Religion

THE TRUTH: AND WE SAY WE LOVE HIM...!

OK, I don't know exactly why but my hands are flicking over this keyboard so fast, I have no doubt that what I'm writing is Holy Ghost-inspired. Yes, I'm 100% sure that at the mention of that, some have already stopped reading.

He stands at your door and He knocks. Pls, open!

Well, its your call, really! Choose the life that you want or the one that God wants for you which happens to be the one that you deserve!

I type on... A close meditation on the book of John 20:1&2 should make one come close to shedding tears of frustration.

Here we have people who walked with Christ and were practically His best friends.
They grew up with Him from the start of His Ministry work and ate with Him at breakfast, lunch and dinner tables.

Many times, they fasted with Him and broke bread of fellowship with Him.
They claimed to love and know Him and to be His followers and believers because they had seen Him heal the sick, drive out demons from possessed people and make the lame walk, opened the blind's eyes, cleanse the leprous and for God's sake, even RAISE THE DEAD so I am certain they were aware of the fact that the man they knew so well wasn't of this world.

They knew that He was the Son of God!!!

I can imagine there might have been a time when Jesus would be looking far off into the distance and one of them would walk up to Him and ask Him what He was pondering and He would reply earnestly, "Oh, I'm just feeling a little Homesick that's all".
I'm trying to stress here the obvious fact that Jesus trusted them, enough to even be transfigured before some of them.
Now I'll just bet we are wondering where all these is leading to (that is if you have not yet figured it out all on your own!!!!).

Then sometime later, at the appointed time (John 17:1) Jesus told them that He would be dying but then He would rise on the third day.

They mourned and were sad that they had to lose Him, but now that I think about it, I know they mourned because they weren't so sure if He actually knew what He was saying (why would you mourn for a friend who told you he would be going away for only a few days?) and He knew what they were thinking and that is probably why He told them what He did in John 16:12. You can be sure after reading that whole chapter that they left that day not having a clear understanding of everything that Jesus Christ had said. That is why in John 20:1&2, they could still panic at the thought that their Beloved's body had been stolen!!!

And they ran (John 20:4) to try and save a person who had just fought a three-day battle with the people of the underworld...and had won of course! Before and while I read my Bible, I always ask for deep understanding and this is what I got from the Holy Spirit:
We all claim to  love Him and we claim to have faith in Him like his disciples and friends back then did.

Now at the risk of sounding like I'm condemning someone (God forgive me but we have to learn lessons from other people's mistakes) look at Peter, he too ran in anxiety, fear, doubt, unbelief...call it what you will! Peter whose voice was the loudest whenever Jesus asked a question and who was always in a rush to defend Christ (remember the Malchus ear incident?), Peter who Jesus told Him that he would deny Him and he heard the cock crow at the appointed time and who wept because He knew the gravity of what he had done also suffered from a bad case of 'doubts' at one time in his life too!
It wasn't until they SAW that they believed Joh 20:8&9.

They FELT that they needed to see with their eyes before they could accept that Christ was able to do what He says He will do.
Perhaps like these disciples, you too have sang the song 'He's Able' so many times and yet you are still waiting for one huge sign from the heavens before you will believe about that nutty and seemingly impossible situation. Or perhaps, you are an unbeliever who has been preached to several times yet you keep asking for 'evidence' that God is.

Please don't be among those who will keep waiting and will only believe when the trumpet sounds and they SEE the Son of Man riding on the clouds,mounted in glorious splendor, because that moment might even be now...or the next minute...or the next ten years...the more you put it off, the less you'll enjoy His glory! This goes a long way to show us that if people who were this close to Christ could still try to save the Christ more so, through human efforts(ironic, huh?) how much more we who only have testimonies and have not actually witnessed Him in the flesh?

Faith is what Heb 11:1&2 says it is. Friend,it is not all about how many times God has used you or about how many times you have supped with the Christ. No.

Its about how much You believe in His Power, how well you teach yourself to draw close to Him and humble yourself before Him.

Its about surrender and a deep love like the one He has for us.
You could use close to 3 hours spewing words of love and lyrics of adoration to Him but how well do you BELIEVE in Him?...sorry, make that 'we', as in, how well do WE believe in Him?
There are so many lessons to be learned in these  few verses: lessons on faith, lessons on knowing HIM, lessons on the fact that Isa 59:1 is the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God; Neither you nor I can save the Christ. He can take care of Himself and we should never take it upon ourselves to presume that we can be saviors.
No amount of trying will help us in achieving that end.

This is a long script, but I hope and pray with every vestige of my being that while and after reading it the Holy Spirit ministers unto us; I am just a vessel that He chose to use.

Here is my confession: Today, Sept 3,2012, I had a lazy feeling and reading my bible was looking like a chore on this particular day. I put it off till 6 pm  Even then again, I had two options: lie in bed and cozy up with a nice book or sit up in bed and read my Bible!
Then I read Psalm 34 but I knew God wasn't done with me so I moved on to John 20, and from the first verse the Holy Spirit opened my understanding. I thank God. A last lesson to us all therefore: nothing good comes easy, you have to learn to discipline yourself, at least look how much I gained from 4 verses!

Fruity... uhmmm...Peace?

Did you honestly think your mere acts of love and sweetness would get you to that place of peace that you are desperate to reach in your life?Or perhaps, you imagined that running endlessly to the four reaches of the earth would help you reach a peaceful destination?

Think about it?

I am a huge fan of Karen Kingsbury's and I was fortunate to be able to purchase her book at a programme and the book, titled 'Forgiven' inspired


me to no end...

Now, tempted as I am, I won't get into the whole forgiveness 'ish' though it is something that we are still going to share about in another post; God-willing. Karen's books are absolutely superb and in fact I recommend them to all of us because, trust me, they have blessed me...she is honest and open while carefully dissecting the word of faith in her works.
You can follow her on Twitter - @KarenKingsbury...she's an absolutely splendid woman of God, if you don't like her books, well, sue me, but I guarantee you will (I mean - like it)!!!

don't get carried away by the oranges!

As I was saying, I was reading this book and it spoke of this young guy who had it all: fame, riches, looks and, what have you?!
Yet, he needed inner peace and you know what happened?
Before, I tell you what happened, let me help you understand that the devil, the master of all deceit, feeds on ignorance...it is his personal manna; and that is why the Bible tells us to not be ignorant of the devices of the devil 2 Cor 2:11; and reminds us that the devil is seeking whom he may devour in 1 Pet 5:8...well, in plain words, I'll say he is looking for his next snack - an ignorant person!

Taking that in our left hand lest we forget it, I was gisting us about our dear handsome and seemingly-complete sweetheart. This guy sought for inner peace and this search led him to some people whose religion tried to convince him that he could find that in them...and that is why we ought to flee from religion because it has only the form but lacks the vital thing; THE POWER. You see, the power is what pushes and supports every of our claims in Christ..for example, our confessions. Without the power of God to back it up, we would just be speaking ordinary words; likewise wondrous acts without the power of God would be mere show-off and magic.

This dear brother (through no fault of his, I must say!) swallowed all that the followers of this religious sect told him hook, line and sinker (Ouch!) and he was fed some crap about how, unless he made huge donations to the sect, he couldn't reach a high level of something or other...(forgive me, I don't have the words). Praise be to God! Our guy was saved in the nick of time by the Truth.
These people had the appearance of being able to provide him with all the peace and happiness but then, the Bible came along and I understand that it really wasn't about how much you gave but it was more of how much of your heart is in what you are giving.

Well, if you really want to know what became of our guy, you'll have to purchase the book from any Christian Bookstore! You see that, Karen. I'm being a good fan!

Therefore, we must know God!!!

Peace is a fruit of the Spirit and you won't obtain it by searching in all the wrong places. Trust me, this might sound funny but I have heard stories of people who in their quest for peace have embraced sorrow because it was disguised as Peace.

That is what the devil will do to you...remember, he is the Master Deceiver! It makes me want to cry when people do really wrong things, or do hurtful things to others, or malign others and when the load of bad stuff they have done is piled up, they can't see above it because in actual fact, a division has been created between them and what they are supposed to behold in the mirror of God's Word! (2 Cor 3:18) and when the burden of guilt is too heavy for them to bear, you see them trooping in and out of spiritual homes looking for inner peace...inner WHAT??!!
When what they ought to do is get down on their knees and make it right with God. Please, I beg you in the name of all that you hold dear, if you have done something that is not right; you'll know it deep down inside of you and I love the Holy Spirit because HE knows how to convict people of their sins (well, that's why they go about seeking inner peace in the first place! When they get convicted), and you need to make it right with Him!

I'll be honest with you. Just in case you are wondering, I am no saint myself!!! Though this is what I do; Php 3:13! Boy, do I love that scripture!!! You need to understand the fact that Peace is a fruit of the spirit -
Gal 5:22. No one ever got to eat apples by searching for them on a guava tree!!! If you need peace, you have to go to the Holy Spirit!!! Going to the Holy Spirit entails going through the scriptures and this is why!!!---> 2 Tim 3:16 and the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit says only that which the Father says and we have been made to understand that we are supposed to live by the Spirit which equally entails walking by the Spirit and that, my dear friends is something that loads of us (including some Christians) are struggling with...I am still in the school of the Spirit myself, I tell ya! We all should know that only the Holy Spirit can offer you the peace that you deserve in this world but how can you get access to this PEACE when this is probably the first time that some are even coming across the word Holy Spirit?
Do not despair dear friend! Or probably, you are thinking you happened on the wrong link and you are about to backspace...my lovely friends, I won't cajole you, rather I will pray that God plants in you a burning, raging desire to want to know him Php 3:10...He alone has the words of life and truth!!!
I am not for brain-washing anyone with religion but I want you to know this: some consider me crazy because of the level on which I operate. Well, I don't count being crazy for God as a bad thing, sorry to disappoint you there!

Now, this is all about you and all about the release that you need to get. Jesus Christ (The Anointed Savior) is calling out to you in Matt 11:28. Also, Psa 73: 28 and Ecc 5:1 lets us know that God earnestly desires that we draw near to Him a step closer everyday, but you must know that it starts with a step!

If you are a nominal Christian (that is, a church-goer or a Christian by natural birth) and you are living a life that you are contented with, I need you to please, search your heart; take some time to think on this: Do you have peace or perhaps, you are just in possession of the form of it whereas, you lack the power of the Holy Spirit who actually gives Peace?

As long as you are not truly born-again, you can't enjoy kingdom benefits and one of such benefits is PEACE. Peace, not just within your heart but also, to your fellow human. Peace will not make you head for the cheek of your neighbor with your ready palms when they wrongfully accuse you because you understand that He that dwells in you is greater than he that is in the world. I tell you, this peace is not superficial or polluted. It is just...well, PEACE. If you fall into the category of yet-to-be-born-again, your first step should be giving your life to Christ. You can't keep missing it in life. You need to find something or rather, someone worth-while and who could be more worth-while than God?

The Happy Tree

During my sojourn so far in this world, I have come across people who are running from their demons, so to speak.
And do you know how they go about doing this? Some of them are so deep in despair that they lose themselves in their cups...yes, Alcohol. Alcohol never solved anyone's problems? Rather, it gave them a bad hangover! Others turn to drugs and they say it is supposed to blot out the pain or misery.
I'm sorry to burst your bubble but drugs never did that either! Rather, it leaves you demented and crazy or as an occupant in an asylum!!!

And lest I forget, some turn to Yoga. Lovers of Yoga, my aim is not to criticize you or make you feel stupid. If you are practicing yoga as an exercise, its not bad. But if you think closing your eyes for some minutes and focusing on some point or other whilst making incantations is going to get you to that place of Actual Peace, I am sorry, you are totally missing the point! You might not like me for this, but I am sent to speak the truth, and speak the truth, I must!
There's this song that goes thus:

***I searched all over
Couldn't find nobody
I went high and low,
Still couldn't find nobody
Nobody greater(3x) than You***

Well, if a song is too baseless to convince you, the Holy Scriptures will! I know it because it always work for me. The Holy Scriptures is after all, the book that told me in Php 4:6 to "Be anxious for nothing, but...through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God". Have you not learnt that God is the God of peace and not the author of confusion? 1 Cor 14:33.

If on the other hand, you are a born again Christian but yet are yet to undergo the School of the Spirit, the only way you can stop those 'so-called' demons from chasing you is by knowing the peace of God that passes all understanding- Php 4:7.
Now that is the beautiful thing about the peace of God! It is beyond the comprehension of this human brain. The dictionary of all mankind and in different languages and versions will never be able to define or comprehend this peace because it is from GOD!
And that is why, When, for example, I lose something, I am always able to quote Php 4:6 and then I relax and let the Holy Spirit take over. He won't pull my ears and shout in my ears that I have been careless with my property.
No, because I have opted to trust Him, He just helps me.

Or when I am confused and need clarification, He reminds me that He can't work in a confused atmosphere and at that point, I am able to draw from within my spiritual reserve of peace!!!
Or when I need answers in the examination room (contrary to what you may believe, not everyone copies their neighbors' works), or when I am feeling sickly, or when I am broke - I am able to draw peace from the Holy Spirit who reminds me of God's promises in His Holy Scriptures and then I confess them and even though it does not always get alright immediately, I HAVE PEACE! I love peace because it helped me deal with depression and oppression. God is Peace!!! You need to understand that anxiety irritates and angers God because it is the best way to tell Him you don't trust Him to take care of whatever nutty situation you are in.

Peace makes me break out in songs of praises to God and remember beautiful instances of His Faithfulness whenever the devil is about to get me down with worries.

I am not asking you to be like me; NO! I am asking you to be like Jesus! Remember W.W.J.D? What Would Jesus DO?

Well, I'll tell you what Jesus wouldn't do! He wouldn't sit and do yoga (He had enough exercise walking about and climbing mountains to preach the gospel!), neither would He take endless bottles of drinks nor sniff drugs to 'blot out the pain'! He would just commit it into the hands of GOD because He understands that in that place, every problem has a solution. I am not preaching to you; I am preaching to US!
Therefore my dear friends, if you ever find yourself in the midst of dark despair, this is what you can do.
Bow your heads and say this prayer:

    Holy Spirit of God, I come today to let You know that I trust You above any other.
    No longer will I turn to the things of this world for solution to the cares of this world.
    Help me to find in You, the peace that passes human comprehension and to cultivate

A collection of fruits

    this fruit till the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

However, if you are not a born again Christian, this is what you need to do. Decide in your heart to forsake evil ways or carnal/ fleshly things and turn to the God of Peace who is able to preserve you in Joy eternal. After making this personal and compulsory decision, make this confession:

    Lord Jesus, I have decided in my heart to hand over the reins of my life to You. I have
    new knowledge of who you want me to be, and it is not this me but a better me
    that can inherit your kingdom. I therefore accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord
    and Savior today, to have and to hold. Lord Jesus, please forgive me my sins, wash
    me clean with the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ and make me worthy in Jesus' Name.
    Amen.

If you said this prayer, CONGRATULATIONS!!! You have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
However, you must go ahead and develop this new-found faith by finding a Bible-based church to attend on a regular basis. STAY BLESSED AND ENJOY PEACE WITH GOD AND ALL MEN!








A Dance In The Rain

I hereby hugely commend myself for enduring in silent patience, the journey from Ile-Ife to Lagos...that road is something else and after the journey, my 204 bones(am i right?) begged for mercy. My locked muscles begged for release and relief through massage but ALAS! I am not married (i sincerely hope you understand what this means because I can't go into details)so I had to carry my body about like that...albeit a very morose look I must say! 

But really, who am I to complain? I know a few people who'd give anything to be able to complain about something as trivial as body aches, but NEWSFLASH!!! THEY CAN'T...BECAUSE THEY ARE DEAD! So, understanding this, I got down from the bus, rather, I limped down from the bus, offered up a lazy smile to God (okay maybe the smile something was done in my head) and said with a shaky voice; "Thank You Lord". Yes, Thank You, LORD...even when the situation looks like its a tupsy-turvy one and you can't make head or tails of it, remember that if you had all the answers to life's endless questions, you would not feel the need to reverence God at all, right? 

Or maybe you think that the occurrence of that fateful day when you were nearly run down by a vehicle was just a matter of coincidence; or you are among those who just missed having their eyes gouged out by a nail that was carelessly placed somewhere and said "WTH!" (God in heaven, preserve us!), or you woke up this morning and every other morning before this to a large and hearty breakfast and to you, its the NORM (have you been to some 3rd world countries where your most meager meal will be considered heavenly manna to the hungry citizens? maybe you need a trip..)... or you got home from work one day and just as you were walking into the living room, your eyes homed in on the T.V screen where a newsflash was being broadcast and what do you see on the screen but the place you just drove past about an hour ago except that the place was now littered with dead and injured casualties of a bad road accident...! and you go; "Wow! that was close!! I just passed that place myself" but that's all you have to say on the issue because a nice warm bath awaits you and you can't wait to get in it, forgetting that those dead people were probably also eager to get home to a big bowl of food, warm hugs from their husbands, wives and kids, and perhaps, a tubful of warm water to soak themselves in! and God is up there watching you and saying this (probably, of course, you never know with God!) : 
"Seriously?!" with a really sad look on His face that His mercies to you are not worth you taking two seconds to say a heartfelt; "Thank You, Lord". 

If many of us had been given the opportunity to be God for just those few minutes, we would most likely have sent hailstones upon the head of the ungrateful individual who in this case could be anyone of us!!!

Me (in purple dress)being grateful!!!!!!

Some of you go into exam halls and having crash-read the previous night, suffer a brain-block and then just so that you don't submit blank sheets with only your names on them, you pick up your pen and scribble stuff (HEY! I said 'scribble' not 'write'!) on it muttering this under your breath in frustration;"So you this course, we part to meet next year abi?" But ALAS! a FRIEND who just loves you despite your unbelieving and unserious nature makes things fall into place for you and so when you go to the result board to check your result, you see a 'C' and all you can still say is "Seriously I am abso-freaking-lutely cooool!" conveniently forgetting how totally pathetic you looked in  your hopelessness on the exam day!!!

My point is this... BE THANKFUL and also, while enjoying the good, learn to take the bad in your stride too. 
Don't start panicking when the storm clouds gather over your head in threat of heavy rainfall that could be destructive... instead, my friend, learn to dance in the rain and let the thunder clap become your beat/tempo and the lightning your disco light...life will be much more fun  that way I tell you. Perhaps you are wondering how to start being grateful to God for everything? 
Well, here's a hint. I have finished completed this post successfully without straining or spraining my hands or wrists and I am grateful because I understand that a good number of people would also love to type a post like I do but its either they have no hands or they just lack ideas or they don't have the talent for writing (forgive me for hyping myself) or they don't have a laptop with which they can surf the net so, I am grateful Lord for the gift of life, my laptop system, my able and capable hands, and what's more, THE TALENT OF WRITING!!! Thank You LORD...

MISSING-The Most Important Ingredient.


Wow! There is nothing like a day spent with friends who love you loads! 

Since I resumed a new session in school last September, I have not had the tiniest moment to blog and this moment in itself is sort of a stolen one but I just knew that it was time to express myself and pour my mind out to y'all. I am grateful to God for this point that I find myself in now. 

It is by His grace that I was able to go to Spring Hill, New Buka, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, (which happens to be my place of study anyway) today at 6:30pm for a get-together with my fellow pastoral members. 

OH LORD! It was awesome! I might not have mentioned to you that I am a hall pastor in my fellowship at school. It was a time of worship and praise and love and laughter with the 'brethren'. I guess fun is what it is to you. Your idea of fun might be worlds apart from mine and vice versa. But really I had a swell time today. In fact, I have my tummy's presently swollen state to prove it: yeah, you 'guessed' right!! Lots of food and drinks have me feeling groggy. No doubt when I'm done here, I'm tumbling straight into bed. 

The thing is this: I have my head buried all the way down project and assignments and in the FYB coordinator responsibility that there's hardly room to breath in fresh air. But you must know that in one way or the other, I am well aware of the fact that I am being formed for the destiny that lays before me.

I have had moments during my service to God when I wondered if I actually know what I am doing but then, I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit encouraging me and nudging me gently in the right direction. I tell you, without Him, I'd be so lost now and my work for Him would have been a whole load of crap! 

As I type now, I don't know what direction I am taking and who this is going to affect the most and I am not sure if what I am writing and you are reading right now is even making any sense to you but if nothing makes sense, let this sink into your spirit and work great changes there: If you are currently at the deep end point of your life and it seems like everything is as useless as anything and it seems like you are crying out on your inside and nobody is listening or maybe it seems like they are actually even listening, but they have chosen to ignore you or at least, so it seems. 

Or maybe you are so sick of being that one person that the whole world seems to have marked out for torment and to you, its like everyone and everything is working determinedly against you. 

Or no matter how hard you try, you just don't seem to get it and for goodness' sake, you've tried several times and in  fact the world has tagged you "failure" and no one thinks that any good can come of you, or you've been battling so hard with this particular ache and pain or worse still, you are so sick, no treatment will ever be enough for you and even if there was one, the funds for medical treatment are way out of your reach. 

Or you are that person that just needs a person to love you really deeply, as in, you can practically feel a gap where there ought to be a partner, that one person who will love and cherish you and whose love will be reciprocated also, that person who just flows with you and who will be a friend indeed in body and spirit, who will be your God-sent shoulder to cry on and who will share your smiles and hug you hard just because you make their day so much better, or worse still, you keep getting betrayed and trusting people is on your 'Don'ts' list cause your heart has been bandaged one time too many and if it gets broken one more time, you just feel sure that it is going to crumble to pieces. 

My suggestion is this: Have you tried 'the God that is mighty to save' factor? If not, then its past time for you to do so! 

Yeah, I can just see you saying, 'That is too easy' because you are used to having to pay so much for just a little of what resembles love...He is THE GOD that demands your all...yes! ALL YOUR WORSHIP, PRAISE, ADORATION, SURRENDER and to sum it all up in one word..LOVE. 'Why?' you ask? Well suffice it to say that the same way you would give your child love and everything he or she asks for and then expect nothing in return but for that love to be reciprocated is the same way God wants you to love Him and He expects nothing else..at least nothing could be enough anyway! 

So no matter what tomorrow may bring, still stand in the hope of a better tomorrow remembering that "...hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God has been shared abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given unto us." That is the secret to happiness and fulfillment: Love!...all the way! Just open up your heart, let all the venom of hatred flow out and let God flood your heart with His undying love which has no end and is able to conquer bitterness and sadness of spirit and replace it with joy unspeakable. 

The thing about loving God is that when you actually love Him from your heart, loving people around you will become your nature. Remember those times when you said something really nasty about someone or those times when you were sure that the horrible thing you just did made God really sad and yet HE, in all His holiness, didn't call the 12 plagues upon you immediately but instead chose to see the blood of His Dear Son coating you; why don't you try that and see what happens? 

From now on, if someone offends you or just disappoints or betrays you, make a decision to see the blood of Christ covering the person, that same blood that was spilled for you on the Calvary cross was also spilled for that person so s/he deserves forgiveness as much as you do! Love and watch God pay attention to your needs...that might be the missing ingredient...the most important ingredient!!!
Stay Blessed!