If You Try

If You Try

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

50 Cent Vs. Rick Ross and the insight I have learned from this battle

Many of you know about the recent hip hop beef between 50 Cent and Rick Ross. I have been following this battle for about the past three weeks and to say the least it has been entertaining. If you have no idea what I am talking about, go to thisis50.com of hiphopdx.com to get the recap on how this whole thing started. As of now, 50 Cent has done a pretty good job of humiliating the "Boss" and doing what 50 does best, that is destroying other rappers careers. He has done this multiple ways, using music, videos, radio interviews, cartoon drawings, Rick Ross' baby mother, financial statements, and pictures. The biggest foothold 50 has stood on through this bout is that Rick Ross use to be a Correctional Facilites officer, yet claims that he was the biggest drug dealer in Miami. A lot of the information that 50 is presenting to the public is factual and has been proven to be so, which has further tarnished Ross' image and street credibility. It appears that Ross has not gotten the memo that he is losing the battle as many media sources, journalists, websites, and other rappers have endorsed 50 cent as the champ. Ross' new single "Magnificient" featuring John Legend has not been considered a successful record due to the fact that most of the attention Rick Ross is getting is tied to the beef with 50 Cent, not Ross' new album which is slated to drop in March. Everyone knows that 50 is a master at destroying careers, we have seen this in the cases of artists such as Ja Rule, Fat Joe, Cam'ron, and others. It seems that Ross has gotten in way over his head and really has had no decent comeback even though I think "Mafia Music", one of his diss songs is actually a good one. The fact is is that 50 Cent is filthy rich, connected to Dr. Dre and Eminem, intelligent, athletic, resorceful, and just plain ruthless. He is in a position of power that few rappers, if any are able to claim. Therefore it would be wise for a person like Rick Ross to realize this and stop throwing punches while he still can, this is simply a battle he cannot win. 50 is unparalleled when it comes to doing things like this. So here is my spiritual insight into this matter.

Many Christians are similar to Rick Ross. We have an image, talent, nice cars, clothes, some good things going for us that we take for granted, but with this we also have a past and hearts full of pride and arrogance. We trick ourselves into believing that we are something that we are not, or even if we are something it may not be at the level at which we think it is. This last statement leads us into trouble because we can become delusional and try to fight battles that we are not built to fight. Granted we be able to win some battles, but some foes are just out of our league, like the devil. Now I'm not trying to call 50 Cent the devil, I actually admire and like 50 Cent, but I think in this case, 50 Cents exhibits some characteristics in hip hop battles that the devil exhibts in spiritual battles. Again I am not calling 50 Cent the devil, I am simply recognizing how a believer can fall prey to the enemy due to the tactics he uses which parallels 50 Cents tactics in the battle with Rick Ross. So how does 50 Cent exhibit the qualities of the devil in this present case. Well for one the devil is tremendously wealthy, he has the whole world under his control (those not under the control of Jesus), which gives him access to vast resources. The devil controls the media, much like 50 controls his own media website which is extremely entertaining by the way. The devil is extremely intelligent, one of the wisest beings one can ever encounter. He's been around for God knows how long, and only God does know. So the devil has had some time to hone his military prowess. The devil also is not lazy, he is not a heavy sleeper, if he even sleeps at all. And lastly the devil has no conscience. The holocaust, apartheid, genocides, two year olds getting murdered in cold blood by their fathers, this is the devils idea of a picnic. He enjoys to see his foes destroyed, much like 50 does. With all of that said, you and I, still try to fight the devil in our own strength. We do this everyday that we do not earnestly pray to God, read our bibles, and put ourselves in situations that cause us to sin. Not to mention, we still have horrible pasts and things that haunt us from before we were walking with Christ. Lets face it, we are easy targets for the enemy, much like Rick Ross is for 50 Cents. We have no hope of defeating someone as powerful as the devil without the help of God. Yet day after day we try to spar with Satan using our human intellect and will, and this just does not cut it. The devil has too much dirt on us and will remind us of our past which will make us studder and stumble if someone asks us about it much like Rick Ross did when a dj asked him if he was a c/o on a Miami radio station. We just end up humiliated and looking dumb to those around us when we try to play with the enemy this way. We will get picked off every time. The only hope we have for defeating the devil daily is to rely on Jesus' power. He is the only one who actually beat the devil up besides, the acrh angel Michael. Simply put, we must rely on God to deal with the devil and we do this by earnestly seeking God's Son and asking Him to fill us with his Spirit so that we can take our stand against the evil one. In this case, The Lord is the only one who can probably help Rick Ross, but even then Rick Ross would have to surrender to God, which would be a whole other blog.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

A Greater Dependence on God

It has been a minute since I last wrote. My apologies to those who read my blogs. I just recently got married and am getting settled into married life, not to mention settling back into living in California once again. At the beginning of 2009, I wrote down some goals that I would like to accomplish before the end of the year and one of them was to get to know God better. My strategy to reach this goal is to spend at least one hour a day in prayer (communication with God) and by reading some selected books of the bible that I felt would be good to have in my heart. Praying everyday has not been easy. Many days it is a challenge because my mind is filled with so many other things such as bills, things me and my wife need, business ideas, career ambitions, lunch, and more. A lot of times I have to make myself think about God and how good he has been to me in my life and put in extra effort to focus on Him. It is so easy to get caught up in the affairs of this life that I can sometimes forget who is in charge of my life and my destiny. He already has a plan mapped out for me and all I have to do is talk with Him each day to know what it is. Every obstacle or problem that I am dealing with he has a solution for. Most times, if not all times when I try to figure hard issues out myself such as an argument with my wife, which bill in the budget should be considered most important, and other complex issues, I end messing things up even worse. But when I depend on Him and am honest about not knowing all the answers, he is then able to show me how to handle these situations. I think the reason a lot of times God does not give us the answer to a tough question we have is because we already think we know the answer and just want Him to agree with what we think is the right solution. I mean would you answer someone's questions or lend a hand to help them out if they kept saying "I got it" or when you give them an answer they never use it but insist on doing what they wanted instead. I think not. I guess the purpose of this particular blog is to let someone know that relying on God is the only way to be more than a conquerer in this life. He already has the road map of our lives prepared and is anxious to let us read it. We just have to depend on him to guide us and he will. Even though I may not get the answer when I would like to have it, he shows me what to do and what to say when it is most needed. So spend a little more time with God and rely less on yourself, it will probably a take a lot of stress out of your life.