A Word of Thanks

I have for most of my life been the outcast, the misfit, the odd one out and as a child and a young person I use to feel as if somehow that I was cursed or that something was wrong with me because I never quite fit in. But as I get older I am more aware than ever that I am not my own, I own nothing of my own.  I am humbled that The Creator of the Universe loves me! Cares for me! Me! (Psalm 8:4) I am a worthless waste of time, breath and space without Jesus! I am useless and I am a total mess but He defines me and there is absolutely NOTHING in this life worth doing without Him. Knowing Jesus gives me purpose and meaning that is not just for this life but it is eternal. I love Him and all that He has done for me. People may look on me and think that I am nothing much, and that's really okay but hopefully when they look at me they see Messiah shining through me! He is everything worth having! I am in love with my God, HaShem! I am in awe of Him! I am in love with my Messiah and my whole world revolves around Him!

Oh! I might not have the finest car but I'm blessed! I might not have the greatest home but I'm blessed! I might not have a husband who loves and values me right now but I serve a mighty and incredible God who out of all the people in the world, loves me! I am truly a nobody trying to tell everybody about Somebody who can save ANYBODY! He is the ALMIGHTY indeed! And I have officially opted-out of this world's definition of who I should be as a Christian, a mother, a woman, an African-American woman or anything else that this world tries to attach to me as a definition. Messiah defines me, I am His! This culture, this world have no say in how I live my life and raise the gorgeous children that God gave me to raise and disciple. 

There is no "time" to worship, my whole life I yield as worship for if I don't do all that I do, as a committed act of worship to Him then it is meaningless. I gladly commit to Him as worship all that I am. (Proverbs 16:3).
 It is a pleasure to yield all that I am: eyes, ears, hands, feet, heart, soul, and mind to Him. It is only then that I can be certain that I am doing those things that bring Him glory and that are things of eternal significance and not acts of futility and idle works of this flesh. Abiding in Him is the greatest love I have ever known and the only way that I can truly love. I can't imagine trying to love someone, in a healthy manner without knowing Yeshua's love for me!

Thank You, Abba for all that You are in my life! I just want to publicly take this time to tell the world just how good You are to me! Thank you for loving me!

Mocha Brown aka Koretta L. Allen is available for public speaking engagements especially pertaining to subjects of single parenthood, being single, women's empowerment through the word of God and much more. Mochababybrown@gmail.com

The Church As A Social Club

By now you probably realize that I was raised in the church. That's right, my grandfather had at one time been a COGIC pastor and lived the rest of his days as an elder (more on him at another time) but I grew up in the church. I was saved at the age of 6 and filled with the Holy Spirit at the tender age of 9. I loved and still love the Lord with all of my heart. But I've been to a few too many churches that are starving and lacking in the power of love and the power of the Holy Spirit because they have reduced church to that of a glorified social club where people no longer come to be delivered, praise/worship and exalt Jesus as Savior and Lord...oh no! They come to see and be seen; to know, be known and be in the know! They get together with their cliques and some feign holiness where others are so bold that they don't even bother to put up too big of a front. They come to hook up with the opposite sex and sometimes the same sex. They come to catch up on the latest gossip among the circle of cliques in the church. They come so that they can have the appearance of holiness but it's really kind of funny because they have no power! More than just a social club they have become elitist social clubs where the motive is to gain notoriety and position. These are they that when the pastor calls a fast they are found mumbling and grumbling or if service goes off program or lasts a little longer than usual, they can be heard murmuring and complaining. These are they who are jockeying for positions in the church so that they can be in close contact with the pastor and be seen for the purpose of bragging rights and to seem important to others. These are they who pick and choose what is sin and what is not sin and unfortunately, these are they that the new age pastors and preachers have chosen to cater to by preaching to soothe their itching ears (II Timothy 4:3)instead of calling them to accountability because it has now become unpopular to talk about sin; it is unpopular to hold people accountable for their actions. So there we have the 21st century church, which I believe to be the modern day Laodicean church (Revelation 3:14-22). This is the lukewarm church that Christ declared He would spew (spit) out of His mouth because He would prefer that they would be either hot or cold. The church as a social club is a collection of lukewarm individuals who persistently resist the love, unity and holiness of the true church and body of Christ. They often possess a pharisee spirit in that most of them believe that they are already holy enough, in fact they are so holy in their own eyes that they can stand in open and obvious judgment of others and have no fear of the judgment that they will reap as a result of their self-righteousness. Most of them are blessed with material things so because they equate material success or the appearance of material success as being blessed they feel that this somehow qualifies them to look disdainfully upon others. If they are involved in ministry of any kind, it is simply to gain position and notoriety for themselves and you can tell by the way that they handle the people that they are "ministering" to because they often times have this very phony, apprehensive, stand-offish demeanor (much like handling a filthy rag, I call it nice-nasty) or they are mean, rude and inconsiderate of even the faintest form of Christian love and civility let alone basic customer service. They handle those that they are "ministering" to as if they were filthy and unworthy of their time. These are truly they who will look Jesus in the face on the day of judgment and proclaim, "Lord, I visited the sick, the imprisoned, fed the hungry and clothed the needy." But the Lord will have no knowledge of them because whatever they did, they did it to bring glory to themselves and not to God. They do these things for love and preoccupation with self and not a devotion and love for God. I Corinthians 13 is highly detailed in that it even goes so far as to say that (paraphrasing) even if I give my body to be burned but do not have love. It profits me nothing."

It is my personal opinion that these modern day pharisees don't even believe in God. Their actions and their motives are indicative of people who can't possibly truly believe God. If they believe that there is a God, He is not real to them so they handle the church and their erroneous representation of Christianity very lightly. They are in essence their own God! It's all about them and what they can get and you better believe if they are giving it's only because they believe that they are getting something out of it. They don't care about souls being saved, lives being changed and each time a new person who comes into the church, they act as if they are offended at the very thought of new people attending "their church". They shout and speak in tongues in the pews and out in the lobby and out in the parking lot their feet run swiftly to mischief. They speak in rebellion of the pastor while they gossip over the phone but they are quick to grin in his face as if he were the God who has a heaven or hell created for them.

I have purposed it in my heart and mind that I am going to "rattle the cages" of every modern day pharisee whose path I cross in the church. I am determined to praise and worship God as if I've lost my ever-loving mind. I am going to go all out for the cause of Christ and I am going to love them and pray for them even if they despise and speak evil against me. Yeah, they think that it's all about them well I'm glad that it's not all about me and I am not on any kind of campaign to be seen of men for only what I do for Christ will last. Keep in mind as you go about your way that the absence of love is the absence of God and if what you do is without love then you might as well not do it all. YOU are the temple of the Holy Ghost! These modern day pharisees go to church but I AM THE CHURCH!!! When the church is in you, it is impossible to disrespect the body of Christ by treating and relegating the church to a mere social club experience because the Holy Spirit in you provokes you to love and teaches you wisdom. Galatians 6:7 tells us not to be deceived because God is not mocked, whatever a man sows that's what he will also reap.

Be abundantly blessed!

Mediocrity hates greatness...so be great let the hater hate!

Is He In You?

I am just recently getting my life back on track! I come from a very conservative, Pentacostal background and I love the foundation of the denomination that I grew up in but I'm so glad that I got into The Word for myself from a young child. I received the gift of the Holy Spirit when I was 9 years old. I'll never forget it, there was a revival at church and I had gotten saved when I was 6 yrs old so I heard the evangelist explain the difference between just being saved and receiving the Holy Ghost. He preached out of the book of Revelation that night and as is the case most times when a kid hears someone preach from the book of Revelation, it has a tendency to scare you a little but I was more fascinated than scared and that fascination is what moved me to crave The Word of God. I began reading Revelation and from that I sincerely began to hunger to know more so I started reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, 3 chapters a night before I would go to bed and after I would say my prayers. I loved The Word and was so enamored with The Lord that I would even sleep with my bible under my pillow! But as I grew older and increased in wisdom through revelation of the Holy Spirit, I began to see where a lot of the things that my church's denomination taught that were nothing more than religious musings and opinions that were based on a legalistic concept of salvation. So you had girls who were wearing no make up (b/c it was a "sin"- considered vain and Jezebelesque), long dresses and skirts down to their ankles (b/c that was a "sin" - it was a misinterpretation of a the Levitical scripture which discourages women wearing attire pertaining to a man) and going to functions such as basketball games, or movie theatres b/c that was "sitting in the seat of the scornful" but they were committing fornication, adultery, gluttony, gossiping, backbiting, lying, stealing and some of their attitudes were just downright NASTY! As I got older and learned The Word through enlightenment of the Holy Spirit for myself, by the time I was 16, 17 years old, I knew enough of The Word for myself to begin asking questions and if the responses I was provided did not line up with The Word of God that I knew for myself then I knew that the response was a carnal, legalistic opinion and not anything that legitimately had anything to do with a person's salvation.

Well, at the age of 18, after receiving several prophecies and having dreams and visions of going into ministry...I ran! Yes, I ran, was still trying to live saved but I wanted no part of the ministry because I really didn't feel worthy. But when I finally gave up, after years of teaching Bible study and decided to accept the calling on my life, the denomination that I grew up in just wasn't where I knew that I could grow because they were so wrapped up in their pharisaic concept of the church and holiness that they would not let go of man-made tradition to embrace true freedom in Christ especially where it concerned women in the ministry. Everything about God was angry and judgmental because looking back, these people were angry and judgmental! It was so ironic because instead of being made in the image of God these church people tried to re-make God in their image. I know that's deep but this denomination (as is the case with a lot of churches with their religious concept who are under the "pentacostal" banner) left the bondage of the world to be held by the bondage of religion! I left that denomination to start attending a non-denominational church, that church was on the other end of the spectrum in that it seemed to lack structure. The pastor taught The Word concisely and practically and yet it lacked such structure that the atmosphere was more of that of a country club than that of a church body seeking to do the work of The Kingdom. I believe that there were some sincerely saved individuals at both of these churches however where they resembled each other was in their focal point. The focus was some place other than The Word of God and having a true relationship w/God as Lord, friend and father, they were simply gathering places with little to no power. They were the congregations where people would go to see and be seen, to be known and be in the know! In 2001, I got fed up with church, church people, and even who I had become in the church in allowing the attitudes of church people to influence me, I left the church! I got tired of being offended by church people who could treat others like garbage and then turn around and speak in tongues, prophesy, preach, teach and shout all over the church! But they had no love and no power and neither did I! I was struggling with depression and for years I was suicidal. I wanted to know God in fullness but because I would not let go of some unhealthy things in my life, I couldn't grow. So I thought that the best thing that I could do was leave! I told my story in the first posting as to what happened during that span of approximately 5-6 years but to sum it up I had two kids out of wedlock by two different men. After the birth of my son, I ran to God. I realized that if I didn't attempt to re-establish a relationship with God that I would end up either physically dead before my time or spiritually dead. Shortly after that I went on a journey of homelessness and poverty that I had only heard about but never experienced and never thought that I would experience in my own life especially with my children. But I had to come to grips with several things at this time the first and most important was that God was not the one who offended me and that just because people had offended me and hurt me that was no reason to abandon God and everything I had known from a child to be true in His Word. So I began to pray more, read my Bible more, fast for the first time in years, and finally go to church. By this time I was living in Southern California and I had been blessed with an awesome, powerful church family but no sooner than I attempted to put down roots there that God compelled me to return to central Ohio to help my mom who was having her own struggles. The experience of returning to central Ohio after being so satisfied with where I was in Southern California: my career was about to take off there, I was on the verge of getting the apartment that I wanted and most importantly to me, I loved my church. But now I see that the challenge was to see if I was more in love w/God than my church enough to obey Him and return to a place where my life had been a total wreck not to mention there were a lot of people in Ohio who had hurt and lied on me and I wasn't thrilled about confronting or dealing with any of that. But I was obedient and returned to central Ohio and I drifted for a little while because I fell back into the anger and questioning God about having to return to a place that had promised myself that I would never return to. I wasn't going to church consistently. I joined one church but the pastor was within years of my age and I needed someone who was a little more seasoned in life and the ministry. The church that I am now preparing to join (I have to attend the membership class), I never would've imagined that I would end up at this church. This church is the largest church in central Ohio and quite possibly all of Ohio but after interning their for television production, I saw why this church was so influential and prolific. People are always ragging on so-called mega churches but if they are teaching and preaching the truth of the gospel, functioning and contributing positively to the community and you are spiritually mature enough to deal with not having your pastor at your disposal because you understand your access to Christ in you, then I don't see or understand what the problem is, but that's for another post.

I had to let you know about that aspect of my journey because I had to realize that it didn't matter what other people did or what they do to me. It's not about me, I am the temple of the Holy Spirit and because of that I can overcome ANY offense! Yes, there are modern day pharisees in the church who are busy wagging their index fingers at people and condemning people to hell but God hasn't condemned me to hell! So who cares what they think! I am so glad to know that because of Jesus, the Father, my Abba has found me worthy of inhabiting and it's because of that fact that I dare not ever again in life abandon God and forfeit my birthright as a child of God because of what someone did or what someone said. The pharisees called Jesus, the Son of the true and living God, who came to die for their sins "The prince of demons" they accused Him of casting out demons because He was in league with them! What a horrible, blasphemous thing to say but that's how a pharisee, religious demon operates. It deludes people who don't even have skeletons in their closets, but they have rotting corpses (stinking, secret things that they feel condemned and miserable about) in their closets, to feeling self righteous because they can do all of the outward things like speak in tongues, shout/dance, preach, teach, give offering, tithes and they can even work around the church and in various ministries but they fail to understand all of that done without the love of God is meaningless! When you are critical, judgmental, and accusatory of other people, you defy everything that God is...love! He doesn't accept our sin but unlike people God does not associate us with our sins and shortcomings, instead once we repent, He associates us with His Son, Jesus! This helps me because I'm not perfect, I have done more than my share of judging and criticizing people but when I see how people have judged and still judge; criticized and still criticize me not to mention how Christ was treated on my behalf then I understand that it is more important for me to love, forgive and pray for those who offend me than it is to do what this flesh finds easy and convenient and yet so destructive to me spiritually.

We are the arrow that points people in the direction of Christ. Your praise, your service and everything you do is in vain and will die with you if God is not your reality. Is He in you? Because if He is, love is in you, peace is in you, joy is in you, wisdom and temperance is in you! Your flesh will act up and attempt to stage a mutiny against the Holy Spirit but as soon as you relinquish your right as captain of your own ship and allow the Spirit of God to direct you; love, peace, joy, wisdom and temperance become habitual. It is then that no one and nothing external to you including your own flesh will become of such an offense to you that you abandon the One who loves you more than anyone else ever could and you will find yourself gladly going out of your way to love and demonstrate the love of God b/c of the love of God is in you! Be blessed, abundantly blessed!

Mediocrity hates greatness, so be great and let the haters hate!