Change – A Must If We Must Move Forward

There is no doubt that consistency makes life easier. It’s just easier to have things remain the same but that is not reality. I wish my friends could remain the same and we would always live happily forever but nice as it seems, it is not real. Change must naturally occur to move us forward and sometimes in different directions. People must be born; they must grow and leave the earth at some point. Even growth evidences change. Funny as this may sound, change is sometimes more fearful when one walks with God though it ought to be the opposite. As mere mortals, our flesh first instinct is often to reject the changes God brings into our lives but if we are patient, we would find that it would ultimately work good for us. God, in making these changes in our lives, takes complete control leaving us helpless and unable to determine how everything would eventually turn out; we must then find comfort in the fact that God has a great plan for us in all He does so that it is never change just for the purpose of change. 

Ezekiel 21: 27kjv “I will overturn, overturn and overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it to him.””

We often talk about God taking us higher in life and believers coming up higher even in our walk with God. These things sound very good but the out working is often not a likeable process neither is it anticipated so that one is not immediately certain if their life is worse or better off. One should not be in a hurry to make that decision; I think we should at that point just try to follow God and eventually, life would let us know whether God’s change worked out good for us or evil. It gets tough sometimes when it appears a lot of painful changes are going on in one’s life when another person’s life appears sane and normal but we must be reminded that God can be like that sometimes; believe me, it would be the other person’s turn at another time and they may be going through their own thing which you are not aware of. God makes these changes to establish us in His ‘promises.’ Sometimes the changes make people treat one differently, even in ways one may not appreciate but please take no offence; it is time for change that you may fulfill your destiny.

Hebrews 10: 9bkjv “He taketh away the first that He may establish the second”

The Israelites went through a lot of changes to get to the Promised Land. Sadly, God had to take away the first set of people to ensure that a certain group of Israelites entered the Promised Land. I guess if most of the initial people did not die, no Israelite may have entered the Promised Land because they would have impacted the younger generation wrongly. 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. It is hard to fully understand where God is going until He completes what He is doing. We must however, 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 be certain that He will be with you through it all. Fear of pain or the unknown must not cause us to hold unto the old.

The long awaited answers to our prayers are here but shall we receive them or let go of them because they have not met our expectation or are taking us out of your comfort zone? Just taking a few steps higher on a staircase changes everything. One’s perspective changes completely because your view is wider, 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. Climbing is never the easiest thing but it takes us higher and to a new and different place.

We Are Called To Be Givers

The responses my last blog provoked tell me that there are many wounded soldiers in the body of Christ who were wounded by other believers. It is wonderful to accept that one is hurt but you must accept that you can’t deal with it yourself and time is not a healer as some would like to believe; so we must bring the wound to God who heals. It is time to forgive everyone who you think used you despitefully so you may be healed and move forward accessing the goodness of God. Also, for every self-centered believer who has mastered the art of taking advantage of others, having realized that you cause others pain and your actions would attract a just recompense; I hope you are willing to walk with God to dethrone self and enthrone Christ in your life. The goodness of God is such that both the “prey and predator” can enjoy mercy and the benefits of the blood of Jesus. 

Mark 10: 45 “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus is the central theme of the bible so that the bible is all about a life given. Christianity is about giving and in giving we receive. The fullness of the God-Head set the tone by giving Jesus; and in His resurrection and our salvation, God confirms that only in giving do we receive and we do so, in exceeding abundance. So if we don’t give, we don’t receive. I dare to suggest that God knowing how beneficial giving is and how selfish the natural man is has asked that we first give ourselves to Him so that He then helps us give of ourselves. When giving is done carnally or self-motivated, it would often have a subtle selfish undertone and passively demand something in return from the receiver.  However, when our giving is instigated by God and on His behalf; our eyes are on Him for a reward which He never fails to give not only in exceeding abundance but also through any source He elects to use.  

Luke 6: 38 “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full – pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap.”

Giving is more than physically passing on something when it is Holy Spirit inspired, it involves spirit, soul and body and as such cost something. If it is not self-motivated, a piece of you goes with it. If giving isn’t tough for man, the bible would not remind us to give cheerfully. Every self-motivated giver gives easily since the receiver becomes their debtor but when the giving originates from God’s nature in a person, they only trust God to return a bountiful harvest. The greatest gift we can give a person who used us despitefully or hurt or hates us is love because true love is giving of oneself which cost something. Note please that such people not necessarily love you in return so you have to manage your expectations. They may never cease to hate you; you love them because you are a sincere giver.

Acts 10: 4 “Cornelius stared at him in terror. What is it sir? he asked the angel. And the angel replied, your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering.”

There is so much power in giving that a little gift can change a life for good for forever especially when it is accompanied with life. God is so desperate for sincere givers that even sincere giving of unbelievers catches His attention so that He makes an effort to ensure they enjoy salvation. Believers, who act the victim, when they are indeed the predator, don’t change because they lie to themselves that other people ought to keep giving them; their pain is that they are not given enough of whatever it is they desire. Such people can change their lives by choosing to be givers instead. Giving changes your perspective and change of perspective is the first step to deliverance from that evil selfish life. It is time for change that we may please God.

Is Your Life Christ Centered Or Self Centered?

 We often act as though the test for maturity as believers is becoming a pastor or leader in church. Maybe it was, but a major yet simple test is - is your life Christ-centered or self-centered? If your life is built on anything else, it still suggests self-centeredness because your ultimate goal in “worshipping” that thing is self-benefit. We are called to a Christ centered life; Christ will not share the throne of our lives, even with us. I am by no means suggesting that we therefore punish or cease to care for ourselves, even Christ does not advocate that; but our lives must be built around Him whom we recognize as supreme, for therein is the link to hope without which we suffer great loss. If we are self-centered, we only see our ability to remotely or directly fix things and our mind registers anything we can’t fix as impossible since self is our supreme being displacing Christ with whom nothing shall be impossible.

Psalm 146: 5 “But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.”

If therefore at any point in our lives we find that life is all about us, we must realize that we have become carnal believers on the way to losing our salvation. Self-centeredness causes us to model our lives against something conceptualized in our mind that pleases us and is not Christ. This would most likely take us back to who we were before we got saved; meanwhile Christianity is all about us becoming new creatures. We cannot be born again and find it okay to be variations of our wicked self. This new life calls for a total overhaul of our old personality. It also demands that we deal with our weaknesses instead of celebrating them and compelling other believers to accommodate them forgetting that they also have the right to demand that their weaknesses, be accommodated. It would be interesting to see what the church would be if we all continue to be just who we desire to be, weaknesses and all.

2 Corinthians 5: 17 “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun.”

This evil, selfishness/self-centeredness, has eaten so deep that believers think it is okay to take advantage of others; pretending to love or in pretentious acts of friendship, we plunder others and deal treacherously. Dealing deceitfully and disloyally, we use our victims really bad and get very angry when they insist they no longer want to be used. We then put ourselves out like the victims. We unwittingly lend ourselves to be used by satan to steal from, kill and destroy other believers; we do it so well satan may no longer need to deploy demons for such jobs. Unfortunately, there is a curse upon the treacherous so that in being treacherous, we set ourselves up for future pain. Selfishness and/or self-centeredness will take us nowhere; though it appears good in the immediate, the long term effect is terrible. 

Isaiah 33: 1amp “woe to you, o destroyer, you who were not yourself destroyed, who deal treacherously though they (your victims) did not deal treacherously with you! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have stopped dealing treacherously, they will deal with you treacherously.”

Christ demands that He is the center of our lives and unlike these very selfish believers who use people and dump them when they can no longer use them, Christ is not a user nor is He a dumper; He rewards and that He does in exceeding abundance. I am aware that some of us feel we have excuses for being selfish but any such excuse is a sure reason you will fail because you will pay for it in the future, your excuse notwithstanding. We must deal with selfishness/self-centeredness and learn to prefer one another instead of taking advantage of people. Self-centeredness, no matter how amusing it may seem, is the height of wickedness, somebody is suffering pain for your selfish self to feel fulfilled.

We Were Made For His Pleasure; But Are We Giving Him Pleasure?

 There was a time when I thought some things would definitely never be mentioned in the midst of believers. Painfully, some such things have become the order of the day amongst believers. I wish this was about sexual sins, not that it is acceptable; but this is about wickedness, envy, jealousy as a result of which we are tearing down one another. It is about greed, strong desire for power and lack of contentment. The hatred amongst believers is totally on another level; I don’t think unbelievers even experience this. We tear one another apart so badly that we pull down the body of Christ, albeit unwittingly, thereby making the word of God appear ineffective. Is there any end to all of this? 

Acts 2: 44 “And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.”

I have heard some believers argue that these should not be unusual occurrences amongst believers and they buttress their position by insisting that it was the same even with the Apostles. They talk about how the apostles struggled for position, wanted to know who was greatest and who Jesus loved the most but they forget that this was before they were baptized in the Holy Ghost. After they received the Holy Ghost they worked as one and even when they had differences they were soon resolved. The level of bitterness that exist amongst us now is on another level; it is so bad we don’t even need the devil to kill and destroy believers anymore, we appear to be doing fine at the job.

1 Corinthians 3: 3 “for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?”

I guess the truth is, the level of carnality is at an all-time high and heaven is not on our minds. Life is now all about us, what we can get and how to have the most pleasurable life here on earth. We even want to live on earth forever and will prefer to do anything we can to avoid dying forgetting that we are pilgrims on earth who will one day, if Christ tarries, die. Reality is that eternity is where a good life matters the most, because there is no ending to it; and we decide here on earth by the choice of our faith and how we live our lives, where we would spend eternity.  Seeing that we love pleasure, shouldn’t we fight to ensure that we live life in comfort in eternity? Or could it be that we don’t believe in life hereafter or we don’t believe that hell exist? Or are we just too self-centered to care?

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.”

We have become so engrossed in self that we think life is all about us and our wants. Indeed it is so bad that we are not ashamed to boast about it forgetting that if life is all about us then we leave no room for any other including God who desires that our lives are all about Him. God demands that we willingly give Him our lives as living sacrifices so that our lives are meant to be built around Him and not the other way round. Instead of desiring that our lives give God pleasure, our desire is that God works to ensure that we have all the pleasure that we desire. All we want is to be blessed which by the way is to have all the money that we desire so we can get anything we even think of not caring whether or not it could even cause harm to others. Sadly, this desire is insatiable; so insatiable it can actually make believers steal, kill and destroy whilst still professing Christianity. This is certainly not God’s plan so we must stop.

The “More Excellent Way” … The Way of True Love PT 2

I did not intend to write a second part to my blog on love but it provoked a few questions so I thought to share my response without indicating the questions. Let me start by stating that “like” is different from “love”. According to Webster, like is to have an inclination or preference for or for something to please you. It is to regard something favorably or feel affection for or enjoy being with someone or something. This seems to be the basis upon which the world’s definition of love is founded. So definition of love by the world is a stronger version of like and a far cry from the love God is.  

1 Corinthians 13: 13 “And so faith, hope, love abide (faith-conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope-joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love-true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for us), these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

The love that God is and we have experienced has character; it is deep and strong. That is the love God wants us to express. It is instinctive to us as believers and is without prejudice. It flows from inside us. We don’t have to be friends to love people; we love them even without knowing them, because we see them through the eyes of God and feel about them, the way God feels. This is true love which cannot be faked and is also very different from being nice. This love lives in us and is only expressed through us. It would be impossible for man, given his nature and the state of his heart, to truly love in this way without God in Him. This love is too sincere and pure to come to man naturally. It takes a life transforming conviction to have and express this love. It takes a spiritual man to express it. 

1 Corinthians 13: 7 – 8 “Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything (without weakening). Love never fails (never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end). 

Don’t tell me you love when you are in unhealthy competition, which by the way is jealousy and/or envy, with another; and sometimes the other party is unaware of the fact that you are in competition with them as a result of which you are doing all you can to ruin them. Love makes one mannerly even if they were unruly. It restrains one from seeking attention so desperately even to the extent of wickedly expelling another because they want their place. You cannot claim to love and yet be so vindictive and your great excuse is that you are angry. Though the word of God allows us the right to be angry yet it says we must not sin despite anger.  There is no justification for being vindictive; it is vile and cannot operate in a vessel that carries love. Some things just naturally die when God comes into a person. God kind of love is who you are and not a feeling you express to some only. 

1 Corinthians 13: 5 – 6 “It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride): it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it (it pays no attention to a suffered wrong). It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.”

God has not asked us to like people but has taken it to another realm by asking that we love. Love is God and all He is asking is that we express His nature. This love is despite our feeling; it is a way of life – The God way of life. If you say you love, does your love have this character? The more excellent way has character and gives one a great personality, taking one to a realm where godly honor just comes upon them. Is that the love we express? The Holy Spirit is every ready to help us if we find we fall short.