My Faith My Life

EAGLES

2012-02-12T16:19:00.001+01:00

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint - Isaiah 40:31

I saw this on Emmanuel Oluwatosin's Website and I want to share it exactly as he posted it.

I got this in the mail from one of my mentors and decided to share it with you. I am sure you will be able to pick one or two things from it. You may have seen this before but I bet you that it will do you more good if you can diligently read it again.

PRINCIPLE 1: Eagles fly alone at high altitude and not with sparrows or other small birds. No other bird can go to the height of the eagle. Stay away from sparrows and ravens. Eagles fly with Eagles.

PRINCIPLE 2: Eagles have strong vision. They have the ability to focus on something up to five kilometers away. When an eagle sites his prey, he narrows his focus on it and set out to get it. No matter the obstacles, the eagle will not move his focus from the prey until he grabs it. Have a vision and remain focused no matter what the obstacle and you will succeed.

PRINCIPLE 3: Eagles do not eat dead things. They feed only on fresh prey. Vultures eat dead animals, but eagles will not. Be careful with what you feed your eyes and ears with, especially in movies and on TV. Steer clear of outdated and old information. Always do your research well.

PRINCIPLE 4: Eagles love the storm. When clouds gather, the eagles get excited. The eagle uses the storm’s wind to lift it higher. Once it finds the wind of the storm, the eagles uses the raging storm to lift him above the clouds. This gives the eagle an opportunity to glide and rest its wings. In the meantime, all the other birds hide in the leaves and branches of the trees. We can use the storms of life to rise to greater heights. Achievers relish challenges and use them profitably.

PRINCIPLE 5: The Eagle tests before it trusts. When a female eagle meets a male and they want to mate, she flies down to earth with the male pursuing her and she picks a twig. She flies back into the air with the male pursuing her. Once she has reached a height high enough for her, she lets the twig fall to the ground and watches it as it falls. The male chases after the twig. The faster it falls, the faster he chases it. He has to catch it before it falls to the ground. He then brings it back to the female eagle.
The female eagle grabs the twig and flies to a higher altitude and then drops the twig for the male to chase. This goes on for hours, with the height increasing until the female eagle is assured that the male eagle has mastered the art of catching the twig which shows commitment. Then and only then, will she allow him to mate with her. Whether in private life or in business, one should test commitment of people intended for partnership.

PRINCIPLE 6: The Eagle Prepares for Changes: When ready to lay eggs, the female and male eagle identify a place very high on a cliff where no predators can reach. The male flies to earth and picks thorns and lays them on the crevice of the cliff, then flies to earth again to collect twigs which he lays in the intended nest. He flies back to earth and picks thorns laying them on top of the twigs. He flies back to earth and picks soft grass to cover the thorns. When this first layering is complete the male eagle runs back to earth and picks more thorns, lays them on the nest; runs back to get grass it on top of the thorns, then plucks his feathers to complete the nest. The thorns on the outside of the nest protect it from possible intruders. Both male and female eagles participate in raising the eagle family. She lays the eggs and protects them; he builds the nest and hunts. During the time of training the young ones to fly, the mother eagle throws the eaglets out of the nest. Because they are scared, they jump into the nest again.
Next, she throws them out and then takes off the soft layers of the nest, leaving the thorns bare When the scared eaglets again jump into the nest, they are pricked by thorns. Shrieking and bleeding they jump out again this time wondering why the mother and father who love them so much are torturing them. Next, mother eagle pushes them off the cliff into the air. As they shriek in fear, father eagle flies out and catches them up on his back before they fall and brings them back to the cliff. This goes on for sometime until they start flapping their wings. They get excited at this newfound knowledge that they can fly.
The preparation of the nest teaches us to prepare for changes; The preparation for the family teaches us that active participation of both partners leads to success; The being pricked by the thorns tells us that sometimes being too comfortable where we are may result into our not experiencing life, not progressing and not learning at all. The thorns of life come to teach us that we need to grow, get out of the nest and live on. We may not know it but the seemingly comfortable and safe haven may have thorns. The people who love us do not let us languish in sloth but push us hard to grow and prosper. Even in their seemingly bad actions they have good intentions for us.

PRINCIPLE 7: The Eagle Knows when to Retire: When an Eagle grows old, his feathers become weak and cannot take him as fast as he should. When he feels weak and about to die, he retires to a place far away in the rocks. While there, he plucks out every feather on his body until he is completely bare. He stays in this hiding place until he has grown new feathers, then he can come out. We occasionally need to shed off old habits & items that burden us without adding to our lives.

How beautiful!
No wonder the Bible constantly compares believers to Eagles!
Thank you for this, Emmanuel Oluwatosin. God bless you!

THAT'S MY KING

2012-02-04T11:47:00.001+01:00

I remember the first time I watched this, I got goose pimples all over. I still do every time I watch it, and i don't think I will ever outgrow that, no matter how many times I see this video.

I'm sharing this in the hope that the message of this video, inspired by the Holy Spirit so many years ago, and still so powerful, will raise a few goose pimples on your skin as it does on mine.

It is indeed a wonderful reminder of the character, power and glory of the Lord we love and worship.

THE ERROR SHE MAKES

2012-01-18T12:16:00.000+01:00

My post today is 'stolen' from my brother's Facebook Group post. It is something I believe very important for both men and women to learn, understand and act on.

"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour" Eccl 4:9

Our modern day media has not helped matters when it comes to defining inter-gender relationships. Many have come to misconstrue sex as love, giving up your divine calling as a sacrifice, inability to say 'No' as care etc.

Let me say a little on the feminine side. At least, being a guy gives me an advantage to explain some. Lol! Now, you see, some ladies do not understand that standing strong even against his wrong decisions can be so admirable by a guy. Of course, it is no news that the most flexible babe (permit my language) ends up the heart-broken one. Now, why? Giving people the wrong thing they want can be so deceptive at times. They thank you for it, but their inner man devalues you for that. At the end, the inner man always wins. That is, soon you find that lady regretting giving all, but still losing all.

Now get me right! Helping your guy, hubby-to-be is not wrong, but every time a lady begins to act as though she has no knowledge of her own, the outer man of the man says- That is cool! However, the inner man says- She is dull. This is why it seems, 'The bad girls get the good guys'. Why? Many 'good girls' have a modest and godly style, which is something I will always preach, but they take it too far, thinking that not being expressive is also part of Godliness. Their hubby soon finds them boring. On the other side is the lady that loves this guy, talks to him, advises him, tells him her convictions, though it differs from his, etc. Soon, the guy finds every reason to like her presence. It seems more like a 'living Presence' to him. That is why you see some people who the more they disagree or argue, the more they fall in love. In fact, when they disagree, that is when they think more about each other. You then see strange phone calls of "I just wanna find out if NLC has called off the strike." Hahaha! (wink!). That is 'missing him' in action.

An always 'Yes sir' chic....sorry-Lady, is not always the innermost desire of any man. Your conviction might not be his conviction, but sincerely, the ability of any lady to talk with her guy, respectfully tell him his wrong step and above all, you living a personal life of vision can make him fall for you always. False representations on TV and others have made many ladies think softness is dropping your mind for his. How will God call you a helper if you are exactly like him? Only someone with resources, wisdom and energy different from yours can help you! You cannot truly help him except you pull out your expressions and politely show and tell him. At the end of it all, what the masculine nature hates is disrespect, but naturally, every man wants a lady beside him who can contribute ideas, and not pretending that the guy knows all. Such error can initially make her look submissive, but the whole thing soon gets boring. Be gentle, but not dull. Politely express yourself. He wants it. God bless You!

Segun Abe is the Founder of Fragrance of Life Ministries and President of School of Impact, Abuja Nigeria. You can join his Facebook Group - I AM THE BEST and contact him via Email - segun_abe@yahoo.com or Phone - 08026377133

THINK BIG, THINK NEW, THINK IMPOSSIBLE

2012-01-06T02:29:00.000+01:00

“But as it is written,Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” 1Co 2:9

This is2012!

Thank Godfor bringing us safely and triumphantly into it.

Now that youare in it, what are your plans for this year?

I am nottalking of New Year resolutions here. I’m talking about goals, plans,aspirations, desires, dreams, call it what you want, those things you wish youcan achieve, realize, experience and live this year.

You knowthose yearnings in your heart that you daydream about, then jerk out of with awistful sigh ending with your resigned ‘if only!’

Those arethe exact yearnings I want you to feed on this year!

No matterhow ludicrous, no matter how impossible, no matter how unachievable thoseyearnings might seem, don’t stop thinking about them.

Do you knowwhy? Because you become your thoughts – “Asa man thinketh in his heart, so he is” Prov 23:7. You can never grow biggerthan your thoughts!

Maybe youhave heard the story of a man of God, who, a few days to the end of aparticular year had a Minister’s Conference with his Pastors and during theprogram, asked if any one believes he or she will have a brand new car beforethe end of the year. This was just like three days to a new year. A few raisedtheir hands but many didn’t. It was too big, too new, and too impossible forthem to believe. But for the few who dared to believe, they all got brand newcars that minute from the man of God.

What a beautifulillustration of daring to imagine the impossible!

Yet, our Godis more sure, more certain, more reliable than that man of God.

How can younot trust Him for that big, new, impossible dream this year?

And the factof the matter is, no matter how big or new or impossible your dreams are, theyare nowhere near what God has planned for you - “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither haveentered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them thatlove him” 1Co 2:9

And you knowwhat else? - “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye notknow it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert”Isa 43:19

Isn’t thatamazing? Not only is God willing, and eager to do that big, new, impossiblething in your life, He will also be the one to make a way for it to be realizedand flourish. And remember, He is the one who says a thing and does it.

In fact, doyou know that desire to achieve is from God and He is just waiting for you toask so He can fulfill it? – “At the soundof your voice I would give an answer, and you would have a desire for the workof your hands” Job 14:15

Feed on thatdesire, think on it, dwell on it, dream it, imagine it, and believe it until itbecomes your reality. It definitely will be realized because the Bible says – “. . . He bringeth them unto their desiredhaven” Ps 107:30

How can yourFather cause you to conceive a desire and not see that desire birthed andnurtured and raised? – “Shall I bring tothe birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bringforth, and shut the womb? saith thy God” Isa 66:9 That is not the nature of your Lord.

Dare totrust Him for the miraculous this year. Then you can afford to Think Big, ThinkNew and Think Impossible!

THE STAR

2011-12-24T12:00:00.000+01:00

" . . . and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy"

Mt 2:9&10

I posted this story last year on NaijaStories, but I want to share it again here, because the message of Christmas never changes.

He stared at the screen, trying to make sense of the figures on it, same thing he had been trying to do for the past three hours. For some reason his mind was not cooperating, something strange was going on in his heart. It felt hollow, empty and ached ferociously.

He stood up for the umpteenth time and walked round the spacious office, his feet disappearing into the thick rug underneath.

Standing by the window, he stared out into the deepening sky and looked down at the city with its lights just coming out to battle the approaching darkness.

He loved this city. The life, the energy, the promises, the challenges! He had always loved it and just looking at it was usually enough to fill him with a burst of enthusiasm, but not today. Today, nothing seemed to work.
Deep in his heart, he knew this depression was not new, it had been lurking deep inside for some time now, but for some reason, it was worse this evening and he didn’t know why.

He turned and stared round his office: the penthouse of the fifteen story building that housed his company. The company he had built from scratch. The symbol of his hard work and much earned success. He had given his all to this company and now that it was firmly established, he should be happy, he deserved to be happy. But he wasn’t.

With a sigh, he turned back to the window and realized with a start that the sky was dark and the stars were out. Time had flown by as he pondered his inner dissatisfaction. He reached behind him to ring for his secretary, then remembered she had left for the day, so had everyone else and he remembered why – today was Christmas eve and they had all closed early. He was the only one left in the building, even his driver was gone.

He stared up at the sky, seeking – what? He didn’t know.

Then he saw one of the stars, shinning more vividly than the others. It stood apart, majestic, glowing big and bright.

Looking at it, he suddenly remembered a legend from his childhood, that if one followed the biggest star, it would lead one to what the heart needed above all else. As a man of facts and figures, he didn’t believe in such myths, or any myth for that matter, and he had no doubt that this particular one had its roots in the story of the birth of Jesus and the wise men, but today his lonely heart would not be reasonable.

Still staring at the star, he was suddenly overcome with an irrational urge to follow the star. At least, let him test the legend and prove it wrong, he tried to rationalize his illogical urge.

Irrational or not, he had always been a man of action, so he picked up his jacket and strode out of the office into the lift.

Emerging out of the building, he looked up, suddenly afraid the star would no more be there, but it was still there, looking even bigger, calling him with its unearthly glow.

He got into his car and feeling foolish, but strangely compelled, drove out of the compound, not even hearing the guard’s “Merry Christmas, sir”, and started following the star.

He drove down the road, exiting to the highway and it seemed as if the star moved ahead of him, leading him. He drove automatically, not really conscious of the road, just keeping the star in his sights, determined not to lose it.

For about thirty minutes, he followed the star as it led him into a residential area, winding round palatial mansions till it came to a stop over a huge house, more palatial than the others.

He stopped the car in front of the massive house, frowning in confusion. He hesitated for a moment then put the car in reverse and drove away from the house. He looked up for the star as he drove away, but the star was no more ahead of him. It stayed behind, hanging resolutely over the house.

He stopped again and turned around in his seat to look back at the star. It shone fiercer than before, calling him.

Against himself, he got out of the car, and like one mesmerized started walking back on foot, not even aware that he left the engine running and the door opened.

He walked back up to the house; it was bathed in the light of the moon and the two seemed fused together, becoming one in an eerie, yet, welcoming way; both calling silently to him.

He stood in front of the door, hesitated again then took a deep breathe and opened the door. He followed the sound of voices into the house and came to a large living room.

In front of a Christmas tree and carved animals artlessly arranged, stood Joseph smiling down at a little Mary with baby Jesus asleep in a baby stroller before them, his head lolling to one side.

Joseph and Mary turned at his entrance and he saw shock on their faces. He also saw Joseph glance up at the grandfather clock beside the door to check the time and turn back to look at him, a concerned frown creeping up on the face.

Staring at the scene before him, something in his heart trembled and gave way. On shaky legs, he walked over to them, reached out a trembling hand to Joseph’s face and touched it reverently.

“Honey . . . ”, his voice broke and he cleared it roughly, “Honey, can I be Joseph this year? And you be Mary?”

Before his shocked wife could answer, a tiny voice piped up indignantly, “Then what will I be?”

He looked down at his little daughter and reached out a hand to draw her close to him, “An angel, my darling. You will be my angel, the angel you have always been”

That was all he could manage before his voice broke and he started sobbing loudly. In huge heaves, the loneliness seeped out of him, the depression curled up and withered, the heaviness grew light and drifted away. And yet, he continued sobbing.

His sleeping son woke up and started crying; he knew he was scaring his daughter and wife, but he could not stop.

“Sweetheart, what is it? What is it?” his wife asked worriedly.

All he could say was “I followed the star, honey. I followed the star”

Outside the house, the star glowed brightly one more time over the house then moved away, up, up to hang back in the sky. Waiting to lead another lonely heart back home.

May that same Star, that hundreds of years ago, led those wise men to the little baby Jesus, also lead all of us back to HIM, our true HOME.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

MISTAKE BABY

2011-12-17T11:06:00.000+01:00

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations - Jer 1:5

Recently, my brother posted on Facebook about a young lady, a long lost and just then rediscovered friend, who attended one of his programs. The lady waited to see him afterwards and in the process of talking, she confessed to being pregnant outside wedlock. He encouraged her and before leaving her that day, handed her over to someone to be encouraging her. You can read what he wrote about the meeting here, but the long and short of the story is that the young lady attempted an abortion a couple of days later and died in the process.

I have not been able to get her out of my mind. And so many others who have died like that and all the countless number of babies destroyed in the erroneous belief that they are MISTAKE BABIES!

There are no mistake babies anywhere. What might have been an unplanned pregnancy for you is a very much carefully planned, loving crafted and joyfully created image and purpose for God.

The Bible says "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well" Ps 139:14.

That baby inside you is fearfully and wonderfully created in the likeness and image of God and is a marvelous revelation of His handwork.

He made no mistake in creating it inside you. Do you think that precious life came about just because spermatozoa met with an egg and multiplied and divided to form a human? Thank God for Biology, but we know it is far more than that - "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life" Job 33:4

No matter what led to that conception, that baby is part of God and an integral part of His plan for you and for our world and so are YOU.

Your life's purpose doesn't end because you got pregnant unplanned, unwanted, broke, out of wedlock etc. Infact it is the opposite - "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" Rom 8:28

That baby's conception is at the right time for your good and His purpose in your life.

Don't destroy that precious life, He/She has so much to offer you and us if you will just allow God to have His way.

God gave you that child because He loves you and wants to bless you and make you a blessing - "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate" Psalm 127:3-5

You might think, how can God reward me for fornication and/or adultery by blessing me? - "As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all" Ec 11:5

Just trust Him - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" Jer 29:11.

He has a wonderful future for you and that precious life in you. A future you cannot even begin to comprehend - "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" 1Co 2:9

Are you right now contemplating what to do with that unwanted and unplanned for pregnancy? Or you know someone who is? Then rejoice. You have been blessed and trusted with birthing God's image and and being the Mother/Father of that Blessing we all have been waiting for - "And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord" Luke 1:14&15

And you have been given the unique opportunity to be a partner with God in bringing that to pass. And it is a privilege not everyone has - "For many are called, but few are chosen" Mt 22:14

No matter what society thinks or says, no matter what scandal and discrimination is attached to that pregnancy by people who don't know any better, i can assure you without a single doubt and with every certainty in the God I know and serve, that what you have been given is a blessing that will add to your life in ways you cannot even begin to grasp right now.

It is something worthy of CONGRATULATIONS!

I'M BACK

2011-12-02T20:23:00.001+01:00

It has been more than a year I posted last on this Blog, but it has been a year overflowing with God's bountiful blessings and increase. Though not without its pains and tears.

I have a lot to tell you, and I will in subsequent posts, but for now I just want to glorify My Father, Lover, Helper, Protector, Provider, Teacher and El-Shaddai who is more than enough for me.

There is none like You
No one else can touch my life like you've done
I can search through all eternity, Lord
And I'll findThere is none like You

I cannot tell you how many times in this past year plus I have sang that song.
The truth of those words are a reality in my life. There is truly none like Him.

I wonder how people without Christ live, how they cope, what keeps them going. It is an existence I am so grateful not to be a part of, and one that makes my heart bleed for those who live it.
May we never know a life without Christ, and for those living that non-life, may we who are so blessed, be the hands that lift them out of that darkness.

Father, I declare again before the whole world that there is none like YOU!

There is none like You
No one else can touch my life like you've done
I can search through all eternity, Lord
And I'll findThere is none like You

FOR THIS PURPOSE WAS I BORN – A WALK AND WORK IN PROGRESS

2010-08-24T23:58:00.000+01:00

“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” 2Tim 1:9

“But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit” 2 Cor 3:18

I apologise for leaving my blogs for so long. It is in the pursuit of purpose. I also said I would conclude the PURPOSE series, I have since discovered that when I said that, I was talking in the flesh. How can a person write the conclusion of a lifetime journey when the destination is not even yet in sight?

In the past weeks, God has opened up so many amazing doors of opportunity that if I tell you I know where it leads, I would be lying. It is a matter of ‘every step I take leads to another’. I now understand I am moving to the next level in my purpose journey.

It takes amazing faith to step into the unknown. There is something in me that wants to hold on to the known, to sit in my comfort zone. But I cannot. If there is anything that should be a constant in the life of a Christian, it is progress. “But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” – Prov 4:18. It is just not possible for me to stay in my comfort zone. As a daughter of Zion, I have to keep getting better, going higher and evolving into the image of my Savior.
And the great thing is, I am not on this journey alone. “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” Matt 28:20; “for himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee” Heb 13:5. Christ is with me every step of the way.

Reminds me of the song –

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know oh oh, He holds my future
And life is worth the living just because He lives

So, my Purpose series comes to a pause here, not an end; as more unfolds, I will let you know. But for now, I move forward in my purpose walk as I continue to live out His will for my life. However, I will continue to let you know, as always, the details of my faith and my life. I cannot promise to post regularly, but I definitely will not abandon this blog. It is very much a part of my purpose.

FOR THIS PURPOSE WAS I BORN: MY STORY (2)

2010-04-06T00:38:00.001+01:00

“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” 2Tim 1:9

I cannot begin to tell you what discovering my purpose did to my life. It was as if a light switch went on in me and the world suddenly opened up before me. It was a fire that could never be extinguished. Purpose was all I thought, dreamt, wanted!

And the more I thought about it, the more I spent time reading those words I had written –

"Claude M. Bristol, the Author of ‘The Magic of Believing’ says – “Every person is the creation of himself. The image of his own thinking and believing. As individuals think and believe, so they are.” We believe that and so we work closely with you every step of the way to make you realise you are unique and special. We bring out the YOU in you. Because inside you is who you really are. And when you know and believe in who you are, we will present you to a world waiting eagerly to receive you. Whether it is to an individual, a company or a country, our promise is the same – We will ReCreate You from the inside out!"

And the more it dawned on me that this was a huge responsibility! How am I supposed to know the YOU in a person? How am I to bring out that YOU? How am I to make a person know and believe in that ME? I realized then that the Holy Spirit had to become an integral part of me, no, more than that, we had to become one!

Other people might get away with doing things the way they wanted, but I can’t; other people might be able to live successfully with self decisions but I cannot. The very nature of my purpose made that impossible. I had to live a life wholly dependent on the Holy Spirit. I have to know Him, hear Him, talk to Him, and be in HIM! I have to be in KOINONIA with Him (a word a friend just taught me meaning, ‘the ultimate intimacy; communion; fellowship’. When I heard that word, something in me shouted YES, that is what should be between me and the Holy Spirit)

This revelation changed my entire life. I immediately began to immerse myself in the Word of God; my prayer life underwent a radical change; my fellowship with God and the brethren deepened and as I changed something happened – “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the Spirit of wisdom and understanding; the Spirit of might and counsel; the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” Isaiah 11:2.
Yes, the Holy Spirit increased dramatically in me till it got to a point I had a hard time recognizing myself. I was growing into the REAL ME! The ME God created me to be. I have always been a self confident person but the confidence I now have is not that of ‘self’. It is a confidence full of peace, certainty, serenity, and assurance. The kind of confidence the bible calls “the peace of God which passeth all understanding” Phil 4:7

And the wisdom? Oh, my! The wisdom and understanding is something that thrills me till today. I can look at a situation and immediately understand it and know what to do. I always seem to know now what advice to give and when. What of the sudden power to overcome sin? Resisting any wrong is no more a struggle. It is an unconscious thing now. I don’t even notice any sin. It is as if I have been transported to a higher realm where sin doesn’t exist (which actually I have) A friend stared at me the other day and said ‘you are different’. I laughed and asked how. She stared at me critically for long then shook her head in puzzlement and said ‘I don’t know but you are different”. I knew what she was talking about. She couldn’t really put her hands on what the change was but it was the change inside me that was reflecting outwards. It was not a physical change, it was a spiritual one.

But nothing can beat the excitement of fellowshipping with the Spirit. To be able to converse with Him and feel Him. To know Him and have Him reveal the mind of God and the person of Christ to me; to have the logos (written word) of the bible become the RHEMA (the spoken, active and powerful word) in my life. You have to experience this to understand what I am talking about. It is beyond mere words and human understanding.
This is what I mean when I tell you it is just not possible to fulfill purpose outside God. It cannot be done. You won’t even know purpose outside God!

That is the spiritual metamorphosis discovering my purpose caused in me. But I had to take some physical steps. God has been revealing to me the things I have to do, how to do them and when. God hasn’t told me all. In fact, He won’t tell me all. God has this frustrating way of doing things His way on a Need-to-know basis. AAAARGH! It drives me batty sometimes. But I always take the required step of faith. After all, this walk is A WALK OF FAITH! God operates by faith and so should we. We will only know in full when we stand before Him. Till then, we just have to leap off that cliff in faith that He will never let us fall. And He won’t!

In the next post, I will tell you what some of those things are. I cannot tell you all because the Holy Spirit has not given me leave to, but the things He allows, I will tell.

TO BE CONTD . . . . . . . .

FOR THIS PURPOSE WAS I BORN: MY STORY (1)

2010-03-26T11:24:00.001+01:00

“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” 2Tim 1:9

From a very early age, I knew what I was good at – writing! From the moment I learnt how to string words together, I started writing. I would read storybooks and re-write the ending. Sometimes I would add more adventures to the storyline. I never ever left a book the way it was, no, I always had to make it ‘better’! Then I moved on to writing my own stories. My schoolbooks had more stories written in them than actual schoolwork. My teachers complained a lot about that but it was something I never gave up despite repeated punishments.

When I entered secondary school, I was blessed with someone no person should ever lack – a teacher who encouraged my talent. My English teacher was a woman who was the much needed fuel to the fire within me. I went to a boarding school, so during those boring weekends, my friends would gather round me and ask me to write for them. They would all wait patiently while I scribbled as fast as I could. As they read the first story, I would already be hard at work on the second one. That developed me in ways I can never fully comprehend. God bless my friends!

I entered University and got distracted. I became involved in so many other pursuits and neglected my talent and stopped writing. But through it all, God was there working in the background. That was the time I discovered another talent in me – TALKING! (At least that’s what my mom calls it) I discovered the gift of oratory in me. I could make speeches in an instant without needing time to prepare.

Before graduating, I accepted Christ but didn’t yet have the Holy Spirit and had absolutely no clue about purpose. God however, had just started with me. When I started working, I discovered another interest – people! I loved meeting people, talking with them, learning their views, understanding them. It seemed I couldn’t just get enough of people! It was in the process of that that I discovered something that agitated me - people not having a focus or reason for living. That was when I looked at my own life and said, “Rayo, there has to be more to life than this”.

One quiet day in the office, I started thinking of all the millions of people working at jobs they didn’t like, not knowing what they want from life and just existing instead of really living. I decided I would start a company that would help people fit into their rightful place in life. I picked up my laptop and drafted a mission statement. This was what I wrote –

"Claude M. Bristol, the Author of ‘THE MAGIC OF BELIEVING’ says – “Every person is the creation of himself. The image of his own thinking and believing. As individuals think and believe, so they are.” We believe that and so we work closely with you every step of the way to make you realise you are unique and special. We bring out the YOU in you. Because inside you is who you really are. And when you know and believe in who you are, we will present you to a world waiting eagerly to receive you. Whether it is to an individual, a company or a country, our promise is the same – We will ReCreate You from the inside out!"

I did not know it then, but the awesome God I worship had just spoken through me to outline my purpose in life. I thought I was laying out a company, but God was laying out His eternal purpose. When I look back on that day, I get shivers. It is a constant reminder of the greatness of the God I serve.

When I got home that day, I showed it to my brother. Because he already knew and was following purpose, he immediately understood the spiritual significance of what he was seeing but he knew I had to discover and understand it myself so he wisely kept quiet and instead went before the Lord to pray out His purpose in my life.

God answered that prayer by giving me the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit awakened a desperate hunger for MORE in me. He then led me to a church where I had my Christian Discipleship training. That was when I began to understand and see clearly that I did not just exist, I had to be for a reason. It was then God brought back into my life a friend from secondary school; she reminded me of my school days stories and reawakened in me the fire of writing. All our conversations started and ended with ‘Rayo, are you writing?’ So I started writing again.

Almost two years passed and then one day while reading a book on purpose, I sat up and asked the Holy Spirit what exactly is my purpose in life? He asked me in return, what agitates me the most, what could bring out the most passion in me and I replied, ‘people not being fulfilled’. My wonderful friend, the Holy Spirit said, ‘That is your purpose’. I wondered how that could be my purpose and He replied in a wonderful way. Less than three days later, I bumped into my brother’s old laptop and I saw the power point presentation I had done of my ‘company’s’ mission statement, two years earlier. Reading through it, it suddenly hit me like a gale – MY PURPOE WAS TO HELP PEOPLE DISCOVER THEIR PURPOSE!

Those words I wrote were an answer to God’s need for men and women who would discover and walk in their purpose and reclaim back the earth for Him. I am called to work in partnership with God to open the eyes of His select to their divine calling so they can be the solution to the earth’s many issues – “for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” - Rom 8:19.

I am to help people discover WHO and WHAT and WHY they are. To awaken in them the question, ‘who am I? Why do I exist? What is life all about?’ And then, to help them answer those questions. That is my calling. FOR THIS PURPOSE WAS I BORN!

To be contd . . . . . . . . .

FOR THIS PURPOSE WAS I BORN: MARRIAGE AND PURPOSE

2010-03-18T09:53:00.001+01:00

“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” 2Tim 1:9

“You first have to know the harbor to which you are headed before you know the right wind to take you there” – Old Seneca Proverb

Just as this old proverb says, you don’t have any business getting married till you know your purpose in life. Can you imagine a ship setting out to sea without a destination in mind? It will be carried to and fro by any and every wind. That is what happens when you get married without any idea what your purpose is in life.

Do you know what the greatest tragedy in life is? Discovering your purpose after marriage and realizing you are mismatched! Let me tell you the only three outcomes of such a tragedy – a) giving up your purpose so as to hold on to that marriage or b) following your purpose and giving up your marriage or c) trying to fulfill your purpose and dragging your partner with you.

John Maxwell in one of his books said “It is better to go it alone than drag someone along with you. That person will forever be a weight holding you down”. Sadly, that is what most of us do.

There was a young woman in one of our universities some years ago. She was articulate, intelligent, had loads of charisma and was an awesome politician and strategist. When she talked, we all listened. She was chosen as Student Union Running mate by the would be president just to garner in votes and she did. I could tell she was going places. I knew she would one day be a political force in this country, maybe even the first female president. I came across her again last year and my heart broke. She was married to a man who did not want such a wife. She had three children, was selling provisions and completely broken. She had lost her shine and was desperately unhappy. But she could not leave her marriage. In that death of purpose, she not only lost herself but Nigeria also lost a great leader. Imagine what she could have achieved with a like-minded politically motivated husband. The sky would have been just a beginning for both of them.

Purpose determines marriage. Your spouse is your life partner! Have you ever asked yourself what he/she is partnering you to do? A pastor of mine once jokingly said “the next time a man asks you to marry him, ask him, ‘as your helpmeet, what am I to help you to do?’” What a wise question to ask!

If you know your purpose, you can never make a wrong choice. Purpose will guide you right. You will know the kind of character, principles, beliefs, passion that will fit into your life goals. If you and your spouse share the same purpose and passion, nothing will ever break you apart.

In Eccl 4:12, the bible says “a threefold cord is not easily broken” Many people interpret it to mean a unity of husband and wife with the Holy Spirit cannot be broken. But the number of broken Spirit filled Christian homes belies that. Do you know what that third cord is? – PURPOSE. Nothing can ever separate a couple united in purpose. Quote me anywhere on this!

Unity of purpose is the strongest bond that can ever be between a man and woman. That is why the bible asks “Can two walk together except they agree?” Am 3:3. Agreement i.e. unity of purpose is what makes two ‘walk together’. Please tell me, if both of you have the same vision, the same goal and are pursuing it with zeal and single-minded focus, what can come between you? Absolutely nothing! YOU WILL BE ONE IN THOUGHT, MIND, AND ACTION! ONLY PURPOSE CAN DO THAT!!!

And that brings me to the misconception people have that a woman is just to help a man achieve his purpose. That is utter baloney. Every single human being created by God has his and her own purpose. The way to choose a partner is to choose the man or woman that has the same purpose and passion as you and whose talents are a balance to yours. For example, both of you might have the same purpose and passion for pastoring but you might be good in preaching while your partner is good in prayer.

You MUST share the same purpose and passion but your talents should differ so you can bring the richness of variety to your purpose. She might be a good writer and you a good speaker but you both have the same purpose of motivating and inspiring people.

I beg you in the name of all that is holy; please do not ever marry without knowing your purpose. Do not marry till the passion of purpose has overwhelmed your heart, mind and life. Only then can you know who to walk that life path with. Only then can you, your partner, your marriage and your life ever find meaning and fulfillment.

And if you are already married without knowing your purpose or just discovering your purpose after marriage – return to God who knows you and made you for His purpose. He is the one to whom nothing is impossible. The Great and Only Fixer who can make all things right.

FOR THIS PURPOSE WAS I BORN: CAREER AND PURPOSE 2

2010-03-10T09:46:00.000+01:00

I had planned to move on to the next part of the Purpose series but this additional piece about Career and Purpose was sent to me by someone i call my 'double brother' Segun Abe. He is my physical brother from same parents and my spiritual brother from the family of God through Christ Jesus. He is someone i respect so much as a person and as a teacher of the word.
I hope his words bless you.

I always see career as part of purpose. If they differ, you begin to notice an unexplainable friction in life. Look at this - I sometime ago during a lecture i gave at NYSC Community Development Service defined career as your carrier. What ever gets you moving, that is , what you do along the line of passion and satisfaction, which keeps you gliding in life. This is vital because the economic downturn has made decisions for people rather than them consciously and intentionally choosing. Career has to be from within, or else we become tired legs everywhere. Also, at that lecture, I defined occupation as what occupies your time, day and life. If i say i am into ministry, but i am always found on the football field, there is a shortcoming somewhere. Again, I got to learn that the word - BUSINESS comes from BUSY-NESS. That is, what you are busy doing. One thing we have to realize is that God created us as purposeful beings and our lives must be lived from that consciousness. When Apostle Paul said - 'do not muzzle the ox while it treads....' (1 Cor 9:9 and 1 Tim 5:18) those words are meant for more than pastors! They mean, since the ox is used for treading (Purpose), let it also eat from it (career). Do you know that if the ox treads in A and goes to eat in B, it can NEVER be effective. This is what happens when we use our energy for what does not tally with our innate and unseen being - the hidden man of the heart. Can you also recall when Jesus rose from the dead and miraculously supplied fishes to Peter and other disciples at the river? Read it over again and you will see that Jesus did it for Peter knowing that he actually wanted fish to eat or trade (career), but it dragged him away from the assignment ( purpose). So when Jesus provided, the same Jesus asked him if he loved Him more than the fishes! Jesus was only saying - 'the fishes you desire can come more abundantly than your efforts if you do what I have commissioned you to do. If you choose to be fishing and doing my assignment separately, it wont work. That is, let your career be in my purpose for you'.

Segun is the founder of FRAGRANCE OF LIFE. An interdenominational ministry dedicated to raising people into their purpose in the Kingdom of God. In pursuit of that, he will be holding a training this month in Abuja -

Impacting Lives for Kingdom Effectiveness.
Venue: Lake Chad Hall of International Conference Centre, Abuja.
Time: 3:30 pm
Date: 27 th March, 2010.

You are all invited.

FOR THIS PURPOSE WAS I BORN: CAREER AND PURPOSE

2010-03-03T13:09:00.001+01:00

“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” 2Tim 1:9

A wise man i respect very much asked, “What is that thing you will do for free? What is that particular thing that even if you make no money from it, you would still do? That is your career” but he did not stop there. He went on to ask, “What is that other thing that you would actually pay people to allow you do? That particular thing that you would give up your money, properties and even life to achieve? That is your purpose”. Do you see the difference? WE POSSESS OUR CAREERS BUT OUR PURPOSE POSSESSES US!

In some cases, your career and your purpose are one and the same. Like in the case of Bezalel in Ex 31:1-5. God had endowed him with crafting skills and talents to carve and mold all sorts of wood and metals and stones into exquisite carvings. Bezalel had with all certainty been using this talent as a career in Egypt. We are told he was a professional carver, which means he had been carving professionally for a long time. Carving was his career.

But what I want you to note here is that Carving remained just a career with Bezalel until God told him what he had those skills for. He never entered into his purpose till he was told by God what those skills were for – to build the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant! What does this tell us? Career is for you, Purpose is for God.

Your talent can bring you money and fame and success through your career, but until you step into using those talents for the God who gave them to you and start using them for the things He planned them to be used for, you never enter into purpose and consequently, you never have fulfillment.

That’s why we have men and women seemingly at the height of their careers, successful and powerful, simply enter their rooms one day and commit suicide. They never moved from career to purpose. They never found fulfillment.

Notice also that with Bezalel, it took God telling him for him to know what his purpose was and why he had those talents and skills. Purpose can only be discovered in God. This simply means that until you are in Christ, you don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of even discovering your purpose. In case you are not clear, let me repeat it in layman’s language – if you are not born again in Jesus Christ, you will never ever discover your purpose talk less of fulfilling it. You will live and die a wasted life. I say that without apology. No matter what you achieve career wise, it will never fulfill you because that career will never evolve to purpose without Christ.

In some cases, your career might seem to differ from your purpose as in the case of Paul in the bible. He was a lawyer before he became an apostle/evangelist, but it was the training he had as a lawyer that helped him most as an apostle. He could because of his legal training stand up to the so called teachers of the law and show them how the very law they were defending spoke of Christ; he could address men of learning and repute anywhere. No matter how wide the difference between your career and purpose might seem, it always, ALWAYS, has a role to play in your purpose.

Your career and purpose might be the same or your career might be the kind that evolves into your purpose or your career and purpose might run hand in hand together, but there are salient differences to note between the two –

* Career is limited. It can be affected by many factors, e.g., age, economic conditions, health etc but Purpose is ‘unlimitable’ (permit me to use this non-word). Nothing can affect or stunt your purpose except you. Things that can limit career only serve to propel you into another dimension in purpose.
* While careers can grow and wane at different times based on different conditions, Purpose just keeps getting bigger and better from season to season through all conditions. “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more until the perfect day” Prov 4:18.
* Career is chosen; Purpose is discovered.
* Career is the road; Purpose is the destination
* Career is for you; Purpose is for God
* Career is your gift; Purpose is your calling
* Career is the means; Purpose is the end
* Career starts and ends with you; Purpose begins with God and is an indestructible legacy you leave behind for others to continue till it ends again in God. “I have planted, Apollos watered but God gave the increase” 1 Cor 3:6
* You can achieve your career goals by yourself; You need the Holy Spirit to fulfill your purpose
* Career is you; Purpose is far bigger than you
* Career can be done alone by you; Purpose is team work and effort of the Chosen amongst the body of Christ
* Career gives you everything except fulfillment; Purpose gives you everything AND fulfillment

How can you know your career? Check out your array of natural gifts and talents and interests and effortlessly acquired skills. Those are the GPS navigators of your career path. That thing you refer to as a ‘hobby I’m just interested in’ can turn out to be your career.

How can you know your Purpose? Only one way – GOD! He alone knows why He made you and what He made you to do.

FOR THIS PURPOSE WAS I BORN: WHAT, HOW AND WHY

2010-02-26T14:17:00.001+01:00

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" 2Tim 1:9

What is purpose? The dictionary defines it as 'An anticipated outcome
that is intended or that guides your planned actions'. That means the
above verse can read "who hath saved us and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works but according to his own intended
anticipated outcome and grace which guides our planned actions, given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began"

Another definition says Purpose is 'what something is used for'. That
tells us your purpose is what you are to be used for. Purpose is why
and who and what you are. It is like cars built for road
transportation; airplanes built for air transportation; boats and ships
for sea transportation. The creators saw a need and built those things
to fulfill that need. That is exactly what happened with YOU! God saw a
need and carefully crafted you, giving you the necessary physical,
mental, emotional, psychological etc attributes to fit into that need.

What happens if you use yourself for something else? The same thing
that happens if you drive a car on the sea; or attempt to drive a ship
on the road; or fly an airplane in the sea. Engines go haywire,
bodyworks are damaged, accidents happen. In human beings, depression
sets in, frustration follows, health is affected, and death often
rounds it up. You just cannot cope functioning out of your purpose zone.

How did our purpose come to be? The above verse says "Before the world
began". Yes, our paths in life were set long before God said "Let there
be light". The bible talks of Christ as "the Lamb of God that was slain
before the foundation of the world" Rev 13:8. This tells us that before
Adam and Eve ever sinned and fell, God knew and had already prepared
our escape route.

He also knew that with Adam's fall, the devil will take over the
affairs of this world and God would need people to get back earth for
Him. So God looked down and saw the need for Doctors, Nurses, Bankers,
Lawyers, Writers, Economists, Politicians, Newscasters, Athletes etc
who would take over Governments, Economies, Banking Industries, Media,
Hospitals, Judiciary, Sports etc and make things run the way He
originally intended for them to run before Adam handed them over to
Lucifer.

Because of that need, God began creating men and women, endowing them
with the special abilities needed to be godly Engineers or Architects
or Teachers etc to take over the Engineering world, the construction
companies, the Education sectors etc for God.

Every gift and talent you have is given you to use to restore order in
that particular sector it fits, for God. That is YOUR purpose. That is
why you are good in those things. It was planned and ordered long
before you were born. Long before even Adam was created.

In Exodus 31:1-5, God spoke of how He had endowed Bezalel, son of Uri
with crafting skills for the purpose of building the things for the
Tabernacle and Ark of Covenant. That was why God created that man and
gave him those skills and talents. You also have a reason why God
created you and gave you the skills you have and the thing He wants you
to do with those skills.

How then can you go against it and not execute your executive orders?!
You cannot! The bible says "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it
is the Lord's purpose that will stand" Prov 19:21. You cannot stop
God's purpose! You will only mess yourself up and ruin your own life
and God's purpose will still be fulfilled. If not through you then
through another person, "God is able of these stones to raise up
children unto Abraham" Matt 3:9. The purpose of God will forever be!
"The Lord's purpose is eternal; the designs of his heart go on through
all the generations of man" Ps 33:11. Solid and Unchangeable! With or
without you!

Why then should you fulfill your purpose if God can get it done without
you? The same reason Toyota Corolla must still be driven on land and
not in the sea or air despite the fact that a Honda Accord can do same
job. Just like the Toyota Corolla cannot be used for any other purpose
apart from its original use as a means of road transportation despite
the presence of so many other cars being used for the same thing; so
also you cannot be used for any other purpose other than the one you
are created for despite the presence of others who are also created for
the same purpose.

You are needed. Can you imagine if there was only one doctor available
for the whole of Nigeria? It will be a disaster. That is why God cannot
have just one person in a particular profession. In Exodus 31:6-11,
God told of other people he had endowed with similar skills to work
with Bezalel. This is a joint effort. That's why we need all hands on
deck. But if you refuse to do your part in God, another will be raised
to take your place. Remember that a Toyota Corolla that won't drive on
the road will be left parked in the garage. Don't be left redundant in
life's garage!

FOR THIS PURPOSE WAS I BORN: INTRODUCTION

2010-02-22T00:29:00.001+01:00

“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” 2Tim 1:9

“A master looked at his students one day and asked them, “What is the greatest question in life?”Many answers were given. Some said ‘Is God real?’; some others said, ‘What is love?’; still others said the greatest question is “What is the greatest question? The wise man slowly shook his head and said “The greatest question is WHO AM I. The day you ask yourself that question is the day you begin to live” – Words Of Zen

The master in that parable is 100% right. The day you can ask yourself that question is the day you begin to live. Asking yourself WHO AM I is the first step to self discovery.

And the truth of the matter is that you can never realize who you are without knowing WHY you are. Your PURPOSE is who you are.

My journey to self discovery started when i said ‘there has to be more to life than this’. Someone once said ‘Dissatisfaction is the first step to progress. Until you are tired of where you are, you cannot advance to the next level’. That was exactly what the Holy Spirit used to propel me to discovering my purpose. I wanted, needed, CRAVED for more than I was.

I started searching. And when I opened the door to see what was on the other side, to know what the MORE was, I discovered PURPOSE.

Notice I said DISCOVERED! Yes, you always DISCOVER your purpose, you never choose it. Your purpose was first determined, and then you were specially molded and given the tools and talents to actualize it. Your purpose was not made for you; you are created for your purpose. Your purpose is WHO and WHY you are. It is the reason you exist at all.

Even though I say YOUR purpose, it is really God’s purpose, not yours. Notice the above verse “according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us”. It is His purpose and it was given you to execute.

No matter your achievement in life, no matter your success or wealth, even if you live to be two hundred years, if you leave this world without doing what God made you to do, every second of every minute of every hour of every day you spent on this earth is a total and complete waste. Just like someone who buys a Range Rover and parks it at home, thereby not fulfilling the purpose for which that car was made. A Range Rover is not a showpiece or collector’s item. It is built for use.

Purpose is not a topic that can be rushed. I will continue in subsequent posts, but for now, keep the following in mind –

* You are specially created for a specific purpose
* Every talent, gift, attribute was given you as tools (grace) to fulfill that purpose
* It is not your choice but a God-given task
* You are to discover what that purpose is
* It is in fulfilling that purpose that you know who you are
* If you do not discover and fulfill that purpose, your life is meaningless and a waste
* It is never too late to discover and fulfill your purpose. NOW is always the time to start.

Next post will be a short summary of the definition and history of purpose. Please join me to continue this so important topic.

TWO REALITIES: THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN

2010-02-14T01:09:00.000+01:00

"For we walk by faith, not by sight" - 2 Cor 5:7

I learnt something during the week that I want to share with you. It is about the two realities that govern our lives. Reading the story in 2 Kings 6:11-17 about the siege on Elijah, I am reminded that the Spiritual is every bit as real as the physical. In fact, the bible tells us that it is the spiritual that will outlast the physical - "While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" 2 Cor 4:18.

And I want to ask you – WHAT DO YOU SEE? Do you see as the world sees or you focus on seeing like God sees? As humans, we have sight, one of the five senses. But as the redeemed of the Lord we have something more – INSIGHT – what the dictionary calls the deep perception of a situation and the bible calls Inner Sight or Inward Perception.

There are intangible realities in our everyday lives. The realities that cannot be registered by the five senses but are every bit as real and true as the things we can see and touch and taste and smell and hear.

What we see depends on the altitude at which we operate. Do you live in the spirit or in the flesh? Remember the bible says "But the natural man recieveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" 1 Cor 2:14. If you live firmly on this earth instead of being in the’ heavenly places’ with Christ Jesus, you cannot operate in the unseen. So my second question is ARE YOU OF THIS WORLD OR OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN?

It should be noted from the passage in 2 Kings 6:11-17, that what we see actually affects our faith, it brings fear into our lives and increases doubt. But when we like Moses focus on the unseen - "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible" Heb 11:27, we have the faith that drives out fear.

If we live strictly in the realm of the seen, hear what the bible says about us - "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" Rom 8:6.

It is the spiritual that gives life - "It is the spirit that quickeneth" John 6:63. Without the spirit, we are dead - “For the body without the spirit is dead" James 2:26.

So, the choice before you now is –

PHYSICAL OR SPIRITUAL
NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE
DEVIL OR GOD
SIGHT OR FAITH
CHARIOTS OF SYRIA OR CHARIOTS OF FIRE

There is no middle ground "so then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth" Rev 3:16. Neither can you have it both ways “No man can serve two masters” Matt6:24.

As you decide which to be, remember that a man has the choice of his path but he does not have the choice of the consequences of that path.

May God help and keep you. Amen

FORGIVEN

2010-02-07T22:38:00.002+01:00

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1:9

As I am writing this, my mind is still trying to wrap itself around the awesomeness of it. I committed a willful sin. By willful, I mean I knew before I did it, I knew while I was doing it and I knew when I had done it. Through it all, I had the consciousness of the spirit and the awareness of what I was doing and yet, I still went ahead.

I did not want to ask for forgiveness later. Not because I wasn’t sorry but because I felt I could not justify myself and I could not defend the apology to God. So even though, my heart was repeatedly crying out my sin and asking for forgiveness, I decided to wait till I could ‘feel’ sorry enough and cry before apologizing.

Whilst waiting for my emotions to be penitent enough, I imagined all sorts of calamities that would happen because of my willful disobedience to the Holy Spirit.
I waited for God to strike me.

When nothing physical happened, I decided that something spiritual must have happened; I had been punished spiritually, I thought to myself. Or at the least, I had lost something spiritually! Oh, the foolishness of man!

The Holy Spirit broke into my ruminations and quietly asked “Are you sorry?” I answered “YES” immediately and made to add. “But . . . . . . .” He never gave me a chance, “Then you are forgiven” was the quiet declaration.

I immediately revolted against that. Forgiven??!! How could I be forgiven? No, I could not be forgiven so easily for a willful sin, I thought.

Jesus saw my mind and spoke, reminding me of Simon Peter who denied Him three times (Matt 26:33-35, 69-75). He reminded me that Peter had been warned that he would deny Jesus three times and each time he denied Jesus, while he did not remember the warning, he still knew he was doing something grievously wrong by denying Jesus. That was willful sin!

Jesus went on to tell me that by the time Peter was denying Him, forgiveness was no more an issue because Peter had already been forgiven long before the sin was committed. He had been forgiven from the time Jesus told him he would deny Him.

I still could not accept that I was getting off so lightly, I felt I should be judged for the sin I committed; not for God to have mercy on me. I asked “what of JUSTICE?” and Jesus responded and told me that in 1 Jn 1:9, His words were not that God is MERCIFUL to forgive us but that He is JUST to forgive us. JUSTICE IS SERVED IN FORGIVENESS!

OH MY GOD! A light switch just went on in my heart. I finally understood. God has forgiven me my willful sin simply because I confessed and asked Him to forgive me and because He is FAITHFUL to forgive! He had even forgiven me before I asked and before I sinned! And in forgiving me, the demands of justice had been met. The legal grounds for punishment had been met and fulfilled by the justice of forgiveness!!!

Any lingering trace of guilt was erased with the word that says “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart” 1 John 3:20.

YES! He is greater than my heart. If He doesn’t condemn me, no one else can, not even me!

I cannot begin to tell you what this revelation is doing to me. My heart is aglow with it. My spirit sings at this. Now I know I will never commit that sin again because now I KNOW. What punishment could never have done, forgiveness has done. I cannot take that forgiveness for granted; I can never abuse the sacrifice that satisfied the demands of justice on my behalf. That is what will keep me from falling again.

FORGIVENESS!

I AM FREE! I AM FORGIVEN!

COUNTING THE GAINS

2010-02-01T10:19:00.001+01:00

"And everyone that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life" Matt 19:29

When I decided to rededicate my life to Christ and make Him my Lord, I knew there were great unimaginable things ahead of me. I looked forward to the adventure and the wonder and the glory of walking hand in hand with the Holy Spirit. I was eager and expectant. But in all my expectations, I never counted the costs!

Jesus warned us that following Him involves sacrifice and fellowship with him comes at a cost - "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" Matt 16:24. Matt 19:29 clearly shows we will definitely forsake some things and some people for the sake of the gospel.

You deny yourself of so many things because following God requires you to be different and set apart from the rest of the world - "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins" Rev 18:4.

We are called a “Holy Priesthood” 1 Pet 2:5 therefore we cannot do things like other people. The difference is that WE ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD! And when God leads you, He takes you down some tough paths.

I am going down my tough path right now. I am making a sacrifice so painful; it’s feels as if my heart is being ripped out. I keep on looking at what I’m giving up and it seems way too much.

Then reading my bible one morning, I came across that passage that tells us how Christ called his disciples in Matt4:18-22. I immediately began to look through the four books of the Gospel for where and how Christ called the disciples and their responses. (Matt 9:9, Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27 &28) And I asked myself, what could have made these men so willingly to follow Christ without hesitating? They left their families, their source of livelihood, their lives! They just heard “Follow me” and right away, they got up and did exactly that.

I believe it was because instead of them being like me and wallowing in depression and lamenting over what they were ‘losing’, they instead looked up to Jesus and COUNTED THE GAINS!
They knew that what they stood to gain was far more, unbelievably more than anything they could ever leave for His sake. Hebrews 11:6 says “He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” He will never leave your sacrifice unrewarded.

What a change that made to me. How radically my perspective shifted at that revelation. What is ever a loss when Jesus is involved? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! It is all gain; it is all joy; it is all to my benefit! It is just as my brother said, whenever God tells you to drop what you are carrying, it’s because He wants empty arms to fill up with His own unique blessings.

I still hurt but now I don’t sorrow. Instead I look up to the Author and Finisher of my faith in eager expectation for the amazing thing He has for me. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things God hath prepared for them that love him" 1 Cor 2:9.
And I know by the time I see and understand what it is God is giving me in replacement, I will scream ‘THANK YOU, LORD’ so loudly even heaven will reverberate.

Now I do as the scripture bids me “Count it all joy” James 1:2. I do not focus on the loss anymore because there is no loss. Now I sit and watch expectantly while COUNTING MY GAINS.

FELLOWSHIP OF THE SPIRIT

2010-01-26T03:36:00.000+01:00

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost” Jude 1:20

“. . . . . . . . . . Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings, thou hast perfected praise” Matt 21:16

Praying this morning, I felt a flow of the Holy Spirit in me and I burst into songs in the spirit. I kept on singing in tongues and soon lost myself in the joy of the Lord. That happens to me a lot but today something about the unknown words I was speaking out captivated me and I asked the Holy Spirit for the meaning. The following verses are the translation He gave me. I just have to share them with you.

If they could see the power in that Name
If they could understand the greatness of my Lord
If they could know the Mighty God I worship
They would tremble and fall on their knees

But they cannot see the power in that Name
They cannot understand the greatness of my Lord
They do not know the Mighty God I worship
That’s why they think I stand on my own

So I’ll let them see the power in that Name
I’ll let them understand the greatness of my Lord
I’ll let them know the Mighty God I worship
So they can taste and know my God is good

Then they will see the power in that Name
Then they will understand the greatness of my Lord
Then they will know the Mighty God I worship
And we’ll rejoice and fellowship with Him

I wish I’m gifted in writing music so I could write out the tune for you but as I’m completely clueless in musical arts of any sort, I’ll simply leave it to God who is not the author of confusion to reveal the tune through His Spirit in you as He did with me.

May the words bless you as much as they blessed me.

MIND OVER MATTER

2010-01-22T11:18:00.001+01:00

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” John 8:36

“. . . . . . Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind . . . . .” Rom 12:2

My little brother performed a little experiment on our dog recently and it taught me an invaluable lesson. Tiger, our dog has a nasty habit of scaring visitors away so we keep him chained during the day. One end of the chain is looped into his dog collar and the other end tied to a metal hook by his dog house. The chain is about seven feet in length.

That particular morning, my brother called Tiger over and as always, hooked the chain to his collar but then he did something else, he untied the other end of the chain, the end that that goes into the metal hook and he then left that end lying on the ground.

Over the next five hours, we watched Tiger but he never went beyond the span of the chain. He had become so used to being tied up and having only limited yard space to move in, that even when he was left to go free, he didn’t. In his mind, he was still tethered to the chain so he stayed within the confines of the length of that chain!

Watching that dog that day made me ask myself, “Rayo, Christ has freed you. Why are you keeping yourself captive?” The bible says I AM FREE INDEED! Why am I staying tethered to sin? Why am I limited spiritually? Why am I not spreading my wings and mounting up like the eagle I am?

Every time I give in to sin, I am not living in the freedom Christ died to give me. Every time I say ‘I cannot’ to something God wants from me, I am living like the freed ‘captive of the mighty’ who still seats at the foot of the strongman that Jesus has defeated.

The bible says “as a man thinketh in his heart so he is” Prov 23:7. How true is that statement! It wasn’t the chain that kept Tiger bound that day, it was his mind. Just as it is not any hold of the devil or any bindings of sin that holds a Christian down, it is our mind!

It is high time we refuse to live as slaves anymore when Jesus has made us heirs. Take control of your mind with the help of the Holy Spirit and start “casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” 2 Cor 10:5.

How far you are going to go this year will depend on how far your mind takes you. Isn’t that enough reason to ‘renew your mind’ in God’s word?

NEW LIFE RESOLUTION

2009-12-30T02:13:00.002+01:00

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" Rom 8:14

I'm not a New Year resolution person, I don't make resolutions, and I don't keep resolutions. I do however undertake life evaluations periodically to make adjustments to my life. I don't wait for new years to do this; I do it whenever I want.

A few days ago, Christmas day to be exact, I read a publication of my brother's where he mentioned running with the vision. He said it is not enough to see the vision of God for your life, we must run with it to make it a reality in our lives. It got me thinking. I have known God's purpose for my life for a few years now but I am not living it yet.

Why? I found the answer in the above verse FOR AS MANY AS ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THESE ARE THE SONS OF GOD. I have not allowed myself to be led by the Holy Spirit. Even when I follow His leading, it has been after doing my own thing and messing it up then I return to Him for 'fixing'.

By refusing to allow God to direct my path I have stunted my own growth spiritually and otherwise. I started this blog as a 'baby' Christian and I would have ended it as one if not for the Holy Spirit opening my eyes to see how I have deprived myself of fellowshipping with God and realizing my vision. In a few days I underwent a 180 degrees change. It was all about 'ME' and that is okay for starters, but maturity is so much about growing out of personal preoccupation to selflessness.

So I find myself on the eve of 2010, making not a resolution but a spiritually conscious decision to be numbered and named amongst the 'Sons of God' from this time on. If I don't allow the Spirit to lead me, I will die seeing my promised land but never reaching it. That is not what I want for myself. That is not what I want to present to my heavenly Father. I am more than who I am right now; I am meant for greater things; I am bigger and larger than the cubby hole I presently occupy. I need to spread my wings and mount up like an eagle. I need to run with the vision. I have made enough mistakes; it's time to hand my life over to the one who never errs. Making Christ my Savior is good but even better is making Him MY LORD.

It is time to be led by the Holy Spirit. It is time to grow from childhood to Sonship. That is my New Life Resolution!

GIVING

2009-12-14T14:59:00.001+01:00

“. . . . . . . . . . . . . . It is more blessed to give than to receive” Acts 20:35

It is that time of the year again, that season when we love to give. Whilst giving should not be limited to a particular time, I appreciate the fact that Christmas is associated with giving. It’s a pointer to the fact that we remember and honor the first Giver – God who gave His only Son. Christmas is a wonderful time of love and goodwill and giving. But I want to remind us of three things – The people we give to; The kind of Giving and How we give.

The People We Give To - My brother always says the best kind of giving is the giving that expects nothing in return i.e. giving to people who are in no position to give back to you. Let me paraphrase Christ’s words – “if ye give them that give ye, what reward have ye?” Matt 5:46. It’s good to give our loved ones and it’s wonderful to exchange gifts, but even better is giving to those who might never be able to give you anything in return ever. For in that, God owes you a reward. I’d rather collect from God than man, wouldn’t you? There are many charity and volunteer organizations that need a lot of things to help the less privileged all around the world. Won’t it be great knowing your giving is helping someone hundreds of miles away?

What kind of Giving – My mom says most times the cheapest thing we can give is money, that is why we give it freely. I believe that. Giving money is easier on us than giving ourselves or giving our time. Most times we take the easy route when we give money. How about volunteering your time and energy and service and skills instead of money? Pay a visit to that lonely old woman; help that farmer with his crops; lend a hand to that frazzled overworked widow; teach that child with learning difficulties etc. Opportunities abound for helpful giving, take advantage of one.

How We Give – Do we give only what we can spare or do we give above what is expected?; Do we give out of love or because we want accolades; Do we give joyfully or grudgingly; Do we give to God or to man? A sacrificial giving is a priceless giving. David recognized that “Neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto Jehovah my God which cost me nothing” 2 Sam 24:24. Every time you go out to help someone rather than stay at home to rest, you are sacrificing. Every time you forgo that new bag to donate money to a cause, you are sacrificing. Whenever you deprive yourself of something for another person, you make an invaluable sacrifice. If we have the mind that for everything we do, we do unto God, making sacrifices will not be so difficult for us. Just do it for the Father who first gave His all for you.

For those of you who want to give but don’t know how, let me introduce NABUUR to you. It is an online volunteering site where you have villages all over the world that have need of every kind of skill and profession to make lives better. It doesn’t matter what you do or who you are, NABUUR needs you and it will amaze you to discover how satisfying it is to work in unity with hundreds across the globe and see the results of the seeds you sow. Not only does Nabuur satisfy all the requirements of the three Givings listed above but they are in need of volunteers like you at this time. Just click http://www.nabuur.com and start GIVING!

A SOLID FOUNDATION

2009-09-28T11:26:00.001+01:00

“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” Prov 22:6

Recently, I went to the church my parents have attended all their lives. The same church I was dedicated as a baby and raised as an infant till I grew up and went away to university. It is an old orthodox church founded by the United Missionary Church of Africa so many years ago and it is still alive and vibrant and thriving till today. They have a huge congregation and have a membership base ranging from infants to the elderly. Their fellowships include ones for children, teenagers, singles, young adults, new couples, old couples, ladies, men, pregnant women etc. It is a church where they still preach in that old, stodgy way we pentecostal, charismatic and new apostolic young Christians like to disparage. We have forgotten “Remove not the ancient landmarks which thy fathers have set” Prov 22:28 and we have also forgotten the fact that most of us were raised in this faithfully steady orthodox churches. Many of us even gave our lives to Christ there.

It was a very nostalgic service for me that day. I saw many of my parents’ friends and church members. I saw old friends and age mates who had stayed back in the church; I saw old Sunday school teachers and former pastors. As I sat in the auditorium, my mind went back many years to when I was a kid in one of the numerous children classes behind the main church. I remembered reciting –

“A for Abraham, the father of faith; B for Benjamin, the youngest son of Jacob; C for Caleb, one of the two to enter Canaan” etc.

I remembered learning all those bible stories through songs and plays. Many times, my Sunday school teacher, a dear lady who has gone to be with the Lord now, would have us read certain bible stories as homework and then tell the story to the class the following Sunday. That was when my storytelling ability developed. I always won the storytelling prize.

I remember when I grew up and moved to the teen classes and how we use to sneak into the main church because we believed we were already adults and should be there. How the ushers would chase us back to our own class and we would sulk and pout there and generally give our Sunday teachers a tough sullen time but they never gave up teaching us.

And finally when I turned eighteen and was then eligible to sit in church with the adults, only to leave and go off to university a few weeks later. That wasn’t fair!

As my mind wandered in church that day, I suddenly realized that this old church and my family gave me the solid foundation to be who I am today!

I derailed badly in my university days. I left all I had been taught and went my own way but even in all that, something in my heart and spirit was uneasy. I knew I was doing wrong and I hid that part of me from my parents. Why? – Because I had been raised on God’s foundation and I knew right from wrong!

God’s word never fails. When He tells you to raise a child in the path he should go and that in the future when the child is all grown up, he or she will not depart from it, it is a FACT! I am a living testimony of that. That foundation drew me back from the brink of destruction and set me on the path of life. That foundation is what I am still building on today!

Yes, those orthodox churches might bore us and may seem backward because they don’t have demon chasing, miracle working and motivational firebrand preachers like our modern churches but all through the years they have stayed committed and faithful to God’s commission – laying a solid foundation for millions and raising people in “the ancient landmarks of our fathers”.

And you know the funny thing? I will love my children to be raised in that way!

FAMILY FELLOWSHIP

2009-09-21T14:15:00.002+01:00

“Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” – Psalm 133:1

I come from a family of believers. I mean a lineage of believers. I had great grandparents and grandparents who believed in Christ. Some of whom could not read or write and some who could only read the bible in Yoruba but their faith was real and living and obvious. Apart from my maternal grandfather who was of another faith, we have always been believers and I know in my spirit and heart that for generations to come, we will always be.

We were not born believers, even though some of us were born to the Christian religion. It was just that at different times in our lives, we each came to the saving grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My maternal grandmother came to know Christ early in life through the teachings of her Christian parents and though she was given out in marriage against her wish and her parents’ will to a man not of her faith and belief (he was the king of her village so everyone had to kowtow to his wish), she stuck to Christ and raised her children in the way of the Lord. So obvious was the difference her faith made in her life that her other co-wives and their children soon followed her steps to Christ. Her unbelieving husband saw the peace and unity the faith brought to his formerly riotous polygamous household and prudently refrained from discouraging any of them from the Christian faith. And so they all grew and waxed strong in the Lord.

My Paternal grandparents were also Christians, a faith handed down from their parents. My grandfather was a traditional healer and his practice flourished because of all the traditional healers in his village, he was the only one who made no incantation over his medicinal leaves. He prayed over them instead and God honored his prayers. People flocked to him and he used the opportunity to preach Christ. My Grandmother was a trader and travelled far and wide to buy and sell and preach Christ. God blessed her mightily.

My Grandparents are all gone now. They lived long and blessed lives and are now resting but their legacy lives on. I can still hear my maternal grandmother in my mind exhorting us to go early to church and stay to take the final grace because “God sends three angels with blessings during a church service. One comes during the opening prayers; the second during the sermon and the third during the closing grace. And you should not miss any of the blessings”. That always made us laugh and till now we still laugh when we remember her saying that. But that was how simple and steady their faith was.

My mother though raised in Christ and very moral and believing all her life made a life-changing commitment to Christ when she had her first baby. She said she stared at the baby after birth and became overwhelmed at the thought of being responsible for a LIFE! She realized she couldn’t do it alone so right there on the hospital bed, she made a dedication and covenant with God. Her life changed from then on. And though that child who made her turn to Christ left to be with God at the age of thirteen, his life was amazing! Almost thirty years after his passing on, we still hear testimonies of his life. I met a man about a year ago and when I mentioned my name, he asked if I was related to so-so and when I said yes, he told me how my late brother led him to Christ at the age of ten! I cried that day (I’m actually crying again now).

My Dad's submission took a little longer than my mom’s but by the time I was in my early teens, he had taken his place and position in the Lord and it is wonderful seeing the two of them with their children grown and out of the house, serving their Savior together.

We are a large family. Lots of brothers, sisters, cousins many times removed, aunties & uncles from both sides of the family, nephews, nieces, grandnephews, grandnieces and in-laws. But we are all so united. Despite the physical distance and space between us as we settle in different parts of the world, nothing can break the love and unity we have. I believe this is because of Christ.

We not only have earthly kinship but also heavenly brotherhood. And God has been so faithful to my family. No matter how rebellious and misled we might start off as, we always find our way back to Christ. This is because God honors the prayers of our great-grandparents, grandparents and parents. The prayers they offer to God to make “them and their household to serve the Lord”. And the way they raise us in the way of the Lord gives a solid foundation that draws us back to the light.

God has also been faithful in our choice of spouses. We have wonderful God fearing husbands and wives and their families become ours just as ours become theirs and so we grow larger and fuller.

Whenever we get together for a family occasion or holidays, it’s always huge and fun. And when it is time for devotion, I’m sure even the angels pause in their duties to stare in amazement at us!

We have had ups and downs in this my huge extended family, we have lost, we have mourned, we have hungered, we have searched, but through it all God has been our strength and brought us safely through.

I have a wonderful family!

THE UNFORCED RHYTHMS OF GRACE

2009-09-12T13:40:00.000+01:00

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly” – Matt 11:28-30

The above is a direct quote from Eugene H. Peterson’s THE MESSAGE BIBLE. I love that version of the bible and it is what I use for my daily readings. Today, I came across this popular verse and the way THE MESSAGE BIBLE put it struck me. “LEARN THE UNFORCED RHYTHMS OF GRACE”. I have never thought of ‘living by His grace’ like this before. It reminded me of something that happened to me last year.

Late last year, I had a conversation with a friend. I told him then that I don’t claim my Christ given healing for small things like headache or tummy ache and all the other small aches. According to me then, there are simple over the counter drugs for things like that. I reserved “By His stripes, I am healed” (Isaiah 53:5) for serious illnesses.

A few days later, I had a very bad headache, the kind that is borderline migraine. I took analgesics and laid down for a nap. I woke up and the headache was still there. More analgesics and more naps followed but nothing helped. The headache didn’t get worse but neither did it get better. It just held steady. After four days I was getting desperate. I went to see a doctor. What followed was a whole battery of tests and examinations. Nothing turned up. More drugs, stronger analgesics were prescribed and I took them faithfully. No improvement.

I was referred to another hospital and was already scheduled for a whole new set of tests when my brother suggested praying. So that night, I prayed and reminded God that I have been healed by the stripes of His Son. Without taking any medication, I went to bed and woke up headache free for the first time in more than two weeks. I learnt that day that even if you can do it easily, there is always an easier way through Grace.

That is The Unforced Rhythm of Grace!

And that is a major part of the lesson I have been learning these past weeks. I am a go-getter, driven, passionate overachiever. I have always run the whole mile myself and I’ve always believed in “I can do it. I will do it. I must do it”. I roll under my own steam. But now the Holy Spirit is teaching me that I am in a partnership with Him and my life, career and purpose is a joint venture in which He has an active part and His own contribution is more than pointing out directions, it also includes GRACE!

Yes, I can still do it. Yes, I will still do it. Yes, I must still do it. But allowing myself to trust and rely on His Grace makes it so much easier. Working and walking with the Holy Spirit and learning how Christ does it and leaning on the Grace of God gives every task a naturalness that takes the stress and heaviness out of it all and replaces it with freedom and lightness.

That is The Unforced Rhythm of Grace!

And this Grace we have so freely was given to us at a price. A very costly price! The sweat, blood, pain, suffering and death of Jesus Christ. We might have gotten it free but He didn’t earn it free. The only way we can pay Him back is to make full use of that Grace. That’s what He intended it for. Please don’t do it on your own. For the sake of that precious blood shed on the cross, MAKE USE OF THAT GRACE! It is for your use!

LEARN THE UNFORCED RHYTHMS OF GRACE!

LEARNING

2009-09-01T12:41:00.003+01:00

"Behold as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand" - Jer 18:6

I'm going through things right now. I'm learning what it means to wait upon the Lord and I'm learning it the hard way.

I have never been a patient person and it has always affected my walk with God. I'm more of the "hit the ground running" type and now God has decided its high time i learn patience.

I HATE IT!

But i have no choice because it seems God is in "I have all the time in the world" mood. And believe me, when someone to whom a thousand years is like a day says that to you, you better toe the line he lays down or you just might be in that same spot FOREVER!

It sucks!

God is dealing with me in ways I've never experienced before and when i get cranky, its as if He just folds His arms and wait for me to get over my mood. He's in no rush. I have to confess, even though i know its for my own good and for the greater good of blah, blah, blah, i still don't like it. And i really don't like the Holy Spirit when he's like this.

I know i sound like a whinny, sulky, petulant child (I feel like one too) but i cannot help it. I've always liked things going exactly the way i want and this is certainly NOT what i want right now.

I've not been a model student so far. Sometimes, when God tells me to do some kinda things i dont wanna do, i feel like yelling "WHO DIED AND MADE YOU GOD?" Except of course, HE IS GOD so i feel like yelling "JESUS DIED AND MADE ME GOD" except of course, submission to God is part of the deal.

So. I'm stuck!

I'm learning though. And even though I really don't want God to know this yet (I don't want to hear His I TOLD YOU SO!), I'm becoming a better person and growing. Just goes to prove - GOD REALLY KNOWS BEST!

After finally realizing the earlier i get my act together and allow Him have His way in my life, the better (and earlier) I will become who i ought to be, I've FINALLY submitted to His will and leading and disciplining.

So when the BIGGER BETTER RAYO emerges from her God-enforced cocoon, you all will be the first to know.

HE’S NOT THE ONE

2009-07-20T13:14:00.000+01:00

I want to share this article with you. I wrote it a few weeks ago for a Singles magazine and the issue came up with a friend again last week and somehow, this found its way to my blog. I hope it blesses you.

"for God is not [a God] of confusion, but of peace" - 1 Cor 14:33

Tonia and Fred had been dating for six years and now it was crunch time. To marry Fred or not? Or rather the real question was ‘Is he the right man for me or not?’ This was the crux of Tonia’s dilemma. There’s no doubt that she’s in love with Fred but she knows marriage involves so much more and she was scared of making a wrong choice and having an unhappy marriage.

Fred had proposed and Tonia had accaepted his proposal but from that moment she had been disturbed. She could not talk to anybody about how she was feeling. She had not even told anybody about Fred’s proposal and her own acceptance. Not even her family members. Instead she had turned to God. Tonia prayed and prayed for a confirmation from God about her decision but the Holy Spirit was strangely silent.

That was not surprising.

In the six years Tonia had been with Fred, he had done nothing but try to change her to another person. He had systematically cut off all her friends over the years. He had curtailed her outings and shut down the outgoing, fun loving, ever laughing girl in her. He had his own opinion of what a wife should be and he was determined to make Tonia into that image without regard for her God-given nature and personality.
He took complete control of her finances, collecting her salary at the end of each month, leaving her with only the amount he felt she needed for basic purchases. He knew how much she spent on calls and gave her a budget for personal amenities. He planned her life for her, including what to do, when and how to do it.

When her parents expressed their misgivings, Tonia excused Fred saying he was making her into a better Christian and wife material. Her parents kept quiet verbally but raised their voices even louder to God not to let their daughter make the wrong choice. They know true love makes you better but they also know love doesn’t suppress your nature. Rather, it builds it up.

The Holy Spirit didn’t answer Tonia’s question because there was no need to. He knew that Tonia knows, deep in her heart, that Fred is not the man for her but because she loved him, she refused to face up to that fact. Even if Jesus Christ should appear in front of her physically and tell her not to marry Fred, she would find a way to change the message to suit her.

The most telling confirmation of the error of her choice was that she had no peace. Peace of mind is the most important indicator of God’s will. There is no time we walk in his path for our lives that we ever lack peace. Even by human nature, when we receive a marriage proposal from the man of our dreams, what we feel is joy and eager expectation of that D-Day. We go out and tell everybody that we are engaged to HIM!

Tonia had no joy, no peace, no expectation; she could not even tell anybody! And yet she was asking the Holy Spirit to show her if she was making the right choice!!! What other sign does she need? A booming voice of thunder from heaven?!

Like Tonia, many of us know in our hearts that the choices we make are not the right ones and like Tonia, we don’t want to accept that we are wrong. If we, like Tonia, go ahead with that wrong choice, we will end up consigning ourselves to a lifetime of regret.

THINGS I NOW KNOW

2009-06-21T13:07:00.003+01:00

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth” John 16:13

There are certain knowledge I now posses since I was baptized with the Holy Spirit that I did not have before. And these truths have changed me from the inside out. Some are general biblical truths, some are personal revelations and life lessons but all have made a difference in my life and recreated me to be the person I am now. Of course, I cannot list them all but I have chosen to write a few.

The number one truth I discovered is that the Holy Spirit is real! He is not a force or a power. He is a person! He is alive and true and spirit and REAL! He is my constant companion, helper, comforter, confidant and friend. He is so very real!
I am not a human being having a spiritual experience. I am a spirit having a human experience. My spirit is as real as the Holy Spirit and more real than the body which houses me. When all is done and over with, it is my spirit that is left standing.
Everything we see and touch around us; every physical thing exists because of the spiritual and depends on the spiritual for its very existence. That means the known is made by the unknown. So when Christ tells me to focus on the unseen, He sure knows what He is talking about!
Since receiving the Holy Spirit, I have grown to know, understand, accept and love myself the way I am. It is only in Christ we can truly discover ourselves and it is only the Holy Spirit who can open our eyes to see US in Christ.
The meaning of Purpose. I understand now who I am; what I am; why I am; what my part and path is in life; the reason I was created and saved; how I am to walk while on earth; my job as Christ’s co-worker. I know my talents and gifts and how to express them and how they fit into the eternal scheme of life. Now I can answer the question of WHO AM I?
I am never alone. I have God, my Father; Jesus, my Intercessor and the Holy Spirit, my Helper and teacher.
I have learnt that I am more than I think I am. I have learnt not to stay with the ME I know but to grow to become the ME God sees.
I have no limitations. I can do all things and BE all things.
The battle for life is fought in the mind. If my mind can conceive it, I can achieve it. If I can believe it; I can do it!
I am as God. I am god. That is what God calls me. When I stand, it is as good as God standing because I am His representative on earth. I am here to do what He wants done. I am here to establish His kingdom. I am light. I am life.
It is true I am not OF the world but I am still IN the world. And for as long as I am in it, I have to live in it and exist in it and contribute to it and impact it and make it a better place.
I have learnt beyond any iota of doubt that LOVE truly is the greatest.
I have learnt that ‘to whom much is given, much is expected’. I have to pass on all Christ gave me. I have to tell of the love of God. I have to give the Spirit to others. Being a Christian is a HUGE responsibility. This humbles me.
I have learnt that there is still so much to learn and so much to know. The more I know, the more I still have to know. Now I understand that I am still ‘pressing towards the goal’ (Php 3:14). I am just starting.
Now I know the truth of that statement - “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” 1 Cor 2:9.

And this is just the beginning!

I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES

2009-06-11T19:31:00.002+01:00

“For with God, nothing shall be impossible” – Luke 1:37

I believe in miracles. I believe in a God who specializes in the impossible. I have seen and experienced too many things to feel otherwise. God is real and true and above everything.

I’m sitting here talking with my mom and we suddenly realized it is exactly fifteen years ago today that God did an amazing thing to show Himself mighty in our lives. He has done a great many things in our lives on a daily basis but like the Israelites look up to Crossing the Red Sea as a significant milestone so also I look up to that particular event as something wonderful. It is not a miracle like the opening of eyes or the lame walking. No, it is a miracle that shook me more than those have ever done.

There was a door in my parent’s house. It was in the entrance leading from the garage into the house. You can just drive into the garage and enter the house through that side door and you are in the living room. It was a door just like any other door except for one thing, it was loose. Somehow the door didn’t close well and even when you lock it with the key, all you had to do was lean on it and it would swing open. My dad was always planning to fix it or change the door but he always procrastinated and the door was left like that.

Then the unimaginable happened one night.

It was a night like every normal night that day fifteen years ago. My dad was out of the country on an official assignment. It was I, my mom, my grandmother, a female cousin and my little brothers at home. No adult male except an aging unarmed guard. Suddenly the silent night was shattered with the sounds of gunshots.

Armed robbers!

Anyone that has lived or lives in Nigeria will understand what I’m talking about. They had scaled the security fence, tied down our old guard and they were now trying to gain access into the house. We all woke up and panic ensued. Everybody tumbled out of the rooms running in different directions. Somehow we all found ourselves huddled in the little hall in the center of our house. The telephone was in the living room but nobody was going to move one inch away from that little hall.

And then we started hearing thumping sounds! They were ramming all the doors they could find to break inside. As one, we stared into each other’s eyes as the same thought dawned in our minds – THE GARAGE DOOR! Horror paralyzed us and froze our hearts. I clung tightly to my mom. We all did. Including my grandmother. Then I heard her whispering “Jesus, help us. Show yourself faithful!”

The thumping went on for some time and then the shooting resumed. They shot sporadically into the house from every side. They shouted and yelled for us to open the door or they would set fire to the house. My mom just kept repeating those words over and over “Jesus, show yourself faithful”. Then we started hearing sounds of fighting. There was a whole lot of shouting and screaming for a long time.

After what seemed like forever, there was silence. We strained our ears but could hear nothing. Nevertheless, we stayed right where we were till dawn. It was when neighbors started trooping in in the morning and called out to us that we felt safe enough to leave the hall. We opened the door and saw what we could not explain. There was blood everywhere. On the fence, the walls of the house, the grounds all around the compound. Even leading outside the gate, we saw bloody footprints.

Our old guard who had been tied up outside was the only eyewitness and the only thing he could tell us was they were shooting into the house then one of the robbers brought a can of gasoline to pour round the house and suddenly, the man with the gasoline started bleeding and yelling to be left alone and then pandemonium broke out and all the others started struggling and yelling too. They ended up scrambling and running out of the compound like the hordes of hell were after them, leaving most of their weapons and a whole lot of blood.

We walked round the house and the walls were riddled with bullet holes outside but none had penetrated through to the inside The bullets were lodged in the walls. Not even a single window was cracked! But that was not all. We entered the garage and came to that door. That loose, always swinging opening door.

On the body of the door were deep gouges, bullet holes with bullets and boot prints like we found on all the other doors. The robbers had rammed and kicked and shot at that door to get it open but that door had held firm! And yet, as my mom walked up to it and leaned on it, it swung open!

That day, even though I wasn’t yet a Christian and wouldn’t be for many more years, I stood in awed fear of the greatness and faithfulness of the God my parents served. I have never forgotten the dizzying sense of fear and respect and awe I experienced as I gaped in silence at the evidence of the existence and power of God.

The garage has another door now but in our store room we keep that old scarred door as a testimony to that night when “Jesus showed Himself faithful” according to my mother’s prayer. “But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and guard you from the evil one” 2 Thess 3:3

Oh! How much I believe in miracles and the God of miracles! How much I believe the faithfulness of God!

GOD IS GOOD

2009-05-19T20:18:00.001+01:00

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever” Psalm 107:1

In all the sad and difficult things that have been happening it is easy to lose sight of the goodness of God. It is so easy to stand back and ask ‘How can a good God allow such bad things?’ Very easy to query the goodness of God in the face of such ‘badness’.

But let us not forget the bible says “God is good” not that “good is God”. What that means is that good deeds do not define God. God defines good. Being good is not an attribute we ascribe to God. Good is God’s nature. That is who He is. Good is not a character, it is a person. IT IS GOD!

We define good by human standards but good can only be defined by God. Whatever God does is good because it is His nature; He cannot do anything but good; He cannot be anything else but good! HE IS GOOD!

Now I’m not saying those deaths are good things or that God killed my uncle and friends. No! Those things happened as a result of the ripple effects of the fall and they will continue to happen until we grow into the fullness of Christ and overcome death.

What I am saying is that no matter what happens, no matter how bad things seem, no matter the pervasive evil in the world, God is a good God and whatever He does is good so the only way to determine the goodness of something is to ask the question – “Did God do it?” if the answer is Yes, then that thing is a good thing.

I am convinced of the goodness of God. In the midst of so much heartache and tears, I have no doubt that my God is good. I serve a good God. I have a good Father. Even when He does things I don’t understand and because of my shortsightedness I cannot see the good right now, I still know it is good because “GOD IS GOOD” and because “we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose” Rom 8:28.

So I worship my God and thank Him for all His goodness. I honor Him and bless His holy name. There is none like Him in all the earth and above and below. He is my God and my Father. My Good God and My Good Father!

HE IS MY COMFORT

2009-05-14T03:37:00.002+01:00

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” 2 Cor 1:3&4

Last month was a heavy month for me. While still grappling with the loss of my uncle, I was faced with my friends’ loss of their little baby. I had yet to deal with that when I lost another friend. A young man who just got married late last year. As if that was not enough, I got news of the death of a co-volunteer on Nabuur. She died in a car crash.

I felt battered on every side. I could not understand anything again. I was operating on auto-pilot. I felt each loss keenly but could not give in to my grief because I had to be strong for others. I had to be strong for my mother, aunty and cousins who had lost a brother, husband and father; I had to be strong for my friends who were mourning the sudden death of their precious baby. I had to be strong for my friend’s young wife and the work on Nabuur had to continue.

I was floundering on an emotional tightrope and I knew it. I felt brittle and could feel I was close to shattering. I put on a brave face during the day and lay awake dry eyed at night. This continued till sometime last week when I entered my bathroom one morning to take a shower and suddenly started shaking. Tremors racked my whole body and I could not stop the shivering.

I sat on the floor, wrapped my arms around myself and tried to control the shaking. I could not.

I don’t know how long I sat there till finally I raised my head and looked out the window. I said “Jesus……..” and that was all it took. It felt as if someone wrapped giant warm arms around me and at that moment the tears I’d held back for so many days broke free.

I snuggled into those arms and wept out the pain, anger and sadness. My whole body heaved as I sobbed. I cried for the lives cut short. I cried for loved ones left behind to mourn and I cried for myself. I opened my heart up to the Holy Spirit, snuggled into My Father’s arms, held on to Jesus and allowed them to comfort me.

There is still anger, pain and sadness and there still will be for a long time but now I don’t run from it. I run to my heavenly family with it and they gather round and hold me in comfort. The more I allow myself to be comforted, the better I’m able to comfort those around me. And little by little, we are healing.

I still don’t understand why all these happened and I still don’t know when it will all stop but I do understand and know comfort. The kind of comfort only God can give. The kind of comfort that makes me a comfort to others. And I am grateful for it.

GIVE THANKS

2009-05-09T13:53:00.002+01:00

“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you” – 1 Thess 5:18

My dear friend had her much longed for, much desired baby. She and her husband had suffered through three miscarriages. I have seen the hope and joy whenever she discovers she’s pregnant and the despair and heartache when she loses the pregnancy. I have prayed with them and for them. And I have never seen them lose their faith.

Then this pregnancy. It was a difficult pregnancy from the word go. She spent more time in the hospital than home; more time in bed than out. But as each successive month crept by and the pregnancy held steady, our hope and joy increased.

When I got the call that she had put to bed, I screamed and danced a jig round my room. I cannot remember how I got to the hospital, I just found myself there. The joy on her face was confirmation that all those weeks in bed had been worth it. Everybody was euphoric. If any couple deserves to be and should be parents, it was them!

Four days later, their baby died.

For the first time, I saw my friend shattered. It was a blow too much for my strong, gentle, believing friend. She broke down. As she wept in my arms, I looked at her husband; he was numb. He seemed incapable of words or movement. I didn’t know what to say to either of them. I could only cry with them.

Then I heard one of the ladies who had come to comfort them say quietly “In everything give thanks”.

I felt a flash of anger. No, RAGE!

Give thanks for what! The miscarriages?; the long uncomfortable weeks in bed?; raising their hopes then dashing it?; dangling a baby in front of them and snatching it right back?

I saw nothing to give thanks about and no reason to thank God in anything that had just happened.

But just as quickly as it came, the anger left.

We are not told to find a reason to give thanks. Neither are we told there has to be a reason for thanksgiving. As simple and as difficult as it is, we are just told to ‘give thanks for that is the will of God to us’.

Just Give Thanks.

Oh, but how hard! How hard it is to give thanks in a situation like this. It is so hard!

THE LAST ENEMY

2009-05-03T19:45:00.002+01:00

“The last enemy that shall be abolished is death.” 1 Cor 15:26

I wrote this two days after we laid my uncle to rest. He was sixty two years old and looking forward to the arrival of his first grandchild. We had no warning. No sign. He went to bed hale and hearty and never woke up again. It hit the whole family hard.

I have lost a lot of people over the course of my life. I lost my dear friend who helped me to Christ; I’ve lost a brother, friends, cousins, grandparents, aunties, uncles, colleagues, acquaintances. It has never gotten easier. I have asked ‘Why?” a lot of times.

But looking on as my Uncle was being interred, I asked another question. I asked “When?”

When will we overcome death?

I do not believe we are to wait till resurrection to become immortal. No! I believe it is something we are to become while on earth. Adam was not created to die. He was created to live forever. He lost it. Immortality was one of the things Christ came to restore back to us.

When Christ died on earth, He also rose on earth. In flesh and blood. He did not get to heaven before overcoming death. He overcame death then ascended to heaven. Why then have we accepted death as our lot in life?

Resurrection is not an event. It is a person – CHRIST! “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life” –John 11:25

As long as we have Christ in us, we have resurrection in us. We are to be indestructible as He is. But if we do not understand that we will continue to be subject to death. “I said, Ye are gods, And all of you sons of the Most High. Nevertheless ye shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes” –Psalm 82:6&7

I agree that that is not a day’s job. Just as we are to grow into fullness so also we are to grow into immortality. We have to overcome a lot of things before we get to overcoming death. It is after all, the Last Enemy. Many of us will die physically before that is achieved. I understand that.

But standing by the grave and bidding my beloved uncle goodbye, it is hard for me to accept.

I can only ask, “WHEN?”

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?

2009-04-24T15:47:00.000+01:00

“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4

I have asked this question many times and I have received varying answers. But no answer has actually ever got the question correctly. I am not asking if you believe what man says about God.

I am a Christian and I believe the bible but no matter how much God inspired the bible might be, when pen was put to paper, it was by human hands. And when those ancient writings were translated to different versions and languages, it was by human scholars. We have had divinity explained to us by humanity.

But there is something that man has no hand in that explains the divine to us in a way no words can. The psalmist said “Look to nature and understand the ways of God”, so when I say do you believe in God, I am asking if you believe IN God!

When you look up to the starry sky, do you sense the divine? ; When you hear the booming thunder and watch the rolling lightning splitting the sky, do you feel awe? ; When you plant a seed and see the first thrust of its tentative growth out of the soil, do you feel that quickening in your heart? ; When you raise your face to the sun and feel its warmth, do you wonder about the countless mysteries space still hides in its wombs?

In your search for answers, do you pause to think of what or who the question might be? ; As you follow science’s relentless quest for knowledge, do you ever sit and ask what is the foundation of that knowledge? ; In the Big Bang Theory, do you ask about the power behind the Bang? ; Do you ever hesitate and think there just might be a bigger truth out there?

Have you ever had a near miss and felt that scary tingle of “it should have been me”? ; Have you ever questioned coincidence? ; Do you walk past history and think how big, how far and how numerous the past is? ; Do you hear of an archeological discovery and feet your heart teeter on edge?

When you put your hand on the swelling mound of your belly and feel the beating life, do you think of creation? ; When you hold that precious bundle and count toes and fingers, do you wonder how? ; Do you at any moment question what you think you know?

Do you?

Or have you lost the magic?

Do you believe in God?

SHIT DOESN’T HAPPEN!

2009-04-10T20:31:00.000+01:00

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed” Deut 30:19

There’s a saying that “shit happens and life goes on” but I say “shit doesn’t happen and life goes on”. All the things we see around us are as a result of the choices we make not as a result of “shit chance” or bad luck.

Someone made the choice to fly the planes into the twin towers. Another person made the choice to fight back. Thousands of brave men and women who had made the choice to fight for and defend their country were sent to war. Millions of others who had made the choice to work and pay tax ensured the money for that war.

What of the things we don’t actively and willingly choose? Every choice has a ripple effect. Just like the choice of a few mad men to wage a terrorist war affected the lives of millions so also the choice Adam made gazillion years ago is affecting us till today. He gave up his dominion over the earth and we became subjects of a power which now rule the earth and that makes “shit happen”.

So just like your 5foot father (from a lineage of 5 footers) made the choice to marry your 4 foot mother (from a lineage of 4 footers) and with both genes combined you turned out a midget. Talk about having the choice of height snapped right out of your hands! Once Adam made that choice we had no choice again. No more say in what happens to us.

Christ came to restore that choice to us. He came to give us an alternative. So now we can decide all on our own whether to rule and become kings over every circumstance and situation or be slaves to “happening shits”.

There’s one thing God has never interfered with. That is freewill. All over the bible we see choices laid out for us. People say they cannot fathom a God who gives a choice to believe Him and live or not believe Him and die. Tobacco companies also give us the choice to smoke and die or not smoke and live and we choose, don’t we? That is freedom of choice!

How else is God to play it? Leave us free to do whatever and no consequences whatever? As a parent have you forgotten telling your child “if you ace this exam, you will go to Disney but if you don’t, you will take summer classes”? You say that is mild compared to the options God is offering? Well, remember the choices we have is a battle for our very lives, our souls, our spirits, and our destinies so it’s far bigger than end of term results. It’s huge enough to get God to come down in human form. We are playing for high stakes here so God cannot afford to offer up frivolous options.

Stop blaming God for the ‘bad’ things that happen. Realize those are the ripple effects of choices people made. Just as the color of your skin, texture of your hair and length of your legs was determined by the choices your ancestors made. Then when you accept that, you can begin to understand that you can make another choice not to live your life by the choice Adam made. You can take the alternative Christ offers.

Then “shit” won’t have to happen. What of Christians whom “shit” happens to? You see, that’s what maturing into Christ(ianity) does. It makes you like Jesus. You become above it all like he was on earth and still is in heaven. Then you get to determine the “shit” that happens or you can choose to make sure no “shit” ever happens.

SINNERS, BELIEVERS AND CHRISTIANS

2009-03-28T03:08:00.000+01:00

“But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” – Rom 5:8

Who is a sinner? According to the bible – NOBODY! Sinners existed before Christ but from the time Jesus died and rose, sinners ceased to exist. They simply went extinct!

The bible says “By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” Heb 10:10. The word here is “ONCE FOR ALL” He doesn’t die every time a soul accepts Him as savior. NO! More than 2,000 years ago, He died and enveloped the whole world in a blanket of forgiveness. It is when you accept that that it becomes real to you but it doesn’t change the fact that He had already forgiven you ages ago.

Let me put it like this, if someone pays for a holiday cruise for you, as in pays all the bills, then you choose not to eat on the ship, does that mean the meal hasn’t been paid for? If you start eating on the fourth day of the cruise, does that mean the bill was just paid on the fourth day?

Christ has already paid the bill in full but we have to believe that fact and accept it and start ‘eating’ up for us to enjoy. That is when you become a believer.

You grow into Christianity. Look at the first time the word Christian was used in the bible – “And it came to pass, that even for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught much people, and that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” Acts 11:26. It was when the group of disciples and believers became so much like Christ in their behavior and ways and teachings that people saw it and started calling them ‘CHRISTIANOS’ meaning ‘followers of Christ’

You become a Christian when you become like Christ. Free of every limitation and restriction. When you are full and complete. It is when you become ‘god’ on earth like Christ was. Above every situation and impossibility.

The believer has life, the Christian has abundant life!

So technically and biblically, I’m a believer not a Christian. But that’s okay. I will grow and mature into Christianity. That’s why the Christian life is a journey. With God, you crawl, stumble, limp, walk, fall, run, fly, crash till you are firmly rooted. It is a life measured in steps not time. It’s a journey that can be short or long depending on our willingness, submission and obedience.

I will get to full maturity but in the mean time I’m having a blast honeymooning with Christ as a believer!

WHY I LOVE BEING A CHRISTIAN

2009-03-17T11:51:00.000+01:00

“The greatest of these is love” - 1Co 13:13

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE! That’s just it. I can be who I am; who I want to be; who I should be and it won’t make a single tittle bit of difference to God. He loves me as I am. He accepts me as I am. He blesses me as I am.

I smoke, I drink, I have sex (that means fornication), and I swear, I have a temper, I have a bitchy tongue and I’m a Christian! Odd? Yes, according to so called Christian standards but to God – THAT’S MY DAUGHTER!

What I do does not and cannot change who I am. I am the beloved of His heart, His child. God loves me regardless of all the ‘sins’ I commit.

How many of us yearn to be loved for who we are exactly as we are? That can only be found in Christ. He is the only one who accepts us unconditionally.

I talk to the Holy Spirit of everything and He answers me. I tell Him of my day and deeds (including all my sins) and he listens. I tell Him of every thought and idea and plan whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and He hears me. ALWAYS!

My life never affects our relationship. God is my dad and I am his daughter!

I get angry at Him, I question Him, I sulk and throw tantrums and He is still my loving Father. He disciplines and punishes me just like my biological father. I don’t get away with all my crap but that’s what being a child to a good father is about.

I don’t pretend to Him because there’s no need to. Why would I lie to someone who loves me regardless (apart from the fact that He knows it all anyway)

And then a wonderful thing happens. When you have such unconditional, irrepressible, visible, obvious, open, loving love, it starts changing you. You begin to respond in kind. You start wanting to BE that love. You want to live up to His expectations. You want to make Him happy always. Then you realize you are changing.

Not a false change but a deep inner change that creeps up on you. You just realize one day that you are different in a wonderful way. That is the power of love.

God’s love treats us the way we should be not the way we are. He sees the greatness in us through the pettiness we show. He knows who we are not what we portray. He sees the creativity in our imaginatively wicked acts. He sees the passionate drive in our selfish motives. He sees the hunger for survival in our stampede of the weak. He believes in us. And He loves us!

WHY I BELIEVE IN JESUS

2009-03-09T01:16:00.002+01:00

“I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” Acts 8:37

Please note that I am not trying to tell you why you should believe in Jesus. I am simply telling you why I believe. My answer is pretty simple and straightforward – because of FAITH! I know many people are going to think “here we go again with Christianity!” but the truth is that every single human on this earth lives on faith. We go to sleep with plans for the next, forgetting that there is no guarantee we will actually wake up the next day; we wake up and go about our day with plans to round up and go home to rest; we go home certain our houses will still be where we left them etc. We simply believe! Why do we assume these things if not for faith?

It takes as much faith not to believe in God as it does to believe in him (probably more). Believing in Science also requires faith just as believing in religion does. The only difference is that I chose to put my faith in Christ.

We are creatures of faith whether we accept it or not. Faith is logical. There is something in each of us that has to believe in something. We can believe God is not real or believe Christianity is fake or believe in what we can prove or believe in facts and theories or believe philosophy or principles, anything! That word “believe” is FAITH.

When you say ‘I believe in ………….’, you are saying ‘I have faith in ………’ or you say ‘I don’t believe in …………’, you are saying ‘I don’t have faith in ………….’

Whether we acknowledge it or not, faith is very much a part of us. So, what then do you believe in? Or maybe I should put it like this – What do you have FAITH in?

I have faith in God, faith in Jesus Christ, faith in the Holy Spirit. Of all the million things I can believe ………. sorry, have faith in, I choose to have faith in Christ. And every day since I believed, He has proved my faith in him.

You want proof? Then “taste and see”. The why and how can only be explained in experiencing it. If you were once a Christian and now you are out of it and against what you once believed, I can assure you a hundred percent without an iota of doubt that you were never a Christian, you just subscribed to a Christian doctrine. There is no one who can ever experience what salvation really is and go back. It’s just not possible! That much I can stake my life on.

You want proof of my faith, then enter it and get your proof! You think you can preach and prove Christianity is false? Whatever you say is gist because “for the kingdom of God is not in words but in power” – 1 Cor 4:20. I don’t argue Christianity, I show it! Not with dos and don’ts or laws and grace but with my everyday life. Complete with all its rust and dirt and imperfections. Christianity is not seen in holiness and perfection; it is seen in everyday, ordinary and normal lives.

So if you want to know why I chose to put my faith in Christ, watch my life and have an idea then taste Christ and understand.

The Flesh and The Spirit

2009-02-15T01:56:00.000+01:00

“So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” Rom 7:25 (ASV)

I’m sure by now you must be thinking I’m a saint. I wish! Believe me; sainthood is very far from me. From the time of my salvation right through my baptism of the Hoy Spirit up till this very moment, it has been one hurdle after another. I have sinned so many various sins. Even came up with some new ones I wasn’t into before my salvation. Some are unintentional sins, some willful and deliberate. I have fallen more times than I can count.

Sometimes, I wonder why God doesn’t just pick me up by the scruff of my neck and lock me up in a room to keep me out of His hair. I’m sure I’ve tried His godly patience more than once. You remember the teaching about His grace being more than sufficient? I believe I’ve used up more than my allocated share of that grace and then some.

It’s not as if I don’t want to be good and it’s not as if I have not been given the power to overcome but the call of the flesh is still so tempting sometimes and its usually easier falling than resisting. Not to talk of the ‘temporary bliss’ (but eternal loss) it offers. My carnal mind is being renewed on a daily basis by the Holy Spirit and I’m having a clearer understanding of the Word and cannot plead ignorance. I have revelation knowledge but…………………………..The ‘BUT’ is my flesh!

Because I still acknowledge my flesh, I still have the consciousness of sin and until I can be free of that, I will still subject myself to the law Christ died to put away. It is a vicious cycle that says for as long as I believe I am doing something wrong, I will continue trying to do something right but will fail and do something wrong and will continue believing I’m doing something wrong!

That is the law Paul wrote about in Rom 7:7 – “Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” And that is the very law Christ came to set us free from “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death” Rom 8:2.

If I believe I can sin, I will sin! But if I know and believe that Christ has taken the Sin Nature away from me and given me a new spirit, then I will know I cannot produce a fruit different from the seed in me and consequently, it is not possible for me to sin then I will truly be free from that sin consciousness and the law and will then discover I am instinctively and unconsciously living a ‘sin-free life’. “Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God” 1 John 3:9

This is one of the greatest mysteries the church has not fully understood. When we know and understand it is impossible for us to sin, then it will be impossible for us to sin and we can become who God says we are – OVERCOMERS! It is only in knowledge we can defeat the flesh and carnal mind. If we know, we won’t have to struggle to overcome ‘sin’. Christ has already done that. Why fight a battle that has been won? Why try to defeat an already conquered enemy?

The only battle left for us is between the flesh and the spirit and that battle is to be fought in our minds. That’s why the bible mentions our mind again and again. “And that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind” Eph 4:23; “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” Rom 12:2; “Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind” 1 Pet 1:13.

We gain nothing by being constantly aware of sin. It is the enemy’s tactic to keep us distracted and focused on something else apart from Christ. It keeps us guilty and fearful of our father. Let us not allow anything to affect our relationship with our heavenly father.

“Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him: because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God” 1 John 3:19-21.

I have not reached there yet. I’m still struggling with the awesomeness of it. With the thought that I am actually the same as Christ – sinless and perfect, unable to do anything wrong! My physical sense, my human intelligence is still grappling with it. My spirit knows the truth of it but until my mind accepts it, I cannot live it. But I know I will get there. I will know and accept and become that truth. Soon!

The Spirit of Truth

2009-02-13T00:06:00.001+01:00

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, [these] shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come”. – John 16:13 (ASV)

There is no Christian who can live a successful life without the Holy Spirit. Until the Holy Spirit steps into the picture, we will remain saved but powerless. That’s why Jesus said in Acts 1:8 – “But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you”. But it’s even worse than being powerless when we don’t have the Holy Spirit in us. I found that out in the few years after my salvation. I was tossed to and fro on the wings of different doctrines. I labored under great misconceptions because I didn’t know better.

God knew exactly what I needed. I had reached a point where I knew I was searching for something but didn’t know what. I was looking for help to make sense out of it all. To understand. Understand what exactly? I didn’t know. I could not put my finger on what was wrong but I knew there was a great yearning in my heart for more than I had.

God answered that yearning in the form of another wonderful friend. A man who is now my pastor and teacher. He asked me one hot afternoon if I had the Holy Spirit. I said no. he held my hands and asked me if I wanted Him. All I knew about the Spirit was that He is the third part of the Trinity but as long as he’s associated with God and Jesus, that was okay with me so I said yes. My pastor held me and asked God to give me His Spirit. That prayer was answered instantly.

I opened my mouth and strange words started flowing out. I felt a thrill run through me and I felt again the joy in my spirit as when I just got saved. All through that day, I kept sneaking off to be alone and try the new ‘language’ thing. Each time I did that I experienced the same joy. I was so happy.

But God still wasn’t through yet. A few days after, I came across a training school about the Holy Spirit and I felt this instant conviction that I must attend. I did and that day marked a 180 Degree turn in my life. I learnt who the Holy Spirit is, how real He is and how personal He should be to each Christian. I couldn’t wait to find that out myself.

I got home and locked myself in my room. I wanted to talk to the Holy Spirit alone and have him prove His existence to me. I had the whole prayer planned out in my mind. I never got beyond the first two words. I only had time to say “Holy Spirit………..” when this overwhelming rush pushed me to my knees and the most beautifully strange yet seemingly familiar words began to tumble over themselves from deep in my heart, deeper than my heart. They seemed to come from the very core of me.

I was laughing and crying at the same time. The joy in me was beyond anything I had ever felt before. It was as if I could reach out and touch God. As if Jesus was right there beside me (He was actually and has always been and will always be) My spirit connected with the Holy Spirit and I suddenly knew who He was. He had become real to me.

That day was just the beginning. I have not had that first day experience again but I’ve not needed it since that day. The Holy Spirit had become a part of me. Every day since then I know exactly who He is to me. I talk to Him, I walk with Him, I learn from Him, I hear Him! We have a personal relationship.

The first thing He started with was teaching me the Word. The Truth! Not the hogwash I had been fed but the Truth that sets free. With Him, I learned to stop trying and start trusting; to stop striving and start leaning on grace; to stop thinking with my senses and start seeing with my spirit. I learned faith is simply believing God. He taught me to call God, My Father; Jesus, My Lord and My Brother and the Holy Spirit? My Best Friend, My Confidant, My Teacher, The Spirit of My Father and My Lord. My Dearest Holy Spirit!

700 Things To Do To Attain Righteousness

2009-02-09T01:14:00.000+01:00

“By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight” Rom 3:20 (ASV)

The euphoria of salvation did not last long. I soon came back to earth with a loud thump. I had to start living as a Christian or rather as I had been wrongly raised to believe Christians lived. All my life I had been taught to be sinless meant not having one wrong thought, dressing right (no trousers or clinging clothes!), being holy (& holiness was equivalent to being dowdy and passive), read my bible twice daily, pray without ceasing, start each prayer with confession of sin, plead for God’s forgiveness and mercy for my sinful unworthy soul, be humble, give to the poor, help the needy, pay my tithes, fast regularly, obey the 10 commandments. The list was endless!

I was told repeatedly that “narrow is the way to heaven” and that “the kingdom of God suffereth violence”. I had to work hard to get there. If I was found wanting in the smallest thing, I would lose my salvation and be a candidate of hell once again.

How horrible for a young Christian! How was I to attain perfection and be counted righteous by God by doing good deeds? All I heard were fire and brimstone preachings. About how dreadful it is to know God and then backslide over a little sin; the dangers in the world; what not to do; how not to do them; what to do and exactly how to do them; how to know and understand the devices of the enemy etc. My dear friend had travelled far by then and I could not talk to her but I was determined to be a very good Christian by the time she returned so I redoubled my efforts on striving for holiness.

What a hopeless cause! How unnecessary! I was already righteous! Righteousness was already bestowed on me as a free gift when I accepted Jesus as my Lord. – “…………………even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction” (Rom 3:22) and it goes on in Vs 24 – “being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. There was no way man could ever attain righteousness – “all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment” (Is 64:6). And if we could attain that impossibility, then Jesus came to waste his time on earth – “for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nought” (Gal 2:21).

I do not know where such stupid teachings came from but we should all read our bibles and know the truth. Just as it wasn’t our sinful deeds that condemned us – “For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one” (Rom 5:17a) so also it is not our good deeds that makes us worthy before God. Righteousness was freely given to us by God through Jesus – “and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, [even] Jesus Chris” (Rom 5:17c)

“So then as through one trespass [the judgment came] unto all men to condemnation; even so through one act of righteousness [the free gift came] unto all men to justification of life.” (Rom 5:18) We are saved once and for all. We do not earn our salvation, we received it through faith. Neither do we earn our right standing with God; we also received it through faith! “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom 10:10)

To try to do otherwise or try to earn it by our own doing is wasting time and rejecting God’s gift – “For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God” (Rom 10:3) We have been freely given righteousness by God, we should freely accept it and enjoy it!

I do not mean to preach but this is a problem in the Church that agitates my mind. Young innocent Christians are made to focus on an impossibility instead of learning to love and know God as a loving and caring Father. Attention is diverted from Christ and turned to stupid ‘dos and don’ts’ when Christ has already replaced law with grace.

I wasted a lot of time trying to be good. I was completely robbed of my joy in Christ and feared my Heavenly Father as a stern, unyielding, impossible-to-please, slave-driving, punishment-loving, faraway absentee God. I was only set free when I learned the truth. And I only learnt the truth when I received the great teacher, my companion, my comfort, my friend, my helper, the spirit of truth – The Holy Spirit!

The Double-Edged Sword

2009-02-05T16:46:00.002+01:00

“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” – Heb 4:12 (American Standard Version)

I have experienced that double edged sword many times. I have been a beneficiary to the Word at different times and in various ways. My first experience of the awesomeness of the Word was what led to my salvation. I grew up in a Christian home but I wasn’t a Christian. It was just a religion to me.

There was a time some friends and I were arguing about religion and a question was popped at me ‘Why are you a Christian?’ My answer was immediate and honest ‘Because I was born into a Christian home’. That was all being a Christian meant to me. It was just something that was as a result of my birth. Same as I’m black coz I have black parents. If I had been born into a Muslim home, I would have been a Muslim or Hindu home, Hindu religion.

But it all changed a few years later. I met this wonderful woman. A Christian and a teacher of the Word. It was a chance meeting that changed my life. She had come into a town for a program in the campus and I was on campus visiting a friend. It was raining cats and dogs, yet at 5pm, students started trooping out in hundreds. Right under the pouring rain! I was amazed. I wondered who could actually get students out in the rain for a Christian program!!! This piqued my curiosity. I just had to see who it was.

So I dressed up and joined the multitude in the rain. I did not hear a single word of the sermon. All I could do was stare at this beautiful charming woman, radiating so much joy and confidence and I was enchanted. After the service, I went up to her. There were lots of people around waiting to see her and she was graciously attending to all. Normally, I’m not a patient person but that day I waited.

She got to me and I told her ‘You are amazing!’ She threw back her head and laughed and said thank you. Then for a reason, she took my hand and pulled me after her. We started talking about books and discovered we both loved reading. She asked if I had read the bible. I said no and mentally braced myself for the blablabla. She surprised me. She looked stunned and asked “how can you love books and not have read the bible?” she waved her hand dismissively and added, “forget about the bible being the Word of God and just read it as you would a normal novel. It has so many stories inside”

She went on to tell me some of the stories, funny ones I didn’t know were there. Like the story of Shibboleth and Sibboleth. Not once did she ask if I was saved or not. She gave me a Today’s English Version and I got home later that day and started reading the bible. She was right. It had so much history and culture and stories. All the things I loved. So I read and read and finished the whole bible from Genesis to Revelations within three weeks. I deliberately kept my mind off any God idea and read it like she suggested – A Novel!

But the Word is ever living and ever active. God’s word can never fail. I called her when I was through and we had great times laughing and discussing the stories. About five months later, the same religion argument came up again with the same friends and the same question was directed at me. I opened my mouth to respond as before but what came out instead shocked me. “Because I believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the son of God and the only way to God. He came to live and die to give me life”

To say I was shocked is an understatement. My friends stared at me like I had grown two heads and I could only stare mutely back. The discussion soon petered out but I could not get my mind off what I said. I walked home in a daze and locked myself in my room. I sat down on the bed and thought of my words. I thought back on all I had read in the bible. Words that I had tried to ignore but could not silence.

I was sitting alone in that room all through the night. Thinking! As dawn neared, I realized I did believe it! It was all true! Jesus is the Son of God! He did come in human form! He lived! He died! He rose! He lives! The logos had become rhema to me.

I opened my mouth to pray but the only thing that could come out was “Jesus” and then I burst into tears. I didn’t know why and I still don’t. But I cried deep heaving tears that morning. For more than two hours. When I could finally talk, I was just repeating over and over again ‘Jesus, I believe! Jesus, I believe!’

Later that day, I called that dear preacher woman and as I heard her voice, I started crying again. She knew without being told that my life had changed. And she said “Welcome to the Family!” I started laughing and she joined me. We laughed for no reason but the joy bubbling in our hearts. It was beautiful.

That double-edged sword had crept into my body and cut through bone and marrow to divide my soul from my spirit and restore life to me. I didn’t know when it happened but I felt its impact. A new life had begun in me. I had left religion far behind in the river Jordan and emerged from its banks, a new creation. I had found the life of Christ, the abundant life He died to give.

Introducing

2009-02-03T22:27:00.001+01:00

Sometimes i feel i live the most exciting life in the world. I have such a great time walking with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit that i have to share it with the world. It has truly been 'a walk in grace' and it keeps getting better. I'm growing from grace to grace!

This blog is about my christian walk. Its about the things I have seen and learnt in God and how every step of the journey has been so far. It is to honour the Saviour who came to save me; the Father who loves me and the Holy Spirit who has made my life beautiful.

Being a christian is a deep and wonderful thing. It is life and truth and power and glory. I've had my ups and downs but the thing with God is that even when you are down, you are actually up! That can only make sense to you if you are a christian.

People who think christianity is a religion have missed it big time! Christianity has not and will never be a religion. It is Life! An Abundant Life. It is THE LIFE!

Join me as i take you through my faith, through my life in Christ. I pray "the words of my testimony" will touch your lives and make you want to 'taste and see' that my God is good!