THE RESTORER OF LIFE – He Restores The Mind

God is as good as He is great. When I think of the fact that His breathe gives life, I don’t understand why He is so meek. Without God’s life, we would be nothing more than vessels formed from earth. Man is in truth, very fragile. It only takes for God to withhold His breathe from us and our journey on earth ends. No one can explain how life enters a being; we know not now it happens. It is indeed a true expression of God’s benevolence. The more one thinks on that, the more one sees the depth of God’s goodness. That He would be so good as not to hold back breathe from the wicked indefinitely is a sure evidence of His goodness especially because He knows He can do it. All life exists because of God.

 

Deuteronomy 32: 39 “See now that 1, I am He, and there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and I who give life.”

If for any reason, anyone or thing loses life and requires restoration, God is able to deal with that; He is the originator anyway. Difficult and almost impossible as it often seems to us, restoration of life is not a big issue to God as long as it aligns with His will. Recall the bible’s account of how man was made. All it took for dust to breathe was for God to breath into it. It is certainly not out of place to call on God for this purpose, whether it is physical or spiritual life needed. He restores any form of life on any and all levels. The thing is, we often forget to turn to God when we need life. For physical life, we turn to the doctors and God definitely uses them, but even then if His breathe isn’t there, the doctors are helpless. They use machines sometimes to keep people going but those have to be switched off at some point and if life is not restored, the person will not survive. As we go to them for help, we must seek life from He who alone has it to give.

John 11: 25a “Jesus said to her, I am the Resurrection and the life.”

Interestingly, the life God gives does more than keep people living. It is active and fills us with joy. The life is activated on the inside of us and flows out. It releases joy, peace and several other good things that not only make us a delight but delights us and keeps our mind healthy. This God’s life is health to our spirits, souls and bodies. It has been said that a healthy mind is one of the recipes for good health. The problem is that we often forget to also call on Him, alongside doctors or other men, when our minds are troubled. A troubled spirit is sick and so is a troubled mind or body. If our minds are troubled, they are unhealthy and the word of God is the best cure because Jesus Christ, who is the life, is the word. He also is God whose life strengthens our minds when it gives up on itself. He not only heals the mind but keeps it going because He gives life and does so abundantly. If invited, He heals and if the healing is a process, He is also a Balm that softens the pain while the mind is becoming whole. Doctors have confirmed that medicines do not heal the mind, they just make chemical adjustments to the body that they hope will help; but this God’s life heals.

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

Psalm 16: 11 “You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.”

1 Peter 1: 8b “Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.”

Sometimes we turn to other people or things for life for our minds. That is expecting too much from any human who also depends on God for life for their entire being. The most man can do is ignite a fire which leads one to the Source of Life Himself. Of course, the expectation that someone will give us life is bound to be disappointed which leaves one feeling even worse than how they felt initially. Even if it looks like it worked in the immediate, it can never be a long term solution. God’s life which heals the mind is most often transmitted By His Spirit through the spirit of man to His mind. God wants to give fresh life to every mind that needs it and heal every mind that needs healing. Please give Him a chance. Your mind is not too far gone, He can’t restore life to it. He is waiting for you to call on Him.

Change – A Constant In The Kingdom

Over time, I have found that change is one of the things that remain constant in Christianity. We are constantly being transformed: consistently evolving. From the very beginning of our true relationship with God, He begins to change us that He may truly be able to fellowship with us. As one yields oneself to the word of God, the word begins to turn a lot of things in our lives around and the ‘real us’ begins to be expressed. The word won’t allow the real person hide anymore because the ‘real us’ is who God sees and wants to work with. He made that person for His pleasure. This transformation sounds so easy but in reality I would say, it is easy and yet tough. It is tough, not just for the person or persons evolving but also for all those around them. It is a process for all parties affected and one from which they will all benefit. Of course, there will always be those who fight the change because it changes everything for them. Yes! They believe they love you and may be close to you but they are acting in the flesh and unwittingly trying to frustrate their friend’s destiny just like Peter tried to stop Jesus from fulfilling his purpose. It is your responsibility to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Mathew 16: 23 “Jesus turned to Peter and said, get away from me, satan! You are a dangerous trap for me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

2 Corinthians 3: 17b “And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from (one degree of) glory to (even more) glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

The truth is there is a high price to change for the person changing, yet we must allow God change us. Our God wants us to be like Him. To be like Him is certainly not to physically look like Him since God is a Spirit, but to look like Him in the spirit which is the core of man. Then whatever we are on the inside, will be reflected on the outward. The end product of this transformation work will certainly be beautiful; for our God is so beautiful, He is indescribable. This change is a process because it is in stages which actually makes it more difficult. Just when one thinks they are settled, here comes another exercise and all of these together can be frustrating; so frustrating, it has caused some to fall from the faith. I guess it may have been easier if the change was only in man’s spirit; but it transforms the entire being impacting the soul and body and our wills are not often easy to deal with. The process begins with God’s word taking us apart thereby ensuring that we see ourselves as we are and realize we need to drop certain things, turn away from them and align with God’s Word. No one ever suffers permanent damage for this process; instead it takes us higher from one level of glory to another. In those tough times, before all things become beautiful, we must know for certain that God through the process, is working His eternal purpose and at the end of it all, we will come out beautiful fitting into His picture.

Romans 12: 2 “… be transformed and progressively changed (as you mature spiritually) by the renewing of your mind (focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes)...”

Hebrews 4: 12 “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our inner most thoughts and desires.”

Though the word of God is not seen, it is active and powerful and as such, does not need man’s help to accomplish His purpose in any life who is yielded to Him and has their eyes fixed on Him. Though we sometimes feel the need to push and prod people to improve on their work with God, I think it just makes us feel like we are doing something because all our pushing does nothing except God’s word does it. To see the written word is to see The living Word – Jesus Christ. To study and meditate on the written Word is to keep one’s eyes on God. Uncomfortable as change is, God demands that we keep changing, getting better and better. If we insist on remaining the same then we cannot be like God. I think we always think the ugliness of the process is an indicator of the finished product so a number of us abort the process. However, it is not so; the result is awesome. So, though we may be afraid of change, we must allow God change us; the benefits are immense.

God Opens Doors: Find Them, and Walk Through Them

I am sure you know the saying “when one door closes, another opens”. It sounds like something people say to make it easier for one to accept that “one door” and probably the only door they have had for a while, is closed. Well, I believe it is true especially for believers in Christ. It is very unusual for a major door to shut for a believer and God not have another door opened. All we need to do is find this new door and walk through it. The problem with some of the doors God opens is that they are often “window size doors” which may be incomparable in size to the ones that shut. As my Pastor would say, “wisdom is to go through the little door that would most likely lead to a much bigger one” which would remain unreachable until one goes through the little door. A number of believers are stuck for looking out for big doors. We often assume God will not open a door smaller than or even same size as the closed one. Unfortunately, it is often not so. Perchance, the journey from the window size door to the big door may expose us to that process we need to keep going forward. My point is “Ignore the size of the door and go through.” Great miracles are born in mangers sometimes.

Ruth 2: 11 & 15 “Boaz replied ‘But I also know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers… when Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her, and pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don’t give her a hard time.”

Ruth was humble. She started out gleaning like the others but before long, had barley left deliberately for her. What if she hadn’t gone out to glean because it was too low a job for her? Pride, which God opposes anyway, is a major stumbling block to believers. It prevents us in various ways, from enjoying all the goodness God has laid out for us. Sometimes it does this by ensuring we choose the losers package which is often more attractive; God’s best gifts sometimes come in tiny sizes making them too small for “our big egos”. Worse is the fact that it also disconnects between God and us so we are unable to see from God’s perspective or enjoy His grace. This either leads to frustration or discontentment and finally, murmuring and complaining pushing God even further away. Until that wrong attitude of mind is changed, one suffers when God already laid out good which remains unreachable, for pride.  

James 4: 6 “And he gives grace generously. As the scriptures say, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

I sometimes think it may be easier for successful people to be humble. They should not feel the need to prove any point. I see a lot of people who seem to be going through “temporary difficulties” struggling with pride. They desperately want people to think they are doing great when they really are not. Sadly, very often, the people they think are watching them don’t even see them. They are themselves very busy trying to resolve their issues. Meanwhile, God is ever willing to help if and when we humble ourselves. He will restore us also. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes to get to the top of the next mountain which may be much higher than the last one you were on, it may be compulsory to walk through a valley. Walk in humility and listen out for our Shepherd who guides us through the journey to the next mountain. Too many believers are wandering in the valley who ought to be at the top of a mountain. If Ruth didn’t take the lowly gleaning job, she would never have ended up in the lineage of Jesus Christ and we would not be talking about her today. It was not the most convenient thing but her attitude was right from the

Ecclesiastes 10: 18b “idleness leads to a leaky house.”

Another sad thing is many of us try to anesthetize the pain from the valley experience but it fails. Instead of investing energy in making it less painful, we could leave that to God and invest all our energy in going forward instead. We can’t see clearly or hear correctly when in the valley if we are also focused on making the pain feel better or hiding it from others. Our Shepherd is managing the pain as it should be and if any pain seems outside of His care, He allowed it to build us up for the next level. The shame of returning with nothing made Naomi call herself “bitter”. She already felt “put down” when God had not put her down. She wanted to ‘say it’ before someone else tells her. The truth she had forgotten is that a chain of bad occurrences never determine your life’s destination except you allow that. Only you and God have the power to determine that and God’s plans for us are always good to bring us to a glorious end. 

Mathew 18: 18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

Jeremiah 29: 11 “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”