we're lukewarm, He'll spit us out of his mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) You're not sick of being covered with saliva yet?

You got to love people in order to try and help. My dad's motto when he was a pastor was, "Help somebody." People are begging for help. They are not looking for tricks. They're not looking to be talked down too. They're not looking to be loved. They're looking for a way out. Believe it or not, some people actually do want to get out, but they don't know how. The world needs Jesus, but we're giving them everything but. Andrae Crouch penned, "Jesus is the answer for the world today. Above Him there's no other. Jesus is the way." The Bible says that Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life. No man gets to the Father except through me (Him)." (John 14:6)

Take a look at yourself. What are you producing? Are producing love or hate? Or are you trying to produce both? Why do you think people leave the church? Not only because of the smoke and mirrors, but because when they're supposed to be receiving love, they're receiving hate at the same time. Jesus is love, right? So why not present Jesus when they walk in to the church, rather than sitting them in the back because they don't dress the part. Michael says, "If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that change." There's a lot of truth in that. I'm not taking anything away from it. May I add though, that if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, make that change, and show Jesus.

First blog of 2017 so of course it was a little all over the place, but I hope the message got through. Thanks for reading.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson