Deuteronomy 6:5-9 (NIV): Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.These commandments that I give to you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates.
Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV): Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV): Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NIV): Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
ONE SUNDAY during his sermon, my uncle shocked the hometown congregation and surprised even me when he made this announcement from the pulpit: “My family has a drug problem.” I snapped to attention and stared at him, my eyes bulging like everybody else’s, and I thought, We do?
My uncle relaxed, smiled, and leaned over the podium, his hands resting on both sides of his Bible. “Yes, the Blakemores have a drug problem. As kids, we were “drug” to church, whether we wanted to go or not.”
Everyone laughed because they got it—they understood it, the lifestyle of faithful, souled-out believers. So did I—get it—finally—years later.
From that “drug” problem, that I often took for granted, I learned to love, fear (revere), and submit to GOD, but I learned after traveling the long, hard way, after a dark season of hard knocks, trials and errors, pain and suffering, fear and stress, storms and floods, mountains and valleys, flames and fire—years after stress and anxiety had attacked me, fear and depression had bound me, Satan had sifted me, life had broken me, preachers had overlooked me, doctors had labeled me, friends had left me, enemies had mocked me, family had doubted me, strangers had misunderstood me, and peace had escaped me.
I had been “drug” to church since birth; I had been baptized as a child, when I was less than ten years old, so I knew about the Bible, and I knew about GOD and about JESUS, but I didn’t really KNOW, understand, read, or study the Bible daily, and I didn’t KNOW GOD or JESUS intimately or personally; I didn’t have a relationship with GOD beyond the four walls of the church. So, from the outside I looked like a believer, I talked like a believer, and people assumed I was a genuine believer, but GOD had searched my heart and He knew the real condition of it, better than anyone, including family and friends. He knew my faith was shallow, less than a mustard seed, for my faith had never been tested, nor did I know much about spiritual warfare, healing, deliverance, or the HOLY SPIRIT, the COMFORTER, who I later learned is a HE, not an “IT”.
I was living on SPIRITUAL MILK, and I needed to be fed SPIRITUAL MEAT and to be covered by the FULL ARMOR of GOD because I was about to be TESTED IN THE WILDERNESS; I was about to be sifted by Satan, then refined—PURIFIED—through GOD’s consuming fire. Unlike JESUS though, I failed the wilderness test—multiple times—because I didn’t have GOD’s WORD hidden in my heart, not well enough to use against a worthy adversary, and what spiritual weapons I did have, I didn’t know how to use or wield effectively, especially GOD’s WORD, the SWORD of the SPIRIT.
So, when the adversary attacked me—ready to steal, kill, and destroy—and the battle waged was against my mind, I wasn’t physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually prepared, and I didn’t know what to do, how to handle his aggressive attack or protect myself. And even GOD’s WORD says, His people perish from a lack of knowledge—IGNORANCE.
When I hit rock bottom physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and was all alone, with no resources and no freedom, nearly out of my “right” mind—with no family but the faithful three; no friends but one concerned co-worker; no money but personal items in labeled paper bags; no church congregation but a group of equally broken patients on a mental ward; no fiery preachers, prayer warriors, or worship leaders engaged in prayer, praise, or battle, but the confused, the lost, the fearful, the needy, the combative, the angry, the outcast, the broken, the depressed, the misunderstood, the loner, the bipolar, the schizophrenic, the suicidal, the young, the old, the churched, the unchurched, the nerd, the average person—basically the rest of us, searching, seeking, hoping for three things really: RECOVERY, RELEASE, and PEACE—there didn’t seem to be a preacher like JESUS CHRIST, the ANOINTED ONE, who dared to bring LIGHT into the darkness--some SOULED-OUT man or woman of GOD ready to boldly enter the mental ward like JESUS visited the demonized man’s world--that kingdom of darkness and despair—someone ANOINTED by GOD’s SPIRIT, someone willing to SET THE CAPTIVES FREE and BOLDLY PROCLAIM and DEMONSTRATE the WORD, the POWER, and the AUTHORITY of GOD.
During that time, fear and depression clung to me like overbearing friends, and I didn’t see light at the end of a tunnel and I had a hard time seeing, feeling, or even hearing GOD, so my situation seemed dismal, beyond hope, beyond happiness. I saw more dark than light, and loneliness seemed a constant companion. I didn’t know how to pray for myself because my grandmother had been my PRAYER WARRIOR, my SPIRITUAL MENTOR, my FAITH WALKER, and my CONFIDANTE, and she was gone—had graduated to heaven--and was already supping at GOD’s table. Despite the uphill battle, GOD had me covered, and my mother never gave up on me; she fought for my freedom, my recovery, my life, and my soul, most of the time with little comfort, help, or relief, and she became my advocate, my strongtower, my prayer warrior, my encourager, my intercessor, and my faith partner—the voice and presence of home.
But neither of us realized GOD didn’t want to me to GO BACK to the PERSON I was or to the PLACE that I had been—IGNORANT, SELFISH, REBELLIOUS, PRIDEFUL, ENVIOUS, FEARFUL, GREEDY, MATERIALISTIC, NEGATIVE, JUDGMENTAL, and UNGRATEFUL. Back then, I was an UNDERCOVER CHRISTIAN, afraid to pray publicly or talk about JESUS outside the church, and although I had Bibles, I was CLUELESS about GOD’sWORD, even about my own SALVATION. And GOD wanted me BETTER than I was; He wanted me to be MORE LIKE JESUS, HIS SON; He wanted me to have a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with HIM, outside the four walls of a church; and He wanted me to BEAR this FRUIT of HIS HOLY SPIRIT: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, and self-control.
So, one night as I lay in bed at home, physically free but still spiritually bound, in utter darkness and depression, all I knew to do was HUMBLE myself, SURRENDER to GOD, and CRY OUT: “GOD, help me! Give me peace.” And GOD, who knew me before I even entered my mother’s womb, heard my cry and answered, giving me peace. Then, I knew He had never left me, nor had he forsaken me, and He already had a plan for me, a plan to prosper me and not harm me, plans to give me HOPE and a FUTURE, and JESUS through the HOLY SPIRIT, SAVED, DELIVERED, HEALED, FORGAVE, REDEEMED, STRENGTHENED, TAUGHT, and TRANSFORMED me into a NEW CREATION IN CHRIST.
GOD RENEWED my MIND and EVICTED the adversary from His property, and over time, my priorities, my attitude, and my lifestyle changed. I CRAVED more SPIRITUAL than WORLDLY food, and I developed a thirst and hunger for JESUS, for GOD’sWORD, and a desire for more of GOD’s PRESENCE. I didn’t just want to HEAR ABOUT GOD in some preacher’s sermon; I wanted to KNOW and EXPERIENCE GOD myself, and I wanted to learn more about the HOLY SPIRIT, so I REDEDICATED my life to CHRIST, got BAPTIZED a second time as an adult, with full understanding of what it signified, and I put my trust IN GOD, not in man or even my own intellect.
As years passed, I began to WALK IN FAITH, in GOD’s WORD and in GOD’s LIGHT, and after that, GOD gave me a SPIRITUAL DOWNLOAD—the PEARLS of WISDOM—and these are the gifts that GOD gave me, the verses that became the soundtrack of my new life in CHRIST: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper”; “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He shall direct your paths”; “God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind”; “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning”; “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”; “Be strong and courageous; the LORD will be with you wherever you go”; “All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose”; and “We are hard-pressed on every side yet not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed.”
So, yes, as a child, I inherited the Blakemore “drug” problem; I was “drug” to church. Later, I found myself alone, and I got lost and confused; I got scared, and I started wandering, but GOD never left me. He was drawing me home, but I got stuck seemingly for years in the wilderness, and the adversary beat me down, but GOD raised me up, and JESUS delivered me and the HOLY SPIRIT comforted, taught, and transformed me.
Now, GOD IS WITH ME, and I’m SOULED-OUT for Him—heart, soul, mind, and strength—and I can truly say today: “I’m a believer in JESUS CHRIST. I’m a child of GOD, a daughter of the KING of KINGS, a JOINT-HEIR with JESUS, His redeemed bride, and a member of His Body, the Church.
I have a ‘drug’ problem, and I’m an addict—GOD’s ADDICT—and I thank my mother and grandmother for “dragging” me to church, whether I wanted to go or not; I thank my grandparents for “making us” have Family Prayer meeting at home and “making us” say our verses around the supper table and our prayers at bedtime; and I thank GOD for choosing me, for anointing me, for drawing me back home, into his Kingdom and His family; I thank Him for fighting for me, for never giving up on me—for never leaving me or forsaking me, even when others did.
And this is why I do what I do, why I share the GOSPEL through these PEARLS of WISDOM; these are my PEARLS of PRAISE, my way of telling GOD, “I love You,” and telling others, “I love you too. Be strong and of good courage, the LORD will be with you wherever you go.”
Today, I am a NEW CREATION IN CHRIST--saved, healed, and delivered--and my life will never be the same, for GOD saved me, even in the midst of my sins; JESUS redeemed me, even though I didn’t deserve it; and the HOLY SPIRIT keeps blessing me, more than I know or can even imagine. And this is what I am, regardless of my circumstances: BLESSED. And this is who I am, regardless of my past: GOD’SWORD Professor—GOD’s ambassador—GOD’s addict.
