Dear God, this one is a little different for me. I pray that you give me the words to make this as impactful as possible. We are living in a time of confusion, but I pray that you allow this message to be a very clear sign that you are still in control. I truly believe that things are beginning to progress for my people. Give them the courage, wisdom, and strength to make our next move our best move. God you have brought us this far. For your glory, Amen.
Today is Juneteenth. Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration honoring the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger led thousands of federal troops to Galveston, Texas to announce that the Civil War had ended, and slaves had been freed. Approximately 250,000 Texan slaves had no idea that their freedom had been secured by the government. This was two years after Abe Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. At the time the country was divided, so states that separated from the Union did not follow the Proclamation.
Today, God has put on my heart to tell everyone that:
It’s Time For A Change.
Life is about evolving and submitting yourself to the purpose that God has given you. We all have fallen short, but God offers you the opportunity of repentance and a chance to “wash yourselves.” I believe that this verse is very essential to understanding the next move based off of the climate of today. We have protested, looted, cried, conversed, and taken many steps in the right direction of change. We have all taken our own paths for the cause of change, and IT IS WORKING. The world is unifying like never before. Just as this global pandemic separated us, the murder of George Floyd is bringing us back together in ways like never before. Corporations, churches, business owners, and people who you would not expect to be so openly supportive of the cause have made themselves visible.
The truth of the matter is, like in this verse, people have been forced to face themselves. So ask yourself, is there anything that I could be doing more effectively? Is there anything that I have done that I know is not right? Are there places I support, that support oppression? Are there people I follow, that actions do not align with the love that God wants us to share? Do I try my best to do good, to seek justice, to correct oppression? Do I need to wash myself of my evil doings?
As you answer those questions, you may begin to realize that it is truly time for a change. Time to change the mess that we digest, time to change the places we go to, time to change the time we waste dealing with things that are not going to positively impact our purpose. Once we realize this we must understand that it starts with us, individually. You can only impact others, after you have first practiced those things in your own life. That does not mean condemning those who are not doing the same, but taking that time to educate them. Just like you had to wash yourself of the evil and bad you have done, other may need to do the same.
A thought came to mind, while I was thinking about how difficult it is to wash yourself, once you’ve been exposed to bad things in your life. Imagine you have a cup of good drinking water. Then, you put a drop of bitterness in it. That one tiny drops makes the entire cup of water bitter. The only way that you could get rid of the bitter water without pouring it out, is to completely wash it out with the good drinking water. You have to overflow the cup until all the bitter water is out and then fill it up with good water again.
Though that process maybe difficult and drastic, many of the times change is. Yet, the process of change is not supposed to be comfortable or easy. There should be a moment of tension. The goals you’ve set, should be challenging enough that they lead you to the point of tension. The point of breaking down in order to grow. When I say tension, I do not mean problems with other people. I mean dealing with the problems within yourself, that are so tough to deal with that you might even have breakdown during this process.
THE BEAUTY OF IT IS, YOU DO NOT QUIT. WE DO NOT QUIT. WE PUSH ON. IF NOT FOR OURSELVES THAN FOR THE NEXT GENERATION. IF NOT FOR OURSELVES THAN FOR THE JUSTICE AND GOOD OF OTHERS!
I challenge all of my people, both white and black to first “wash yourselves from evil deeds.” Once you do that, please go and live verse 17 , “learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” The change will be correcting those bad habits with good ones. To my white friends and family members, there are people of other races that need you to use the power and platform of your voice. Use it to be an advocate for good, for justice, because your voice could be used to help correct oppression. This may not be popular, but it is in His word. His word does not challenge a specific race, but it does challenge people to do good, to seek justice, to correct oppression. That should be all the conviction you need to stand on the helping side of change.
Typing this is not comfortable, but God is guiding my fingers. He is with me and this message needs to be shared. To my brothers and sisters now is the time that we also clean ourselves. As painful as our history is there are things that we are holding. As we continue to progress we will have to release the pain of those things. I understand your caution, we want to make sure that it is real this time. I warn us against allowing our caution to be what hinders the change that we deserve. We have to begin from within ourselves. Find the love of God in your heart for yourself, your brothers and sister, and also those who are trying to be allies for the cause.
Unity is not just all of us as one race coming together, but it is for everyone under the son (sun) coming together.
It’s Time For A Change.
The Book of Keeshon Patrick 