Author: Noel Williams

Welcome to my new blog–Jamaican Gazette. My name is Noel Williams. I am a former Law Enforcement Officer and hobbyist food photographer. I use this blog to report trending news in Jamaica. My main focus are: Politics, culture, crime, Dancehall and Reggae.

Walk in the Spirit and not in the Flesh

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...

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As a believer in Jesus Christ, I find it necessary to remind myself daily that it is important that I walk in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. The flesh adopts the old sinful Adamic nature, but the Spirit adopts the nature, and characteristics of Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:17 states: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”

Walking in the Spirit may sound like a fairy tale or a fantasy, but it is an important characteristic every believer needs to adopt and practice in his or her daily life. The Christian life cannot be manifested through the workings of the flesh. The old Adamic nature– the flesh, failed in the Garden of Eden— rendering itself unreliable.

But there is hope in Jesus. The God I serve designed the perfect escape route—which was activated the moment I had confessed my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord Savior. “And you hath He quickened, (made alive) who were dead in trespasses and sin” (Ephesians 2:1). “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

So, I am a believer who is made

alive by the Spirit of God. Therefore, I should allow the Spirit to take over my life and direct my footsteps.

Still, walking in the spirit is not an easy task. It does not matter whether I am a Christian for one week or fifty years. The Apostle Paul, himself, a stalwart and role model of the early church struggled with the flesh. In 1 Corinthians 9:27, he said: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

In a letter to the church in Galatia, Paul admonishes its members to walk in the Spirit: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). He was responding to disturbing news he had received that the disciples in Galatia had returned to their old Adamic ways. In Galatians 1:6 , he writes: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel.” Paul knew from experience that the Christian life is impossible without  the Holy Spirit‘s guidance.

Like the Apostle Paul, I am aware that the ways of the flesh are sinful.  And I cannot rely on my knowledge of the Word of God to live the Christian life. I need the Spirit of God to indwell me and be with me every day.  Without the Spirit of God I am apt to fall back to my old ways. Hence the reason I remind myself daily that I should walk in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. I protest by your boasting which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily (1 Corinthians 15:31):

Politics: Did Marco Rubio lie to appeal to voters?

Rubio speaking at CPAC in February 2010.

US senator and Republican Rising Star, Marco Rubio, has gotten himself in trouble–serious trouble. You might say he has a credibility problem. He lied on his resume.

According to an investigative report published on Friday by the Washington Post: “Rubio’s compelling family story embellishes facts.” (to enhance (a statement or narrative) with fictitious additions)

During his rise to political prominence, Sen. Marco Rubio frequently repeated a compelling version of his family’s history that had special resonance in South Florida. He was the “son of exiles,” he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after “a thug,” Fidel Castro, took power.

But a review of documents – including naturalization papers and other official records – reveals that the Florida Republican’s account embellishes the facts. The documents show that Rubio’s parents came to the United States and were admitted for permanent residence more than 2 and a half years before Castro’s forces overthrew the Cuban government and took power on New Year’s Day 1959.

The supposed flight of Rubio’s parents has been at the core of the young senator’s political identity …. he mentions his parents in the second sentence of the official biography on his Senate Web site. It says that Mario and Oriales Rubio “came to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover.”….

The real story of his parents’ migration appears to be a more conventional immigrant narrative, a couple who came to the United States seeking a better life. In the year they arrived in Florida, the future Marxist dictator was in Mexico plotting a quixotic return to Cuba.

Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.

Cover of "Chosen Generation"

Cover of Chosen Generation

Why do some very capable and talented men and women, consistently find doors of opportunity and acceptance closed to them; while others with equal or less ability have seemingly unlimited opportunities and success in every area of their lives? It doesn’t seem fair, you might say.

But timing has a lot to do with it. God has a time for everything; and He works in us what needs to be done to prepare us for what lies ahead. Having a sense of God’s timing brings the peace to wait on the Lord for direction. “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalm 27:14).

However, whatever a man thinks of himself; could partly or ultimately decide his success or failure. If he has poor self-image, he will have doubts about his value, and that could creep into everything he does–even into his relationships. People who are uncomfortable with his insecurity may avoid him, and this will in turn affects how he relates to his family, friends, coworkers; and strangers. If he expect to fail–he will.

As followers of Christ–we have to understand who we are, and what is our purpose here on earth. God says our first steps are to be toward Him: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33). When we line up with Him, He leads the way and all we have to do is follow. As we look to Him, the glory of His image gets imprinted upon us. When our self-image gets so wrapped up in God that we lose ourselves in the process–we are free and confident.

Confidence in Christ will allow us to think highly of ourselves and claim our legacy of royal priesthood: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light”

First Family visits King Memorial

3. Martin Luther King, Jr., a civil rights act...

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President Obama and family made an unannounced night-time visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

News photographers were not allowed during the first family’s tour.

The visit fulfilled a promise president Obama made five years ago. “I know that one of my daughters will ask, perhaps my youngest, will ask, “Daddy, why is this monument here? What did this man do?” Obama, then a senator representing Illinois, said during a 2006 groundbreaking ceremony for the memorial to the civil rights pioneer.

The president speaks at the formal dedication of the King Memorial on Sunday October 16, 2011.

According to the  Associated Press:

At a ground-breaking ceremony for the memorial five years ago, Obama, then a senator from Illinois, spoke about what it would be like to bring his daughters to see it.

“I know that one of my daughters will ask, perhaps my youngest, will ask, “Daddy, why is this monument here? What did this man do?” Obama said.

The young senator is now president, and the King memorial is complete, having opened to the public in August. On Sunday, the country’s first black president will be a featured speaker at the dedication ceremony …

… Obama will speak in front of a 30-foot sculpture of King, arms crossed, looking out into the horizon. The civil rights leader appears to emerge from a stone extracted from a mountain. The monument’s design was inspired by a line from the famous 1963 “Dream” speech delivered during the March on Washington in 1963: “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.”

Situated between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, King’s is the first monument on the National Mall honoring a black leader.

Obama was  6 years old when Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. But he has often talked about the influence King’s life, particularly his commitment to public service, has had on him.

In a 2009 newspaper editorial written just days before his inauguration, Obama wrote that King “lived his life as a servant to others,” and urged Americans to follow his example and find ways to enrich people’s lives in their communities and across the country.

Faith and Religion: Fervent prayer availeth much

The Descent of the Holy Spirit in a 15th centu...

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“O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). Therefore, Lord, I pray that you would direct my steps. Lead me in your light, teach me your way, so I would walk in your truth. I pray that I would have a   closer walk with you and an ever progressing hunger for your word.

May your presence be like a delicacy I never cease to crave. Lead me on your path and make me quick to confess when I stray from it. Reveal to me any hidden sin that would hinder me from walking rightly before you. Lord, bring me to a place of deep repentance when I do not live in obedience to your laws.

Create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Don’t cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me (Psalm 51:10, 11).

Lord, Your word says that those who are in the flesh cannot please you (Romans 8:8). So I pray that you will enable me to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh and thereby keep myself  “from the path of the destroyer” (Psalm 17:4). As I walk in the Spirit, may I bear the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:23,23). Keep me on the Highway of Holiness so that the way I walk will be integrated into every part of my life.

Supporting Scripture

Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love (Ephesians 4:1,2).

He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, he who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shut his eyes from seeing evil; he will dwell on high; his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; bread will be given him, his water will be sure (Isaiah 33:15,16).

Having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1)

Lord, may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speak the truth in his heart (Psalm 15:1,2).

My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me (Psalm 101:6)