CHAPTER 1
Compromised!
Compromise- accepts standards that are lower than is desirable.
Before I came into the knowledge of Christ, I allowed myself as well as others to play a part in patting me to hell. As I think back, I would have gotten offended if you would have said anything to help me. I think that at some point I even began to grow in negativity. I even started to justify my actions. When you do not know better it is harder to do better, or it is just easier to make excuses. I found myself doing what people expected. I would never be anything, I had three options:death, jail, or being gay were all the words that were spoken in my life. At one point, I actually believed it.
My thoughts to the church were please do not come to me with anything about God, and plus I did not see a difference in the people that said they were in God. I had no ear to hear, but I would often say when I get my life right, I will be different, I didn't realize at the time what I was saying, simply because I didn't want to be different. I enjoyed the fact that I was making followers who were just like me, and if they were not like me, I no longer wanted them to be a part of my life. My mom was everything to me; her voice was the only voice I chose to hear. She would always say, "Don't worry about what people think, or say about you Tracy, you have a big heart." At that time in my life, I was about sixteen. Who wants to hear about a big heart when the boys were looking for other things, such as big breast and chicks with big butts, which I felt like I lacked.
When your world is compromised, everything is off course.
Proverbs 16: 25 there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Somewhere in my heart she was the only one whom I felt truly loved me. So my whole life was compromised, even my relationship with God. I had one prayer at that time; Lord if you take my mom I am killing myself because no one else loves me. Proverbs 14: 12 there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. When you compromise, your entire life will be a lie. Love was hate, right was wrong, good was bad, people that were for me looked as if they were against me. Now that I have allowed God to deal with me on a personal level, at the age of twenty-five I decided to try God. It seemed as if everything else had failed me, so I figured why not try something different.
I now had an opportunity to be different, and being different, you cannot compromise. This is where I heard the voice of the Lord and he said, "Don't allow anyone to be patted to hell." I finally got tired of myself, and my way of thinking. Therefore, this manual is only for those who have made up in their mind to dare to be different.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Choosing to be different, you cannot allow any mediocracy. By definition, mediocre- of only moderate quality: not very good. In our world, it is so easy to compromise. We the believers have allowed ourselves as well as others to settle just with meritocracy, knowing God have called us to be different. I know as a Christian, I have been guilty of compromising to the point where I am sitting and listening to other believers, gossip, allowing lies to be spoken, allowing believers to think its ok to swear, fornicate, allowing doubt, even unbelief even within myself, over eating, and passing judgement, compromising the word of the God. It was not until the Lord spoke to me, and showed me in the scriptures persecutions will come; we need to be reminded that the devil is wise in his own way,
Matthew 10:16 "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
The bible tells us to be as wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove. We as believers cannot afford to compromise, at the end of the day it is about souls. I cannot help but wonder if we do not take a stand for the word where will the generations of our children and their children be. God spoke to me so clearly, persecution is coming. "Tracy I have chosen you as a mouth piece to the nation, and you can't compromise." 1 Peter 2: 11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Sometimes I often wonder why we are so easily persuaded to fit into the world's system in which we allow ourselves to compromise? I have this question running through my mind. Are we afraid of the people more than we are afraid of God? Matthew 10:28 and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Romans 12:2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. God is saying I am not talking about the four walls of your building I'm talking about your heart, even as you are reading this book, make it personal. 2 Corinthians 13:5 examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified. When we can examine ourselves, we will not compromise or allow compromising when we understand that God can trust us with more. Even little things that we think are okay like "just a white lie." Where is that in the Bible? Galatians 5:9 A little leavening leavens the whole lump. I know as believer, we don't really think about those little things, I know personally I often felt like since I don't smoke, drink, or swear, anymore, and I go to church, then this didn't apply to me. The truth of the matter is that if we are not living according to the Ten Commandments, which are written such as.
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain;
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother:
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet
I do not care if God has delivered you from some things you have not arrived as long as we have breath in your body. There will always be more dying to oneself. The enemies like to allow us to compromise to cause a spirit of deception. When this happens we cannot even hear, we even then play the blame game. It then becomes a pity party, then you are the victim, and it is everybody but me. You can't get along with anyone and always seem to be complaining. The list goes on. This all started when we took our eyes off God. I'm reminded of the story of Peter in the bible when he was able to walk on water as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus; However, the moment he took his eyes off Jesus he began to sink. This is what happens to us when we allow compromise.
As believers, we can't just pat people to hell. I think we, people of God need to be more concerned about what we are standing in agreement with. We need to understand anything that's contrary to the word of God, needs to be examined; according the bible. We need to understand the Bible is not just to say I read but it is so much more important to live by its principles. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Sometimes I sit and think about the state of the world in the stillness. I heard the voice of the Lord echoing asking the same question, "Who ever have an ear let him hear what the spirit of the Lord is saying to the church." This is why I felt so compelled to write Don't Pat Me to Hell. Revelation 2:7 (NKJV) "He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.'" As the Lord lead me to the book of revelation, the question began to arise all over again, which church have we allowed ourselves to become?
(1) Are you the Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7 "This church that had forsaken its first love"?
(2) Are you Smyrna? (Revelation 2:811) – "This is the church that would suffer persecution.
(3) Are you Pergamum? (Revelation 2:12-17) - This church was married to the world instead of Christ?
(4) Are you Thyatira? (Revelation 2:18-29) – "This church that had false prophetess, that did not want to repent, and wanted to seduced and fornicate the people"?
(5) Are you Sardis? (Revelation 3:1-6) - This church that had fallen asleep?
(6) Are you Philadelphia? (Revelation 3:7-13) - This church that had endured patiently?
(7) Are you Laodicea? (Revelation 3:14-22) - This church with the lukewarm faith?
Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.
I know as believers we have our own interpretations of the book of Revelation. The questions remain the same what Church are you? Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the spirit of the Lord is saying to the Churches.
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
When we understand these questions, God will trust us with more. Even these little things are not okay! Let us get our personal church in alignment with the word of God, so that our buildings can look better. Which church are we? Which church have we become? In order for us to see what church we have become we need to be transparent. Confessing our sins is the first step of being healed; in order to accept and stay healed you need to make changes to not compromise and be fine with the choice you've made. If you obey, you will see the hand of God, real promotion comes from the Lord. Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you; life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, which both thou and thy seed may live
CHAPTER 2
Made Up Mind
When I made up my mind to be bold no matter what, I began to see things change in me, as well as around me. God began to show me, how to hear his voice I remember one day I was driving in my car and I was talking to God, I said Lord tell me how good I am, tell me how proud that you are with me. Lord please talk to me, then I heard a voice say buckle your seat belt. I quickly silenced that voice and said Lord I want to hear your voice, saying how proud you are of me that I have changed, I heard that same voice a little louder buckle your seat belt! I said ok and never did, and the voice became a lot louder buckle your seat belt now! It was so loud I got scared, buckled it immediately and as soon as I clicked it the police passed me by. I just pulled over and looked up and said thank you Jesus. Now I understand the scripture Isaiah 55:8-9 (KJV) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
I learned that God will not say things I want to hear but instead tell me the things I need to know. I began to reverse back to my old ways of thinking like God why did you even choose me? I began to justify with my old ways of thinking, because he wouldn't do things my way. Although I heard his voice I was disobedient. I believe this is how we as a people get in a place called stuck.
Stuck means-caught or held in a position so that you cannot move. This is the place where I got into my most trouble. This place caused me to reverse back to my childhood. Then I started hearing those evil words that had been spoken over my life before I was in Christ. Such as you are a failure, you will never be anything, God doesn't want you. This voice just kept repeating itself, in my mind I than started getting into a place of depression, it seemed as if everybody was against me again. I really didn't like reliving my past. I knew that I was a child of God. I always felt like it was more so I was willing to change. Thank God for the church building when I went to bible study I heard the Word of the Lord that caused me to think about Romans (KJV)12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 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. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
I began to see God right away. This is how I know if you are hungry, he will feed you, if you are thirsty, he will give you drink. I was in the process of making up my mind to stand on the promises of God.
I know as a believer we often can hear the word of the Lord and continue to go back and forth, in and out, in our way of thinking. This is not the will of God. He shows us in his word according to the bible James 1:8 double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
I know as a believer that God has never lied to me, Numbers 23:19 (KJV) God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
So I took ownership and realized that I was a liar because I didn't really believe the word of the Lord. I said it with my lips but my heart was far from him. If you have ever been in this place just as I was, you have to take ownership and say Lord I repent. I had to make up my own mind and learn to believe the word of the Lord. It was then that God began to deal with my heart and began asking the questions that are found in the bible in the book of numbers, hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? I remember responding back to the Lord at this time in my life, "Yes God you have done everything for my good". There will always be a requirement and a sacrifice you need to have a made up mind no matter what changes come your way. God already spoke it in the book of Jeremiah 29:11 for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
I know as believers, we love to quote this but this is a lifestyle you need to have application. I understand that God spoke this to Jeremiah; can you be the Jeremiah of today? Application if this applies to you, Put your name here. I know the thoughts, ___________ I think toward you.
STOP thinking of ways to fix your life yourself, and let God do this for you. Make up your mind to let God know you surrender. Not my will, but your will be done. You cannot allow yourself to be patted to hell. God thinks good of you, and not evil. I don't care how that situation or circumstance looks or feels like it's definitely not for evil. As believers or non-believers, we are still living in the principle of the word. The world has been found on sowing and reaping. Whatever in a man has on the inside of them will eventually come out so let it work for our good. Too often instead of making up our minds to obey God, we choose to compromise mainly, when were faced with situations, where obedience is required, especially when it seems meaningless from the earthly standpoint. Now, you may be asking, why should I obey God anyway? Sometimes in our culture God's ideas can seem like you're alone! Then you start thinking on these questions, what's the big deal whether or not I obey?
