The Righteous Struggle

 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Ephesians 6:12 KJV

The counter-hegemonic struggle that revolutionary followers of Jesus are engaged in is not a crass struggle for power over and against people, but always a principled struggle against evil, corrupt political, social, and economic systems, demonic power structures, and the bastions of a Eurocentric nationalist religion that support and encourage global exploitation of the many so that untold riches accrue only to the few.

For revolutionary followers of Jesus, one major battleground for counter-hegemonic struggle is located in the Eurocentric Nationalist church itself and its support of racist policies, politics, and politicians, in general, along with its insistence on portraying Jesus as a European who is the idol set up to be worshiped, in particular. The message that God is European (white) drummed into the heads of Africans and other people of color—as well as Europeans who already have an inordinate sense of entitlement and racial privilege—has no place in any 21st-century body of people who claim to confess Jesus as Lord.

The second major battleground is in the Eurocentric-oriented Neo-Colonialist Churches of color and their refusal to call Eurocentric churches out for their denial of the gospel of Jesus, and their own complicity in the oppression of people of color, in general, along with their refusal to proclaim the revolutionary gospel of Jesus for liberation of the oppressed and economic justice for the poor, in particular.

Only such a revolutionary message, made flesh by radical action, true to the biblical mandate, has the power to set the masses of people of color, poor white people, disenfranchised returning citizens, and abandoned U.S. veterans free from the grip of poverty and alienation that destroys them.

The most relevant radical action that we can take now, is to support the Poor People’s Campaign Moral March on Washington, scheduled for Saturday, June 20, 2020. We have an opportunity to model what the kingdom of God looks like in very concrete terms, as we walk together, proclaiming every person’s right to enjoy the basic necessities of life: healthy food, state-of-the-art healthcare, decent, affordable housing, and livable wage employment.

My Ode to Freedom

 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 NIV

As an African/Edenic person living in a Eurocentric-oriented racist society, I understand that Jesus is the only Revolutionary I can follow because He came to earth to set me, and people of all hues who are similarly situated, completely free from every vestige of slavery and its attendant indicia of bondage. The freedom that Jesus offers us is three-dimensional.

First, it is physical in that it affects how we function in the world. Second, it is philosophical in that it affects our understanding of the world and how we process ideas that counter reactionary and backward-looking Eurocentric assumptions that have previously usurped our independent thought processes. Third, it is psychological in that it affects the way we think about ourselves, others, and God.

True freedom, at its most fundamental level, is that state of being in which a person, without being enslaved, dominated, or otherwise held under constraint, restraint, duress, or undue influence, can of her or his own volition make decisions, plan courses of action consistent with those decisions, have unlimited access to and control over resources, and exercise the necessary power to concretely actualize those decisions.

Given this definition of freedom, it is manifestly clear that the last, least, and lost of African/Edenic and similarly situated people in America have never experienced true freedom. Despite this, Jesus is offering all of us an unfettered freedom that is firmly rooted in the truth and in reality.

The truth is that, without a revolutionary relationship with and understanding of Jesus, we are slaves in a world-system matrix inimical to our best interests, opposed to our limitless capacity for personal human growth and development, and bent on our total destruction.

The reality is that the only road to freedom is our connecting with Jesus and submitting ourselves to his radical leadership so that we can effectively engage in counter-hegemonic (revolutionary) struggle to develop our critical understanding—our ability to be transformed from non-critical, incoherent “common sense” people (objects) to kingdom-oriented “organic intellectuals” (subjects) who are willing and able to provide principled revolutionary leadership for establishing the kingdom of God on this earth.

Why Growing Yourself Matters

 In the very first chapter of his classic book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, John Maxwell stresses the point that personal growth is not natural, nor is it automatic—in fact, personal growth does not happen unless a person becomes intentional about desiring to grow and then makes and follows a plan to grow.

He gives eight specific reasons why people avoid being intentional about growing themselves. The first reason is that they assume that they will automatically grow mentally and spiritually inside as they have grown naturally and physically outside. The second reason is that they don’t know how to grow. The third is that they don’t think that now is the right time to grow. The fourth is that they don’t want to make the mistakes that are part and parcel of growing. The fifth reason is that they want to find the best—the perfect—way to grow. The sixth is they don’t feel like growing. The seventh is that they believe that other people are better than they are, and the eighth reason is that they discover that it’s harder to grow than they realize.

If you use any of these reasons or others I haven’t mentioned, that keep you from being intentional about your own growth, then you have built yourself a prison from which you will never escape—you will forever keep yourself from all that God has created you to be, do and have in this life. When you allow any reason to control you, you can never move beyond being stuck where you are, doing what you do now, and having only what you have now—or even less than you have now. Because if you’re not expanding, you’re setting yourself up for contracting.

Being intentional matters because without it you will stay stuck, dooming yourself to a life of mediocrity without any hope for living the life you were created to live.

Here are some serious questions that you should ask yourself right now: Where do you want to go in life? What direction do you want to go in? What’s the farthest you can imagine going? How long will it take? If you haven’t spent time with yourself to wrestle with these questions before, I can guarantee you that the experience will give you a headache, but it will be the best headache you ever had!

This is because asking yourself these questions will help you raise your sights on living a more fulfilled and satisfied life on the one hand while raising to the surface the five fears you must face and overcome on the other. These fears include fear of failure; fear of trading security for the unknown; fear of being overextended financially; fear of what people you know will think and say to you about what you’re doing; and fear of rejection by the people you value most—your friends and family.

You alone must decide which emotion is stronger: your desire to change, grow, and reach your potential, or your fears that are there to keep you stuck and forever afraid to move forward and become your highest and best self.

On My Mind and In My Thinking

 “My mind is a center of Divine operation. The Divine operation is always for expansion and fuller expression, and this means the production of something beyond what has gone before; something entirely new, not included in past experience, though proceeding out of it by an orderly sequence of growth. Therefore, since the Divine cannot change its inherent nature, it must operate in the same manner in me; Consequently, in my own special world, in which I am the center, it must move forward to produce new conditions, always in advance of any that have gone before.” 

Thomas Troward

Troward begins by making a spectacular announcement: “My mind is a center of Divine operation.” He speaks for himself and for me here. (You alone must decide whether he speaks for you.) My mind is a center—a deliberately chosen central place—where God has actively chosen to live and operate in me—to be, do, and perform His Divine purposes through me. Troward doesn’t suggest that God’s presence in my mind is there because I asked for it, or because I went through some elaborate set of tests, trials, and examinations to make me worthy of God’s activity there. He states it as an unquestioned fact, inerrant, sure, and as absolute as Eternal Law. I AM worthy because I AM created in the image and likeness of I AM that I AM. My worthiness preceded my birth on this planet. It is an eternally closed issue.

Building on this unalterable truth, Troward goes on to describe the Divine operation as always seeking expansion and fuller expression. Thus, just as scientists have discovered that the universe is constantly expanding, so also the Divine operation or working within and through me is expanding and seeking further expression in me and through me. This expression is manifested in my desire to be, do, and have more—that nagging sense of restlessness I feel that accompanies my settling for the status quo of mediocre sameness and its attendant ennui. Spirit is forever expanding, enlarging, and evolving into what is new, different, and distinct from what was and what currently is, although it has grown from what was and superseded what is.

In the same way that Spirit works in an ever-expanding universe, it works in me by the Law of the Spirit of Life—Eternal Life; life ever more and more abundant ad infinitum. Consequently, Spirit must move in me to make me grow, expand, increase, and manifest a better me, a fuller me, a more productive, loving me. Thus, if Spirit is in me, I cannot remain the old me: I must become a new creation, an enlarged creation at every level of my being. This means that I reflect the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ—i.e., I look more like Jesus and act more like Him. I think like God thinks because I have the mind of Christ who has the mind of God. I love like He loves because I AM one with the Father and the Son. My compassion towards people is His compassion towards people. I AM that I AM because I AM that I AM has made me thus.

Because I AM that I AM, I AM creating new external conditions that manifest themselves through the working of God’s Divine operation within me. These conditions are manifested first in Spirit and then are transmuted into material forms—forms that are different from the old, past forms; forms that are new creations from new ideas, new thoughts, new creative musings that are the operating, working, and constructing principles of God at the very center of my being.

All that I AM is in my mind (heart, Spirit). And what is my responsibility in all this? I must work the works of God (operate God’s operations), think God’s thoughts after Him, and manifest the material conditions of God's thoughts while I AM conscious and aware that today is still today. The night is coming when I will no longer be in this space, on this plane to function as the Son of God in the center of my mind. I must show forth the praises of Him who has brought me out of darkness into His marvelous light, and I must be who I AM so that others are drawn to the light of Christ within me. Only then will I be able to make disciples—disciplined ones—who will maximize their development and highest and best use of themselves, the resources they receive, and the resources they create for themselves and others. In short, I AM to be an agent of Transformation to manifest God’s creative and redemptive purposes on this earth.

Who are YOU, and what is YOUR purpose?

Be Clear About Your WHY

 Many people talk about wanting to own their own business one day. Their reasons go from wanting to be their own boss to living the lifestyle to which they want to become accustomed. But most people who talk about owning their own business one day will never do more than talk about it.

People, who are serious about owning their own business, research different business opportunities, read up on the businesses they have an interest in, and begin the process of deciding which business is most compatible with who they are as people. This work of investigation that they do helps to focus their desire to own a business and to fuel their enthusiasm to find the right business to own.

This is the process that most business owners go through. They use their minds, they get the facts, and then they make a definite decision about which business option they will choose. What many people leave out of the process is an understanding of WHY they go into a specific business in the first place.

It has been estimated that 96% of all businesses started will fail within 10 years. With such an alarming statistic like this around, one wonders why anyone would go into business against such odds. If everyone who started a business believed that she or he had only a 4% chance of success, there would be no new businesses started and the economy would immediately grind to a halt.

However, people are going into business every day, going against the odds that they will probably fail. It would seem that the 4% who succeed in business over the long haul know something that the 96% don’t know—they know their WHY and it guides them to prosperity.

When you talk to successful business people, you will find that their WHY is greater than just wanting to make money or to become a millionaire. If the reason you are planning to go into business is just to make money, you will probably end up in the 96% failure group. Although earning money is important and necessary, it is not enough of a WHY to get you past the 96%.

Your WHY must come from inside you—it must be greater than merely making money. It must be so deeply thought through that it will sustain you in hard times and difficult circumstances. Your WHY must be so strong that it motivates you to get up every day, face the “no’s” and other rejections you will face, and yet empower you to get up the next day and the next day after that until your business blossoms, buds and thrives.

Knowing your WHY is so powerful that it will catapult you into success, regardless of the odds against you. So, invest the necessary time in thinking about your WHY and make sure it is large enough to see you through to success.

Learn to Persevere

 The most difficult growth stage that all truly successful people must face squarely and master is that period of time that inevitably separates the here-and-now uncomfortable place of interminable struggle from the then-and-there relative state that is what you believe to be a success. This is the period of time—often long and disappointing—when nothing seems to be happening and you feel stuck in a quagmire that borders on hopelessness.

This is the stage when self-doubt and the doubt of others around you very nearly cause you to give up. Most people who have gained success will not talk much—if at all—about this period of the dark night of the soul.

Everyone who achieves personal success has had to pay their club membership dues in this very difficult, and yet defining place. No one has arrived at the successful destination without having collected some scars (and been part of the collateral damage) along the way. So, to expect to be successful without incurring some suffering—whether at the physical, mental, psychological, or emotional level—is to expect to build muscle mass without painful daily exercise; play the piano as a virtuoso without perfect practice over long periods; or win a world boxing title without having to train relentlessly and take some knock-out hard punches without succumbing to them.

In fact, the role of suffering in your life is the discipline that makes you strong and prepares you to manage the wealth that will ultimately be yours. This is the growth stage where you must use the period of personal suffering as your rehearsal and perfect practice space for behaving as the successful person you aspire to become while in the throes of personal pain.

This is the place where, despite the pain of adversity, hardship, and extreme difficulty, you begin to take on the behaviors and attitudes associated with living the life you have focused on since the beginning of your quest for success. It is here that you learn that you are, in this pain-filled moment, what you have always determined, aspired, and struggled to become. In other words, you have so envisioned yourself from an Entrepreneurial Mindset of success that you are successful long before it is apparent to you or anyone else!

What you will learn in this very tight, uncomfortable place is that success and acclaim are not one and the same. If you are not lauded for the depth and breadth of your accomplishments and the value you have already created for others, then that failure of others to recognize what you have done is completely unrelated to your personal success. You are what you think, believe, and behave that you are, regardless of your present circumstances.

Your challenge as an entrepreneur is to live as if the future were in the present, without regard for the physical and visible impediments that currently belie your future status. To reach the threshold of the series of events that will catapult you into the manifestation of all that you have worked for, you must manage well the most difficult and discouraging period of deep suffering that comes inevitably at the crossroads of your present situation and your future goal. And it is at this precise moment that you need to learn that perseverance is your best—and oftentimes only—friend. This is not the time to give in, give out, or give up.

This is your time to persevere!    

Champion a Noble Purpose

 One of the major keys to personal success is choosing, finding, discovering, or otherwise creating a noble cause or purpose that does not benefit you personally. Service to others is a prerequisite to your personal success. Your genuine concern for others, demonstrated by your giving of your time, talent, and resources to a worthy endeavor, becomes a catalyst for moving you toward your own destiny.

As you invest the best of yourself in a noble purpose that has no visible strategic relationship to your personal or business goals, you are planting the seeds of your own business success. However, the motivation for your service to others must be pure: you must serve with no expectation of receiving anything in return—no award, reward, recognition, press coverage, or opportunity to network with persons whom you believe could forward your personal agenda—not even your desire to hear a simple “Thank you.”

Your reward for championing a noble purpose is your willingness to serve others from a God mindset. Such a mindset seeks the best for others with no concern to gain personal benefit. To serve from a God mindset is to choose to consider the welfare and interests of others over your own welfare and interests to such an extent that you can freely and happily give others your time and resources that you could profitably invest in service to your own agenda. Thus, serving from a God mindset is not being patronizing or condescending to others, but putting others on an equal footing with you. The energy you use to benefit others is at the same level of intensity as that which you use to benefit yourself.

You can only provide this free, no-strings-attached service to others when you realize that you are a child of God who has an unlimited supply of resources to bless others without the possibility of exhausting those resources in a manner that could possibly be detrimental to you.

Many people serve others for the wrong motives and, therefore, serve from a position of weakness. To serve others because you are compelled, either by job title, contract, or forced, uncompensated servitude is to serve from a position of weakness. To serve others from a God mindset is to serve from a position of strength. Your service is not coerced, purchased, or otherwise performed because you’re seeking an advantage, relationship, strategic alliance, or other consideration that will inure to your personal benefit later on down the line.

Your God mindset service to others originates in and operates from a position of strength—your knowledge of who you are and Whose you are, as well as the inestimable value that your presence and personal involvement bring to others just because of your divine connectedness.

Because championing a noble purpose is directly related to your own personal destiny, you must choose it carefully. You may not be called to support a popular charity or heart-string-pulling charitable endeavor. It may be your lot to serve a noble cause that is not recognized as such by many. Indeed, the noble purpose you end up supporting may be one in which you have no passionate interest.

  

So, you must consider what your motives are when you choose a noble purpose to embrace and/or support. It is at this point that self-examination, criticism, and self-criticism will bring you back to the Law of Iron Will.

You cannot know your true motives for doing a thing or choosing a particular path. But you can challenge yourself to examine your motives and seek guidance from above, as well as from others around you. This is true not only for what motivates you to choose a worthy purpose to champion but also applies to the choices you make in every other area of your life.