Mental mindset

I experienced culture shock two times in my life. The first time was my enlistment  in the USMC. I graduated boot camp. My military occupational specialty was field ground radio operator. I went to 29 Palms California, located in the desert for training. I graduated and was assigned to Camp Pendleton, 11th Marines. 

Once I got to Camp Pendleton and settled down into everyday reality, that’s when I began to grieve for home. Southern California was slow, and days dragged. The people were different. In the service, there is no privacy or indivduality. You lived, ate, showered, and trained with one unified purpose to become a lean green fighting machine.

I was depressed for a majority of time until I had a transformation, what some would call the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. That changed my outlook on life. I began to adjust to military life.

Readjusting to city living

The second culture shock happened when I finished my enlistment and returned to Detroit. My first year out, I struggled against the culture that grew up in. First,  I missed the unity of purpose and cohesiveness that everyone shared. I missed the structure and order that physical training gave me. Military life gave you a disciplined way of seeing and solving problems.

Once I got out, I went to school and got a job in the Post Office. I struggled with the culture of city living. The constants struggle for rights, privileges, and benefits. There was this constant battle between management and labor. I got caught up in that struggle. It seemed like everybody for it for themselves. I craved the brotherhood of USMC!

I felt trapped until I left the Postal Service for full-time ministry. I was in part-time ministry for 13 years. I went to school for ministry while working full-time. My very first day of full-time ministry, I am excited about the potential, and I set at my desk and nothing. My mind drew a blank. I didn’t know what to do. This went on for several months.

I finally realized I had been mentally conditioned to wait for the Sergeant, my supervisor or leader, to tell me what to do. This mentality came out of years of being told when to get up in the morning and when to go to bed at night. In the military, we went to sleep and started our day by the blowing of horns. At work, we hit the time clock to begin and end our work day.

We stood obediently waiting for the supervisor to give us our assignment. Now that I am on my own, I have had to take responsibility to plan my day, week months, and years. I didn’t get a paycheck every two weeks or have anyone to be responsible for medical or retirement benefits. I am on my own!

Seedtime and Harvest

The great important lesson. God provides seed to sowers bread for our food, and he multiplies the seed we sow and increases the fruits of our obedience.

This is God’s system, which is seed time harvest. The first tools God gave Adam to manage Earth were dominion and seed. God gave Adam dominion over every creeping thing that moves upon the earth, Genesis 1:26 “… Let then have dominion…” 

Many people miss this thought completely. God’s will was, is, and will be in eternity is for people to  reign on earth over the earth. See Romans 5:17; Revelation 5:10, we shall reign by one Jesus Christ on earth. Revelation 22:5, “… And they shall reign for ever and ever.”

God’s system

God gave Adam seed for food and the fruit trees, Genesis 1:29, “Behold I have given every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth…”

Adam was to determine the future by the seed he sowed. God determined the future by the seed he sowed! (God planted trees)

We have been deceived concerning God’s system. We have been given a substitute system called mammon or money. Money has become a god to many. They spent all day serving it and laboring for it, and they become limited in their ability. For example, the richest man in the world can not deliver his dearly beloved because all power belongs to God, so do mercy, Psalms 62:9-12!

True freedom comes when we begin to understand the value of seed. It starts when we understand that God’s system is perfect, that is the created order.

God chose to partner with you. He chose the closest relationships to reveal the partnership that existed between him and us.

He chose fatherhood to reveal himself as a Father to us. He gave us power to become sons of God, John 1:12

He chose to call the Church, the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. These symbols of Father, Bride, Sons, and Body reveal to us an indescribable partnership of love.

The purpose for Adam creation is so simple, it is hard to believe.

Genesis 2:5, “And there was no nan till the ground…”

It is so simple: you determine the future by managing the ground! You take your future out of other people hands!

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6:7-8

People stumble over the words “life everlasting” because they interpret those words to mean we get the blessings of life when they die and go to heaven. Life is an infinite power source with benefits that are available now and in the future.

Jesus said, ‘He that follow me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.’ John 8:12. Revelation will show you the best way!

1975 Detroit Crime Special

I grew up in this city. I experienced the roits and the fallout. The roit of July 1967, also called the Rebellion, opened a door. There was a breach that occurred in the city of Detroit during the riots. A spirit of hate and violence was released in the 1970s. I often felt that during this time, the citizens of Detroit tried to heal their anger through drugs.

It took 20 years to heal the breach. I had an opportunity as a Detroit Police Chaplain to pray at the Detroit Police Department Headquarters in downtown Detroit.

There was a breach present, and I believe the prayers of the saints ministered healing between the Detroit Police Department and the community, causing the door to be shut.