Don’t Lose Heart: It Is Never Late With Him

As the year comes to an end here on earth, please be reminded that God’s year may be far from ending; for our God does not dwell in time. I am sure you have heard it said that God dwells in eternity so that it is most unlikely that His calendar is closing. I sincerely believe that this may be one of the best seasons for miracles since it is the time of the year when we celebrate the birth of our Saviour. As we all know, it is most unlikely that this is the season in which He was born, but this is that season when we celebrate His birth which is the biggest miracle the earth has ever witnessed. How is it that a God so mighty would choose to step down from His throne on high that He may indwell man? That is the miracle that only God can explain and who would believe that He did it that we may have joy filled lives and have it in exceeding abundance. Such was the love of God for us when He made the decision and so it is even today.

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

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

There is no doubt that God is not going on holiday at this time like we do. Interestingly, when a day is coming to an end, man begins to shut down that he may rest but our God never shuts down. Whilst we are getting ready to rest, God is working to start a new day. Man is programmed to shut down before the beginning of a new day or season so that in our sub-conscious, God is like that and we assume His calendar is just like ours. Please get ready for your miracles; it may just “spring forth” in this season like it did for Peter on the night when fishing seemed like the wrong business. Peter and the other fishermen were shutting down when Jesus Christ came on the scene and borrowed his boat. He could have been so frustrated with the way the night’s business went that he may have told Jesus Christ he had to go home. We have to learn to master our bodies so that things like frustration don’t get the better of us when things don’t seem to be going the way we think it should. If Peter had allowed what seemed like failure to get the better of him, he may have lost his the opportunity to know Jesus Christ and its attendant miracles, which was the beginning of many great experiences for Peter.

Luke 5: 2 & 3 “He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of those boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. Si he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.”

Like Peter and his team, I want to encourage you to be open to God even in this season. It’s the year and not your life that is coming to an end. Please don’t push God away by complaining and murmuring against Him which is what the enemy would like you to do so that you will unwittingly, shut God out. It is yet good time for God to act for you. He can even start a new thing right now. Jesus did not mention the blessings that would accompany their lending Him their boat; but it was in the works and no matter how late it was when He was done, He who never sleeps was going to give them this miracle. I am certain that they were penned down for that miracle that night and only they could have prevented themselves from receiving the miracle that night. Seriously, I think Peter and his team deserves to be applauded because they were already cleaning out their boat and nets when Jesus came on the scene. I often wonder about the ways of God; since He was coming, couldn’t he have come a little earlier? His ways was indeed puzzling; we can never really fathom God. We must never assume that it is late with God who is in control of time. Did he not stay the sun for Joshua? He does not need light to do what He need to do either because He is light Himself and even darkness flees when He comes on the scene.

Isaiah 55; 9 “For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

Ecclesiastes 11: 4 “Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest. Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another or maybe both.”

  Thank God that Peter was not one of us who “observe the “weather” otherwise he would have missed this gift. When we have opportunity to sow, we must respond without checking the weather. There was no doubt that it was dark; that not something one could pretend about but Peter chose to respond contrary to what He saw. We must also remember that from the point of view of the fishermen, that may have been considered “bad business” day. In other words, they may think they failed that day though they do not control the fishes. Not only did their seeming failure in business that day not prevent them from showing kindness, it also did not prevent them from casting their net again. Our circumstances should not determine our responses to the word of God.  Even if you failed at something several times, this may be the one opportunity that turns the entire story around.

So Shall Men Know … Pt 2

John 13: 35 “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples”

I feel bad when I am unable to post my blog especially when it is because I am too distracted to put my thoughts together and write. The past few weeks have been hectic and for a good reason - I was attending an awesome prophetic conference which I could have given anything to attend. So, with great joy in my heart and gratitude to God, I apologize for not posting my blog this past week. I thank God for godly relationships that facilitated my attendance at the conference. Indeed, prudence in the way we relate with one another and quality of company we keep has become imperative. The way we relate with others affects the company we keep which then greatly impacts on the quality of life we live here on earth and consequently, our ultimate destination in eternity. Do you act like the relationship is all about you? Are you always the victim? Do you provoke the others to good works? You may be surprised to find that you are the reason sincere people stay away from you leaving you in company that is not helpful for building godly character. It has become expedient, that we do a relationship audit. As you audit please bear in mind that it is best to start with self- evaluation. You may be surprised to find that you are “the bad one” or you may be bad for the person you think is a bad influence on you. Let me note here that sometimes we need to let go of some company not because anyone is bad but just because sometimes people who good individually, are bad collectively.

Hebrews 10: 24 “Let us think of ways to motivate one anther

1 Corinthians 15: 34 “think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God.”

When in my last blog I suggested that we audit our relationships, my thoughts were for us to deliberately examine them, sincerely evaluating them with a view to improving their quality. Sincerity is a must if the audit will be useful. For the evaluation to be sincere, our minds must be open to the fact that at the end of it all, we may be the ones who need to change to improve the quality of the company we keep. I have found that it is much easier to assume that we are great and every other person needs to do more so we must be open to looking inward first, rightly evaluating ourselves before we look at another. Our hearts have to be in the right place because every sincere evaluation begins with a sincere heart evaluation. If our hearts are wrong, the entire process is distorted and our findings will be corrupt. My Pastor, Seye Kosoko, says relationship audits are really audits of our hearts and I agree. Our hearts are the bedrock of all our relationships because out of them flow the issues of life.  All these matters flow from the heart  If our self- assessment reveals that we are the ones with challenges, we don’t need to feel condemned; we start working on ourselves relying on the Holy Spirit for help.

Hebrews 10: 24 “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.”

1 Corinthians 15: 33b “bad company corrupts good character.”

Any relationship that does not provoke us to acts of love and good works is not the best one for us. Of course, this is not love the way the world knows but true godly love; that love which tells you truth and is kind, does not envy, is not proud or selfish, does not think evil, is not easily provoked, rejoices in the truth, believes and endures all things and hopes for all things. Neither is it “good works” as we know them to be because good works are the works of God. For anything God does is good including when He chastises. Much as we would like to be described as good, we are bad anytime we do what God would not do. Jesus Christ said only God is good so that anyone who desires to be described as good would have to do only what he sees God do. Any relationship that provokes us to do contrary to the will of God is not good for us. Our relationships ought not to be the stumbling block to us forming godly character. At the end of the day we all ought to be one man – Christ Jesus, in whom we are seated.

Psalm 1: 1 “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.”

The Psalmist talks about “the joys” of those who keep the right company. This re-enforces the power of keeping good company or relationships. The converse though, is “Oh the sorrows of those who follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners or join in with mockers.” Our relationships or the company we keep should not be allowed to evolve; we must be deliberate about who is allowed into our lives.  As you begin your audit, remember to keep your goal before you so that you can make the right decisions.

So Shall Men Know That You Are My Disciples

Today more than ever before, there are so many believers lamenting or complaining about one another and their relationships. Believers disappointed in other believers; it is so bad now that even marriages are falling apart like never before and a good number of those that seem to be together are so bad they might as well not be together. Instead of us loving one another, we seem to be doing better at frustrating one another and making each other’s life miserable like never before. Could it be that life itself is throwing more evil at us than it has ever done, making our patience thinner than ever or have the challenges we face with one another increased because of the level of carnality or increase in the number of false brethren in the church today? Could it be that our sense of propriety is so low or is there a major increase in selfishness and/or self-centeredness amongst believers? Well, whatever the challenges, this is certainly not what Jesus Christ had in mind when He said His disciples would be identified by their love for one another.  The relationships we have today, appear to be more self- serving than anything else. Everyone is looking out for themselves and no one is looking out for the other.

 

John 13: 35 “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples”

Proverbs 27: 17 “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”

I don’t think anyone expects all our relationships to be perfect all the time, not even Jesus Christ does. I guess that is one of the reasons the bible also deals with relationship issues. Paul’s letters, especially to Timothy and Titus, are full of counsel for relationships. Moreover, for iron to sharpen iron, they will have to rub against one another which isn’t comfortable. Depending on the extent to which they rub against one another, there may even be sparks. So when we rub against one another, it could get rough. However, we seem to have gone away from all that God ever planned; we willfully and deliberately destroy one another. We are so dishonest and insincere with one another that we could even teach “the world” the art of insincerity and dishonesty. This is not in any way in alignment with the teachings of Christ and not a reflection of Christ. We claim to love so much yet our disposition toward those we call “friend” could more often be likened to hate. We don’t only stab them, but also twist the knife in the victim to ensure they suffer great pain and then we make excuses pretending to be sorrowful and the victim must forgive immediately otherwise we are offended. We even go so far as to push for a re-establishment of the relationship to just what it was and if the victim isn’t responding as we think they should, they are “unforgiving, judgmental, wicked and unloving”. We demand their trust instead of seeking to earn it just because we said “sorry” and especially because they are believers. This attitude or level of selfishness is totally out of sync with Christlikeness; if anything, it speaks of flesh which should make us weary because man in himself is said to be so fickle we are admonished not to trust him because he is bound to fail us.

Jeremiah 17: 5 “This is what the Lord says: cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.”

Jude 1: 19 “These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.”

Philippians 2: 3 “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.”

It is time to begin to check our contributions to all our relationships. You may want to call it an audit of what you give to your relationships and see if your expectations are much higher than your contributions so that you can properly align them. Indeed we are to give more than we expect so that if both parties are giving more than they expect to receive from each other, they are esteeming the other better than themselves. There is no doubt that that some relationships must die; those are they which we need just for experience through which we learn patience whilst some others were never meant to last forever: but there is no relationship between believers that is meant to be destructive. It is not in the nature of Christ to destroy those He loves so if we claim to be like Him, we should also not desire to destroy anyone that is His. The state of a lot of our relationships now is pitiful and that is tied to the quality of believers that we are. We don’t deal with one another as we ought to which is sad. Unfortunately, that is what we will have to continue to deal with in the church because change will only come to the extent that we yield to God or allow His Word change us.