Beware!!! The enemy is on rampage

Have you noticed that these days, believers celebrate the challenges and negative things going on in their lives? We look sad often, discussing only the challenges we are going through, celebrating them without intending to, and in the process we then forget to celebrate the goodness of God. It has become acceptable to wallow in self-pity. Though it is sometimes our way of soliciting support and pity from men hoping that they would fix the problem; it is eating into and destroying the very fiber of our belief, causing us to lose faith instead thereby making it more difficult for us to receive from God. 

Hebrews 6: 15 “Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

In times past, believers went through pain and great difficulties but instead of celebrating their pain, they set their eyes on the Lord and the joy that was set before them celebrating the “goodness of God” which today, would probably not be considered goodness. Yet they kept at it enduring hardness as soldiers. Today, our story is different. If you struggle to focus on God, you are considered inhuman. Being human for us now is to lament and wallow in self-pity if anything goes wrong. Are we so spoilt that we have become “God’s brats?” Remaining babies in Christ, we are refusing to come to maturity; how can we then enjoy the benefits that are ours?

We have been so misled and blinded by satan that preferring darkness, we reject light. It is darkness to remain in a state of self-pity instead of rising above it. This idea of “celebrating our humanity” above all else; though subtle, is one of satan’s most potent tools for destroying believers today. We have to be careful not to celebrate our “humanity” above all else. As believers we have the privilege of operating at God’s original predestined level for man. 

Philippians 4: 8 “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” 

Of course, even at that level, there would be situations and/or challenges that would cause us to weep and want to give up for even Jesus had to face such situation; but like Him, we must refuse to allow the emotions we feel overwhelm us. At some point in Gethsemane, He willfully focused on God so that He received strength to align with God’s plans and declared “not my will but thine will be done.” As soon as He made the decision to rise above that low l

As a man thinks in his heart … so is he!!!

I heard John Maxwell say, and I agree that “the greatest gap between successful and unsuccessful people is the thinking gap.” I have come to realize that the way a man thinks truly is who he is no matter how much he desires to be something else. It does not matter how he describes himself, his decisions are a product of the way he thinks and his thought process is a function of what he truly believes despite what he may wish his belief is. It is not so much what happens around a person or what the person is taught but what the person chooses to permit to alter their mind. No wonder God focuses on transforming our thought process.

Proverbs 4: 23 “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

It is tough to alter one’s mindset. If we do not deliberately work on the way we think and/or process things before reaching a decision, we won’t change and unfortunately, as long as we keep thinking in the same way, we can only get the same results. Even if you attempt to do things differently a couple of times, you will eventually revert to your old self if you do not alter your thinking despite all your desire to be different. It is stupidity to think you are different when you still think in the same way. So when God shows us who we ought to be, we have to work to align our thinking with the image He has shown.

Romans 12: “but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”

God shows or tells you, you see it or hear Him and then walk in it. God’s decision to lift us up may or may not come to pass depending on the way we choose to think. Despite God’s strong desire to make things happen in our lives, we have a responsibility to take in the word that would alter our minds to accommodate the manifestation of the promises. God has made available all the word we need to ensure our minds are in sync with His; we just have to search them out. Change in mental attitude is tough but how can we get the benefits we seek so desperately and have been given for us without this change?   

It is true that the cost of this change may sometimes appear steep but the long term benefits make it worth the pain; and anyway sometimes this high cost include silly things like loss of some friends since we may become unacceptable in our circle of friends. Unfortunately, we may never find the new friends God prepared for us until we let of go of some and if there are no new ones after you let go, maybe your friends are too many for your next level. 

There is also the danger of being perceived differently, usually “less cool”, which may translate to having less people running around you because people are often looking out for the next “cool” thing to run around. Don’t worry; at some point in life, you will no longer be cool so make the decision when it pays you. What is truly sad is when we are foolish enough to believe that we can remain our old selves and yet operate from a higher level. God requires a higher level of responsibility for a higher role.

SILENCE IS STILL GOLDEN

Proverbs 29: 20 “There is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking.”

Why do people often feel the need to say something even in a conversation that they were never invited to and are not really a part of? Such people have a compelling need to ensure that their opinion is heard so they say something in every discussion even without understanding the topic. Sometimes, we are so desperate to say something that we don’t give ourselves enough time to think through what we say so that we then say the most stupid things but nobody is able to tell us because they don’t want to hurt or offend us. I can understand speaking too soon just once but then you stop yourself; my problem is with continuing in that habit without even making an effort to stop. Sadly, the more such people talk, the more stupid they appear and the less respect they earn. Sadly, the scripture above suggests that there is very little hope for such people.

Proverbs 17: 27a – 28 “A truly wise person uses few words … Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.” 

There is an old adage I would like to remind us of which is fast becoming obsolete; it says “silence is golden.” I recognize that the world currently teaches that you have to sell yourself which is one of the reasons people feel the need to say something; but as believers, we must know that the principles that govern our lives are different and silence is still golden. Whilst I am not saying we should be dumb, we must recognize that there is a time to speak and a time to be silent and also that self control is a fruit of the spirit which we, as believers, possess so that we all have it in us to restrain ourselves from speaking unless and until we are required to speak. Moreover, sensible people do not think you are silent because you are unable to form an opinion and no wise person will think you stupid for taking a little more time to form your opinion on an issue.

James 1: 19 “understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: you must be quick to listen, slow to speak.”

Furthermore, it is best to be considered too quiet than stupid. Also, no one is any less than they truly are just because they learnt to control their tongue; the problem is often within us who feel other people think us a little less than we are because we were silent. More often than not they actually respect us for not making any contribution to something we know nothing about. A lot of unwise people have been judged wise because most of their stupid thoughts are not spoken; they are very careful to speak so that it is mostly only their wise thoughts that are spoken. Moreover, if you talk too much, it is most likely that you will not increase in knowledge anyway because you never really listen to other people with a view to learn. No wonder the bible admonishes us to “study to be silent.” For silence sometimes makes us look good.

Proverbs 13: 3 “Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything.”

Face Up To It – You are Carnal

O! how I so want to be carnally minded sometimes. I don’t mean carnally minded like doing the stuff we obviously know to be bad but things like sulking, building on the evil thoughts I sometimes have toward certain people, eating even when I know I ought to stop and such like. Of course the devil then adds to it by saying things like “why do you always have to be tough resisting those things? It’s okay to be human sometimes” making it sound like to be human is to give in to any and every feeling which is a lie of the devil. The ability to think and control ourselves is one of the things that makes man higher than other animals. 

I must admit that sometimes I do give in to these feelings; but what I find amazing about myself is that when I preach about carnal Christians, I have my mind on people that do the obviously wrong things or are not heavenly minded. I have known for a long time that being carnally minded is to live “in the flesh” but I prefer to think that living in the flesh is doing those obviously wrong things. It just somehow refuses to register in my brain that to be carnally minded is to yield to the flesh so that when I am indulging my wrong desires, thereby indulging my flesh, I am carnally minded. 

Romans 8: 7 “For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s will.”

The important thing is that despite that God desires to be Lord in my life, I have deliberately dethroned Him thinking I am installing myself through satisfying myself, but actually enthroning the devil who rules through the flesh and the thing about satan is that he never misses using any opportunity. Honestly, I am beginning to suspect that a bell goes off in hell as soon as any believer gets into the flesh, chiming out opportunity! Opportunity and all the demons begin to scramble to ensure that they do not miss the opportunity. As soon as you give into your feeling, the downward spiral of your mind is so fast you will be shocked. You only wanted to self-indulge for a short while and here you are in depression or maybe something worse. Is it amazing therefore, that a believer ends up in depression living on anti-depressant or something even worse?

Galatians 5: 17 “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants.”

You know, evil is evil so that no matter how big or small the sin may appear, it has the potential of destroying one’s entire life. Maybe since I am female, I know a lot more about women so ladies please bear with me as I use you once more as examples. I believe women fall for this self-indulgence more than men because we often feel that we are to be indulged. Indulgence may not always be the best thing. I used to have a sweet tooth but I must tell you when I indulge, all I want is more sugar you are never satisfied. At the beginning, you think you will just have a little, then a little more and a little more and then the real craving kicks. Every time we indulge ourselves, this is what happens so that we want more until we end up frustrating other people because we become needy. It also destroys because carnality brings death. 

Romans 8: 6 “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”