THE SEVEN SONS OF SCEVA

Acts 19:11 - 17

I believe totally in the Words of the Bible. The stories in there are not just tales, they are actual life events. They really happened to actual people who lived and existed just like you and me.

As a writer, I have quite a vivid imagination and I have often sat and viewed in my mind's eye how the various accounts retold in the Bible took place and imagined how the participants felt.

Recently, these musings crawled their way to paper and pen (actually, keyboard and computer screen) and I found myself rewriting stories in the Bible from a personal/eyewitness point of view, often putting myself in their shoes and wondering how i would have reacted in certain situations.

The story of the Seven Sons of Sceva as told in the Acts of the Apostles is one of such stories. Here is what I imagined happened, told by the youngest of the Seven Sons (in the Gospel according to Rayo, lol)

Do let me know what you think.

_______________________________________________________________________

“So this is the man Paul”, I whisper quietly to myself. But as quiet as I think I am, my whisper still does not escape my eldest brother's ears.

“Yes, indeed it is” he replies heartily then reaches out a hand and drags me by the back of my neck to his front.

I do not like the treatment but I have to say I am grateful to be in front of the crowd and not have to stand on tiptoe craning my neck to see.

The man, Paul is nothing like I imagined. He is not a giant, neither is he royalty; he is just a man. Then he opens his mouth and starts speaking and a glimmer of understanding sparks in my mind.

His speech is cultured, refined; he is obviously an educated man. But that is not what holds me captive. There is such power in him as he speaks. The kind of authority that even I, who grew up in a house of power, among leaders, have never seen before now.

He is speaking of that man, Jesus that was crucified. The man some call a prophet, some a liar, some a madman. The man that this Paul and so many others claim is the son of God. How can any man be the son of God, I wonder. The day I had asked Father that, he had reached out his arm and drawn me close to him before ruffling my head.

“No man can be the son of God, my boy. We are only his servants. The greatest man was just a lowly friend to him and that was our father, Abraham”

I had wanted to ask him why that man Jesus then claimed to be the son of God and how come this man, once known as Saul, who was once a devout Jew could believe in him so much that he turned his back on all his wealth and repute and even changed his name to Paul. But remembering the rage Father always fell into whenever Saul-Paul's name was mentioned I had kept quiet.

Father's temper is a fearsome thing which was why I wasn't so eager to come here when my brothers suggested it, but at least, I console myself, I can hide behind their much burlier bodies when Father inevitably finds out and we inevitably bear the force of his ire.

My inner musings are suddenly interrupted by an inhuman growl and I jerk back to the present.

Across from us, on the other side, eight men are struggling to hold down a man. But despite the chains tied round the man, they are not having an easy time of it. More men join them and finally they succeed in dragging the man out front and now I can see him clearly. It is Demenia, the mad man. Everyone in Ephesus knows him. He lost his senses many years back and became so wild and violent that he had to be chained up in the caves outside the city and even then men were posted day and night to guard him. Once, he broke away from the chains and ripped the arm off one of the guards before the others could get to him.

Why would anyone bring Demenia to the city?! And in the midst of such crowd. Already, the crowds are moving back and my brothers and I are no exception.

Paul, who had stopped speaking when the commotion started, steps up to Demenia and immediately the madman lets out a howl. The howl is so ferocious, I take a hasty step backward and bump into my third brother who also steps back.

“Silence”, Paul orders. And the howl is cup off abruptly mid-sound.

Paul bends down and places a hand on his head, even as Demenia tries to squirm away.

“In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to get out of him now. Young man, you are free”

There is the sound of rushing wind, powerful like the sound of a storm at sea. Then silence! I am staring in shock at a sight I am still trying to absorb.

Demenia is sitting crouched on the floor just like a minute earlier, but it is a different Demenia. The hard lines on his face are smoothed out and he is looking up at Paul gratefully with tears running down his eyes. Paul reaches out a hand and pulls him to his feet. Someone hands him a cloak and he gently wraps it round Demenia. The silence is so total, you can hear a pin drop.

Then a woman breaks out of the crowd, it is Demenia's old mother. She is shouting and laughing and crying as she throws her arms round Demenia. He hugs her right back, crying also.

The sight breaks the silence and as one, the crowd surge round the two of them, I quickly duck out of the way before I get trampled on. Squeezing through the press of bodies, I am just in time to see Paul walking quietly away.

************************************************************************************************************

“WHAT??!!”

I cannot believe I heard that right!

For the past three days, my brothers have talked about nothing else but Demenia and Paul. Not that I blame them, if they gave me speaking space, I know I would also talk of nothing else. But they don't so I just keep quiet and listen to them go on and on and on and keep my thoughts to myself.

But this – this madness my sixth brother just suggested - was too much to keep quiet about.

He turns fiercely on me and repeats my question back to me. Not the shocked “WHAT!!!” I shouted, but his own very antagonistic “WHAT?!”

I refuse to back down, “We cannot do that!”

He looks ready to bash my face in so I take a cautious step backwards. But before he can do anything, my fourth brother speaks up.

“Why cannot we do it? Our Father is a chief priest, by birthright, chosen by Jehovah. We are the lineage of priests, we carry the bloodline. So why cannot we?”

“But have you ever seen any priest do what Paul did?” I blurt out.

“How difficult can it be? We simply say the same thing he said, 'In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to get out of him now. Young man, you are free', plus as our brother has said, we are the bloodline of priests, so I'm sure it will be even easier for us” this from my fifth brother.

With a sinking feeling, I watch my eldest brother nod thoughtfully. With a surge, he rises to his feet, “Brothers, I think I have the perfect man in mind – Pyrrichus”. A great roar breaks out from my other brothers at his words and there follows a lot of back-slapping which almost sends me face down more than once.

I wish I can stay at home and not follow them on this insane mission, but from the hands dragging me out the door, I don't really have a choice.

I follow reluctantly with a feeling of doom hanging over my head. Something tells me this is not going to end well.

*********************************************************************************

Pyrrichus was a trader in our city till he lost his wife and his mind. Many say it was the loss of his wife that drove him mad. Maybe. What I do know for certain is that for the last seven years he has lived alone in the house he once lived with his wife. When she was alive, it was a beautiful home, but now it bore more than marks of neglect, it was now a crumbled down heap inhabitable only to a madman.

Pyrrichus wasn't a violent madman like Demenia. He kept mostly to himself, mumbling and scratching at himself. His few bouts of insane violence was limited to chasing chickens through the city for perceived grievances. This ought to have put my mind at rest a bit, but standing in his ramshackle house, looking at him scratching and mumbling to himself, the feeling of foreboding instead magnified.

None of my brothers however seem to share my fears. They walk confidently up to him and my eldest brother even puts his hand on his head like Paul had done to Demenia.

As one they intone, “In the name of Jesus Christ, we command you to get out of him now. Young man, you are free”

Pyrrichus, who has never made eye contact from the time he lost his mind, straightens slowly and faces us, looking my eldest brother in the eye. He suddenly doesn't look so harmless again. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so because my brothers too shuffle nervously. They look at each other, but no one wants to be the coward who first retreats, so they face Pyrrichus again and repeat, “In the name of Jesus Christ, we command you to get out of him now. Young man, you are free”

This time, there is a low warning rumble from Pyrrichus.

My brother who was the initiator of this stupid idea in the first place offers another stupid idea, “maybe we should say Paul”

My eldest brother who was in front immediately latches on to the idea, “In the name of Paul, we command you to get out of him now. Young man, you are free”

The rumbling only gets deeper and scarier. We are all getting more than a little scared now and my immediate brother pipes up again, “No, no, no. In the name of Paul . . . I mean in the name of Jesus Christ whom Paul preaches”

We all eagerly jump on to that suggestion, desperate for anything to calm down the threatening man in front of us.

“ In the name of Jesus Christ, whom Paul preaches, we command you to get out of him now. Young . . .”

A voice very unlike Pyrrichus' low mumble rumbles out, a very very scary voice, “Paul, I know; Jesus, I know; who are you?”

Moving faster than I have ever seen any human being move, Pyrrichus charges us and the next thing I know, I am hitting the wall on the opposite side.

Pandemonium breaks out as we each scramble to get out of the house. We don't quite make it to the door. It is as if a whole pack of wild dogs are after us. I cannot even be sure what is happening. But I can feel pain as I am beaten and battered on every side. And  I can hear the thuds of bodies hitting the ground violently, shouts for help from my brothers and myself, sounds of tearing clothes and then blessedly, the sound of a door torn off its hinges.

I don't wait to know what tore the door off its hinges, instead I make a desperate plunge for freedom and nearly collide with my eldest brother. Neither one of us stops though. We take off flying down the narrow road, the sound of pursuing steps spurring us on till we reach front of the temple gates. Then and only then, with crowd of people around do we feel safe enough to finally stop and draw breath.

Turning back, I see that the sound of what I though was pursuing steps was none other than my other brothers in dogged flight right behind us. But what is this?

Why are they NAKED?????

I see the same look of shock on their faces as they stare at me and in desperate horror I look down at myself.

Here we are, the seven of us, before the whole of Ephesus – TOTALLY NAKED!!!

*********************************************************************************

I have feared Father all my life, but listening to him in the worst rage I have ever witnessed him in, I feel no fear. Nothing he can do to me now can be worse than what I lived through today.

In one afternoon, the story of Paul's miraculous healing of Demenia has been forgotten. We, my brothers and I are now the new talk of the town. When I told myself that my brother's idea of healing a madman like Paul did would not end well, I didn't know the half of it. 'end well' was a gross understatement.

I think I can safely say we, nor the Sceva family  will ever live down the ridicule of being beaten and stripped by a madman, and running to the front of the temple, there to be ogled by  the whole city in all our nakedness. Already a psalm has been composed in our dishonor. It was whispered by the servants, just this eve, that it will be sung at this year's festival of Diana.

Luckily, I will not be around to hear my shame become the city's new folksong. I have decided to stowaway on the first ship that leaves Ephesus at dawn. My destination? Egypt, or somewhere else even farther.

(Image from http://christianhealingtoday.com)

THAT'S MY KING

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 STAR

" . . . 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!!!

FOR THIS PURPOSE WAS I BORN: CAREER AND PURPOSE 2

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

“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.

FORGIVEN

“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!

MIND OVER MATTER

“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?

THE UNFORCED RHYTHMS OF GRACE

“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!