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Battling with your Emotions

Sometimes you get to a particular phase in your life where you begin to battle with your emotions. You seem so lost and not knowing where to go. You think you’re led to do one thing or the other, but get so confused and clouded by your sentiments and what you think your mind is telling you at a particular time. In such situations, if you don’t take your time and seek God, you will mess up seriously. Our minds, how powerful they are! But they can lead us to do some dumb things if we don’t take control.

There are times that I have to take some radical actions. Honestly, some of the thoughts that flood my mind at times are just not okay. I have to sincerely and intentionally pray them out. Am saying aggressively like am contending with someone. I remember one of the past scenarios; I had to shout out, rejecting some awful thoughts that just flashed my mind within seconds. Sometimes I ask myself ‘who invited that thought in my mind? I didn’t hunt for it.’ But that’s what thoughts and emotions are good at; you don’t have to hunt for them. They just flood in like swarm of bees.

The way our minds stray around is just incredible. At times they roam thinking and imagining good things, great dreams or even exciting plans, but sometimes they go wild. I mean real wild. Out of the box! Out of what you know is right. We don’t have to allow that. I know people may say ‘but I can’t control it. Yes, you can. It’s an intentional decision you have to take with the help of God and tell yourself over and over again when these ugly thoughts flood in, ‘I don’t have space in my mind for junk.’ Yes, you heard me right! That’s what I call them. Because seriously, that’s what they are. Why should I waste the precious space in my mind, filling it with trash? You and I have more important and valuable thoughts to fill our minds with rather than junk.

Don’t you think our minds deserve some clean and pure thoughts for a change? Let’s free this mind from all the junk it carries, God helping us. If we would not allow junk in our emails and letterboxes, how much more our precious minds? Do you not think our minds are way more valuable than our emails and letterboxes?
Often, when I walk down some streets, I see letterboxes with big signs saying ‘NO JUNK MAIL’. Well, I guess it’s time we apply the same rule to our minds. Why not put up a sign on our minds which say ‘no go area for bad thoughts?’ I don’t mean you get a visible signboard and stick it on your forehead but have a made-up mindset that your mind won’t allow junk and bad thoughts. Even when they force themselves into our minds, God’s grace is available (if we ask for it) to help us deal with them.

Let’s not allow our minds to grab, collect and suck in everything that comes its way. We, women, are the lead with saving and storing memories. Oh, my goodness. The amount of information we store in our minds is unbelievable. We remember every detail of our lives, relationships, and friendships. We still store the details of every brokenness we went through no matter how long. We know who broke our hearts, how they did it, what they did when it started, the look on the person’s face when he/she did that. We remember the outfit worn. The aftermath expression when it happened, and how the person spoke to us at the location of the scenario where it took place, and whether the person was genuinely sorry or intentional.
My beloved princesses, when are we going to learn, how to let go and stop storing and battling with such emotions. They render us victims to such events and binds us down to them. We carry ourselves with all these trash at the same time absorbing more and more day by day, month by month, adding more to the already junk-filled emotions in our minds. There is no time at all, for off-loading and making room for good thoughts. I understand we have a nurturing personality or spirit, but we should be able to recognise the good and the bad and adopt the right things to nurture and nourish. Our lives are too precious to be carrying junks. They are for rubbish bins, and you and I are no garbage bins to be storing such. We are princesses of a heavenly Kingdom and are vessels made to carry Kingdom matters.
So I’ll encourage us all, to ask the Holy Spirit to help us let go of every junk in our lives. And to grant us a mind like Christ so we can be productive in our calling, and be able to fulfil our purpose efficiently and diligently in every season The Lord places us on this earth. You and I can choose from today what thoughts we allow to take resident in our minds and what we trash out into the garbage bin. Let your thoughts and your emotions be filled and controlled by The Spirit of God.

What are those emotions battling within your mind? Give them to God and ask Him to help you do away with them.

Comments are welcome.

The Missing words in Today’s Christian Dictionaries!

I know many people are not going to like me with this topic, but that’s fine. Am here to remind us of God’s ways, not our ways.

We have become so bold to talk about our sinful lives, but have removed holy living away from our dictionaries, when the reversal should be the case. Holiness, Purity and Sanctification are the missing words in today’s Christian dictionaries.
My sincere prayer is that God will convict each and every one of us, to strive towards holy living and godly lifestyle. Remember, without holiness no man can see God. It doesn’t matter how good and kind-hearted you think you are. Our works will not take us to heaven, but rather our intimate fellowship with God through Jesus Christ and total obedience to His Word. Sin is destructive to our spiritual life, our relationship with God, and will eventually deny us from making Heaven.

Purity and holy living is a command, not a suggestion. “And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine” Leviticus 20:26. “Be holy, for I am holy” 1 Peter 1:16. Holiness is total obedience to God’s Word.
I struggle with this as well, because sometimes I tend to be all right and okay on the obedience chart (in my own eyes), then from nowhere I find myself slipping downwards to the bottom of the graph. So am not there yet as you may think, and I am not trying to pretend that am all okay and holy and sanctified. I fell so many times that sometimes I think God gets tired of hearing my plea. In fact, I can’t begin to tell you how many times, otherwise we’ll spend the whole day listening to my story. Oh, how I need grace. I need extravagant, abundant and overflowing grace from God. But I also learnt that I have to be willing and ready to cooperate with God to help me through and show me how to live a holy lifestyle because I cannot do it on my own and no one can. I don’t want to stay in the excuse of ‘we are not perfect.’ Yes, we are not perfect, but that’s not a licence to keep on living a disobedient life and taking God’s grace for granted. The only Perfect Person is Jesus, and we have to give Him unrestricted access to our lives so that He can live His holy and pure life in and through us. Just think about the agony parents go through with an utterly disobedient child. How do you think God feels when we do the same to Him?

If we genuinely love God as we say, then surrender and obedience become plain sailing, because when you truly love, you give your all. Love makes obedience easy and doable. When you love unconditionally, then you obey totally. You don’t want to hurt or cause pain to someone you love.
It is when we learn to love God the same way He loves us, that obedience to His Word becomes a lifestyle. You can’t fake it as people do in today’s society, nor can you pretend and act like you love God, because God sees the heart.

I pray that The Holy Spirit will help us in this journey of living for God in holiness and purity without compromise.

What is that thing you are struggling with at the moment? Join me in surrendering that battle or whatever it is to God, and allow His Holy Spirit to work in us and transform our lives.

Comments are welcome.

The Busyness of our Everyday Life!

Thinking of how busy we have made our daily life baffles me. It leaves me wondering if this is all life is meant to be. Seriously!
We have made life so busy that we rush to go everywhere. We rush to work, to church, to the shops, dropping and picking up the kids from school. We rush to the car mechanic, to meetings, to the car park and of course to the train station and bus stop.
We have so wired our system to rush that it has become part of our everyday life. And it becomes so habitual to the point that it looks very strange when we opt to slow down. Rushing is a recipe for a crash. We are so busy yet doing nothing productive with our time and season other than rushing.
Most of the time we also rush in our prayers when getting ready to go to work or start our day, then when we get stuck, we turn to God asking for guidance. But love, God has been trying to talking to you about getting stuck even before you got there, but since you and I are so busy rushing to pray and finish, we didn’t have time to pause and listen to Him. We just want Him to hear us and not giving Him the time to reply and talk back to us concerning the same situation.

Surely, the ‘busy rushing life’ is not what Jesus offered. Rushing in and out every day and week doing the same old thing every time, is draining. I mean I get bored with that type of stuff. Let’s picture it, Monday to Friday at work, Saturday shopping, dropping kids for recreational activities and house chores. Then Sunday church, visiting or whatever you do on that day, then come Monday morning again off we go rushing to work, and so the whole week goes back into the same busy roster.
Girl! Take a break, and ask God to show you how He wants you to live life on this earth.

I am just tired of this same old, same old lifestyle that we’ve electrified our system to operate, week after week. I got to a point I had to stop and ask God ‘surely this is not the life Jesus came to give me,’ because my Bible says in John 10:10 “I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance to the full, till it overflows.” But this busy life we have created for ourselves is certainly not that life. I don’t know about you, but I want to experience and enjoy this life overflowing that Jesus talks about in that passage. I refuse to settle for a rushing life. I am here to enjoy superabundant life. And the good news is, I don’t have to pay for it because He already did. So not using it, is a lost favour. It’s like someone bought you a beautiful expensive winter jacket that will keep you warm and protect you from freezing in the cold weather, but you decided to hang it in your wardrobe looking at it every day and going out like that without it in winter. Excuse me; you are going to freeze! And besides what a waste it is, looking at an already purchased and paid for jacket hanging unused for no reason. It’s when you put it on that you enjoy the warmth it gives. The same way, we’ve left Jesus waiting for an invitation into our messed up and busy lives, and that’s why we are getting drained day by day. It is when we invite Him into our schedules that He comes and live His perfect life in and through us.

I am exhausted from rushing everywhere. Can we learn to enjoy life without rushing? God didn’t call us to rush life. He gave His Holy Spirit to guide us in and through life, but it is hard to guide someone rushing. Guidance becomes so easy when a person relies on you and taking one step at a time as you lead.
What a stress-free life it will be, if we just relax, rest and lean on The Gentle Holy Spirit to guide us through into living and enjoying life overflowing in its fullest.
Why rushing when you have someone dedicated to lead and guide you each day?
We have to understand that our bodies are not robots, and even if they are, robots breakdown at some point. So let’s calm down and treat our lives as the most precious gift given to us, because it is, and we are as important as wherever we are rushing to go.

Don’t rush life! Live life!

Do you currently find yourself in a busy life routine? Jesus (The Life Giver) is waiting for your invitation to show you how to live life. The life He came to give is perfect and pure. The life that brings everlasting peace and joy.

Comments are welcome.

Stay In Your Lane!

How often do we step out of our lanes and jumping into someone else’s?
You think your lane is not adequate and broad enough as your friend’s. So while on yours, instead of looking ahead and staying focus, you prefer to have your eyes on the next lane. This calls for disaster because, in this life’s race, there is no way you can be running and having your eyes on something else other than ahead of you and not trip and fall. You cannot also try to run into someone’s lane, that can subject to disqualification in certain types of relays or race. If you don’t believe me, ask the runners about this, and you’ll hear their experience.
Somehow we imagine and think that the next person’s lane is more attractive and glamorous than ours, so a quick ‘eyes off my lane’ and on my friend’s will be the best outcome in running life’s race. Sorry to say, but that’s a recipe for failure. The Bible tells us to ‘run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, looking away from all that will distract us and focusing our eyes on Jesus,’ not on the next lane or your friend’s. Hebrews 12:1-2.

Growing up, my grandma usually warns us to stay in the kitchen until we finish cooking and dish out the food before we go about doing something else away from the kitchen, but we never listen to her. We thought she was just nosy. Sometimes I’ll be in the kitchen cooking, and as soon as I hear people talking aloud in the streets, or a fight going on, my eyes will be twinkling to witness the scenario. Growing up in my neighbourhood there was always something to fight about or quarrel, and as soon as I hear loud talking and shouting, I will run out of the kitchen, leave whatever is cooking on the fire and go and busybody in someone else’s affairs outside. As the saying goes ‘curiosity kills the cat.’ By the time I will return to the kitchen, either the whole stew is burnt or the rice because no one was there to look after it. Then I will begin to tremble because I know what my mum will say. That’s the same with you and me today. Most times we leave the portion set out for us and start chasing someone else’s.
Question, why do we skip out of our lanes into someone else’s? Is it curiosity or discontentment, or is it just trying to see how that other lane looks, feels and differs from yours?

Stay in your lane, as simple as it is! I am a victim of this, seriously. Sometimes I think I just need to keep quiet, stay in my lane and have my eyes on the race ahead. Turning around and looking sideways and backwards never gets anyone to win the race. Because if you’re not careful, you’ll trip and fall or have a near miss that may distract you from getting to the finish line. Well, I am going to talk about my distractions because they were just too much. Before I discovered what God was calling me to do, I wanted almost everyone’s race track. I see someone in their giftings, I want it, another one operating or flourishing in theirs, and I want it again. Girl, it’s draining wanting what others have apart from yours. You’ll barely have time to focus on how to develop yours if your eyes and mind are always on someone’s track. At times I think I just want everything, which is impossible because God made me for a distinct purpose. I thank God, for dealing with me and helping me re-align my focus on the portion He’s chiselled me.

We usually tell our children to focus on what’s theirs and be content, but we don’t. I often hear parents say ‘no, it’s not yours, you don’t go round taking what’s not yours, focus on what you have.’ How often do we focus on what’s ours as adults and parents? I think we need to stop jumping in and out of our lanes and just stay focus on the task God gave us. Sorry to disappoint you, but you can’t have everything. God made you and gave you a precise chore. So work on it, develop it, prune it and nurture it to grow and bear abundant fruits.
At times I come across this saying, ‘if only I have that type of skill, that voice sound or that kind of talent, then I can do great things.’ No, you can do great things with the ones God has given you when you focus on developing them and seeking guidance from Him to show you how.
Imagine how peaceful and beautiful it will be if everyone stays on their lanes and fulfil their purpose.
I pray that you and I will stay in that lane God has carefully carve out for us.

Are you in your lane or someone else’s?

Comments are welcome.

That Prayer we are Afraid to Pray

Not my will but Your will be done!

I shared this article in my first magazine, and I think it is still a relevant message for today.
Not everyone can look themselves in the mirror with all they’ve got going and all they want to have but didn’t due to any pending reason or ongoing circumstance, and then boldly say ‘Your will be done, Lord’. You’ll need to come to a level call ‘dying in the flesh and to your desires’ or already ‘dead to the flesh’ for such statement.

Now think about those great personal plans and hopes you have for your life and family, and the beautiful future you’ve been dreaming about. Take a moment to think about them. Got it? Okay. Now consider putting them aside and asking God to do His will in your life.
I need to clarify this though, I am not talking about plans you’ve prayerfully given to God and received a go-ahead signal or an endorsement, am taking about individual ‘selfish’ plans, if I can use that word.
If there was any prayer I was very careful to say, is ‘Your will be done Lord’. Oh my, my, it’s the feeling of chewing hot raw garlic and ginger and telling yourself you’ll be okay.

A while back I and some few people prayed for God to shake off everything in our lives that didn’t resemble Him and let His will be done. I prayed that prayer honestly desiring for God to remove everything in my life that didn’t belong to Him. It was indeed a shaking. Girl! Was I shaken! I felt the shake on all sides. I didn’t realise the impact of the prayer until when the actual shaking came. Things that I didn’t want to let go off even felt the heat of the shake. It’s that feeling of seeing something you love, taken from you. It is painful. No matter how the person tries to explain why they are taking it from you or how harmful it is or might be, you just don’t want to listen, all you want is have it back.

Have you tried taking a harmful gadget from a child and see his/her facial reaction? No matter how you explain the reason why that child won’t want to let go nor believe you. And because you know better as an adult or parent, you go ahead and take that gadget away no matter how much that child cries. That’s what God did during the shaking period. He tried taking away everything in me that wasn’t right for me, but I couldn’t see that. All I could see was the painful process. It was tough; challenging, and hurting. At a point, I thought I was the only one going through tough times until when two other people I know acknowledged what the shaking did to them as well. That gave me a bit of relief seeing familiar faces in the same boat called ‘Shaking in Progress’ and everyone in this boat, have their story of how, where and what the shaking crashed in their lives.

Just a heads up, one thing you need to know, is that when you ask God to have His way and His will in your life, He is going to shake off everything in you that’s not from Him. Whatever it is in your life that is contrary to His Word and His way will be shaken off you.

After the shaking adventure, I advised a friend going through tough times, to pray for God’s will in her life. She said to me “I can’t pray that prayer. I want everything I have lost, back and I want things to be the way they were.” I asked her to give everything to God and allow Him to filter the situation and give her the best He has for her. She was afraid of that prayer ‘Your will be done Lord’ because she knows what the results will be, as God will only give her what’s right for her and what’s in His plan for her. But you know what? I didn’t condemn her because I know I’ve been there when that prayer sounds like a hard thing to say. I will have to first think about the outcome of that prayer, analyse it, put up a lot of ‘what ifs’ questions and see if they will benefit me before I pray ‘Your will be done, Lord.’ I will ask myself, what if that happen to me, what will people think, how will they judge me, what if I die? And there goes my long list of ‘what ifs.’ But you know what, I’ve come to the stage where I don’t care any longer what people say, I want to be cleansed, washed, purified and forgiven by my God, so what people think or say doesn’t matter to me anymore. I learnt people will always have something to say. I later realised that the enemy was putting those crazy thoughts in my mind so that I’ll become afraid of surrendering to God’s will and keep on living a sinful life. The enemy knew I was walking out of God’s will which made me more vulnerable and open to all of his attacks. And he also knows that if we are operating in God’s will, he is at lost, because we are then covered under the shadows of the Almighty and kept in safety wherever we go.

Have you ever said that prayer before, or is it one of those crossed out on your prayer list? Why not give God a chance and see what He’ll do in your life. I still have issues and shortcomings that am struggling with in my life which I need God to shake off me. It’s never a once off journey; I wish it were though. But as long as we are given the grace to see each day, temptations will come, trials will arise, and circumstances will test our faith. And these, if not handled carefully with the right attitude, will add more ugly recipes to our character and personality, bringing us back to the prayer of asking God to clean us up again. So I am not here to pretend that I have it all together because I don’t. And I still need God to continue cleaning and shaking off any and everything in me that’s not like Him, but it’s also my choice to watch what I allow to pollute my character and draw me away from God. I am in desperate need of His grace to help me surrender daily to His will even when it’s hard and when I don’t feel like it. Because to be honest, we all feel that way at times.

I pray that you and I will get to that point where we let go and let God.

Why not ask Him to have His way and will in your life? He is a loving Father and knows us better than we know ourselves. I leave you with this scripture. ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ Jeremiah 29:11.

Comments are welcome.

How Often?

On a lovely Saturday evening in early 2016 a colleague from work came visiting. I had just moved into a new apartment. Before her visit, I asked her in the office what she likes, and if she eats a particular food, I’d like to cook. She said that’s okay. The day she was going to visit, I was up early on a Saturday (as I usually do sleep in till late). I clean the whole apartment which was a two bedroom apartment with two bathrooms. Everywhere polished, flawless and in pristine condition. The tiles completely sparkling and the carpet which I physically hand brushed looks immaculate.

I packed the dishes, made sure I had fresh hand towels and toilet rolls in both toilets. I spruce up the laundry room, clean the dust from the study area, the TV and everywhere I sighted dust. I cleaned that apartment as if expecting a royal delegate. I mean I went all out, you would have wondered if the Prime Minister of Australia was visiting, rather than a colleague. The cushions on the sofa excellently laid and styled in such a way to attract attention. I had the books on the bookshelf all nicely arrayed in alphabetical order. The kitchen bench and sink looking squeaky clean. I had the whole interior of the apartment looking ‘take me away with you.’
The doors to both bedrooms opened so as to exhibit the spotless and beautifully spread bedsheets with matching quilt covers and pillows. I was all out to impress my colleague. Then I showered and put on my smart casual evening outfit, seated on the couch waiting for her to call so I can pick her up from downstairs as the apartment complex was highly secured and one must have an entry pass to swipe through the main entrance so you can enter the building. While sitting on the sofa, my eyes were galavanting to and fro the tiled floor looking for any missed stain. I was not ready to give any stain or dirt the chance of being skipped during the cleaning process.

A few minutes later she rang to say that she has arrived. I went downstairs and opened the garage door for her to park her car. She came in, and I gave her a tour of the house, I can tell she was quite impressed with the beauty of the apartment and the view of the skyline right above my bedroom windows. We had a lovely time talking, eating and chatting before she left. However, I got convicted later.

How many times have we gone all out to impress people about us? We want to impress people with where we work, live and all that, just because we want people to take away good report about us. We hide things around that we don’t want people to see because you and I don’t want them to know what we do behind closed doors. If you live a messy life, then you don’t want people to see that, so you clean up before they come. If you live a life contrary to God’s word behind closed doors, you quickly try to straighten up as soon as you hear someone’s visiting. So we end up living a life of ‘keeping up appearance.’ Having a mask of who we are not when we are around people and then quickly run back to our old ways as soon as everyone’s gone. Question, who are we fooling? Not God? Because He sees and knows everything, we do even in the darkest places.

My conviction was this, how often do we do things just for God. How often do we clean our lives up for God? I cleaned that house sparkling for a colleague, but when was the last time I had my life, attitude, character and behaviour cleaned up for God. When was the last time I paid attention to the messy behaviour and unruly attitude in me, and ask God to clean it up so my life can reflect that of Christ’s? Isn’t it surprising the miles we go through just to please and impress one another, but we rarely go through that same process in getting our lives pleasing to God? How do we clean our lives up for God? By spending time in reading and dwelling in His Word, because the Word is a purifier and the Bible says in Ephesians 5:26 that Christ purifies His church (which is you and me) by the washing of the water of His word. Why does He do that? So that He might present us to Himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she (you and I) should be holy and without blemish. Wow! What a statement!
That’s my conviction; yours may be different.

Has any of us ever felt like cleaning our homes just for the sake of God? Is it because we can’t see Him like we see our friends and families? Just because we can’t see Him doesn’t mean He’s not there. Maybe it’s time for you and me to do a clean-up of our lives and also our homes because we know the things in our houses that are not pleasing to God. Let’s do something for Him and just say, God; I did this for You. The same way you’ll go miles of welcoming someone in your home, making them feel comfortable and preparing great meals for them, how about you do something special for the Giver of Life.

I pray that you and I response to any conviction the Lord places in our hearts, and invite The Holy Spirit to guide us into repentance and help us live the life God has commanded and destined for us to live.

How often have you gone all out to do something pleasing just for God?
What is He convicting you to do? Are you working on them? Remember, His Grace is available for you.

Comments are welcome.

Iron Sharpens Iron or Iron Sharpens Wood Relationship

Isn’t it amazing the way God works and aligns situations in our lives? We all would love to have friendships and relationships where we get so filled and blessed spiritually, and in every other area that our lives begin to reflect the goodness of God.

I love the illustration of Iron sharpens Iron. It is a much easier relationship to build because there’s a level of expectation we have about each other that we believe will kick start the relationship on a great start and keep it going on a stable and firm trend. However, sometimes God brings you an Iron sharpens Wood relationship that requires you the iron to do 90% of the work, by building up the wood, teaching, discipling and mentoring, and at the same time sharpening the wood and training it to be converted from wood to iron as you are. Now I’ll be honest here; this is not an easy task. I mean, this is a sacrifice. You have to lay down your desires and needs and seek to equip the wood to get to the standard where it begins to look like iron, and act like iron, behave like iron, talk like iron, walk like iron and live life an iron.

During Jesus’ days on earth and walking with His disciples, it wasn’t an Iron sharpens Iron but rather an Iron sharpens Wood relationship. He didn’t go with the well learned and scripturally diverse people. He took the ones that have no clue, unlearned as the Pharisees described. He pours out Himself on them, teach them, mentor them, train them, wash their feet, pray for them, defend them, fast for them, feed them and died for them. All the while He was the one pouring out on them, doing all the hard-work and sacrifice so as to get them to the level where they can resemble Him in everything. And that’s why he said in John 14:12, ‘He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do.’ If you believe in what? In what I have taught you, what I have laid out for you and demonstrated in your presence. However, He didn’t lose hope in them even when it seems like they were not getting it, or when their actions failed to portray what Jesus taught them. Jesus knew that very soon these same timid disciples will turn their nations and the ones around them upside down with His teaching and His ways. They asked him questions that could have made him gave up on them, I mean some of the questions were just outright dumb. Some of us can identify with such, I mean, sometimes we try to ignore the questions from the people God placed under us to sharpen. Especially if you have those that ask a lot of questions. O my goodness! You would have told them a few times about some things but they will ask again, and some of the questions are just like ‘really?’ Didn’t you get what I said, how many times do I have to repeat myself and go over this again? You are like Ughhh….I need a break, please! That’s me, and I’ve done it many times. But the question is, ‘What would Jesus have done in that stage’ would He have groaned like you and me, or would He have gently and lovingly re-explained whatever wasn’t clear?’ I think we get so excited at the beginning of each relationship until half way through, when we discover the time and resources involved, then excuses becomes options.
Discipling is never an easy task, but if God has chosen you to disciple and mentor someone, He sure knows that you can do the job and He has equipped you with everything you need or will ever need to reproduce yourself in that person.

When God gives you an Iron sharpens Wood relationship what do you do? Reject it? Throw it back to Him or just walk away? Recently I heard a phrase from someone that goes like this ‘I just want a simple life.’ How do you define simple? Even sleeping isn’t simple. Yes, it can sound simple but getting to sleep isn’t. Some nights I had to turn and turn and turn before I finally fell asleep. At some point, I thought, ‘I just want to sleep’ full-stop! I don’t want to be fighting pillows and blanket, side positioning before I sleep. Back to our question, how are you handling that discipling and mentoring relationship God has placed under you? How many of us are willing to pick up the burden of our disciples, run with it and pray them out of any trouble situation they find themselves, and praying them into their purpose? God recently placed a few of them my path. O my, my, that wasn’t what I requested. I wanted an Iron sharpens Iron relationship, where someone can pick up my burden, pray for me and cover me up in the spirit and likewise I do the same for them. At least I know it’s a give and take where I pray for you and you do the same for me when needed. I wasn’t excepting 90% commitment from my side at an early stage in the unfamiliar. I am the one that needs settling down and trying to know the environment, so while am doing that someone can be covering me in prayers, please. But it didn’t happen that way.

A few weeks ago my eyes were full of tears, and I said ‘God I don’t know why You’ve chosen me for such relationships, I don’t know how am supposed to impact these lives and when that is going to happen.’ God sure has a reason for planning it all the way it is now. Don’t we pray for such, and then don’t want them the way they present themselves when they manifest? What way do you want your mentees to come looking for you? Well learned? Outspoken? Eloquent in words? Know the Bible cover to cover? Saved? Tongue speaking? No addictions? Washed and Cleansed? Perfect? Prayer warriors? I mean, is anyone of us ready for a mad person, someone insane, beaten and battered, in rags as a mentee when they come knocking at our doors? I pray for the grace to be humble and able to identify our mentees when God brings them no matter how they look.
Question, have you unknowingly turned back your mentees or disciples because they didn’t fit the above listed or your list of expectation?

I watched a TV program way back in 2008 in an African country. This lady and her team of strong men go around the streets and forcefully picks a mad person sleeping on the street, take him/her to a big charity centre, where they pray over that person every day, cut off the dirty hair knots, wash and dress him/her in clean clothes. I heard one of the men who was once mad but later healed giving testimony of how his life turned around, and the opportunity to be among decent people. Wow, what a testimony, what a disciple and mentored job well done!

We like giving excuses of how busy we are, but not really busy. ‘Oh, I am so busy, my schedule is tight, I wish there’s more time’, but we are so busy doing nothing other than talking about how busy we are.
God chose you for that disciple or mentee, you didn’t choose you for them neither did they chose you for them, but God aligned everything according to His plan for your life.
Excuse me, if this post is long, but this message is more for me than for anyone out there because my expectation list has just been made redundant. God chose the people He wants me to be around at this stage of my life and I am praying for grace to do His will.

Are you still holding onto your expectation list? Are you still looking for an Iron sharpens Iron relationship or are you ready to take on the Iron sharpens Wood relationship that God placed your way to train, teach and pray them into their purpose?

Comments are welcome!

Have you Boycotted the Journey?

Has the journey to your destiny been too long a ride that you decided to turn back or create a shortcut? Jonah tried to boycott his assignment, but it didn’t go well with him initially. Moses boycotted the process of speaking to the rock rather than striking it, and it went bitter with him.

Sometimes I believe God just watch to see how far we can go with our plans. He knows there’s no place we can run to without Him reaching us. Psalm 139: 7 says ‘Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your Presence?’ God can still reach us no matter where we go. You can ask Jonah about this, and he’ll attest to this statement.
Moses tried as well when God said speak to the rock he thought hitting will be better, but it cost him his life and destiny. Why do we boycott if I may ask? Is it fear? Insecurity? Think we know better? Or just wanting to have our way? I’ve tried to boycott a couple of times, but most of them cost me pain.

We like creating shortcuts and easy way access in life that cost us so much down the line. We call it ‘Time Saving.’ Everyone is looking for ways to save time and money. When you ask someone to do something, and they can’t get any results within an hour, the next thing they ask is ‘is there another way out, a shortcut?’ No one wants to ‘waste time’ as we call it, doing something without results within a short while.

I understand this principle of saving time, and I am in no way trying to condemn it. But I found out that because we are so used to the ‘time saving’ slogan as part of our everyday life, we unknowingly apply it to God’s purpose and timing for our lives most of the time. Jonah’s excuse, in summary, was ‘why do I have to take the trouble of going all the way to Nineveh when I already know the outcome of the journey? Don’t we also do that most times? ‘Why going there, when I know what’s going to happen? It’s a waste of time.’ That’s you and I reasoning. However, God says go, and He sure has a reason.

Most of us today are running, I mean from God and His purpose for our lives. Yes, the journey might be long, but the end will be worth the time invested and the wait. However, a lot of us give up before getting to the end because we think we know what the outcome is going to be, so choosing to boycott and going our way as we deem suitable becomes the perfect substitute. Why are we running away? Is it due to pressure, eager for fame or sometimes fear of the unknown? I believe the latter maybe for many of us. Because we don’t know what the unknown looks like or pretend to know, so we boycott the journey.

When are you going to stop running? And who’s chasing you if I may ask?
Running away from your assignment or destiny will only end up with an unfulfilled life.
The Bible tells us that Jesus came to give us abundant life, life to the full until it overflows. The only way to enjoy this overflowing life is to avoid boycotting and tarry in God’s process of taking you through His planned out and well-designed pattern for your life’s journey no matter how long the wait.

Are you planning on boycotting? Don’t boycott the ride, let God take you through.

Comments are welcome.

Starting all Over Again in the Unfamiliar

No one likes starting all over again not even children like that. But at times God allows you to go back to the starting point for a reason. It might be to help you discover what you’ve missed initially at the start because you were eager and desperate to start and finish. So some of the recipes and ingredients needed along the way to keep you strong and focus were missed.

Currently, I find myself at a stage where I have to start all over again. Had to leave everything after five years of hard labouring to start all over again in a different setting and environment. I don’t understand it all at the moment, but I know God has a plan. I tried imagining how it’s going to happen and when but got no clue. You know when you’ve climbed the ladder half way through heading for the top, then suddenly from nowhere, you find yourself at the bottom starting point again, not knowing why you got there when you were almost getting at the very top. That’s where I find myself. Climbing that ladder again is not easy especially when you know that you’ve been there before. The pain of doing it again just occupies your whole being.

During my University course, I had some demanding major units to complete. They took so much time, energy and sacrifice to complete, and then I will have to wrap up with a presentation in front of the faculty panel including our professor who was very hard to please. Oh my, my, it’s one of those moments you don’t want to face. So with all the hard work of research and different analyses for 11 intensive weeks, wraps up with a presentation where you sit on a thin line of uncertainty whether the panel will give you a yes or no. Seriously it was like sitting on an egg and praying it doesn’t crack. So I stood there and gave an excellent presentation but didn’t know how I ended up with a NO. Which means repeat the subject again and pay the fees the second time. I can’t put into words the feeling at that time. I said to myself, repeating the subject alone is just a big pain not to mention paying the fees again as well. So I later didn’t mind paying the fees again, but not repeating the subject. I wanted to skip the process of doing the subject again so bad, but my lecturer and the faculty didn’t allow that. You know how you ask children to do something again and they go ‘again?’ As if they didn’t hear it the first time, but now asking you with an attitude and a frowning face. That’s exactly how I felt. I was like, excuse me!

So I painfully and reluctantly redid the subject. But this is what I learnt, by the time I did the subject for the second time, suddenly it became clearer, gained more insights about the topic and profited on some valid and significantly mind-blowing points missed when I did it the first time. My report and presentation were unquestionably great and excellent. I mean, I didn’t know how I missed it the first time, but I covered every hidden pothole initially missed.

Due to the tension and demanding nature of my course, many students will rather give up, cancel the course and register for another one or another University than redo the failed subject. They will rather take shortcuts than repeating. I almost did, but God kept me there and gave me the strength to re-do it again. I thank God for that opportunity because I became better than the first attempt.

What just came to my mind now, is the saying of reading something again for the second time. And that every time you go back to read it, you get a better revelation than the first time. You begin to see things in a different perspective and much clearer. You get a deeper understanding, and sometimes you think, ‘why didn’t I see this before?’ You begin to understand the author’s message better than previously. At times, God can ask you to start all over again just to allow you see and realise what you’ve missed when you initially went that way. He is not trying to demote you but to teach you some essentials that will better equip you for going through the journey again, much prepared and strengthen than before. He is the God of second chances. Therefore, embrace the opportunity He has given you to go through the journey a second time or more, and be open and ready for the revelations you’ll encounter. So start again if God says so and don’t give up. Draw strength from Him to make progress.

Are you contemplating whether to start again or quit? Let God guide you through.

Comments are welcome.