Alabama Sunrise

My carnal nature wants to stay inside my house tonight, turn the lights out and forget about

“All Hallows Eve.”

There were a number of years I decided not to be home to pass out candy.

Instead I went out to dinner.

There were also many years that I did the reverse.

I’ve had to do a lot of soul searching the last few weeks about tonight.

But it was while at Church last Sunday that the decision was effectively made.

God and His Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, mind and soul.

And this is WHY:

The Code: What Matters Most

The Code is the set of values held by LifeChurch.tv.

The Code is different than the Church’s statement of faith—which has more to do with focus and perspective.

As the church has grown and changed over the years, we realized that God had given us certain strengths and governing principles that we really felt passionate about. So, we set out to put words to those passions and complied our list of core values. It was prayerfully created, intensely weighed, checked, and double checked before it became just the right set of guiding principles for our ministry.

Now, it helps shape almost everything we do. The Code gives leadership something to look toward, employees something to model, and attendees something to be encouraged by.

(Please notice the values I have highlighted in BLUE)

1. We are faith-filled, big thinking, bet-the-farm risk takers.

We’ll never insult God with small thinking and safe living.

2. We are all about the “capital C” Church!

The local church is the hope of the world and we know we can accomplish inﬁnitely more together than apart.

3. We give up things we love for things we love even more.

It’s an honor to Sacriﬁce for Christ and His church.

4. We wholeheartedly reject the label mega-church.

We are a micro-church with a mega-vision.

5. We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ.

To reach people no one is reaching, we’ll have to do things no one is doing.

6. We will lead the way with irrational generosity.

We truly believe it is more blessed to give than to receive.

7. We will laugh hard, loud, and often.

Nothing is more fun than serving God with people you love!

8. We always bring our best.

Excellence honors God and inspires people.

9. We are spiritual contributors not spiritual consumers.

The church does not exist for us. We are the church and we exist for the world.

10. We will honor Christ and His church with integrity.

If we live with integrity, nothing else matters. If we don’t live with integrity, nothing else matters.

If I don’t live with Integrity – Nothing ELSE Matters?!

Yes, I could huddle inside my home and just watch TV.

But I write a blog about “Shining A Light in the Darkness.”

How am I living with Integrity (#10) if I ONLY Shine my Light on this blog?

Yes, I hope I’m making a contribution to God’s Kingdom when I write…but I’m supposed to be the hands and feet of Christ….

There is no other night of the year when I have the chance to REACH OUT without having to go LOOKING for it!

Everyone is handing out Candy. I need to be doing what everyone else is not.

I need to hand out CANDY and INVITE cards (1 Corinthians 12) –

All it takes is

ONE CARD,

ONE connection,

one encounter with Christ,

to change someone’s life and destiny #4-EVER!

I need to surrender my uneasiness associated with this evening of Spiritual Darkness…

I need to allow God to MAKE this night into something: BIGGER & BETTER than I can SEE.

I need to TRUST. I’ll find out later what kind of footprints I leave behind.

More than anything, I want to know that I did what was pleasing to God.

Because I’ve learned that running doesn’t please Him.

So, yes. Today I Shine my Light in words.

Tonight, I will Shine my Light in the Darkness…because Light always wins!

#TakingaStand

#LightTRUMPSdark

Dear God,

Thank you for your Abundant Grace and the Blessings you give so freely. We are FREE because of all you have done! We pray that today and tonight you will Bless those who do not know you and free those (all of us) who are chained in bondage. We don’t have to be consumed by Sin and I ask that on this night The Light of who you are is revealed to ALL that need it.

Protect us and our children, cover us in your mercy. And All God’s Children said, Amen.

Thank you for stopping by…and I wish you an safe and fun-filled evening.

Blessings,

-Kenzel

Sunset: Orange Beach, AL

Much as I’ve been resistant, it’s come to my attention that layer by layer, I need to uncover the past.

Doing so is not easy. I took yet another step of faith a couple of weeks ago.

A step I’ve been putting off.

It wasn’t something I wanted to write about, but obedience trumps my carnal nature.

My reality is:

I’m a sinner.
I am full of sin.
But there’s a lot more to fleshly sin than meets the eye.

It’s called FAITH

While Sin is often obvious, there are often Sins in the past that we (I) may not be able to recognize.

By nature, I want to deny that there was anything I might have done as an iniquity against God.

The reality is, I was too scared to face my Sin head on.

Too embarrassed to consider what I might find if I sought to know the truth.

Not unlike some of you who might be reading this.

I really don’t want to believe I am imperfect….

But like it or not, I am not perfect and I CANNOT grow unless I let go of

my sins, my trespasses and the TRUTHS that hurt.

I need to face ALL these head ON to become WHOLE again.

One day I felt His Spirit move in my Soul….

I dove in. I asked. I prayed.

And yes, I was nervous.

But I knew God wanted me to begin to uncover the sin I couldn’t see.

He doesn’t want me to remain in fragments

He wanted me to HEAL

And

God is always GOOD.

Period.

Having prayed, I waited.

His response time varies. Sometimes it might take months, a year, even years.

Sometimes hours or days.

When we ask questions or pray fervently; God does answer.

And this time was no different.

About 2-3 weeks after I requested His help; He delivered.

He provided the memory and identified it as my answer.

The Sin that left a stain in my past (decades ago), wasn’t something I sought out.

In fact, it found me.

The sin landed smack dab in my lap and I didn’t have to go looking for it.

Convenient, No?

What was the vision he provided? I saw the Ouija Board.

It’s been nearly 40 years since that happened.

And I still remember bits and pieces of the experience pretty clearly.

I was at a birthday party, I don’t remember whose party it was.

“Play time” was over, followed by light snack and cake. Then, the games were “rolled” out.

But my parents had arrived early to pick me up…

I’d never heard of Ouija, or seen one, nor was I familiar with it’s purpose, intent or origin.

Given that I was about to leave, I ended up being the first person to start.

I wasn’t sure of what question I wanted to ask it…so I threw out the first thing that came to mind.

“Will I be a tennis star, Will I win Wimbledon?”

I really had no expectations for this “gizmo” but I did have HIGH hopes in what it MIGHT tell me

However, when the “pointer” moved (without any effort from me) I truly started to cringe.

As it answered my question and “glided” across the board, it took on a life of its own.

I know my analytical instincts at that age, were not developed enough yet,

but there was something very wrong, VERY CREEPY with what was happening.

The Ouija told me the answer was: NO.

I was stunned and felt kinda sick.

Darkness was present and presiding.

I didn’t like the answer. I didn’t “like” the thing then and almost felt repelled by it during and after.

However, I initially DID put “stock” into what it MIGHT be able to do, because I bothered to ask it

something.

Whether or not I KNEW it was right or wrong.

By merely asking that one question,

I invited something into my life that I never intended nor wanted.

I invited the opportunity for Evil into my life.

The board didn’t lie to me. but by consulting it – merely asking a question, I was exposing myself to

Spiritual Attack. I’m not joking either….

Even if it was telling me a truth. It was also making a future prediction. So, instead of receiving a

prophetic truth from My Lord, or His clarity and wisdom – without knowing it I allowed myself to be “fed”

by the enemy – fed information from an unreliable source.

The same source that lied to Eve in The Garden of Eden

God, What had I done?

In the last year, God has shared with me His wisdom about why my dreams to achieve “successful” status

in Professional Tennis didn’t come to fruition. I was blessed by that post just by writing it.

Read it here: Love Means EVERYTHING in Tennis

Tough as that was to write, it was one of two of my favorite blog posts ever.

I’d never had that kind of conversation with God before.

God has plans for me that I cannot see. Plans I do not need to know about until due time.

God’s perfect Will for me is what matters.

Yes, I was only 8 or 10 years old when this Ouija experience occurred.

I was ignorant about this tool.

Yes, I tried it once…and I knew at that moment ONCE was too much.

I had no idea that using a Ouija board would be considered on the same level as:

consulting a medium
reading Horoscopes
astrology
seances
witchcraft

But my answer was clear. I had given this device a toe-hold in my life.

I had stepped into the “dark side’ without recognizing it.

Though I am embarrassed by my actions, I feel fortunate.

God showered me with Grace, and removed the iniquity.

In the last weeks, Jesus broke the bondage that started long ago.

I am still saddened that it happened at all…but that decades old “stain” has now been cleansed.

I AM FREE!

More than anything, I am grateful that the Holy Spirit nudged me to pray and that I didn’t resist.

I am Blessed that God allowed me to see what I couldn’t see on my own.

I’m forgiven because I sought mercy and edification.

Don’t kid yourself about the power behind a Ouija.

Like it or not; Ouija boards are not a source of entertainment. They are a source of Spiritual Warfare, of

demons and darkness. Leviticus 19:31 and 20:6 admonishes us not to engage with them.

If we’re looking for answers, we won’t find what we NEED through a Ouija.

Heavenly Father,

You are the Giver of Gifts. You know us from the inside out. Help us to see that which we are blinded to.

Guide us in your wisdom and sustain us with your strength. We do not need to seek out the enemy for the

answers that should only come from YOU.

Be our guide, Be our Light…walk with us and remain IN us. From Sunrise to Sunset, through Eternity.