Let Go! You Will Come Out And To A Wealthy Place

 

I seem to talk about life ever so often these days; does it have anything to do with age or just experiences one has been through? I think it’s a little of both. Hmmm! It’s all about life again today. Have you observed that at some point we generally want to believe we’ve been through so much there is nothing new to experience? Maybe this is true for some but some of us have found that we always have something new to learn when we are faced with a new experience; for every new experience comes with its own lessons. Life could be described as a school with many different schools or experiences from one level to the next; or maybe a journey in the course of which we are compelled to have different experiences which give us opportunities to learn new things though the decision whether or not to learn is always ours. Those who don’t learn are those who refuse to yield so that they remain in the process going through the same experiences over and over but never learning. Sometimes, though the experiences may seem different, they are not; especially where the lessons they teach remain the same. God allows us through life’s experiences making them our refining schools which we ought to go through successfully that we may be accomplished and skilled in the art of applying of God’s mind to real life situations successfully. Each school ought to teach us something different changing different aspects our persons. To circumvent the experience is to go round the school and end up shallow; learning no new thing and having no successes or testimonies and the end of which is sorrow. These are the ones that are ever learning but never gaining life transforming understanding like the women Paul talks about in one of his letters to Timothy.

2 Timothy 3: 7 “Such women are forever learning but never able to come to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

I am convinced that to each school God has allotted a certain period of time so that if one has to keep repeating a particular school and/or experience, a day may come when the option of repeating will no longer exist so that the individual remains stunted or immature in many ways. The bible speaks of “an acceptable time” and doing things “while it is yet day” and several other such sentences that tell that with God, there is often a time frame allotted for anything that needs to be done. Also, I have found that one of the most common reasons for failing is “self”. It is impossible to go through successfully, if self is exalted. The primary aim of each school is to ultimately help us “kill our flesh” and if one’s self is the most important thing to them then there is no way such persons will let go of their flesh enough for the experience to facilitate the death thereof. Indeed many such persons are left no option but to circumvent the experience. Such are believers who have elected rather to dismiss any or all forms of discomfort and God does not compel anyone to go through. Though He allows us face these experiences, He leaves us with options and watches to see if we would go through or go round but no one can fulfill their destiny going round. So let us not despise these life’s experiences painful as they may sometimes be.

1 Peter 2: 1 - 3 “So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.”

James 1: 12 “God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life

With every school passed, one’s faith increases so that from school to school, we grow from faith to faith. The more the flesh dies, the more control God has of our lives and the more of His goodness He is able to deposit in our lives. It is only normal to give more to those that have succeeded having been tried and tested. Such persons earn trust. Our God is no different; though He desires friendship with and loves us dearly, He entrust some with more. God would not give the same responsibility to one who has consistently failed or circumvented the schools as He would one who has successfully gone through everyone they had to go through. It is foolishness to assume that there is nothing to be said for every level of experience that one has gone through successfully. Mere knowledge and tested knowledge would respond differently when faced with the same circumstance. It is presumptuous to think they are equal. It is best to learn calmly instead of assuming we know all that those who have gone ahead of us know. Little knowledge when tested successfully, produces immense maturity. Let us have respect unto maturity because whatever we despise will not come to us.

Job 23: 10b “And when he tests me, I will come out as pure gold.”

1 Peter 1: 7 “These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is reveled to the whole world.”

So do not fear when you go through each of these experiences as you may be even now. God is there with you through it all. He is God in valleys as He is on mountain tops. As long as He remains God, He is always in control except we yield our lives to another. He allowed life throw the experience at you to bring you to a good place. Let your heart be stayed on Him. Fear is a tool of the enemy to make us circumvent or keep aborting the process. That you may die in the experience is a thought from satan which needs to be cast out of your mind because you will come through. Nothing but your flesh shall die in the process which was God’s original intention. Fear not! You are coming to a wealthy place. For every experience is but a stepping stone.

Joy Is A By Product Of His Presence

Please tell me, how are you coping with all that is going on in the world? Everything seems crazy and very unlike it was or we were told it was. It’s almost like the world changed several times over already just in the course of my own lifetime and it makes me feel much older than I really am, which by the way, is not as young as you may think. There is no doubt that we need God (The Father, Son and Holy Ghost) now more than we ever did. How does anyone live, I mean really live, without Christ in these times please? For anyone thinking of doing more than just surviving in these times, Christ is a must. He is the embodiment of all that joy is and makes joy available to all those in whom He is lives a as Lord. So why are sad believers increasing in number? Why are less and less believers able to enjoy the benefits of having Jesus Christ in our lives especially the benefit - joy? We are often so full of bitterness and lacking in joy that we look anything but carriers of Jesus Christ who has come that we may have joy and fullness of it. Can anyone really live, move and have their being in Him and not have joy? Our faith is tied to Jesus Christ and not to our feelings which is more often than not, tied to events around us or our circumstances. Everything around us is on the outside of us and should not determine what happens inside us; if anything, it should be the other way round; it however happens, to the extent that we let it and if it happens often, it is because ‘self’ is our Lord instead of Jesus Christ.

John 15: 11 “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow.”

John 10: 10b “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

A life that has Jesus Christ truly in control cannot help but be joyous. You almost want to ask them if they don’t see the world’s problems or don’t care enough to think deeply about them. Such persons are so annoyingly alive and even more so when they are in the midst of other believers who also ought to be full of joy but are not and often because they are totally yielded to their flesh which is unable to give joy. Such persons are often moody, sad, insecure, and selfish and mean while the joyous believers are yielded to Joy and have no choice but to be joyous and even in the most difficult of circumstances. Joyous believers can cry from pain and yet laugh because it comes from their spirit. They are unable to remain sad or miserable or insecure and selfish because they unwittingly resist the flesh in choosing to yield to Jesus Christ. Though they are not perfect, they permit the one who is filled with joy and permit Him to run their lives so that though they live in this world, they seem to live in another Kingdom and all because they are so connected that they are able to ‘draw down’ from that other Kingdom to live in this world. These ones “acknowledge God in all our ways” or most of it giving Him room to direct their path which may not often seem like the best path but is. They walk this path drawing strength from He who goes before them to make every crooked path straight.

Romans 14: 17 “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

At the end of the day, these are the ones that walk by faith which is really trust. If we must have and enjoy this joy, then we have to trust God enough to allow ourselves to be led by Him who knows the way though we don’t. We must think of ourselves less and Him more. He loves those who desire to please Him. In the world we live in today, everything around us wants to make us think of ourselves and even to the point where we deify ourselves and we freak out when we are not in control; but for Him to be Lord, we have to let go and let Him actually have control. No one can have joy and the fullness thereof working from outside in. Joy flows from the inside out. We have to give The Word permission to alter us from inside and that work eventually begins to show on the outward so that we then exude confidence that people don’t’ understand and often misinterpret. We have to learn to trust Christ if we must enjoy that joy that is inspite of everything going on. The trust, and conversely joy, can only come if we give ourselves to study of the word of God. There is no going round Jesus Christ and the benefits are tremendous. Joy is such important medicine and beauty ingredient that; it is amazing we don’t pay for it but someone did and His name is Jesus Christ. Don’t hide it and don’t let anyone steal yours because the devil is working through them to make you lose it.

1 Peter 1: 8 “You love Him even though you have never seen Him. Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.”

The Root Of Your Decisions Determine Where You End Up

Many years ago, I met an elderly cab driver who is from same Country as I but lives in a Country where he had lived for several years and worked as cab driver for all the time he lived in that Country. He told me how he became a driver and remained one forever. He said he went to the Country as a teenager to study medicine, to one day become a medical doctor. On arrival there, he felt the need to make more money and live the life he thought he should have as a student and realized he could easily make money driving cabs; so, he got a job as cab driver. The money he earned seemed to give him that good life; so, to earn a little more money so as to be more comfortable in school, he deferred his resumption. Unfortunately, that was the beginning of many postponing of resumption until he couldn’t go to school anymore. This all started with wanting a little more money but he ended up losing his dream which he never forgot. He said he never thought he would end up a cab driver. One seemingly harmless decision after another and the course of a man’s life is changed forever.

1 Timothy 6: 10 “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”

This seems like one of the ways the enemy destroys lives today. It’s not that life dealt him a portion that has never been dealt to any one before who ended up succeeding. Some other persons have gone through similar experiences but still remained on course because they made different sets of decisions so that his problem was really with the way he responded to the challenges that life dealt him. Our responses to life’s challenges are our decisions; and these decisions determine where we end up. These decisions are predicated on what we have inside us which is our true belief system. As believers, we may pray and study our bibles daily but if our mind is not impacted by all of these, then we would make less than godly decisions. If we insist on remaining wise in our own eyes, we remain very selfish and/or conceited and unable to take in the wisdom and/or counsel of God despite that we pray and appear to read the bible. All we then do, is acquire knowledge but not the Spirit of the Word. This is recipe for failure which would not be life’s fault nor God’s. If blame were to be apportioned, it would be the believer’s fault. Feelings though good in their place, should never be the bedrock of our decision making process continually. Our lives are built on the blocks of our decisions; so our decisions cannot be built on feelings which are very flimsy. We cannot afford to make decisions that will impact on our entire lives forever based on feelings that are here today and gone tomorrow; except of course if one thinks their life Is not worth as much as God who sent His Son to die for us, thinks.

Proverbs 23: 12 “commit yourself to instruction; listen carefully to words of knowledge.”

Proverbs 23: 17 “Don’t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord. You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed.”

It is okay to feel just the way you feel; but when it is time to make decisions, we must put our feelings aside and make our decisions based on godly wisdom. It is best to be accused of making decisions too slowly than to make quick decisions that end up ruining your life. Decisions based on the flesh are like sinking sand and as such, will not take the weight of challenges that will come in the future. They will also not really move anyone forward. It is expedient for believers to spend time with God but more importantly, is the need to open up ourselves as we approach the word; granting this Word the permit to change us by changing our minds and/or thought process. It is safe to evaluate our decision making parameters from time to time just to ensure that our decisions come from the right place. I would also go on to suggest self – evaluation because it is easier to lie to others than yourself. If we find that our decision making is not rooted in the right thing, we can make appropriate changes and realign. God never lives us, we leave Him and He always desires and waits for us to return. Whenever we return, He can put things back together for us. We don’t have to be like my friend whose life never realigned and only just told the story. It is not enough to just keep telling the story; we can make a change and begin afresh; for our God is a God of new beginnings.     

Luke 6: 45 “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”

Psalm 119: 11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

God Is Doing A New Thing - Change Is Imminent In Your Life

Regularity definitely makes life easier. It’s just easier to have things remain the same but how then can God do “a new thing”? Life definitely feels safer when nothing changes and as many of us say “the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know” which suggests that change is really risky making it even more difficult for most of us to allow changes. But if we must enjoy the benefits of the “new thing” that God is doing, then change is imminent. Change is inevitable if we must go forward. Indeed moving forward speaks of change just like growth does. The truth is though we all love God to do “a new thing” in our lives, we often reject the changes that precede and/or accompany the new; and by so doing, we inadvertently prevent the new from fully unfolding so that God’s move in our lives is often frustrated. Whilst it is often true that the initial stages of God’s changes may produce some difficulties in our lives, leaving us in some of the most unpalatable circumstances. If however, it is permitted to fully unfold, it would make us glad. The truth is God’s ways are not ours so that as mere mortals who live in the flesh, it is not out of place for our first instinct to be to reject the changes that accompany God’s new thing; but if we are patient, we would reap great benefits. I guess that fact that we don’t fully understand His ways, makes it very confusing but that is how we learn to trust Him.  We must trust that His thoughts toward us are of good and will bring us to that end that was written for us by Him.  

James 1: 3 - 4 “For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

Hebrews 10: 36 – 37 “Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.”

God’s new thing will always take us higher even when it sometimes appears to take us lower. We must know God enough to know that when He seems to take us lower, the work is not finished yet. The destination is always higher than where one was when He started the new thing. There are often hills and valleys to go through for His new thing to fully unfold but through it all, He will not only be there but will finish His work.  Never give up on God when it is tough. Indeed, the fact that it is still tough suggest that He is not finished yet. There is no doubt that an undesired and unanticipated process is not what one ever wishes for but it works good in the believer. When the process is ongoing, it is best not to make any life changing decisions because by the time He is done, you may regret the decisions. You just need all your strength to hang in there and wait for life to eventually confirm whether God’s new thing and process worked out good or evil in your life. Interestingly, everyone is not at the same stage of the “new thing” process at the same time so we must learn to remain focused on Him and not compare ourselves with anyone one else but remember to rejoice with them that rejoice and mourn with them that mourn. We must also remember that we must never be bitter toward God. It would separate one from God and cause satan to rejoice because we make His work easy. If we feel bitter, we must remind ourselves that God is working for our good and helping us fulfilling our destiny.

Hebrews 10: 35 “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!”

God consistently did “new things” in the lives of the Israelites as they journeyed to the Promised Land. Sadly, God had to take away the set of Israelites who left Egypt that the next generation may enter the Promised Land because they would have become a stumbling block to the fulfilment of God’s purpose for a nation. For this “new thing to be accomplished, God may need to remove some people from our lives and bring in others, so let us be open to Him. Joseph went through several major changes that He could not understand or explain but which ultimately brought him to the role of Prime minister in Egypt. How would Joseph ever have thought His journey will eventually bring Him to the manifestation of His dreams? If anything, his journey seemed to have taken Him far away from the fulfillment of the dream. Who would have thought an Israelite would be prime minister in Egypt? Don’t ever try to fully understand or find a logical sequence for all that God is doing in any life unless He lets you know; you will get frustrated because It is hard to fully understand where God is going until He completes what He is doing. We just must trust Him enough to let Him take away the first that He may establish the new in our lives. If it wasn’t necessary to take it away, He wouldn’t; He does not go out of His way to inflict pain. Our pain does not give Him pleasure and anyway He has to be with us through it all. Fear of pain or the unknown must not cause us to hold unto the old. We must be prepared always to suddenly be taken out of our comfort zones.

Hebrews 10: 37 – 38 “For in just a little while, the coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”

To take a step higher on a staircase takes energy, discomfort, albeit physical, focus so you don’t fall and just a step higher changes everything. One’s perspective changes completely because one’s view is larger, the risk of getting wounded if you fall is higher and you would most likely become more visible. Things definitely change. Going from glory to glory is a lot of change but it is the goodness of God. You can’t insist on remaining in the same place and hope to enjoy the goodness of God. Let us ignore the discomfort caused by the climate and focus on the good that it is working for us. In the very difficult times we live in, when it would seem like darkness is covering the earth, it is time for us shine and possess our possession. To do that, we must ensure that we have possessed our souls. If we are not in control of our minds, we will fall. We have to take charge of it and submit it to God.

Luke 21: 19 “By standing firm, you will win your souls.”