LEVELS PART IV (Levels of Victory)

This is the final lesson of Levels. The first week’s declaration was about Levels of Maturity. We dealt with how you need to realize where you are and it’s important to be challenged where you are. Each level is designed so you can get better and be ready to move to a deeper level. Week two was about Levels of Love. We talked about the many types of love and their significances. Week three we dealt with Levels of Life.
This declaration I feel led to kind of bring them all together discussing the LEVELS OF VICTORY. Before we talk about the levels of victory, let’s look at the word victory. 

Victory: the fact of winning a competition or battle, or an occasion when someone wins. Here is another definition… The definition says defeat of an enemy or an opponent. It is success in a struggle against difficulties or an obstacle.

Just the definition alone says that there can be no victory without a struggle. There can be no triumph without a challenge. You won’t reach a destination without a journey. What makes a person who wins an award for their work done get so emotional? Not the award and certainly not the person presenting the award. It’s all about the journey. You begin to think about the journey and what you went through to get to the actual win of the award. You think about all the sacrifices you made to get there.

Alan Rickman decided after earning an art degree and owning his own business that he would drop it all and sign up for acting classes in his 20’s. He eventually completely left his business and concentrated on acting full time. This sounds like a recipe for financial failure. By age 30, he was studying acting and his job was to dress other actors and still hadn’t landed an acting gig. It wasn’t until he was 42 that he was cast as a lead in a play called Dangerous Liaisons. All those involved became famous, except Alan. When a producer named Joel Silver saw his performance in the play, he asked him to play a villain in an unknown action movie with an actor that was a little bit famous because of his TV acting by the name of Bruce Willis that was about a few terrorists taking over a skyscraper. Finally at age 46, he began his acting career and eventually became a success. It wasn’t the landing of the job, it was the journey.

Peter Roget spent the main part of his life broke and by the time he was 61, he was a miserable, but accomplished lecturer, doctor and inventor. Suffering from mental breakdowns, his mother, sister and his own daughter became mentally unstable. Eventually, death visited his father, his uncle committed suicide in front of him and his wife died as well. He was a disturbed man who had OCD and the only thing that kept him together was making lists. When he retired from medicine at 61, he decided to spend his life doing his childhood hobby, making lists. Finally, at age 73, Peter Roget published his lists in a book that was titled Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases that became known as “The Thesaurus.”

What is similar about these two stories? Well, both of them got to a place in their lives where they “hit rock bottom.” Eventually, they made their way to the top of their game as long as they didn’t quit their passion for what they wanted to accomplish.

Allow me to share one more story with you. In the book of Jonah, when Jonah got the order to go and do what God had called him to do and that is to speak the word of repentance to the people in a city called Nineveh, he got scared and went the opposite direction. He went and bought a ticket on a ship that was going away from Nineveh. The problem was there was a storm that was threatening the safety of the ship. The crew knew that there was someone responsible and after some flipping of coins, they figured that Jonah was responsible. Jonah says to them, “Throw me over.” They tried just getting to shore but the waves from the storm still got higher. Because the crew feared God, they eventually threw Jonah over. Jonah only survived because he was swallowed by a big fish. While in the belly of the fish he cried out to God in repentance saying, “But I’m worshipping you, God, calling out in thanksgiving. And I’ll do what I promised I’d do. Salvation belongs to God.” It was until three days in the fish that God commanded it and it threw him up on land. Jonah went straight to Nineveh and did what God called him to do. The awesome thing about this journey is that the Ninevites heard his message and accepted it. He was a success. He won over those people because their hearts were ready.

How many of us right now are in deep water and feeling like we are hitting rock bottom? If you do, this is not the time to give up. This is the time to check out your journey. Are you doing what God called you to do? Are you operating in your right place?

Here are a couple things I find about all three of these stories. They all knew what they were called to do. They all ended up in deep water. They each had to mature or be challenged where they were. They were in different levels of the deep, but they were each (Alan Rickman, Peter Roget and Jonah) all in some type of struggle or deep levels of their lives. The only difference is, Jonah ran. But he eventually came to his senses.

Are you going through a waiting period like Alan Rickman did? Are you losing left and right and getting discouraged? Are you running from something that God called you to and now you are knee deep in the belly of frustration? Are you drowning in the sea of bitterness? Are you overwhelmed with debt?

This is the day that we not only “declare” the victory, but we need to be ready to experience the journey. I am learning that every part of my journey is necessary for my destination. I am not just wading in the pool of levels. The only way to learn to swim in the pool, I have to keep moving. It may seem that the water is so deep that there is no way to find my way. I declare that today I will finish my course and I will make it. I declare that this is the day that I will minimize my complaining and accept what God allows. Be it a storm, be it deep water, be it waiting for my success or be it surviving while I seem to be losing. I will get there if I keep moving.

LEVELS PART III (Levels of Life)

We have been with levels for the past couple weeks. The first week’s declaration was about Levels of Maturity. We dealt with how you need to realize where you are and it’s important to be challenged where you are. Each level is designed so you can get better and be ready to move to a deeper level. Week two (which was last week) was about Levels of Love. We talked about the many types of love and their significances. 


Today’s declaration we will be dealing with the LEVELS OF LIFE. We have been using the analogy of a swimming pool and the depth of the water in each level and how that relates to you as an individual. As I said before and it still rings true, that everyone is in different areas of the pool dealing with different things. Even if two couples are dealing with marriage, their situations differ greatly depending on their individual situation. So you have one person in deep water that is treading well and managing to float. Then you have another person in the same deep water that may not know how to tread and is just about to drown. They are in need of assistance from God, I mean the Life Guard. All they need to do is cry out for help or even show a sign of struggle and God, I mean their Life Guard will jump in to save them. But what if it’s after hours and the sign says “NO LIFE GUARD ON DUTY?” Take note of this. The more you grow, mature and learn how to love, God will sometimes seem as though he is off duty. Well, you can relax because Psalm 121:3 says, “He won’t let you stumble, your Guardian God won’t fall asleep. Not on your life! Israel’s Guardian will never doze or sleep.” Now, relax and trust the process. Most drowning happen because people were panicking in the water. And if it seems He’s not in the same place, it could be that He’s got his hand right under you holding you up.
  
Now I know for a fact that some of you are right now dealing with some deep water and you’re not sure if you’ll survive. I have to admit, I have been in that situation several times and you know what, to be honest, I’m here right now as I speak. If my testimony can be of any help let me tell you that just because you grew up without a Dad, don’t mean you can’t make it. Here is one who did. Just because you had sex out of wedlock and a baby was born doesn’t mean you can’t make it. Guess what, here is one who did. Just because you went to jail or prison and had that offense on your record, doesn’t mean you can’t make it. Here is one who did. Just because you had to go through a divorce, doesn’t mean you can’t make it. Here, there and there are about a few witnesses who did and are making it. Just because you failed in grade school or even college doesn’t mean you can’t go back and make it. Here is one who can tell you, yes you can!

Okay, wait a minute. There is something we cannot forget to talk about that is vital to this entire conversation. Let’s talk about the water! “The water, Marcus?” Yes, the water. As we know water has several different purposes. For example, we use it to drink, bathe, cook, do an ice bucket challenge and we even like to swim in it. But what does it symbolize? I’m glad you asked. One thing water represents is life. But it also represents what can hurt or destroy you. The very thing that you are using to keep you afloat is the same thing that can kill you if you swallow too much too fast. Here is a Marcus not Marcos nugget. You can only be destroyed if too much water gets inside of you. So life is not bad, but you can’t let your life get into you because it will destroy you. So how do we keep the water out of us so we won’t drown? Whatever level or area of life you are in, you must use the word to declare victory in your life. Whether life is good or bad.

Knowing that, I want to give you some prayers you can pray or scriptural declarations you say in your own time that come straight from the word for wherever you are in the water.

So enemy tells you you’re about to drown, use the word and declare that in Psalm 32:6, the bible says, “These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray; when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts we’ll be on high ground, untouched.” Here is more proof that prayer changes things. When you pray it doesn’t mean you will be beamed up out of the deep water like Scotty on Star Trek. It does mean that God will send help or be the help you need.

You can call out to God like David did in Psalm 69:1 saying, “Save me, O God for the waters have come up to my neck.”When the enemy tries to tell you that God is gone and He’s nowhere to be found. You can reassure yourself and tell him, “When I pass through the waters, God will be with me; and when I pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over me.” Isaiah 43:2

And let me also ask you this? How many of us are only using the word when trouble comes? We use the word when things don’t go our way or we made a mess of things. We use the word when we have some problems going on. We use the word as if it’s supposed to be some kind of witches brew stirring it up to fit our life and situation. Please don’t just apply the word when things are bad. Let’s use the word in the good times so it won’t be so hard to use in the bad times. Use the word to praise Him and appreciate him for the good times. Isaiah 12:3 says, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Use your happiness and joyfulness to draw water from your salvation so that others can see that being a child of God also means that I am just glad to be his child. Maybe there is someone in your life that only hears you talk about you going through. Maybe they just need to hear you say, “I’m just glad to be a child of God and He makes me glad.”

LEVELS PART II (Levels of Love)

I want to talk to you about LEVELS OF LOVE. In the previous lesson, we talked about levels and used the analogy of a swimming pool and how there are different levels of maturity. Now when I say levels, I am not speaking from the understanding as most people use the word. I hear people all the time say things like, “I’m going to another level,” or, “I’m on another level,” or, “You are not on my level.” That is not what I am talking about in this lesson. Last lesson I shared with you about how I was attempting to teach my son how to swim and introducing my daughter to a deeper side of the pool. As I was at the pool, I noticed something. When you look at a swimming pool from the outside you will notice that it is all the same level on the surface. You look at one side and you see water and the frame of the swimming pool. You look on the other side you will notice there is water and the other part of the frame of the pool. Even in the middle, it just looks like one balanced level of water. As I continued to look at the pool I noticed on the outside of the frame there were numbers. One side was labeled three feet, another was four feet and the other was five feet. However, from the surface it all looks the same. This can be the case when we are looking at love. From the surface it looks very similar. But there are definitely different levels of love.

When I was a little kid, I used to think that love was just love. I mean I knew that there were different types of relationships but I just thought love was love and it was just different based on if it was my relative or a friend. My love for family ran deep. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for family. I would go hard for my family. And the closer my family is, the deeper the love ran. Then I thought that it also was different based on if it was my friend that was a girl or a boy. If the boy was nice to me, he was my best friend. If he was kind of mean, I was not going to be his friend. If she was a pretty girl, I might like her. If she wasn’t so pretty, I most likely didn’t and she was just my friend. Oh, but don’t let me find out she liked me back and she was pretty? TEAM NO FOCUS in full effect! I would think about her all the time. I would lose my mind and I felt like I was falling in love because my entire being was consumed with thoughts of her. What I didn’t know as a kid, I now understand that I placed people in different groups of love based on my relationship with them.

There are actually four types of love that are described in the bible but the actual Greek terms are not mentioned. Let’s step into three feet. The first love level Greek word, PHILEO or PHILIA (FILL-ee-O or FILL-ee-uh) means brotherly love or close friendship. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:10). This is the kind of love you have for someone with common interests, common goals, or personalities that are very similar. When you discover things about someone you know that are common with you, it makes you feel closer. I like the color blue, you like the color blue? My birthday is in August and so is yours? We both like the same kind of music? Oh, it’s on now! My brother or my sister! We need to hang out or something. When I lived in Lakeview with my grandmother, I met one of my closest friends at church and his name was Antoine. He was a drummer and I was an organ player. So we had music on the brain and that was enough to establish some common ground.

Okay, so now let’s step into four feet. The second love level Greek word, STORGE (STOR-jay), is the kind of love between family members. An example is the natural love or affection of a parent for their child like the love of Jacob for his sons or the strong love Mary and Martha had for their brother Lazarus. And this can even be really close friends like Jonathan and David. This is where the water is a little deeper. Most family members love run deep like this. We know secrets about each other. We cover each other and there is nothing we would not do to make sure each other is happy. This is where we could call each other and just be on the phone asking stupid things like, “What-chu doin’?” or “Turn to TV to FOX so we can watch Scandal at the same time.” And then we sit on the phone like we in the same room. This is plutonic love that is shared that is not necessarily gender specific. I just love my friend. We could have just got into an argument and will still want to hang out together. As I began to spend more time with my friend Antoine, we became closer just like that. I started spending the night at his house. Sometimes I would eat dinner with him and his family. His sisters and brothers treated me just like their real brother. You could not tell them to this day that I am not their brother. What made it really real? His mother, Deborah kind of adopted me as her own son. That was deep. At the time, my mother was not in the picture but I knew she loved me to pieces. She always had. I believe this was God’s way of giving me my mom in another form. And even while my mom wasn’t there, I could feel her love through this woman, Deborah Nicholson Jones. She is still my other mother to this day. I also met two people at church who were my Youth Pastor Carl Alexander and my Youth Church Mother Tania Alexander at the time. The more we got to spend time with them I was drawn in because I had never got to go and see two African American married people who loved God in their own household just hanging out. They also loved me like I was their own. I could not believe this. I just wanted to go home and let this all be reality for me as well. This is what a family should look like.

We move on to five feet of water. The third love level Greek word is EROS (AIR-ose). This is a sensual or sexual type of love. This love has its place and is important in a healthy marriage. When I was coming up, sex was talked about as if it was nasty. All I knew was that God’s word was clear that sex outside of the context of marriage was forbidden. I remember meeting this one young lady that I started talking to over the phone and when we met, it was instant sensuality. What completely messed me up was that I didn’t take the time to get to know her ahead of time. If I would have, I would have discovered some things about her that would have made me not get involved with her. But I was too involved now. We already did it now and it feels right but I knew in my mind that it wasn’t. I was so torn between my flesh and my spirit. How in the world am I going to be the church organist, youth choir director and young minister and having sex outside of marriage? My flesh didn’t care. It wanted more and I gave it all it could take. The problem was now I swam from five feet of water to now a deep ocean that seemed like an abyss. I just knew that if I stopped swimming the water would rise so far above my head and I could possibly drown.

But something amazing happened….I discovered another level of love that I had never experienced before. He showed me AGAPE (uh-GAH-pay) love.  Even after I had spent a year being with this girl and was going back to God crying and repenting and asking for his grace, He dove into that ocean, took me by the hand and pulled me right back up so that I would not drown. I felt his Spirit overshadow me like He did when I was a brand new baby Christian. This happened over and over and over again. Why? Because God knew my heart was in the right place. Now, let me make this abundantly clear. I am not suggesting to anyone that you should just go on and keep sinning and doing wrong because God will forgive you anyway. It’s not wise to do that. “Therefore, leaving behind the elementary teachings about the Messiah, let us continue to be carried along to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead actions, faith toward God.”

Remember earlier when I said, “When you look at a swimming pool from the outside you will notice that it is all the same level on the surface.” When you look at a swimming pool you will notice that from the outside you can never tell how deep it goes. Same is the situation with different people. From just looking at people on the outside, you will never know how deep they run. Let me encourage you all like me who have not done such a good job at putting the people in our lives in their proper places of love. You will find it harder to stay upset with people you expected to be your brother and they really only thought of you as a friend. Or that person you expected to be your soul mate that is now your ex and you are so mad at them because of what they did to hurt you. Needless to say, you should be glad they are an ex. In fact, God is releasing you to call them your “Y.” Why did I ever get involved with you in the first place? I should have known better because God didn’t give you to me, I did.

I declare today, that it’s time to put people in your life in their appropriate places or levels of love. Those that belong in three feet, let them stay there. Stop trying to drag them into five feet. No wonder they drowned. They weren’t able to swim in any deeper water than what you expected them to. It’s time to put people in their respective places. Pull those folks out of those deep waters that are drowning in your life or the water is too deep.

I have realized that recently my wife was in the big ocean with weights on drowning. I had no idea. She was ready to let my hand go and I was ready to release as well. God reminded me, “Marcus, if I pulled you out, you are OBLIGATED to pull her out. This is the meaning of AGAPE. Selfless, sacrificial and unconditional love.  ^“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails.”

Who is it in your life right now that is unable to go any further than three feet that you are mad at for not coming with you? Who is it in your life that is drowning in the ocean that you need to pull out and rescue just as God rescued you? God says, “I know it’s not easy. And I am not expecting you to do it perfectly. I just want you to do it.” When you think about how much he loves you and sacrificed for you, it makes it easier to love someone else beyond their faults and see their needs.