By Carlos C. Brown
Good Morning Peeps! How are you and yours doing this Friday morning, good I hope? Have you had a good week so far, I sure hope so? Have a good and very Blessed “Frantic” Friday today and weekend too! - May God Bless You and Yours In 2019 and Beyond!!! And AMEN goes right here….
#SalvationIsOnlyThruJesusChrist
“This is the day that the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it!”
***Remember, if you haven’t purchased it already, my newly published book “The Third Eye Perspective” book of Devotionals is available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Xulon Press in Paperback, Hardback, also on EBook. and also in the December 2018 edition of the Christian Book Buyers Guide Catalog on page #7! You can also follow me on Twitter (CCBrown67) and Instagram (Doubletuff99) for additional inspirational Devotionals! Thank you!
A Christian Cowboy Perspective:
Thoughts For Today – “From Exception To Distinction…”
Yesterday’s devotional dealt with “The Principal of Exception,” in other words, when you come to realize God’s favor, protection and “anointing” over your life you choose to hold yourself to a higher standard of living. I used well known people (Adam, Noah, King David, King Solomon, and even Jesus Christ) from the Biblical days, that most every Christian and even people who just consider themselves to be only “Spiritual” would recognize. Then, a very special person in my life suggested that I use some of the other people who are not so well-known in regards to this same premise after reading yesterday’s devotional. I took this as a direct nudge from God that yesterday’s message needed a “part two” but this time to branch out and give some of the other Biblical people recognition and maybe inspire people who might not know of them very well or at all to be motivated to go and study up on these not so well-known people you don’t normally hear about everyday. So with that being said, it is with this train of thought, or line of thinking, it was placed on my heart (Thank you Love Xoxoxo) this morning to talk about, “From Exception To Distinction!” And AMEN goes right here! Now just like yesterday and also how I like to do in most of my devotionals, make a point to define important words to give a clear meaning of them before using them in my messages. The word “Distinction” is defined as – “A marking off or distinguishing as different; The recognizing or noting of difference; A discrimination made between things as different; special regard or favoritism; A distinguishing or treating with special honor, attention, and or favor.” Now yesterday we talked about “Exception” or “The act of excepting or the fact of being excepted. An instance or case not conforming to the general rule.” and I’ll go ahead and just say that the difference in the two words (Exception and Distinction) as far as MY messages go. In the case of “Exception,” a person comes to realize they think differently than their peers, inner circle, or maybe even most other people in general they encounter in one way or another. Kinda like they are the “exception to the rule” mentality. They carry themselves differently with higher morals, standards, character and an higher level of obedience for God’s doctrines resulting in them being blessed and favored by God. In the case of “Distinction,” God places an “anointing” over their lives that nomatter how many mistakes they make, or how many wrong turns they make, they will still end up fulfilling His will for their lives. Let’s dive into some not so well-known examples of this in the Bible…
The first one we’ll talk about is Ester, there is a book in the Bible (Ester) named after her. She is known for her beauty and the fact that she caught the eye of King Ahasuerus after he divorced the former queen (Vashti) for her disobedience to him. But Ester’s story and classification of “Distinction” almost never happened due to no fault of her own. Ester’s cousin and guardian (Mordecai) offended the king’s chief advisor (Haman) and Haman sought and received permission from the king to have all the Jews in the kingdom killed. However, once the King laid eyes on Ester he would eventually fall in love with and marry her. Then he was persuaded by her and her cousin to retract the order of annihilation of all the Jews throughout the empire. Only God could take a person condemned to be put to death and elevate them to not only save themselves, but an entire nation! The next person that comes to mind is Ruth. She also has a book (Ruth) in the Bible named after her. She too was very Beautiful and had the label of “Distinction” placed over her life by God. As the story goes, Ruth is not an Israelite, but actually is from Moab. She married an Israelite husband named Hahlon. Ruth is known as being a symbol of abiding loyalty and devotion to not only her husband and family, but her mother-in-law too. Then tragedy struck, a famine causes both Naomi’s and Ruth’s husband and her husband’s brother to die, leaving them both in a very tough position. Ruth did something that most women or people didn’t normally do, she clung close to her now ex-mother-in-law Naomi. Naomi chooses to go to Bethlehem, and Ruth went along with her. To show you how God’s “Distinction” works in this case, Ruth was going into the fields of a wealthy farmer named Boaz after his field workers had been harvesting grain, to pick up the leftover’s to feed herself and her ex mother-in-law Naomi. It is during this time that the owner of the fields (Boaz) notices her and starts to inquire about her. It was nothing but a “God Thing,” or a “Godly Distinction” over her life, because the responses Boaz received were to the effect of, “She ain’t nobody, she’s just a beggar from Moab, nothing special about that woman” as I am paraphrasing. But they were wrong, Ruth was so much more, and they didn’t know the “Distinction” God had placed over her life to carry out His will. Well as the story would go, Boaz invited Ruth into his house for dinner and the rest as they say is history. BUT, it doesn’t stop there, because the purpose behind Ruth meeting Boaz (on behalf of God) was to revive Elimelech’s (Naomi’s late husband) family bloodline or lineage and to revive and secure Naomi’s family namesake. Boaz and Ruth’s son “Obed” was the father of Jesse, who if you remember was the father of David. If you don’t know how significant this is, it is David (former King of a reunited Israel) who down the generational lines is related to Jesus Christ! (read Matthew 1:5, Luke 3:32 verses) And AMEN goes right here too!
The next person of “Distinction” I would like to introduce you to is Elijah whose name means “Yahweh is my God.” (read 1 Kings 17-19 and 2 Kings 1-2 chapters) Elijah has a very interesting story, he was born in Tishbe is the son of Sobach and his story starts off sounding like he is just any other person. However, God found Himself needing an intercessor to help lead the Israelite people out of the corruption and suffering they were experiencing, so he chose Elijah. God chose Elijah to also be a prophet whose job was to foretell of things to come. But like in the story of Ruth earlier, Elijah almost didn’t get the chance to fulfill his destiny. Elijah was living in the desert during a great drought of 3 ½ years that actually he himself had predicted when he was trying to convince King Ahab and his people to repent from their evil sinful ways. To ensure Elijah survived, God sent ravens everyday to take him food. Pause……..when you have Godly “Distinction” over your life, everything will work in your favor to ensure you have what you need to survive until God’s Will is carried out by you! Can I get an AMEN right here? Elijah is known for challenging Baal, but also Jezebel (wife of King Ahab), her priests, Ahab and the people of Israel the Canaanite god responsible for rain, thunder, lightning, and dew when he predicted the drought on behalf of God Himself. Elijah is known for being associated with 12 miracles: #1. Predicting the drought (! Kings 17th chapter). #2. Being fed by ravens during the drought (1 Kings 17). #3.Increasing the widows of Serephath meal and oil (1 Kings 17), #4. Raises the widow’s son (1 Kings 17). #5. Fire from Heaven: Victory over the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18). #6. Predicting that the rain would come back (1 Kings 18). #7. Fed by an Angel twice (1 Kings 19). #8. A gentle whisper of God at mount Sinai (1 Kings 19). #9. The dogs ate Jezebel (2 Kings 9). #10. Fire from Heaven twice (2 Kings 1). #11. Divides the Jordan river. #12 (2 Kings 2). One day Elijah carried up by a whirlwind into Heaven, following a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2.). As you can see from the examples above, when God places a “Distinction” over someone’s life, that is a very important thing. Now, answer me one very important question. What does all or most of these people listed above have in common? Anyone, anyone, ANYONE???? It is that they each had to overcome major obstacles in their lives despite having God’s Favor, Protection, or what I’ve labeled as “Distinction.” They did not give up and quit when faced with adversity of any kind, they continued to fight for what they wanted and or what they were trying to accomplish and each one of them were rewarded for their persistence also. Just because they had that Favor and Protection, it did not mean that their lives would be perfect and free from disappointments, failures, frustrations, times when they couldn’t see where the road they were on would end, and or bad things happening to them frequently. What it does mean, is that despite the fact that they all had major challenges they still persevered with Faith in God’s promises, and continued to wake up each day with thanksgiving in their hearts, and an undeterred determination to press forward towards God’s will for their lives, and last but not least, completed their tasks set before them by God. When Jesus Christ became sin and came down into this world, He did it because each and every one of us also carry that “Distinction” over our lives! All of us are “anointed” to do SOMETHING for the Kingdom of Heaven, problem is figuring out what exactly that is! Actually, it was because we carry the “Distinction” of God that Jesus was sent down here to die on the Cross in the first place! Can I leave you with a question to ponder if I may?
“What are YOU doing to find out what your purpose for the Kingdom is, and to fulfill God’s Will for YOUR life, anything, anything, ANYTHING?
Starting today, get in the presence of God and learn what your purpose for the Kingdom is and get busy fulfilling your Heavenly destiny for Christ Jesus!
Can I get an AMEN right here too????
“Today, choose to “Ride or Die” with Jesus Christ 110%! Afterall, isn’t that EXACTLY what HE did for US on the Cross at Calvary?”
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