I was honored to have a Bible study with some of my fellow brothers last night over the phone. At many times, we as brothers struggle with secret sin. Because of this, our sin nature often blinds our thoughts and understanding, leading to our spiritual perception being off. This often leads to shame, discouragement and a sense of failure. Just another trick of the enemy to fool us into thinking that we are unable to go to the throne of grace and to ask God to grant us repentance. We can't eradicate our sin nature on our own, but we can rely on Holy Spirit to control us so that we do not give in to temptation. David was a man after God's own heart. Unfortunately he succumbed to his flesh and sinned against God by sleeping with another man's wife, then taking that woman as his own wife. David then impregnated her, and had her husband killed on the front lines of battle to "cover" his sin up. His good friend Nathan rebuked him for this sin, and David went to God in prayer because he knew his heart needed to be cleansed. This prayer is recorded as Psalm 51. I encourage you who are still going through to read this passage of scripture and hide it in your heart. God bless. P.

1 Have mercy on me,O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.


2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!


3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.


4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.


5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.


6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.


7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.


8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.


9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.


10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.


11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.


12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.


13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.


14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.


15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.


16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.


17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.


18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;


19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar. (ESV)

It's another day that the LORD has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. Today was another day of fellowship and worship with my fellow brothers and sisters at Faith & Love Center. We offered praise to our majestic Father in heaven, and also received a great Word from the LORD. If you didn't know I, recently started teaching the adult sunday school class at my church. I have taught sunday school many times, but only to teenagers and young children. So you can imagine how nervous I was facing a crowd where the average age is probably around 45 years old. I'm only 27! I found myself shaking and jingling my change in my pocket just to try to keep still. But thank God for the Holy Spirit who comforts me, and gave me strength to get through the class! This week, we discussed prayer and how much God desires to answer our prayers (Luke 11:5-13). Jesus has just explained to the disciples, in what manner they should pray. He then went on to tell them a parable that referred to the fact that God desires to uphold his great name, granting the request of those who fervently seek Him. During my studying for class, I wondered how many times I completely bypass the "seek ye first the kingdom of God" mandate in Matthew 6:33, and go straight to asking God for a new car and a new job. When I pray in that manner, my prayer is in no way genuine. I set myself up for my prayer to reach as far as my voice will allow and fall limp to the ground! LORD forgive me for not seeking your will in my prayer! God wants us to have COMPLETE access to Him. He will only answer our prayers when:

1. We obey Him (1 John 3:22)
2. We confess our sins (Psalm 66:18)
3. We abide in Christ (John 15:7)
4. Ask according to God's will (1 John 5:14)
5. Ask in faith (Mark 11:24)
6. Have pure motives (James 4:3)

MAN! I fail a couple of these from time to time. LORD forgive me! But I thank God for his saving grace, and for Him continuing to reveal Himself to me in my prayer life and during my study time. My desire should always be to become closer to my heavenly Father in prayer. I will strive to obey, confess my sins, and to abide in Christ everyday. I will pray according to God's will, pray in faith, and have pure motives in my daily communication with God. Thank you God for granting me the opportunity to have constant and open prayer with you. I desire to be closer to You.

WES aka TEDDY P

I am just sitting here listening to "Word of God Speak" ,by MercyMe. This song is just straight POWERFUL. If you don't have it, go and get it lol! It stresses the importance of communication with God, but more importantly listening to God in that communication. "The last thing I need, is to be heard. But to hear what you would say". This speaks volumes to my spirit, convicting me of babbling about what I "need" to God instead of just sitting and listening for what He would say to me. So many times my prayer is a one-way street. It's all about me making my petition to God, and then going about my business. How dare I try to abuse the majestic power of my Father. Have I made God my Santa Claus? God grant me repentance if I have! I am so thankful for the Word of God. I can go to His Word day in and day out, searching the scriptures to learn more and more about Him. But how much do I just sit and listen to hear Him speak to Me during prayer? I definitely don't listen as much as I should. Part of that is because my feeble mind can't grasp the fact that God CAN and WILL speak to me IF I JUST SIT STILL AND LISTEN!!!!! Once again, forgive me God for not listening out for you in my communication. I want to take that time out to hear You speak. And let me not forget when I pray, that I must pray in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18). Word of God speak.

WES aka TEDDY P

In the last month or so, I praise God for granting me an extremely strong desire to get to know Him even better. Last night I took a close look at Matthew 6:19-34, where Christ is talking about laying our treasures up in heaven. At the same time, I listened to a sermon from Paul Washer entitled "How Much Has it Cost You". Brother Paul made three distinct comments that stuck out to me very much so. 1. Wealth never prospered Christianity. 2. Materialism never leads to Godliness. 3. Things are only obstacles that get in the way of an eternal perspective. These three points alone floored me! As a producer I tend to get caught up in monetary gain from time to time. How many times have I thought that maybe having certain material things would help me achieve a closer relationship to the LORD?!!! And how many things have I obtained that are blocking an even closer relationship with the Lord?!!! After listening to this message I immediately changed my cable T.V., deleted my myspace accounts, and looked toward heaven and asked the Lord to grant me repentance for getting distracted by these worldly things that don't amount to anything! Brother Paul then asked the realest question I have heard in a long time. How much have I lost for him??? In all reality I haven't really sacrificed anything for the sake of a holy lifestyle. I love movies. But the worlds standards of what is accepted has to be way different on my side of the fence. I love The Wire on HBO. I have to give it up. Between the cussing, violence and sex, it's enough to have me asking God for forgiveness after every show dude!!!! Starting today I am going on a nice fast from everything. Food, T.V., movies, and anything that could serve as a distraction between me an God right now. I thank you LORD for opening my eyes. Your grace and mercy STILL amazes me to this day. Just when I think I'm going along real smooth, you come along and SMASH me! Thank you Lord for revelation. I will take with this me today, and I hope you as a reader do as well. Matthew 6:25 says "Therefore I tell you,do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" LORD, I WILL NOT concern myself with the things of this world. I WILL lay up my treasure with you in heaven. Once again, thank you for revelation.

WES aka TEDDY P

It's soon to be 4 in the morning. I can't sleep at all. It's not because I'm not tired. It's because I have way too much on my mind, especially concerning my projects coming up. You ever have those nights when you just toss and turn because your mind is pre-occupied with the excitement of what you are doing at that present time??? I literally have like 7 projects going on at the same time. Trust me, I'm not complaining at all. It's a blessing and a joy to be able to work with so many artists and meet new people. It's about to get crazy in a couple weeks though when school starts. As much as I love beats, the beats will have to take a backseat to schoolwork come January 23rd. I've never been one of those dudes that tries to do 98 beats a day anyway so should be okay. My good friend DJ KriTiKul and I were talking yesterday about how Illmind the producer only makes like 2 beats a day because it allows him to make quality instead of quantity. That's the same formula I follow. I only have like 2 to 3 beats a day in me. Any more than that, and I'm just stretching a little too much yo. Just felt like rambling. Listening to "I got it 4 Free" for the 900th time, and it never gets old. Good stuff : )


WES aka TEDDY P