Things I Wonder About The 2012 Presidential Election

THINGS I WONDER ABOUT THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 

In no particular order...


1. What percentage of people voting in this election has followed any local, state, or federal politics/government in the 4 years since the last Presidential Election?

2. How many of the people voting for Governor Romney are true Romney/Ryan supporters or simply voting against President Obama?

3. Did President Obama's reaction to Hurricane Sandy sway undecided voters in his favor? How many? 

4. How many female voters have chosen their candidate largely based on how they feel about (or how much they identify with) the candidate's wife?

5. How many voters have chosen their candidate based solely on one major issue? What is that issue? If that issue were eliminated, how then would they vote if they voted at all?

6. How heavily does peer pressure and casual conversation weigh in voters' decisions?

7. How many voters who have been eligible to vote in past Presidential Elections are voting for the first time now? What prompted their action?

8. How many voters have aligned their voting decision with their religious/spiritual beliefs? What are those beliefs?

~ALA


"Thinking isn't agreeing or disagreeing. That's voting."
Robert Frost

BEARING FRUIT: Anointing and Character

"If my life is fruitless, it doesn't matter who praises me, and if my life is fruitful, it doesn't matter who criticizes me."
 ~John Bunyan


The enemy is not after your anointing. He wants your anointing completely in tact. What he wants is your character and your reputation. He is on a mission to spoil your fruit.

So many Christians have become satisfied with having "The Anointing" fall or come upon them at specific times. And because the results they produce in those moments can be so moving and quite frankly amazing, often complacency sets in and somewhere along the way, they lose the desire to go any higher, further, or deeper in God. They may preach a word, or write an article (or Facebook status), or minister a song or dance and the power of God moves so mightily through them at that time, and they get great results in that moment. But after the moment has passed, they go home and curse and lie or fornicate (or whatever their thing is) and live in disobedience...and yes, God used them, but people are still watching to see if their character lines up with the anointing that is obviously on their life.

Remember this simple truth:
People are moved and pleased with your anointing; God is pleased with your fruit!

We must bring to God the offering that He wants, not what impresses other people. And He is glorified in the fruit that we bear. The Anointing is God's own power at work in us through the spiritual gifts that He's given us. So naturally, He is unimpressed with His own power. But how He longs for intimate relationship with each of us! This relationship is the means by which we become like Him, manifesting His nature or the fruit of His Spirit.

The Word of God says that your gift will make room for you. It will bring you before great men. The question we must ask ourselves is this:

When I get to the room that my gift has made for me, will I move forward in that place, growing and thriving, or will I get kicked out because of my character?

When my gift brings me before great men, will I be asked to stay or will I be dismissed because of the reputation that has preceded me?

They go hand in hand: Anointing and Character, The Anointing from God and the Spirit (nature, character, heart) of God.

The Anointing comes when you offer the spiritual gifts that He's given you back to Him for His use. It is external, something that is received, put or placed on from the outside. The fruit of His Spirit is evidence of an intimate relationship with God, working from the inside out. The Anointing gets results at a specific time, for a specific purpose. Your character is with you always; it is the manifestation of what you have invited inside of you. For the most effective and abundant life, these two  must work together.

The Anointing is proof that you're wiling to be used, so the enemy wants to keep that in perfect working order. He just wants to use you for his glory instead of God's glory. So he goes after your reputation to kill the effectiveness of your witness. He distracts you from having intimate relationship with God so that you won't bear His fruit. That way, you keep the influence that comes with the anointing, but outside of that anointing, you're more often behaving in your sinful nature, thereby being misleading to those who may be looking up to you. And we all have a sphere of influence...

John 15:8 (KJV)
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 


Galatians 5:19-23
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

For Trayvon Martin, For Black Men

I am disturbed. Trayvon Martin was murdered, and I am greatly disturbed.

I am angered. George Zimmerman, remains uncharged, and I am fiercely angered.

I do not directly identify, but I am directly affected. 

Trayvon Martin was a 17-year old black boy, walking alone; he was leaving a store after purchasing a bag of skittles and a bottle of iced tea. I have been 17 years old. I often walk alone. From time to time, I enjoy skittles, and I regularly drink iced tea. 

I am Black. 

But I am not a man.

Just a few short months ago, Black people in the city of Savannah, GA (and much of the nation) lifted a collective voice against the execution of Troy Davis. In protest, a simple but powerful declaration was made: "I am Troy Davis." While I wholeheartedly supported this movement, I am not Troy Davis. Neither am I Trayvon Martin.

I do not directly identify, but I am directly affected.

Black men anchor my life. My father, my grandfathers, my brother, my pastor, my business partners, my mentors, my dearest friends are Black men.

If those people who are so moved by racial hatred would shoot and kill faceless innocence, then I am so moved to speak for the men in my life. If all they see is a Black man, a sight which arouses within them a fear so intense that they feel it necessary to defend themselves against the very presence of a Black man, then they see the very men that I value, cherish, and love. Who they see through the eyes of fear and hatred, I see with love, with admiration, with respect. And for them, I must speak. 

No, I am not Trayvon Martin.

Trayvon Martin is my brother. He is my cousin. He is my friend.

Rodney King is my father. He is my uncle.

Emmett Till is my grandfather.

These men, and all who suffer injustice simply because they are Black men, are my past and my present. I speak now for my future. I pray now for my son. Through anger and tears, I speak against senseless violence, against hatred. 

There is more that unites us than divides us. We, the people, all people, the human race must rise above this. We owe it to our future. 

The future is.

Rest in Peace, Trayvon Martin.

To the family and friends of Trayvon, Live in Peace.

~ALA