The Wrong Timing
Oftentimes we look for favour in the wrong places, from the wrong people and at the wrong time.
Everyone seems to be normal until something goes wrong. We say normal people do not have a blameless life. The problem is, most ‘normal’ individuals are the perfect candidates fond of getting involved in situations at the wrong time.
Someone once said, there is a big difference from being educated and being wise. In other words, an educated person may not possess the required wisdom to handling certain situations.
This Amalekite thought he was in his right mind and in the right order. He was smart. However, his smartness brought him trouble. It cost him his life.
Pray to God to always help you to be at the right place and at the correct time.
Not My Mother’s
I was raised by a mother who did everything she could to make me and my siblings hate my father. Clearly, ‘hate’ is a big word and perhaps, you would have preferred the term ‘dislike’ instead. My mother’s speech, reactions and actions when my father was around or not, made her the best of all the mothers. She created her perfect model at the cost of her family.
I have heard many situations like mine, especially when the fathers no longer live in the house. Unhappily, the mothers’ gestures to bring themselves to the good side always end in grave consequences when the children grow up.
One day, I had a conversation with my father about the household. He said he would not have left home if he had had peace of mind. He bore his own faulty part of the broken affair. However, anyone who spends considerable time with my mother, would have known he or she is meeting a fire. Some of her friends call her ‘Iron lady’. It is not an issue being a disciplinarian. What becomes a problem is when one cannot maintains limitation. This can destroy relationships either consciously or the other direction.
Abigail was a smart woman. She really valued her social life. She respected her dignity. Wisdom saved Abigail from being massacred alongside Nabal. Women who manage their lives through Godly wisdom preserve immense happiness for themselves and those in their lives. It is not wisdom, not just for women, but also for men, to always want to have the last words.
The day I realised the need to block my mother’s unpleasant characters was the day I found myself advising my younger sister not to treat her husband and children in the same way our mother did. I hope by doing so to prevent any unwanted vicious circles in our lives.
The Spirit of Maturity
I am a friendly person by nature. I should state that sometimes my friendliness can go overboard. Taking extra steps to help those in my world, or not bothering about emptying my pockets just to make others happy.
But you all know, friendly people can be the talking types. I am also one of them. Oftentimes, I would not realise I have spent hours speaking. To some, it is nifty. To some, it is a problem. Believe me, dear friends, it is perhaps preferable to minimise taking one’s actions to the extreme. This is plainly because it can hurt.
Being oneself is not a trouble. What becomes an issue is not mastering it.
People who let the cat out of the bag too much may not be taken seriously. You must have been there or you may have somebody in your life who is a certified talkative. One day, I discovered something has to change for me. I know that I was not alone to alter how I interact with people. The Holy Spirit is the best guardian for this. You can only take in a perfect turnaround when you commit your ways to the Spirit of the Lord. He will help you out as He answered for me.
I prayed to God, asking for the spirit of maturity. Being an adult does not mean one has the abilities to behave maturely. Lifetime is a lesson we all are to learn daily. That I called to Jehovah to help me talk less and listen more, did not prevent me from asking for the assistance of the Holy Ghost. I needed then and still needing His guidance every second of my life.
To God be the glory, everything shifted! Rather than being the one to pick up my phones and call others endless time, now I give them their spaces. Listening has turned out to be the most beautiful act above talking or interrupting others.
That you acquiring God’s gift of maturity is sufficient to assist you in managing everyday life experience and occurrences. Do not arrive to that point where you believe you can sort things out alone. Situations can get out of your control at the moment you imagine you can handle it by yourself. Ask God for His spirit of maturity. He will yield it, freely without any judgements, any restrictions.
God bless you.
The Tomato Results
Starting from late Spring I used to prepare my garden for the planting period. This is when I need to select the types of vegetables to plant or not for the year. Among all these choices, tomatoes planting takes the first priority before others. It is more than simply because of my love for this red fruit. I can say I love tomatoes!
However, at the moment of planting it, I can see only the dry seeds of the tomatoes or the young leaves depending on the types I opted for. Then I will plant, and thereafter start the watering and more watering (often in the hot summer) until the leaves grow bigger. Sooner, the tiny green baby tomatoes surface! Few weeks later, there will be the real tomatoes to eat! Yuppies!!!
I am grateful to use this illustration to describe to you how prayer works. When you pray, you may be lucky to see the results immediately. But, from my experiences, I can testify that the best results of a persistent prayer, which I will refer to as the tomatoes results; often takes time. This is because these results bring to the person praying the best of all answer. There is nothing to rejoice about during the planting of the tomatoes simply because there were no fruits then. Prayer is the same. You do not see anything. I believe I will harvest a tomato or more of it , which is why I plant. I have the faith that propelled me to take the bold step to till the ground, buy the seeds, plant it, continue to water it until they spring up.
Prayer requires faith to produce results. It requires your believe that everything will come to you as you expect. If you don’t believe, you don’t get it. You only need to pray and then wait upon the Lord to answer. How do you wait? By thanking God for the results even when you have not seen it. By maintaining a positive attitude of someone expecting a miracle. Sometimes, some prayers are not necessary to be repeated again and again because they have already been answered long ago. It takes a Christian with deeper spiritual insight to know this. You cannot get what you are not eager for. Have you ever heard of attraction? You draw the tomatoes results to your prayer requests when you are genuinely interested in them.
Change the way you regard Jehovah and what you think He is capable of doing for you, and you will be amaze.
God bless you.
The Alternative
Many Christians are forced to question their faith in God in the face of injustice. They wonder why the Lord does not intervene sooner. Many demands change before they cross the line of no returns. That line is revenge.
Injustice can destroy a man’s life and all his existence. Injustice can create the worst or perhaps a monster out of a good person. Injustice can cause a believer to sin against the Almighty.
When the enemies keep maintaining the upper hands, they can settle within their minds that they are doing the right things. They hold on to that mentality that nothing can happen to them. In fact, it is not surprising to see or hear the adversaries justify their evil acts through quoting the words of God.
David could have killed Saul when those chances arose. However, David was a good man with a kind heart. It is no surprise he is referred to as the ‘man after God’s own heart’.
Christ does not say the Christian journey will be a smooth one. But he promised to always help us in time of troubles (John 14:1, John 17:15). Also He assures us not to take revenge for ourselves (Romans 12:19).
It is by far relaxing when God takes over your situation than when you choose to handle it on your own. This is the alternative; to step aside from the wrongs people did to you and let Jehovah fight for you.
You may carry out the revenge and not gain anything from it. You may ended up being frustrated than ever or even ended up with deeper troubles for this. But when God takes over, He does not do any uncomplicated jobs because He will finish it thoroughly (1 Samuel 31:2).
Only way to let Him is first for you to STOP talking about it. Pray to the Lord. Open your heart to Him. They step away completely. Be rest assured He will take over after giving you His peace that surpasses all human understanding.
Be blessed !
Child Witches
There is a problem when the Bible is misinterpreted by Pentecostal miracle performers.
There is a problem when the Word of God is twisted so badly that children are now becoming the victims of the hungry societies.
Across the globe, many children have been and are still being accused of being witches or possessed by demoniac spirits. Notably in South America countries, in some Africa nations such as Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Tanzania, Malawi, and even in some European countries.
According to scholarly references, the accusations often start from within the family. While this could have been dealt with at the homes, many of the cases are brought to the pastors for additional confirmation. It is important to clarify here that NOT all Pentecostal churches or leaders accuse children of witchcraft.
Many do. Majority of these so-called pastors-turned-prophets are often the owners of roadside Pentecostal churches. Although some megachurches have been caught labelling children as witches.
Why are children targeted? The simplest response is because they are vulnerable! Children cannot defend themselves in many instances. Some of them are children with disabilities, those with Albinism, orphans, those with stubborn characters, stepchildren and of course, those fostered.
How does these families detect a child is a witch or evil possessed? There is no clear answer to this. However, majority of these accusations have been borne out of the need to get rid of the child. Socioeconomic fallout cause many people to designate a culprit of their misfortunes. In addition, the money-seeking Pentecostal pastors or so-called prophets aid in fuelling the accusation by confirming the child is possessed and calling for exorcism, which is NOT free.
May God help us!
When To Say Goodbye
The word ‘family’, resonated throughout my childhood. I was taught to eat together in the same bowl with my five siblings. I was dressed us in uniformed attires with my siblings. We went to church as one. We did practically all of those things family members do. This was a way to create an atmosphere of oneness.
However, doing things together does not imply have a united relationship. It was easier to maintain happy surroundings when the children were young. But it becomes more of an uncomfortable and uncontrollable dilemma when they are adults.
Having a large family comes with lots of disadvantages than advantages. Joseph (Genesis 37:4) and David (1 Samuel 16:11) are vivid examples of this. This is by no means to dissuade anyone from growing his or her family as desired.
The point is, what constitutes a safe family relationship? Do you have to live together forever in order to make things work? Sometimes, many people have to turn their backs on their family members (or perhaps friends) before they came have a lifetime breakthroughs (Genesis 12:1, Ruth 1:16-17).
Whosoever does not make you strong will literally makes you weak. It is not as if your family members are bad or perhaps this may be the case for some people. Oftentimes , there has to be a wide gap for your wellbeing and spiritual development. Abraham might have well stayed in Haran. Ruth had the choice to return to her family. Although his own history was unsettled from the onset, Joseph was taken away to be protected from his hostile environment.
You must leave when God says you have to. You cannot decide otherwise unless you want to remain at the cruise level. The journey to success comes with lots of lessons, some of them are not comfortable. God does not move you away from among others without a perfect plan elsewhere waiting for you.
James and John would have missed been part of the chosen twelve disciples had they preferred their fishing business. Instead, these sons of thunder (Mark 3:17) opted for a better position knowing that they have to suffer for the sake of Gospel of Christ.
Did all these people regret?
May God help us!
The Lost Gospel
I grew up with the a gospel that is the reverse of what it is today. It was different back then. Strong emphasis was on converting souls for Jesus Christ. There were discussions about sin, hell and heaven. The virtual imageries of hell are literal. The ugly devil with bloody horns, it’s burning flames were so frightening that, no one pray to die and end up there. We enjoyed dry fasting that could live for three to seven days. We got pleasure in group house meetings. Many hit the roads to preach from house to house, and streets to streets.
Time slips away and things are no longer the same. That gospel seems to have been pushed behind the curtains. No more hell. No more heaven. Some ministers are now preaching that heaven is here on earth.
People are desperate now. Some of us are perpetually hungry. Some sick. More or less in search of genuine love and acceptance. Per event, many of the 21st century pastors and preachers are more or less taking advantage of this to fill their own pockets. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has been twisted so badly to fit modern-day satisfaction (Mark 11:17).
What happened to the days of the true gospel? Positive changes can bring this back, but is this possible within the Christian communities where denominations are not in oneness?
Many go to church, not with the honest intentions to fellowship, simply seek to God for solutions to their issues. While the church leadership must do everything desperately to keep them coming(1 Timothy 6:10). After all, how do you continue maintaining a megachurch without the members’ money? How does one buy the fuels for the pastors’ private jets?
Dear God, help us(John 17:9-12)!
