YOU ARE THE APPLE OF HIS EYE!!!

 Today I am writing for that one person out there who’s thinking that God may have forgotten them; that person who feels so alone in their pain and/or struggles and thinks no one else sees, cares or understands the burden they bear. I am writing for that one person that masks their pain whilst reaching out to other people or that person who bears the burden of the wrong they once did; I want you to know that God knows all about your burden and wants to carry it; He cares so much that He is going through ‘the valley of the shadow of death’ with you. Indeed, if He wasn’t there carrying you, you wouldn’t have come this far. Be assured that you are very important to Him and His eyes are on you and at the right time, He will deal with it everything and you will be like ‘them that dream.’

Zechariah 2: 8 “After a period of glory, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me against the nations who plundered you. For He said, ‘anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession. I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.”

Life itself throws some things at us we never anticipated. As a young girl I had dreams, great dreams that made me smile whenever my childish mind thought on them, then. As I grew up, these dreams got refined and more interesting so that I could not wait for their fulfillment. Then one day I met Jesus who took my dreams and turned them around for good. Of course, His way of working out good was absolutely alien to me at the time, but I am better accustomed to it now. I have also had to deal with the devil’s tricks to derail my destiny and the challenges that life throws at us. At some point, it was all very confusing and painful; several times I cried out to God and He made me feel the reality of His love and also to realize how precious I am even when all looks contrary. My various experiences may not appear to attest to the fact that I am precious to Him in the eyes of man but I am and you are too. You are so precious that He even knows the number of hair on your head.

I don’t know where you are at now but I do know that pain can be so deep that one is unable to talk about it and burden can be too heavy for man to bear; also that one can be lonely and lost in the midst of people. However, I want you to know, in all that, you are very important to God and He is closer than you think. He is all around you and inside you but you don’t see Him because He is Spirit. He cares about you more than you can ever imagine. You are not just another person to Him; He knows you by name and wouldn’t let go off you. He leaves other sheep to search for just one missing sheep and then rejoices when he’s found because all the time we are lost; He misses us and longs for our return. We are never so many that He loses count. Don’t worry; learn to give it all to Him. Simple as it may sound, I know it is tough to do but you must give it to Him. He cares much more than you can ever imagine. 

Mathew 11: 28 “Then Jesus said, “come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

ARE YOU ASHAMED OF GOD AND HIS WORD?

The question above may sound funny but wait till you have read through this blog and then decide for yourself whether or not you are guilty. 

We, as believers do several things that do not please God for various reasons. We do them sometimes not because we would have wanted to do them or from ignorance, even though there is no acceptable excuse, but because we think we would be embarrassed about what people may say or how they would react to us if we don’t do them. In certain circumstances we even feel a compelling need to pretend like we are not saved, denying the reality of who we are, and all because we want to be accepted socially or perceived as being of a particular social status. Whether or not we admit it, we are shamed of God when we do such things and the consequences are of eternal dimensions.

Mark 8: 38 “If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the son of man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of His father with the holy angels.”

These days, believers try hard to play the unbelievers game in the unbeliever’s turf, whilst hoping to beat them at their game. The world is their turf, the game is their way of life and then winning is making heaven at the end of the day. The situation is so bad now that the only differences between most believers and unbelievers would be the fact that we once invited Christ into our lives, we are part of a Pentecostal church which we attend regularly and we speak the “language of Christians.” These things seem ordinary but eventually lead to adultery with the world which takes away from the heavenly path. 

It is sad that we who ought to be proud of what we have and make other people envious are now succumbing to the pressure of the world and also envy the world. We are so ashamed of who we are in Christ that we would rather hide our identity and then do what the world is doing. Worse still is the fact that we measure our lives and/or success using the measure of the world; a measure that even God will not use for us. If you judge yourself by that measure, you will always fall short because it was never meant for you. In the same vein, unbelievers would not want to measure themselves by the measure of the kingdom because their need for salvation will become manifest; for every unsaved man who attempts to measure his success by God’s standard which is His word, would find Himself wanting. 

You want to be saved yet you want to be acclaimed by the world as being “with it”, whatever that means. You don’t want to let go of what you consider your worldly “social status.”  You want so much to be acclaimed and if you are not, you get insecure and struggle to be like them hoping to beat them at their own game but you can’t. You will only end up losing the true life that God has given you if you don’t stop. Please let go and accept that you are different. You are now guided by the Good News.

Mark 8: 35 “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.”

Let me remind you – you are royalty and must never reduce yourself to the level of commoners. No matter how interesting they make their lives look, deep down their hearts they want to be like you.

IS THIS NOT A DEN OF THIEVES?

Mathew 21: 13 “Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, ‘The scriptures declare, my temple will be called a house of prayer’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

Jesus went into the temple and was greatly upset by what was going on in the church. He could not turn a blind eye to it nor could He afford to choose to be “politically correct” because it was too important to Him - it was His father’s house. He understood the relevance of the church to our faith and was unable to consider it an institution just like any other. Paul, the apostle, in a letter to Timothy also referred to it as the pillar and foundation of the truth.”

It is very sad that a number of us believers are unable to discern the relevance of the church in our present day. It is grieving in hear some believers say in “utmost ignorance” whilst thinking they are smart and intellectual, that the church is just any other institution run by men. In the same way that man cannot make the word of God of “non-effect”, the wrongdoings of man cannot reduce the relevance of the church in God’s plan. It is time to work with God to establish His purpose for the church. Jesus said it is “a house of prayer.” My question to you today is this - what is the church to you, a house of prayer or a den of thieves?

A house of prayer would be a place for communion with God; a place that facilitates the enhancement of our relationship with God with a view to ensuring that our communion with God is consistent since Jesus says we should pray continuously. It is not the place where we network or feed our insatiable personal and/or social needs; it is a house of prayer. Jesus the author of our faith, whom we believe came as the example of what we ought to be, showing us also how we ought to live, was clearly sociable yet He showed us that everything has its place in life and wisdom is placing things where they ought to be so we can then prioritize appropriately. The church, He insisted is a House of prayer.

I am by no means suggesting that the Christian life is all about prayer; it is that and much more. A Christian is a well- rounded person and the bible touches on every area of life teaching us how we ought to live. However, different things ought to be done in different places; if you want to trade for example, please go to the market; when you do it in church you become a thief. In doing everything in church, we are unwittingly changing the face and/or purpose of church thereby reducing its power and ability to impact the lives of people and society at large. 

Jesus is in the New Testament, placed the church in proper perspective so why do we in our “seeming wisdom” think the church ought to do more than it was made for, that it may be relevant in our present day. In trying to make the church do everything, we are moving from its original purpose so that the original purpose is getting lost as a result of which souls are perishing. This is abuse. We must take out all the mess and focus again on the purpose. There is a purpose for going there; we must be single minded concerning that purpose as we go there. We can’t afford to have it mixed up. That is not wisdom. How long shall we continue to be unwise?

YOU NEED GOD’S APPROVAL

Luke 9: 18 “One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only His disciples were with Him, and He asked them, ‘who do people say I am?’”

I can’t say I know for certain why Jesus asked that question above but one thing is certain, the answer to the question would help Him ascertain the people’s perception of Him. How He chooses to respond to the information he receives becomes His prerogative. I believe it is good to, from time to time find out how people perceive you so that you can confirm that you are perceived in the way you should be perceived. If you are not coming across as you would like to, then you can make required behavioral adjustments to ensure correction of people’s perception of you.  

The fact of how one is perceived does not equate with gaining approval. People may perceive you correctly but not approve of you. Only one approval matters the most in life and that is God’s approval. This may sound very theological or spiritual but indeed it is truth. If you spend your life seeking the approval of men, it would cost you greatly and you will not fulfill your God given purpose. You would always be unstable and sad; unstable because, as you move from person to person, you will find that they all differ. What you do to gain one person’s approval may earn you another person’s disapproval so you would have to keeping changing depending on who you are with and you will end up very sad because at the end of the day, nobody is fulfilled till they become who God made to them to be. 

We are not all the same and can never be; we all just need to ensure that we are who God requires us to be at each point in time; fulfilling His purpose and giving Him pleasure. You don’t need men’s approval to succeed in life. No wonder the bible says, if a man’s ways please God, He will cause even His enemies to be at peace with Him. That does not necessarily mean the enemies will like Him, but they will be aware of the presence of His God in His life and would have no choice but to be at peace with Him. They will recognize that it will be in their best interest to be at peace with him. Nobody can always have men’s approval doing the will of God. 

Herod, a man who loved the adulation and approval of man, must have died a very sad man for killing John the Baptist. He had put him in jail because He did not want to hear what John had to say about him marrying his brother’s wife but could not kill him for fear of the people’s disapproval but ended up killing him for fear of the people’s disapproval again. He thought they would think lowly of him if he did not keep his oath to Herodias daughter but he is only a man and could have said explained that his promise did not include John’s head. I wonder how he felt when the head was finally presented on a plate. It may have been more honorable to have killed him for speaking against the king.

Mathew 14: 9-11 “then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. So John was beheaded in prison, and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother,”

Life is about impressing God. If you impress God, you will impress the people you are required to impress. It is the most difficult thing to go against the general flow of people but some people are born to do that whilst others are not. You must seek to know your purpose and live your life fulfilling that purpose. You are born to be different.