Mark – The Journal Of A New Creation

Focus On God

Author: Randall Daluz December 7, 2016

Mark 14:38 “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Dearly Beloved: May God’s grace, peace, joy and love be ever upon you. There are a lot of distractions in this world. Things like sex, drugs, money, lust, toys and gambling. My biggest distraction has always been women. In the four years that I have been incarcerated, I have sworn off women. I haven’t even considered them. For the most part, I’ve kept my focus on God. I have never been good at choosing the right women. Thus, after becoming a Christian, I made up my mind to remain single. Besides, what woman would want to marry a lifer? I am broke and I can’t take care of her physical needs. All I have to offer is love, devotion, loyalty and support. Without my physical presence, that is not enough for most women. Over the years, a few have reached out to me, but I just brushed them off – not wanting to take a chance of being hurt. I am a man and GOD gives me strength, but I still have feelings just like almost everyone else. (I have met some in my time who are truly heartless.)

Some months back I began corresponding with a very beautiful woman. I was in a very depressed and vulnerable state at the time. I kept her at arms length at first. I intended only to be a friend to her. Well, after several months of getting to know her I became smitten with her. She had been through a lot and like me, she’s a survivor. Her story touched me deeply and (more…)

Homepage, Journal

2 Samuel, Judges, Mark, Philippians

Now Is The Time

Author: Randall Daluz October 11, 2016

Mark 16:16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Dearly Beloved: May God’s grace, blessings, love, peace, wisdom, mercy, and most importantly, salvation be ever upon you. For all of you out there who have not made the most important decision you will ever make – NOW IS THE TIME!!! It is time to choose JESUS. You can’t afford to keep stalling and being indecisive.

Let me tell you a story. When I was a kid, I loved boxing. I watched it faithfully with my dad. I always wanted to make my dad proud and I knew how much he loved boxing; so, at the age of twelve, I went to a gym and started training to be a fighter. I was devoted. I trained hard. My trainer started taking me to fights. He, himself, was a pro fighter at the time. I trained and sparred for four years until I started to see an ugly truth: boxing is rigged, for the most part. I am not knocking the greats. They were indeed truly greats, but what I came to see is that if you yourself were not especially talented, you were little more than a prop for those who are. You see, in boxing, mediocre fighters are pitted against talent-less fighters in order to boost their ratings and make them look like contenders. And, when they are ranked high enough, they are then put in the ring with a monster who they stand no chance against. Bets are placed, insiders who set up the fights make money hand over fist and most of the fans are none the wiser. (more…)

Homepage, Journal

John, Mark, Revelation

Love In Spite Of Hate

Author: Randall Daluz September 1, 2016

Image Credit: www.rlmuzic.com ~ #allsoulsmatter

Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Dearly Beloved: May God’s mercy, grace, wisdom, love and understanding be ever upon you. I want to start by sending my deepest and sincerest sympathy and condolences to the family of my dear sweet friend Erica L. It is with a heavy heart that I report that my friend Erica lost her long and hard fought battle with opiate addiction. I had an overwhelming urge to call one of my family members a few days ago. That family member was very close to Erica and battling the same addiction. When she answered the phone, I began talking to her about her addiction. I told her I loved her very much and that she needed to get help. I asked her, “What is it going to take to wake you up? Please get help. I am praying for you.” That night, Erica overdosed and I was so sad and angry. I called that same family member when I heard the news the following morning. “You see?”, I yelled. “What did I tell you?! (more…)

Homepage, Journal

1 Peter, Ephesians, Mark

ALL SOULS MATTER !

Author: Randall Daluz June 12, 2016

Tshirts offered by R. L. Muzic Productions LLC at www.rlmuzic.com

^{_{Photo Credit: www.RLMuzic.com}}

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Dearly Beloved: May God’s peace, love, understanding and mercy flow through you all.
Today is Sunday, June 12th, 2016 and it is a very sad day indeed. Let me offer my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of the Orlando, Florida nightclub massacre. My prayers are with you, the city of Orlando, the nation, the gay community and the family of the perpetrator. I condemn the actions of any persons, especially those claiming to be Christian, who spew hate on others based on their sexual preferences or for any reason. Let me be clear that, as a follower of Christ, I do not agree with or condone homosexuality. It goes against my Christian principles; however, I cannot judge any human being and I do not love people any less because of their lifestyle choices. They are still my fellow human beings.
The Bible is clear that ALL SOULS MATTER !
Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
He didn’t say preach only to heterosexuals. He didn’t say preach only to whites or people of color. He said preach to every living creature. (more…)

Homepage, Journal

2 Peter, James, John, Mark

Learn to Love Yourself By Learning To Love God

Author: Randall Daluz January 29, 2016

maninmirror Mark 12:30-31 ‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Dear Friends, May God’s grace, peace, joy and especially love be upon you. Let me start by telling you that I love you. More importantly, God loves you. But, do you love yourself? Now, I want you to really think about that. Above you are Jesus’ greatest commandments… His only commandments, in fact. Read verse 31 – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s not going to work unless you truly love yourself. I am not speaking in terms of vanity nor self-centeredness. No, sir! I’m talking about realizing that you are a child of God. I’m talking about caring about what happens. We all need love. But, in order to give love, we must learn to love God and come to the realization that we are a part of God and He is a part of us. Therefore, when we love Him, we love ourselves. For we were created in His image and should we choose to, we will inherit His mighty Kingdom. Wow! I love how God works. You see, if we truly love God, we will automatically love ourselves and each other. Amazing, isn’t it? (more…)

Homepage, Journal

Mark

Sharing Is Caring

Author: Randall Daluz December 25, 2015

Acts 20:35 “I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Seasons Greetings, my beautiful brothers and sisters. May the grace of God be upon you. Amen. I pray that all of you are well during this joyous time of year. This is the time of year when some Christians celebrate the birth of Christ our Lord. Of course, it is unknown when Jesus was born. Some speculate that it was in October. Jesus never commanded us to celebrate His birth, only His death and resurrection. Christmas trees, Santa Claus and mistletoe are all pagan traditions which were left over from the Roman empire. I find it trivial to debate such things. To me, Christmas should be celebrated every day, to some degree or another. Most definitely, we should praise Jesus for His sacrifice infinitely. His birth, life and death forever changed all of creation. Where we once had nothing, we now have hope. Thank you, Jesus! (more…)

Homepage, Journal

Acts, Mark

Meaningful Labor

Author: Randall Daluz October 24, 2015

static.pexels.com/photos/6003/man-hand-car-black-medium.jpg Mark 10:43-45 “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Dear Readers, Blessings, peace, love and joy unto you, my brothers and sisters. Not many people enjoy hard labor or what they consider menial work. I used to be one of those people. Sure, I always worked hard, like I was taught by my earthly father; but I seldom enjoyed it. I always worked my way up to management. The work was still hard, but mostly mentally so, unless someone called in sick or the business was booming. At that point, I would have to jump in and get my hands dirty. I always liked working, but I never stopped to really appreciate my labor.

As you know, I am in solitary confinement. Today is my 82nd day. When you exhibit good behavior, you can volunteer to work. Of course, there is no pay involved at all. If you have a release date someday, you can earn one day per month off your sentence. I have three life sentences, so without winning my appeal, I will more than likely die in prison. Thus, good time is meaningless to me. Still, a week ago, I volunteered to come out and clean. Only three of us, out of fifty men, ever volunteer. Everyone else is either not allowed due to their behavior or they feel that cleaning showers and floors is beneath them. A wonderful thing happened while I was cleaning. I found joy, meaning and purpose in it. Praise God! It felt so good that I asked the guards if I could scrub the floors with a brush before I mopped. The floors were a mess. Often times, the men throw food, condiments, paper and even urine out of their doors. They do so out of anger and frustration. (more…)

Homepage, Journal

Mark

Spread The Word!!!

Author: Randall Daluz September 26, 2015

pexels.com/photo/marketing-man-person-communication-362/ Dear Readers:

I Thessalonians 1:8 “For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.”

Greetings and blessings to you, my brothers and sisters. I pray that the Lord’s peace and prosperity are presiding over you. I send my love to each and every one of you. You are all in my prayers daily. I am overjoyed today because I have just realized that the site has been up for 13 months now. Praise God! As I ponder this, I am reminded of Mark 16:15 “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.'” and Psalm 67:2 “That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.” That is the mission that God has given to all of us. We must preach the gospel to the whole world. And, with this site, I and my brothers and sisters are doing just that. Hallelujah! I thank all of you and I ask you to join us in spreading the gospel. Tell everyone you meet about the Good News Gospel. Spread the word! You can even do so online by sharing this site with others or messaging and emailing scriptures. I try to incorporate the Good News into every conversation I have. Sometimes we do so just by our actions. When we walk upright, people can see the glory of God in us. (more…)

Homepage, Journal

1 Thessalonians, John, Mark, Psalms

Standing Up For Jesus

Author: Randall Daluz June 18, 2015

Mark 8:34-48 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Dear Readers, The last couple of days have been difficult to say the least. An article discussing this site and the validity of my faith, came out on Saturday. When the reporter contacted my lawyer to secure an interview with me, I was very hesitant at first. I knew that people would doubt me and spew hate towards me. In this world, there are more non-believers than believers. It is no small feat to publicly claim Christ as your Lord and Savior, especially when you have been wrongfully convicted of triple murder and are looked at like a black boogie man. As I do with every major decision I make, I prayed and asked the Lord for His guidance. I do not feel worthy to represent Jesus. The Lord put it on my heart that I must. Soon, the interview was scheduled. The Lord put it on my heart not to practice what I would say. He encouraged me to speak from my heart and trust that I would know what to say when the time came. One of the first questions the reporter asked me was how I came to Christ. I answered her honestly. I explained to her the miracle that occurred when I was nearly murdered. My statement included actions that the perpetrator of the crime took. [You can read what I said in the article on BDN.com] I don’t like to talk about those events, but I had to, briefly, for I had to explain what had sparked my faith in Jesus. I was a man who needed to see before he believed. What happened left me no doubt that God is real. It was the first of many experiences where Jesus revealed Himself to me (or for the first time I realized it.) (more…)

Homepage, Journal

Mark

We Still Have A Dream

Author: Randall Daluz January 19, 2015

Isaiah 33:17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will see the land that is very far off.

The Lord chooses people to do His mighty works. Martin Luther King was one of His chosen. God gave him a dream and that dream did not die with him. It lives on within the soft-hearted people in this world. The dream that our Lord gave to Martin Luther King has yet to be fully realized and as I sit here in my cell, a persecuted colored man, I don’t know if it ever will fully come to fruition until my Lord Jesus makes His triumphant return. We have come such a long way in some ways; but in others – such as our legal system – we haven’t made many strides. Unless we all truly accept Jesus and His teachings, we will always be at odds in this world. Dr. King had Christ in his heart. He had hope and faith because he believed in the redeeming salvation of Jesus Christ. He knew he faced almost certain death, yet he fearlessly soldiered on. And like many a disciple before him, he died in service to the Lord. The message he carried was one of peace and love, one of togetherness and brotherhood. He had a message of hope and freedom, of unity and strength. The message he carried is divine, for it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. (more…)

Journal

Isaiah, Mark

Resolution “2015”

Author: Randall Daluz January 5, 2015

Randall Daluz | New Year 2015 Dear Readers:
Happy New Year, readers. I pray all is well with you. New years are synonymous with new beginnings. This is a time for resolutions. My New Year’s resolution is to totally eradicate cursing from my speech. Also – and most importantly – I want to do better with managing my frustration. Mark 7:15 says “There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.” That is something I really have to remember – we all should. I am not a perfect man; none of us are. Lately I have had a problem with people shouting, “Nigger!” and other foul obscenities when I pass their cell blocks. It hurts. Usually, I ignore it and keep moving, but lately it has caused me some stress. Admittedly, I have allowed it to disrupt my peace. I was persecuted during my trial because of my color. (more…)

Journal

Luke, Mark, Philippians

Tag Archive: Mark