A Street Called Straight

PRAYER:

GOD, I thank you right now for the way You have come into my life and changed my thoughts and my walk. I praise You Lord for taking a sinner like me and allowing me to be used as an instrument in Your kingdom.

The road is rough, but the path is clear God because it is narrow and I don’t have room enough to turn around. I don’t want to look back because I might stumble! Thank you God for planting my feet on a solid rock and making me into a humble servant!

I thank You God for my ability and my opportunity to evangelize the Good News that Jesus is coming back and we must be ready because You have prepared a place for us.

Lord bless the readers, the hearers and the doers of Your Word as Divinely given to me. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING: Acts 9: 11-12 (NLV_

(11)The Lord told him, "go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask him for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. (12) In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight."

TEXT:

In every town I have travelled, you can always identify where people are faced with the challenges of life! And as you cruise down these communities, you will either get a sense of comfort or be gripped by fear! Comfort because you are familiar with the surroundings or fear because you might see a hopeless situation! Either way, you can categorize yourself as one of 4 types:

1- Those who who never had a chance to grow up in the "hood".

2- Those of us who were delivered from the devil’s disciples, but who never forgot that we came from the "hood".

3- Those of us who are still in the "hood".

4- Those of us who are dead. (The living dead!)

I wish that my next statement could be an original observation and not be a common sight in our neighborhoods, but it isn’t.

Walk though our graveyards and read the names and birthdates on the toombstones...I’ve done that and what I have come to realize is that, in those graves are many unsaved souls, disobedient children of God who never repented and came to Christ; children of God who had an opportunity to sit in the heights of Heaven, but instead chose to be tormented in the pit of Hell!

Buried beneath the soil are dreams that never came to pass; books that were never written; songs never sung; children never born; ideas never shared; paintings never painted; inventions that were never invented; plans that never became reality; goals never fulfilled and servants for Christ who will never have a second chance!

The graveyards are filled with potential greatness that will externally remain potential. What a tragedy when you realize that, "God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son so that whosoever believes in Him may not be lost, but have eternal life. (John 3:16) And we have people, even some among you now, choosing to live as a devil disciple!

Of course God has allowed us free will and we all have fallen short of the glory of God, but thank God there is a promise He made to us all... And that is a promise of forgiveness. As hard as it is for us as human beings to put away bitterness and anger when we have been violated,taken advantage of by someone else, have been robbed of our joy and even have been robbed of our material possessions, there is a scripture , Ephesians 4:31,32 that reminds us that we must forgive as God forgives. The Word says, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you.

There was once a time in our lives when our neighborhoods were considered safe. We could leave our doors unlocked and leave the house without worrying about a burglar coming in. We could jog around the corner and not be concerned about a rapist or an armed robber. We could answer or front door and not be concerned about being assaulted. We could let our relatives come over and not worry about someone stealing our goods. We could even go to church without worrying about a break-in or a break-out like a shootout in the sanctuary. Yes, there was once upon a time when the only time when we would have to travel to another area of town , which we would have called our bad side of town to be confronted with so=called bad people or drug addicts or wannabe gang members. But now we can walk out of our front door and possibly your neighbor is the type of person or the one you would have once avoided. But trust me, things have changed, And why? I’m glad you asked!! It’s because those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires! Satan is busy doing his job which is simple, to kill, to steal and to destroy!