Urban Christianz Ministries

Blood Brothers

By Butch Shramek

Psalm 133:1

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!

At one time or another we have all been to a Men’s Breakfast, where we sit around, eat, pray and “talk”, and I am not trying to say that any of these things are bad. I love to eat (ask those who know me), and I love to pray. Talking? I guess it would depend on what you are talking about. The usual conversion at these breakfasts is about the kids, or wife, or golf. Superficial to say the least. Maybe that’s why not too many men attend them.

Men need more, although sometimes getting them to acknowledge that is like pulling teeth. If you have ever been in a group where men drop their guard, and become transparent and real, then you have indeed found a group of men following God’s heart. A group of men who can laugh together, cry together, and battle together. Battle? Yes! We need someone to stand side by side and fight with. Once we find our soulmate, and or have children of our own (because men are always going to be kids in one way or another, and that is something that we need to hold on to), we have found those people in our lives that we are willing to die for. Take the bullet, give up a kidney, or do whatever it takes to make sure those we care about are safe. What we then need are people we can stand side by side and fight with. Fight for our hearts. Fight for our lives, and the hearts and lives of our brothers.

It is so hard for men to be real. To show emotion, and be seen for what we really are. It all comes from the way we were raised. My father, whom I love very much, is a great man. He is my number one hero. But I was 21 years old and moving out before I can remember telling him I loved him. He responded and was as comfortable about it as I was. I never saw my Dad cry until I was 18 and his father died, and he tried his best to hide it from me. It also made me as uncomfortable as he was. Why? Because it’s not manly?  We have been brought up to think that showing emotion is a sign of weakness. Letting someone see us cry isn’t the macho image we want people to see. We would rather they see us under control, strong and manly. Faking your way through your emotions takes nothing. Being real, and taking off the mask, takes more guts than living any one of the stories we fabricate to make us look manlier.

Of course this is all easier said than done. We all follow in the footsteps of our father’s. Again I am not bashing fathers, but they are following in the footsteps of their own Dad. It’s a domino effect. I have 2 sons, 11 and 15. I love them very much, and if needed I am certain I would lay down my life for them. So why is it so hard for me to tell them that? Why can’t I let them see into my heart? Because sometimes it’s just too hard. I don’t want them to think I’m weak. We all follow what we know, and all we know is what we learned from our Father. So how do we get past this? We must allow God to father us. I mean in a Father Son relationship. God wants our praise, he wants our adoration, and deserves our respect. But he also wants to be our Dad. He wants us to come to him with everything. He wants us to love him as our Father. He wants to father us. All we have to do is allow him to. Then we will truly be the sons of God.

5 Steps to Passing Life Exams

By Apostle M. Christopher Wilson, Sr

An exam is a test that is given at the end of a class to assess what knowledge was obtained by the student during the duration of the class. Depending on whether or not adequate knowledge was gained the student will pass or fail the test. If the student passes the test he moves on to the next level. If he fails, he must take the class and the exam again, yet he still has the opportunity to pass!

I was recently reminded and enlightened to the idea that life too has exams. Because we live in an intelligent universe created by an intelligent God, there are no accidents or coincidences. Everything that happens has been divinely orchestrated by God for our good. However, because of man’s blurred perception, because of ego, we cannot see the plan of God in the light of being a benefit. Even the translation of the word coincidence has been blurred. A coincidence is a mathematical term that means to coincide; to angles that come together perfectly. So in our life coincidences are nothing short of miracles planned and placed in our life by God to complete and bring perfection to a given purpose. Have you ever noticed that 99% of coincidences presents us with a favorable outcome? Can you say miracle?

Now I want to give you 5 steps to help you pass life’s exam.

Step 1: Let go and let God.

I know this first step may not be as clear, as we would like it to be considering all the things that happen in our lives. However, everything in life has a reason and a cause. In understanding that everything has a reason and a cause, even if we may not understand, it calls for us to learn to let go and let God. By letting go we allow the divine intelligence and the universal purpose of God to be played out in our lives without our interference.

God in Jeremiah 29:11 of the Holy Scriptures of the Message Bible translation says, "I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out--plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”

The understanding, plans, & ways of God are not like our understanding. By letting go & trusting God, we also let go of ego’s desire to play God. Ego always has a plan of how it could do things better if it was God. God does not need our help, we must trust and know all things are working for our good.

Step 2: Detach from feelings and outcomes.

One of the main reasons we fail many of life’s exams is because we are too emotionally attached to our situation to hear God. Uncontrolled emotions will always be a hindrance to us connecting to source (God). By detaching from the outcome, we are able to view our situation from the viewpoint of a bystander.

As much as we hate to admit it, others always see our situations better than we do. Why? Because they do not have a direct emotional attachment to our situation. This leads me to step 3.

Possibilities in Prayer

By Minister Anthony Bullock

Prostrateology is the theological term for the doctrine of prayer. Prayer is the oldest form of worship and is universal to all types of religions and believers. Even atheists rely on prayer in some form or another to make it from day to day. Man has always marveled at how things happen in life and how to change those things that have not yet happened. The answer for the Christian has always been prayer to God, Jehovah, in the name of His son Jesus. Read on to see why you need prayer in your life:

How Can You Know God?

Want to start a relationship with God today?  Watch this great digital presentation to learn what you need to do:

What Does it Mean to Be 'Strong?' Part II

Since then, I have discovered that strength has nothing to do with the values our society and, in particular, my family hold dear. We see strong individuals as those who are 'in charge'. Those who do it 'their' way. Those who do whatever it takes to get to the top. Those who don't mind being manipulative, deceptive or dishonest as a means to an end. Those who can speak the loudest. Those who can win the most arguments. Those who are the most persuasive or glib of tongue. Those who have the most money. Those who drive the nicest cars. Those who have a legion of people to follow their orders and cater to their needs. Those who are surrounded by an 'entourage.' Those whose faces appear before us on the news or on the radio. Those who control the U.S. Congress or have attained the office of the presidency of the United States. Oftentimes, we respect what a person has, not the person himself. And, if a person has enough, we are more than happy to turn their negative or unpleasant character into positives. I can give a lot of examples here, but I won't. Just think of someone who you might otherwise not respect who holds a higher office or whom you perceive to have more 'power' than you. Can you think of any negative quality you have deemed positive simply because it is associated with this person? Like coldness or abruptness? Like self-centeredness or self-absorption? Like vanity or insensitivity? Like greed or over-developed ambition? If this person possesses these qualities and has so much, you figure, those must be the qualities to have.

The bible does not define strength the way we do. Paul was happy with his weaknesses because he realized that through those weaknesses, God's strength was made perfect. The bible says to be strong yes, but in the Lord. Not of our own strengths and ego.

Who is really strong? Is it the man who is the loudest and can bully others because he is bigger than most other men? Is it the woman who has made millions and uses that wealth to intimidate or impress other people?

What Does it Mean to be 'Strong?' Part I

I have always had a really big problem with weakness. Not because I've never been 'weak.' Not because I don't understand that the bible views our weakness as a positive. And not because I take society's view the strong should rule over the weak. I have just always felt that weakness was somehow wrong.

I know why I think this way. As a child, I was taught to be strong. Being strong in my household meant not showing weakness. Crying, being a tattle tale, overt displays of emotion and indecision were frowned upon. Any action that did not meet the criteria of being 'strong' was immediately met with scorn, derision and rejection. It taught me that the weak were to be despised. It taught me that the only value to be found in the world was to be 'superior' to another person. As an adult, I understand that I was taught wrongly about this subject. As an adult, I understand that weakness was rejected in me because my mother rejected the weakness in her. And that my grandmother rejected the weakness in my mother because her own mother had rejected the weakness in her. And so on and so on. Family cycles, family curses.

Understanding this as an adult and remedying my behavior, however, has proven to be a difficult challenge.

Stay Focused

By Candie A. Price

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. Hebrews 12:1-2a NLT

It is so easy for us to lose focus. There are so many things that are vying for our attention that we often don’t finish tasks that we begin. However, finishing projects is much more important than beginning them. When we first begin an endeavor, we are often very excited and ambitious, but as time wanes we lose our focus by concentrating on the wrong things, concerting our efforts in the wrong direction, or centering our energies in the wrong way. The writer exhorts the Hebrews by laying out a plan for them to finish the course of faith they had undertaken. The previous chapters allowed us to examine the lives of saints of old who had persevered for the cause of Christ, letting us know that we can also finish what we’ve started by laying down weight and sin that hinder us and impede our progress. God has laid out a race that we can win if we keep our eyes on Jesus—in essence, stay focused!