Unless A kernal….

I definitely believe that change is a constant factor in a believer’s life. If we want to live successful Christian lives, we must yield to God and allow Him change us because He will not force the change on anyone. The change that takes place at the point of salvation is only the first of several other changes. As we go on in our walk with God, we are changed from glory to glory in our bid to be like Christ which is God’s desire for us. These series of changes that take place in our lives, are interesting because not one of them is meant to leave us worse off. It is always change that makes us better no matter how difficult the process may seem. It is therefore safe to assume that the process is not over while it is yet “ugly and difficult” because every time God is done with a particular level of glory, everything is beautiful. It is as beautiful on the inside, or even more so, as it is on the outside because God who Himself sees all things, including the  things hidden from all eyes, always works to ensure that what we see on the outside is a reflection of all that is on the inside.

Ecclesiastes 3: 11 “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from the beginning to the end.”

2 Corinthians 3: 18 “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

At some point in our walk with God, every committed believer comes to the realization that change is imminent. Yet, it isn’t something we look forward to because of the discomfort and pain it comes with. From one level to the other, depending on the level of one’s commitment, the process can be really painful. I have many wishes concerning how God should go about this process and would have been willing to counsel Him as to how to deal but He has not asked nor does He ask our opinion as to how to go about His business in the life of any man. Indeed, we are too unqualified to counsel from our very myopic view, a God who sits in the heaven of heavens and sees further and clearer than we can ever see and has our best interest at heart. All our experiences, I have found, are also based on the different paths to and various expressions of success that have been mapped out for us as well as the extent to which we respond to His love. I can confirm that no experience permitted by God in the believer’s life, is meant to destroy them: and even when we walk into experiences, by reason of our wrong doing, that should destroy us our God is working to ensure that at the end of it all, it works good for us.

John 12: 24 “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives.”

So, to get to the next level of glory, one must yield to the extent that one dies to who they are. It takes one becoming as dead to successfully go through the experiences God allows to bring us to the next level of glory. Hence, the process is likened to the planting and death of a kernel of wheat which eventually gives a great harvest.  The level of humility that is required to go through each experience successfully, demands that one die to themselves. The seed falls and is buried in earth, hidden from all eyes; and in that dirt, it begins to increase until its expansion can no longer be hidden and it is the same process that takes us higher. God works far away from prying eyes to increase us and in such a way that one barely has enough strength to “keep it together” and as such is left with no strength to explain to anyone what is going even if they understand it: but when God is done, the evidence of His goodness will not be hidden.  God’s goodness in a life don’t need to be announced; they announce themselves when God is done. If they have to be announced, then you are moving ahead of yourself because God is not done yet.   

Hebrews 12: 5b – 6 “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”

Mark 10: 29 “Jesus replied, and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good news, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property-along with persecution.”

It is sad that a number of us do not accept that this process of transformation also comes with some painful experiences and so, some such persons have aborted the process over and over again whilst others are backslidden. Such believers are convinced that life should be a smooth ride from the point of salvation which Jesus never promised us. All the good things we expect will surely come to pass but He did say that they would come alongside persecution. Persecution that Jesus spoke of is not just murdering believers for their faith, it is harassment, mental and physical torture and all other bad things done to believers just for our faith. Moreover, satan is the prince of the power of the air and his thoughts are never good; even when they seem good, his ultimate goal is to wreak havoc.  So evil will happen to all alike in a world where he is in control but God who made us more than conquerors through Christ, delivers us from all attempts of the enemy to steal, kill and destroy believers. So as we go through these difficult experiences, let us set our eyes on Jesus Christ who has successfully come through. It will end well.

The Birth Of Jesus – Mary’s Encounter & Sacrifice

It is worthy of note that the Christmas miracle, Jesus Christ, was conceived like every miracle of God. Of a truth, God does not circumvent His process. If it is going to be permanent then it has to be done properly. So, God sent His word as a seed in the womb of Mary who was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit whilst the seed was planted, making God the Father, Holy Spirit and The Word of God (God the Son) active participants in this miracle as with any life transforming or enduring miracle. There is no doubt that God is painstaking with everything He does. He works and then checks to ensure that everything is done properly. He was involved in the miracle all the way, speaking to Joseph, leading Mary, preparing Elizabeth and ensuring that everyone else, including Simon and Anna, who had a part knew what to do. God surely knows how to and guards whatever He conceives until it is birth as long as we stay in line. His miracles in our lives only get aborted when we, the carriers of the miracle, get out of line. Satan cannot abort God’s miracle. He can’t even reach it because God guards His seed jealously but we must then be careful to ensure that we remain in line.

Jeremiah 1: 12AMP “Then said the Lord to me, you have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over my word to perform it.”

Isn’t it wonderful how Mary heard and believed all that the angel said to her? Though nothing like what the angel described had ever happened on earth, Mary was willing to participate as long as it was of God. She allowed God make a demand on her yielding absolutely that His pleasure may be done. The angel’s story was so strange that Mary asked how all he had said would happen. I would have been shocked if his response made sense to her; it did not but she believed God enough to yield to His will. From the number of times the bible records that Mary pondered things in her heart, she was certainly a deep thinker; but when it came to accepting the will of God, she just yielded. She trusted God enough to yield without thinking it through. Anyone who always wants to understand and explain God’s instructions to them and/or workings in their life, may never work in the miraculous. It is impossible to attain to the heights that God ordained for us if everything always has to make sense to us for us to engage. God does what he does and that notwithstanding how His method is perceived. Faith is relying on Him with even when we don’t understand; being confident that He is in control and will accomplish that which He has spoken and starts.   

Luke 1: 38AMP “Then Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to what you have said.”

Isaiah 55: 11AMP “So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void 9without producing any effect, useless), but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

God makes promises and then time seems to pass and nothing happens; the wait then begins to seem endless and then when we have almost lost faith, God without warning, brings it to pass. The coming of Jesus had been spoken of by different prophets and for a long time He did not appear. Israel had been looking out for the Messiah to the point where they started to feel that their hope was going to be disappointed. They had even gone for years without a word from God but then Jesus Christ shows up on the scene suddenly. There was no re-announcing to remind the people of His coming; He just showed up. Unfortunately, many of us lose our miracles because it did not come at the right time (i.e. that time that man decides it should come) when God has His own timing and we often do not check for His timing when He makes promises to us. God is the Master of the Universe and the Governor amongst nations; He is in full control and determiner of times and seasons. He decides what time is best for a miracle. We cannot afford to be weary. We must continue to renew our hope and strength so that we don’t kill the miracle like the Jews who were tired of waiting and thought He wasn’t coming anymore. Isn’t it amazing how they searched so hard for Him and yet missed Him? The miracle that is Jesus happened suddenly and without warning. That may be God’s way of giving you your miracle which is too costly to lose. We need every miracle that is ours and we can’t afford to lose any.

Genesis 18: 14 “Is anything too hard or too wonderful for the Lord? At the appointed time, when the season (for her delivery) comes around, I will return to you and Sarah shall have borne a son.”

Genesis 21: 1 “The Lord visited Sarah as He said, and the Lord did for her as He had promised.”

Mentors Needed Now More Than Ever Before

It is sad that mentoring is no longer a common thing amongst believers. It is fading and I believe this may be a hindrance to the spreading and passing on of our faith especially to generations coming after us. Everybody is in a hurry to get to the ‘next level’ with or without God and as such do not have the time to be properly mentored. Also, people no more feel the need to be mentored since ‘we all know everything and can read up on anything we need to know’ coupled with the ‘busyness’ of life. Meanwhile, there is also a scarcity of mentors because we are either very self- absorbed or too busy to give of ourselves to facilitating someone else coming to maturity. Some argue that they don’t want to be hurt because mentees end up behaving badly when they think they have ‘arrived’ and don’t need the counsel of the mentor anymore. The truth is, at the end of the day, our faith suffers. How can people learn and mature if they are not taught/“parented”? There is no doubt that it demands a lot from the mentor and the reward from the mentee may be ‘ingratitude’ but our God is a rewarder. People need to be taught to rightly divide the word and proper application of that word in our everyday life. These are terrible times when satan is working very hard at engaging people; believers need to be mentored as even the mentors are themselves mentored by other believers and the Holy Spirit. This is the way to make disciples for Christ whilst remaining His. It is one thing to study the scriptures and another to understand and then find its proper application in our everyday lives. God is looking for more Philips who would go to great lengths to ensure that other people understand and live the scriptures.

 

Acts 8: 30 “Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, do you understand what you are reading? The man replied, how can I, unless someone instructs me? And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.”

 

Oxford dictionary describes a mentor as an experienced and trusted teacher so that a Christian mentor is clearly not a novice; he/she apart from having a good understanding of the word and strong desire to know more about God, must have piles of experiences that have tested their faith. Mentors are not just teachers for their great teaching skill or many degrees, but more for the several tests of their faith which has worked experience and a willingness to teach or share all they have learnt and help their mentees live life in to the fullest in Christ. They teach in word and deed. The mentees become a part of their lives so that they can observe them and learn from what they see or how they live which ought to be in alignment with the word of God - Christ. The mentee also has to allow the mentor access to their life and yield or submit to them in a way, so that the mentor can guide them properly also bearing in mind that the Holy Spirit is the master guide. Both parties have to consent to having this relationship; and the mentee is required to have the humility of mind that makes learning from their mentor easy whilst the mentor is also humble enough to take seriously this God given responsibility of more or less ‘parenting’ maybe even an adult who is born again. We see this happen over and over again in scriptures as Moses mentored Joshua, Eli mentored Samuel who attempted to mentor Saul, Naomi who mentored Ruth and the list goes on. Obviously, it is one means of transferring knowledge and Spirit/anointing that is acceptable to God. We are not born knowing everything just like we don’t get born again knowing it all; parents are a necessary part of our growth otherwise we wouldn’t need natural parents.

 

Acts 18: 26 “When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately.”

 

The fact that our mentors have experiences and knowledge that prepare them for this role does not suggest that they know everything or are perfect. They are human and still make several mistakes; they also are learning on another level. They are work in progress just as much as the mentees but they have made a lot of progress and are still progressing as they help their mentees make progress also. The Holy Spirit is the Master guide for all believers but most of us need a man who is yielded to God and we can see and touch, to “explain the way of God even more accurately” to us. There is need for a period of grooming or preparation for every next level of life and we ought not to skip it. We just need to be certain that we are groomed by the persons God has ordained to help us. If we honor them, we will most likely receive their anointing and maybe even more but please note that the expression of the anointing will be according to God’s working through you. The same anointing may express itself in different people differently, after all there is only one Holy Spirit, but God uses all the variety for His purpose.

 

2 Kings 2: 15 “when the group of prophets from Jericho saw from a distance what happened, they exclaimed, ‘Elijah’s spirit rests upon Elisha!’ and they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.”

Our King Entered Jerusalem On A Donkey – How Would You Have Entered?

I think about Jesus and that “long journey into Jerusalem and I wonder how He did it knowing what lay ahead of Him. I am grateful He did it because that entire journey and His subsequent death and resurrection are some of the reasons we are who we are today – children of God. This is the journey that led Him to His painful death for mankind. It is interesting to note that the only person who knew what was ahead of Christ was Christ. As He sat on that donkey and people shouted “blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” His mind was on what was set before Him. How could he have even enjoyed the adulation? The people were so excited about him that they threw the entire city into an uproar yet it was not long before the same people turned against him later. Even worse is the fact that He was aware that the same people who shouted hosanna would very soon shout “crucify Him” yet He endured the praise knowing that He had to remain focused – His mind was fixed on His mandate as He rode on that donkey

 

Mathew 21: 10 “The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered, ’who is this? They asked.”

The ordinary man would think that Jesus came to that place of crucifixion “foolishly” because He went to Jerusalem knowing what was going to happen to Him just like Paul did when he insisted on going to Jerusalem even after he had been told what would happen to Him. Sometimes we have to be foolish to accomplish God’s purpose for our lives. God writes the path and pleasurable as the path may sometimes seem, we do not have the right to choose our own preferred path. Paul must have appeared very strange to Agabus who spoke by the Holy Ghost concerning what Paul would face in Jerusalem when Paul insisted on continuing his journey to Jerusalem. God does not compel us to follow His chosen path for us but honors those who love Him enough to pay the price for His will to be accomplished on earth. Jesus did it and was honored as was Paul who wrote almost all the books of the bible which God could have chosen any other person to do. It takes a lot of humility to know the evil people will do to you and not “act out”. It kind of feels good to let them know that you know what they are up to but Jesus did not and He rode humbly on a donkey. This route is definitely a humbling one.

Mathew 21: 5 “Tell the people of Jerusalem, Look your king is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey – riding on a donkey’s colt.”

Philippians 2: 8 – 9 “he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names.”

It is worthy of note that Jesus upon entering Jerusalem, despite the painful future He had there, went about His Father’s business. He did not let the pain or agitation of that which He was about to face hold Him back from completing His work. Jesus had other things to accomplish in Jerusalem before facing the cross and He accomplished them. I can only imagine how tough it was for Him accomplishing other task knowing what was before Him. Anyone else would have understood if He was too weighed down by sorrow but Jesus knew the consequence of disobedience and understood that excuses don’t make disobedience right and God is would not be unjust. This was the only begotten of the Father; if God would not allow mediocrity with Him, I wonder if He would with us. Obviously the way to greatness with God is paved with humility alongside other things, hard-work bring one of them.

Mathew 26: 39b “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

God obviously wanted us to know that Jesus found His death a very tough experience otherwise it would not have been recorded in the scriptures for us; yet Jesus died anyway. Death is the ultimate of humility so that as the author of our faith, He walked the entire route to the very end and set Himself the example for us to follow. Many have walked that path after Him but are we ready to make that sacrifice today? It is time to search our hearts once more and ask ourselves the hard question – are we willing to be humble enough to look away from ourselves that the will of God may be done? Can we do it without announcing to all what we about to do and why? The temptation to announce why He accepted to hang on the cross must have been real especially when he was taunted yet He humbled Himself. I wonder, can we resist the taunting knowing that we had the power to put an end to that torture? Jesus deserves the reward and God has His reward for us as we follow in the steps of our Saviour. Happy Easter.

Lessons From The Life Of Samson

I am one of those that believe one does not have to make the same mistakes that people you know or have heard of, made. I didn’t always know this but as I got older I learnt that it is a waste of time. I realize that I could reach my goal faster if I learnt from other people’s mistakes that were slowed down by their mistakes so I don’t have to be slowed down by the same thing. When I see people younger than I am who are close to me making the same mistakes they either saw me make or I told them about, I get really frustrated. I find it so hard to believe that they actually fell into the same “ditch” after all I had told them and that is because I already know what it would cost them. I am convinced that one of the reasons we made some mistakes is so that those coming after us would not have to make them but I am also learning that if they insist on doing so, they have the right to. So, as you would have observed if you are a follower of this blog, I look at the bible characters from time to time so I can learn from their lives and avoid some mistakes they made. Samson is in focus in this blog.

 

1 Corinthians 10: 11 “These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.”

Samson, like Jesus and John the Baptist, is born with a definite purpose. Indeed, just like Jesus and John’s mothers, his mother was visited by an angel who announced his coming and purpose; the angel also told them what he should do or not do. Unfortunately, Samson died not fulfilling that purpose. Certainly, being chosen of God for a purpose comes with privileges but also, a price. Samson’s parents, like Jesus and John the Baptist parents, played their part well through the time he was in his mother’s womb but unlike John and Jesus, Samson failed to play his part because he did not learn discipline. He was not prepared to pay the price that greatness cost. He only wanted the privileges. He decided to do his own thing instead of the will of God. As God would usually give man a will whilst hoping that man would exercise that right of choice in His favor, God allowed Samson the right to exercise his will and despite knowing all he was meant to be, he preferred to do all his own pleasure. Nobody ever succeeds in life doing only and all, his or her own pleasure.

John 4: 34 “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.”

Judges 14: 2b – 3 “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her to me. His father and mother objected. Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry? They asked. Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife? But Samson told his father, get her for me! She looks good to me.”

There is no doubt that God had marked him for greatness and was with him. God’s favor was certainly upon him like several other people before and after him but he was obviously so spoilt that he used it for his own gain only. Truly greatness comes with a price; a price which anyone that has not learned self-discipline cannot pay. I dare to suggest that since he was an only child at least for a long while, his parents must have thoroughly spoilt him. Even from his discussion with his father about the girl from Timnah above, it is obvious that he got whatever he wanted from them.  There is no doubt that he was self-centered. Self-centered people would sacrifice anyone and anything to have their way. Samson sacrificed even his tribe, he was sent to deliver, when they were in the way of getting what he wanted though he wanted. A self-centered person cannot attain to the heights God ordained for them. As long as God’s will suits them, they go along with it, but as soon as it begins to conflict with their will, it has to be abandoned. They are only concerned about their lives primarily and every other thing is secondary; for Samson his primary assignment became a secondary concern.

Galatians 5: 17 “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite of what the Spirit wants. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

Galatians 5: 24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.”

Whatever a man sows, he shall truly reap. Samson pandered to his flesh so much that he reaped the benefit. If we get everything we want, we often don’t realize that we are also making the flesh stronger. It would be lacking in discipline and unable to accept being denied of anything. We think we are making ourselves happy by getting everything we desire even at the cost of other people or God’s will for our lives but we suffer the consequences; one of which is an undisciplined flesh which could cost one any and everything. It eventually cost Samson his life. He wanted a prostitute so badly that he told her the secret of his power and she shaved his hair so he lost his power and was captured. He later committed suicide. Whilst it is true that he killed more people in his death than in his life, he still died shamefully and before he was meant to die. Denying one’s self is not something one learns to do suddenly; it is a result of practice. If we cannot deny ourselves in little things and in our everyday lives, then it cannot happen suddenly when one is faced with a big issue. Self-discipline is a learned behavior. As we deny our flesh, we crucify it.

Trust And Obey – Our God Demands Obedience

Christianity is such a simple faith but we complicate it. Believers have complicated it so badly now that we who ought to be the custodians of The Word, barely understand it. As His children, God already gifted us with the understanding of His word yet the truth of it appears to be lost on us. Even when we manage to understand it, maybe this only happens in the part of the world where I live, we don’t feel the need to be conformed to it. When we study, it is sometimes to show others that we also have a good knowledge of the word and at other times, it is so that we can be appointed to “positions of honor” in church; and some of the best of us study so we know the confessions to make to activate the release of “our blessings” because we know that making the right confessions facilitate the release of blessings but we forget that obedience to His word is also a prerequisite for receiving these blessings.  

Mathew 7: 26 “But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish

In truth, we don’t do ourselves good by being disobedient because simple as the word is; the fulfillment of most of the promises of God is firmly rooted in obedience to the accurate word of God. If we don’t obey His word, we struggle endlessly to activate these promises and are never able to. One of the things that happen when we give our lives to Christ is that we receive power to obey Him but if we receive the power and our preference is for a life of disobedience, we have a problem; a problem which isn’t fixed by having demons cast out of us but by a decision to be obedient. Sometimes we think we are better off because we are obedient in some areas but our God requires total obedience. As I heard a preacher say, “The word of God is not a buffet so we can’t pick and choose” what word we prefer to obey. This is a full meal served by God and we must obey it all.  

Isaiah 1: 19 “If you will only obey me, you will have plenty to eat.

Proverbs 7: 2 “Obey my commands and live! Guard my instructions as you guard your own eyes.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day the loss suffered from disobedience is ours. We suffer untold loss of blessings because we are obstinate. God dislikes disobedience so much He likens it to witchcraft. So why would any adult believer think it is okay? Saul lost an entire Kingdom just for partial obedience. Like a lot of us, he may have thought he had outsmarted God by obeying some of His instruction. Just like us, he may have thought after all why would God be so mean as to punish him when he obeyed most of His instructions? I am certain that Saul never thought his action would cost him his crown. Who would have thought that the loss of the Kingdom could be the consequence of his action?

1 Samuel 15: 23 “Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft and stubbornness as bad as worshipping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

We have suffered too much loss to continue like this. We either choose to obey God or leave pursuing a life in Christ. Obedience is one of the requirements of following Him and God already counsels that we must count the cost of following Him before we make the decision for Him. It is not being fair to ourselves if we choose a faith we cannot enjoy the full benefits of. God has made His desire clear; He desires to bless people who would trust Him enough to obey Him. God desires children who don’t think they are wiser than He is so they obey Him instead of attempting to modify His instructions to suit them. Such people, thinking their way is better; insult God, albeit unwittingly, and are never able to conform to His image so that they end up looking nothing like God.  We must accept to submit to the Lordship of Christ so that we can be like Him here on earth.

YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO ‘GO IT’ ALONE

Easter to my mind, is the most significant Christian celebration. It is the essence of Christianity; for if the reason for Easter did not happen, then we would probably still be dead in sin today. I recognize that it was the plan of God borne out of love for us but I want to celebrate Christ who put aside His own desire and followed through on His commitment to God by dying on the cross, despite the pain, and was raised from the dead. This is definitely my best season of the year so I thank God for giving us the reason to celebrate Easter and celebrate the Christ of Easter.  

John 18: 11 “But Jesus said to Peter, ‘put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”

Having gone through a few stages of life and seeing the kind of commitment life demands, I realize that it is one thing to commit to doing something and another thing to see it through especially when the pain begins and you know you have the option of walking away instead of going through with it. Indeed from the story of Jesus, it is apparent that destiny journeys are often lonely journeys which make them tougher. Jesus circumstance was particularly bad because we are not told that He was aware of any benefits that will accrue to Him as a result of His dying before He accepted to die; He simply accepted to die for mankind and not for a name above all other names and He already had an exalted potion because He was God.

Luke 14: 27 “And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.”

Jesus story also affirms to me that no one can travel this destiny fulfilling route with you to the very end nor can anyone do it for you. If you are a crowd loving person, you just may never make it. The people you are relying on were not there when you made the commitment; they don’t understand it and may never understand or be committed to it. You just can’t blame people because they would rather not help with carrying the cross you have chosen to carry, no matter how close they are to you. Indeed they may be carrying their own cross. The most one can expect from people really close to them is that they do not try to frustrate your own effort to keep your commitment. There is only so far anyone can go with you.

John 19: 17 “Carrying the cross by Himself, He went to the place called Place of Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha)”

So as Jesus started His journey to the cross, He went to the Mount of Olives with His disciples to pray. The bible says it was something they did often; but on this particular occasion, Jesus knew He had a burden that His disciples did not have and so He left them behind to pray by Himself. He was about to begin a journey to fulfill a commitment He made and He had to go it alone. We must like Jesus, sometimes, recognize that it is not another’s price to pay and not even your spouse. You have to recognize that you are different and that your responsibilities are different so that you will have to go a little further to pray. We must know when to withdraw from the others if we must fulfill our destiny. 

Submit Your Life At The Cross and Leave It There!

This is maybe because of the program we just had in church. I have thought about the cross a lot lately. The more I think about it, the more I realize that ugly as that cross may have been, it is one of the most beautiful things that ever happened to us as Christians. That is where total deliverance happened for man. Despite the pain Jesus suffered to win the victory for us at the cross, He says we can come to that cross just as we are and He says He will receive us. He goes on to assure us that He suffered all that pain so that we can come to the cross just as we are. What manner of love is this that God would show you and I? Truly this love is amazing and can only be divine because it can only be shown by the God whose name is LOVE. No other personality can love so much and at no cost. As the hymn write says, this type of love demands ‘my soul, my life, my all’.


The amazing thing is that as we come to Him, His blood washes us from all iniquity and we are then empowered to be like Him. All God asks is that we yield ourselves to Him a living sacrifice’ holy and acceptable’. The Bible says this is our reasonable service.

Romans 12: 1 NLT – ‘I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind He will find acceptable’.


It is such a small price to pay for what we enjoy by coming to Him by reason of what He did on the cross of Calvary. The truth is that the reason He wants us to present ourselves to Him as a sacrifice is so that He can do in our lives that which is required to be done that we may enjoy benefits that can only be enjoyed by those who are truly His. Again it is not just for Himself but also for our good. If we truly understand the depth of the price that He paid just so that we can enjoy these benefits, then we would, like the hymn writer, declare ‘my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all pride’. If only we could pour contempt on all of those things that mean so much to us, then we can truly yield to God so that like the potter that He is, He can bring out the best in us.


It is amazing how at the point of giving our lives to Christ, we desire to exchange the lives that we live for a better one but soon after we have had the experience and begin to enjoy some of the benefits of the cross, we begin to struggle to hold on to the life that we gave up. Isn’t there something wrong with us and all that is going on? Why bother to invite Him into your life thereby giving Him your life in exchange for the one He gives if you truly think yours is fun? You might as well keep your life and ‘the fun you have’ from being in total control. If the things we left behind begin to appeal to us once more and we begin to enjoy them, we are definitely retrogressing. At best, we will become stagnant and like Lot’s wife, a pillar of salt.


Even the world says the only constant thing is change. We must keep changing if we must lay hold on the purpose for which God laid hold on us. We have to keep being transformed until we are like Him. God is consistently trying to make us better people.

Romans 12: 2NLT – ‘Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the ways you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect’.


God is a God of purpose. Why don’t we keep allowing Him change us until the purpose for which He saved us unfolds. I think we must credit Him with enough wisdom to know what He is doing. He can never make your life worse than it was when you came to Him. Though things may be uncertain for a season, He definitely is ‘going somewhere’ and will get there if you allow Him.