Christianity – A Fad or Faith?

I have been thinking about this faith that we now claim is Christianity and the way we live as believers. I wonder if what we now have is really what it is. If it is, why did people need to die for this faith? Were they just a bit too fanatical or are the ones who got it right? If this life we live now is what it rightly should be then what is there to die for? There won't be anything to die for if we can twist and bend the word of God to align with what is acceptable to us at every point in time. This entire thing is beginning to look like a joke and I know it is not. I wonder if we really believe that God is who He says He is. We act and talk like God is confused and says things He does not mean otherwise why would we live like we do and yet claim to be believers in this faith that is the opposite of what we do and then we laugh and argue that God understands our frail frame and will accept us just as we are. We give up nothing and so pay no price. The only thing that changes is the fact that we now say we are born again. We, like pigs rolling in mud, ravel in iniquity whilst He says anyone who goes by His name should depart from iniquity. Could that be a joke also?

 

2 Timothy 2: 19 "But God's truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his, and all who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil.

1Peter 1: 16 "For the scriptures say you must be holy as I am holy."

I have heard severally and even from preachers, for example that it is impossible for man even the regenerated man to be holy yet the word of God says God demands that we be holy. These things are confusing because I know God Is not confused and certainly expresses Himself very clearly but we sound like He may not quiet mean what he says or like we could help Him say what He intended to say much better than He has done. Indeed, how can we then be holy when we already insist that it is impossible to do so? Honestly, I don't think unbelievers are the greatest problem of our faith; we make nonsense of it ourselves thereby making our God appear smaller than He is. Like I heard a preacher say, the word of God is not a buffet where one is allowed to pick and choose what they prefer to eat, it is a served meal where we take on all that is served for the meal to be impactful. How can the word be powerful in the life of a believer who picks what word they want and then dumps the rest of it? The word is a personality who is either going to be powerful in our lives or powerless in a life because he is inhibited in that  life. God is unchanging but He will be in your life who you decide He should be and that is only in your life because in reality, He is unchanging and it is only to the extent that our existence is in Him that we experience His power. His desire is that we live totally in Him.

 

Acts 17: 28 "For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said we are his offspring.'

This faith has been so watered down that I wonder if the angels recognize who we are. We are not the world yet we are not what God's offspring should be so who really are we? When we are neither here nor there, we become an aberration - a being that doesn't exist anywhere but I guess in truth that means one is in the camp of the devil. How then do we expect the ministering spirits sent to minister to us as we speak the word to move when there is no power released in what we say because it is often not the word of God and even when it is, it is like the devil speaking the word because it is not coming from the right vessel- the vessel is not unto honor. Hence we often find ourselves wondering whether or not there is power in the word of God but it is this same word that released power in the time of the Apostles and the times of saints that have gone before us like Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts and is still releasing power in the mouth of some today. Unfortunately, instead of fixing our issues, believers are running from one lesser god to the other seeking power and help.

Hebrews 1: 14 "Therefore, angels are only servants-spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation."

What exactly is wrong? Is the problem with us, the word or the God of the word? I believe the problem is with us. God has not changed and will never change. If He was consistently changing then variableness would be found in Him which is not the case and that is why we can trust Him. We need to make decisions. God is not changing the faith to suit us. He loves us so much He is doing all to ensure we align with the faith.

The Word Of God – WCO Prayer Conference

Thank God for our last WCO Prayer Conference where we were reminded of and taught the word of God. For me, every minute at the Conference was an experience I would like to relieve but I guess God would prefer for me to go forward with what I received instead of relieving the experience. The one thing that was certain is that God desires for us to go forward so He let us know that He is all we need to go forward. Of course that does not mean that God does everything and we do nothing; it only means that because He is God who creates and also knows all the path we could ever take as well as the end of the journey, He is able and willing to provide all we need if we could trust Him enough to seek counsel from Him and just obey His instructions and I guess this is where it gets tough because His instructions sometimes can be very confusing particularly in the face of current day realities. Moreover, we live in a world that likes to believe that God is so outdated He does not understand the present day realities. Of course to the world, those instructions are totally silly. No wonder the hymn writer says “He works in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.”

 

1 Corinthians 1: 27 – 28 “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.”

 

So we were counseled to listen out for instructions from the Word and the Word is Jesus Christ the son of God. He can choose to speak to us directly or through His written word which suggests that we must pay attention to His written word. The only way we learn the voice of God is by building on our relationship with Him and there is no achieving that without building a relationship with the written word. No one who stands afar would be able to discern His voice accurately. The stronger our relationship is with people, the easier and faster we are able to recognize their voices even when we can’t see them and in the midst of many voices. Relationship definitely plays a major part in identifying the voice of Christ not withstanding how and when He speaks. Sometimes we hope to learn to discern His voice without building on our relationship with Him but that isn’t really possible. It is like saying you will know when I speak without knowing me. You have to have heard me a number of times to recognize my voice when you hear it. You can get to know me so well that even when I write you recognize me even without seeing my name.

 

John 10: 26 - 27 “But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

 

Voice is very powerful because man is greatly impacted by what he hears. God speaks to His own and this has nothing to do with what generation one exist in but has everything to do with whether or not one belongs to Him. In every generation, there are people born of the Spirit, as a result of which they are known as the children of God, with whom God certainly communicates. These are people to whom God is Father and Redeemer and a father would definitely communicate with his children. No father consistently communicates with his child through another except if he is unhappy with the child. Sometimes we might be a little confused as to what our father is saying which is why he has other children that you can speak to with a view to getting a clearer understanding of what he is saying but he would speak to you. When we desire better understanding it is wise to speak to those children who also have a good relationship with Him but we very often prefer to speak to children who barely themselves speak to Him or have a relationship with Him; how then can they help us understand what God is saying? The mind of God is often times not revealed in one word. You put many words or sentences together to get a clear picture. You need to wait patiently to get a good understanding instead of rushing of with half a sentence.

 

1 Samuel 3: 9 “So he said to Samuel, ‘go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’ So Samuel went back to bed.”

 

We must listen to God in an attitude of obedience. Very often we already conceived what we want and how we will get it so that unwittingly we already put ourselves in that place of disobedience. When we make that decision to truly walk with God, we must be open to His instructions. Preconceived notions are usually a problem with walking with God. Our minds are made up in a particular direction so that it is even difficult to realize that God is saying something totally different from what we think He is saying all because of what we had assumed He would say. It is time to return to listening to God if we desire to go forward by Him. God definitely still leads His own.

Neither God Nor His Word have Changed; Don’t Change His Worship

I think every believer knows that the way of God is not compatible with the way of the world. In bible parlance the Spirit and the flesh are always at war. The flesh always wants to rule even in places where the Spirit of God is legitimately in control. Meanwhile the Spirit of God Is not unruly; He waits to be invited and given room to take charge but when He is in charge, He is absolutely in charge. No wonder the bible says when light comes, darkness has no choice but to leave. The truth is, darkness hates that and is consistently trying to return. Unfortunately, unlike light, darkness is not a gentleman and will go as far as it can push. It does not wait to be permitted but tries very hard to force his way into every life, space or anywhere he finds room. The life of a believer is therefore one of consistent struggle to ensure that He is permitting light into His life and exposing Himself fully to light. As we yield to light, He increases in us and impacts our life even more; but darkness is consistently trying to bring us under his control attempting to enslave us. Darkness is a mean slave master.

 

John 1: 4 – 5 “The word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

 

The last time I checked, worship service is church organized gathering of Christians and unbelievers for the sole purpose of fellowshipping with the light. It is a time when our sole focus is to worship God who is Spirit in the Spirit thereby exposing ourselves to the light who is God so that our spirit man is empowered and our flesh is brought under control of our spirit which is controlled by the Spirit of God. God clearly demands to be worshipped in the Spirit and we Pentecostals lay strong claim to doing that very well: also accusing non-Pentecostal churches of not having the Spirit of God. It is therefore getting a little confusing to me when instead of exposing our spirit man to the spirit of God, in some of our worship services we fan the flesh. The excuse we often make give for this is that we feel a need to do everything during these our worship services because that is when we catch everybody so every and anything is allowed during these services and by the time we are done, we leave church even more carnal than we came in. It is not possible to leave a worship service filled with the spirit when all we did almost through it all, was feed our flesh. Could it be that we have lost sight of the purpose for this gathering? Believers came together for a purpose which certainly did not include feeding the flesh. Is it really correct to assume that the two can flow together despite that the spirit and the flesh war against one another?

 

Ephesians 5: 18b “Instead be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.”

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.”

 

Some leaders argue that congregation have very short attention span these days so they need to be engaged fully with activity during the service. It is interesting to note that we are talking about adults who should be controlled and disciplined enough to sit through these things. If this is a real problem then maybe we need to look inwards with a view to ascertaining whether or not God is still in our services. Unlike many would like us to believe, God is not boring; but if we must indeed do something to arrest the situation urgently, it would probably be wiser to spend less time in these services than to engage worldly means bearing in mind that these ways do not align with the ways of God and if anything, will make the Holy Spirit leave. If we so desperately want activities, then we must choose godly ones instead of the ones that make it difficult for the Holy Spirit to remain and definitely fan our flesh. Very often, the same people that complain about the length of worship services, sit for hours without end gossiping or doing other ungodly things feeding their flesh. Worship services must remain what they are and if we must entertain people then we must do it outside of these services. It is disheartening to see the way the church is going today even to the extent where comedians albeit Christian comedians are invited to minister. Please do not misunderstand me, I am not opposed to godly humor and have nothing against the comedians. I am only saying that they would serve their purpose in other church functions and events or Christian events. We appear to be getting everything mixed up and need to sort them out. As it is often said, the line between the flesh and the Spirit is really thin making it easy to crossover from the spirit to the flesh without really meaning to; we need to check to see if we have not crossed that line.

 

James 4: 4 “Ye adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: if you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”

 

The traditional churches which we often refer to as worldly appear to be doing better. They even understand about creating the right atmosphere for God. One enters these churches even when there is no service and one feels the presence of God; this is no longer a common experience in our Pentecostal churches. I understand that God loves us all with all our different personalities which He would have us express, but the worship of God has not changed. It could be done with a lot of noise or solemnity but it is still worship of our God and has to be spiritual for He whom we worship demands that He will be worshipped in the Spirit. I know that churches struggle to keep people in church but the longing of man will not be satisfied carnally. He will only get worse because He will yearn for more and more and would need to be entertained with even more carnality as time goes on. Any satisfaction carnality may appear to provide is very temporary; such people soon become restless again because this craving is for something deeply spiritual and can only be satisfied by the Spirit. Worship services must remain what they are - worship service; otherwise let us call them something else. We can’t claim to worship God applying the things He hates so much.

To Be Led By Emotions Or By The Spirit?

Today was one of “one of those days” for me so I chose to listen to Podcast by one of my favorite Pastors where he talked about emotions and being emotional. In summary he was saying emotions are real and have their place in our lives but they must not run our lives. He discouraged believers from responding to life or circumstances emotionally or based on emotions and insists that no one can fulfill their destinies by living life like that. Interestingly, I found that even my dictionary aligns with him. It says to be compassionate is to be touched by the pain/difficulties of another, to empathize and desire to do something about the difficulty of others. Whilst, to be emotional, is to be excessively affected by emotion rather than reason or an insincere and effusive demonstration of sentimental friendship and an involuntary physiological response to a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data which in bible parlance is flesh. So that when our lives are based on emotions, it is based on flesh or the sinful nature. Such believers often stir up emotions to gain attention and those who respond to them emotionally often end up helping them cripple their lives just like the onlooker who feeling the pain of the butterfly as it struggles to get out it’s cocoon, breaks the cocoon thereby inhibiting the butterfly for life not realizing that God in His wisdom had worked things out such that in that process, the butterfly is strengthened to fly and fulfill its destiny. Unfortunately, that quick relief would cripple the butterfly making it impossible for it to fulfill its destiny which is the fate of many believers today.

 

Romans 8: 8 “That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.”

It is so easy to want to live by emotions. It is such a cheap and easy way to get by in life and very often, it seems to work for us. When we appeal to emotions, it is easier to get people who would be sympathetic to your cause without considering the merits and/or demerits of it. Unfortunately, we often albeit unwittingly, give the devil room in our lives when we do this and even those who think they help us by responding to our emotional tirades or appeal often like the onlooker in the butterfly story help us ruin ourselves. The truth though is that we all owe ourselves a duty to be honest with ourselves because unlike the butterfly, we can think and know when we are appealing to people’s emotions. Indeed, some of us get very frustrated when people resist responding to our emotional outburst so it is just easier for everyone to let us have what we want especially if it doesn’t hurt them and then they can move on with their lives. I admit that our intentions are often not to cripple or facilitate the crippling of a believer but that is the ultimate result. Sadly, the fact that you did not know your assistance will ultimately cripple the believer, does not change the consequence.

Romans 8: 6 “So letting you sinful nature control your mind leads to life and peace.”

 

I am not by any means suggesting that we are not emotional beings. Jesus was full of compassion and had emotions; He also could be emotional like when He wept for Lazarus but He was not guided by emotions so that He always did the will of His Father despite how He felt. Indeed, going to the cross was so tough but despite the strength of the emotion that overwhelmed Him as He thought on the pain of the cross, He yielded to the will of the father. He put all the emotions aside and did what He had to do. If His decisions were based on emotions, we probably won’t be saved today. Emotional people often do not go the long hull. Going wherever their emotions go, they must leave whenever they feel hurt or run out of steam. Such people are often whimsical and life is all about them and how they feel. Often very selfish, they smolder you with what they insist is love and which it isn’t, unwittingly crippling you making it impossible for you also to fulfill your destiny and that is for as long as they feel like doing so.  They struggle with divine counsel and don’t listen to the voice of reason because they are overwhelmed by emotions and every person who does not agree with them is wicked and mean or at best, too tough on them. This is the height of selfishness but I guess it is hard to face up to one’s own weaknesses. Such people prefer to forget that all men are mortals and also feel like giving in to their feelings; it is always a fight not to do so. They act like they are the only ones built with emotions. We all have emotions but we must refrain from letting them determine our responses. The price we pay for that is too much.

Romans 6: 12 “Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.”

We often delude ourselves arguing that being compassionate is being emotional which is not correct. Both the bible and my dictionary affirm this. It is good to be compassionate but our responses must be divinely guided or carefully thought through at the very least. Even smart unbelievers would listen to the voice of reason so that though they may not be led by God, they often provide reasonable responses even garnering help from others where they think they are unable to individually provide all the necessary help not caring who gets the glory. Emotional people, believers or unbelievers, will respond according to their feeling not thinking of the ultimate impact. Of course when such people are caught up on this emotional ride, they don’t reason and the word of God is furthest from their minds so they do not adequately assess the situation before they swing into emotional activity assuaging their emotion and/or conscience. We have to get used to turning to the Holy Spirit, who is the best teacher and guide. e is the best and most sincere guide and/or support but we sometimes do not even want to hear His truth. I realize that the easiest thing is to feed people’s emotions and everyone is happy but maybe when we start to look beyond ourselves to the crippling effect of our fleshly responses to situations in the lives of others, we will see the compelling need to turn to the Holy Ghost for appropriate responses.  

When Women Pray …. Saturday 10th October

If you are a follower of this blog then I am certain you know that the place of prayer is the place of communion with God. Sometimes I am afraid that I have worn you out with this topic but please accommodate me because that is our one sure battle ground, that place where we would ultimately always win. God already empowered us to win every battle fought on this turf as long as we do all that we need to do. Beyond that though is the fact that every believer should long to commune with God and prayer is that place of communion. So whenever God is meeting with man, it is prayer taking place so that one form of prayer or the other ought to take place consistently in our lives. Indeed in spiritual warfare, one is still meeting with God but in warfare, God joins forces with God to enforce victory against the enemy. Whether it is worship, thanksgiving or joining forces with Him to enforce the victory He already won for us; it would be prayer in various forms. It could even be God speaking whilst man listens. The point is man is communing with His God. Prayer is therefore, that place where man rubs mind with God allowing his mind to be influenced or impacted by God. Hence it is impossible for any man who prays very often to remain the same. He is constantly being changed; becoming more and more like God.

 

2 Corinthians 10: 3 “We are humans but we don’t wage war as humans do.”

 

God expressed a strong desire to enjoy communion with man in Jesus shedding His blood and ensured that every regenerated man has in his DNA a yearning for communion with His maker and/or Father. So our God is never tired of hearing us as some would like us to believe; He longs to commune with us. I am aware that we often make fun of people who we think pray too often; we act like believers don’t need to pray to make good success of their lives and fulfill their destiny but the truth is, it is only to the extent that one communes with God that one is able to enjoy the benefits of the victory that Christ worked for us by living and dying on earth. Every step forward for a believer is evidence of victory because there is an enemy whose job it is to frustrate our every move forward in life. The times we live in are tough; only those who know their God can do exploits. Prayer does get tedious sometimes, even just “busyness” and challenges of life make it difficult to pray; but these are all tricks of the enemy working through our flesh to keep us from our Father and the place of strength.

 

2 Corinthians 10: 4 “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” 

 

Moreover, for a believer to operate in dominion, as is our mandate, we need information that only God can give us. Our relationship with God gives us the added advantage of accessing privileged information known to God alone and cannot be accessed by the ordinary man but would put us far ahead of the ordinary man if correctly applied. Countries are known as powerful because they are well informed and use the information they have to their advantage. Spending time with Him sharpens our hearing making it easier for us to receive all the information we need to facilitate our greatness so the devil works to frustrate that communion using our flesh. Sometimes we are even deceived into thinking we can resolve our issues faster than God would so we would rather try resolving ourselves instead of praying. Such thoughts are suggestions from the enemy. These are all distractions, meant to frustrate us and kill our desire to commune with our maker. 

 

Luke 18: 1 “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.”

 

We need to pray now more than ever before. There are things happening even in this Country that make it compelling to call on He who alone can deliver us. God has already started a work that needs to be perfected but He always desires intercession. Women, as scriptures show, have been an integral part of God’s move; it remains the same today. When women sincerely and deeply commune with God, heaven has not been known to remain unmoved. So please come out to God’s Favorite House on Saturday 10^th October from 9qm – 3pm so that together we can, on a Pentecostal platform, call on God concerning our families, nation and society. God’s Favorite House is behind Wesley Methodist Church, immediately after the 2^nd Lekki Toll gate which is in front of Chevron on Lekki-Epe Expressway. Please come and bring a friend too.

Lessons From The Life Of Samson Part 3

Yes, it is Samson again. I am sorry if you would rather talk about something else but there just seems to be so much to learn from this man’s life that would help us succeed in this present day. Indeed there is nothing new under the sun. The things that happen, obviously, happened before but maybe under different circumstances. The lessons we need to live successfully, are the same hence the bible is always relevant despite changing times. The word of God is indeed always a present truth.  It is true that we have regrets in life; things we feel we ought to have done or not done that we did and shouldn’t have done; but it will be sad if at the end of a believer’s life, he is sorrowful and full of regrets. So full of regrets and pain that he would desire to end his own life. Though he killed more people in death than in life, could he have been destined to take his own life? It was clear that at that point Samson was not thinking like he should have; obviously, the pain and shame he felt at that time was to him worse than death. Once more the grave received another who was yet “full with his purpose.” It does not have to be so for us.

Judges 16: 30a “he prayed, let me die with the Philistine rulers and all the people.”

Maybe this means nothing to you but unless one goes through it, one can only imagine the pain that betrayal causes: that kind of betrayal where your friend who was your best man at your wedding marries your wife instead. Such was the pain of Samson whose companion whom he took with him to his wedding ended up marrying his wife. At no time did Samson tell his friend that he was no longer in love with her and we are not told that anyone contacted him to find out if he still wanted her; not even the friend. Isn’t it sad that that those closest to us sometimes hurt us the most? Indeed the arm of flesh would surely fail. Man, even at his very best, is man and has the potentials to fail anyone. We must watch out for ourselves that we don’t get carried away. I am sure the friend gave himself all the reasons in the world why it was not bad for him to have married Samson’s wife as we often do when we do wrong so we don’t feel bad. He would have all the best arguments in the world for what he did. The truth is our trust must always be in God otherwise we would suffer unnecessary pain and disappointment.

Judges 14: 20  “So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding.”

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.”

Unfortunately, anger is also a terrible thing when it becomes consuming. The bible says we can be angry but we should not let it go on to sin. Samson was so upset he stayed away from his wife for too long which is contrary also to biblical counsel. God rightly counsels us that anger should not last for long. He was so angry he returned to his parents after the wedding, without his wife. When he finally calmed down, it was too late because he already lost the wife. Though he was angry, he apparently still cared about her because when he was returning to her, he even took a gift with him; he obviously felt that his anger had gone beyond reasonable limits after all the people had threatened to burn his wife’s family. Obviously, his father-in-law was ashamed that his daughter who had been given out in marriage was abandoned and he thought he was making the best decision in the circumstance. Being overly emotional is not wise. Anger is an emotion which must not overcome us. We must have self-control.

Ephesians 4: 26 “And don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.”

Another lesson we learn from this story is that we have to pray for our families. If a member of your family that you care for has a problem, you also have a problem. You can’t be happy when they are in trouble. Indeed, it is a good way for the enemy to distract one. When the enemy tries to reach or pull down a believer and is unable to, he would attempt to touch a weak member of your family. It is of utmost importance that we pray for our families. Also, don’t leave your spouse behind as you improve on your walk with God. You don’t need a weak link. It is best when everyone grows together. When they could not reach Samson, they went for his wife and threatened her life and that of her family. Of course, she wanted to protect her family so she made Samson tell her, the solution to the riddle. It was either that or she and her family would perish. She became the weak link in his life. We must pray for our entire family and especially for the salvation of every member of our families.

Judges 14: 15b “Entice your husband to explain the riddle for us, or we will burn down your father’s house with you in it.”

Finally, sweetness does indeed come from the strong. The strong may be strong physically or have a position of power. Every believer is strong. Even the weak are admonished to say they are strong. As believers, sweetness should flow from our strength just as with our God. It may not be sweetness that is appreciated immediately but at the end of the day, it would be called sweetness. While Samson was trying to get the honey, he may have been stung by bees but eventually sweetness flowed. At the beginning, it may not seem like sweetness but the testimony concerning us must be that the outflow was goodness even if it does not seem so at the beginning to the person at the receiving end. Our strength whether physical, material, knowledge or even office should ultimately work good for those that encounter us. Just like the lion, until we die to ourselves, or our flesh dies, sweetness cannot come out of us. Death precedes sweetness.

Lessons From The Life Of Samson Part 2

Isn’t it interesting how we sometimes are determined to succeed at something but using a particular method which we use repeatedly despite that we are failing consistently yet God has not insisted that we use that one method? I often wonder why we do that. I know it is sometimes because we have a problem with change but I have seen people who embrace change fall into this trap so I wonder if perchance it could be because of plain stubbornness or too much pride to admit that one is wrong or could it be that we lie to ourselves that this next time some factors are different and the little difference is enough to give us a different result? I have found that lying to ourselves about anything won’t change the result; the sooner we tell ourselves the truth and make the required adjustments, the sooner we can move forward. Samson yielded to pressure and told the lady he was in love with the answer to his riddle and she told her kinsmen. This led to him having to stake his life to get foreskins of Philistines. Yet he did it again and this time with a prostitute which was even worse; he told her the secret of his power and lost his power as a result of which he subsequently lost his life. We need to learn from the mistakes we made. He should have learnt a lesson from the first one. Any one slow to learn from their mistakes will suffer untold loss and such loss may even include loss of his life. The sooner one learns the better.

Proverbs 1: 22, 24 – 27 “How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simple minded? ... I called you so often but you wouldn’t come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention. You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered. So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you.”

We must not take anything precious to us for granted, you would most likely lose it and this includes even relationships. What can be more precious than the gifts of God? Very often, we take the benefits of the privilege of being children of God for granted and because we don’t seem to suffer any immediate apparent loss, we go on and on. We often assume that despite the word of God, we can carry on as we please and as some argue “God is merciful and will forgive” which is indeed true; but there are consequences for actions, some of which may indeed be costly. A lot of the time we assume that the consequences will be taken away because the sin has been forgiven but I have found that they are two different things and I have seen people endure the consequences of their wrong sometimes, despite that we all know that the sin has been forgiven. Samson took the power of God in His life for granted. He had gotten so used to it that he assumed he could do just about anything and it would always be there. Though Samson was sorry, his hair had been shaven and so, he had lost his power which was never restored until his hair grew up and in the interim, he suffered greatly in the hands of his enemies. I believe it was the mercy of God that caused his hair to grow back as fast as it did; what if “your hair never grows back?” We must be circumspect. We must stay away from presumption.

Judges 16: 21–22  “So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in prison.”

Pride is a destroyer. Samson had gotten so many victories that he became proud. At some point he had even removed and taken away the gates of an entire city which must have been strong because it was it was used to keep out enemies and their soldiers; so he must have been strong. It is so easy to get carried away and we all have the tendency to do that so we must watch out for ourselves. He was certain that no one could capture him but unfortunately for him God, who was the secret of His strength, resists the proud. Indeed, pride opens a door into our lives which the enemy never misses and always takes advantage of. The truth is, it lures one away from the covering of God making us easy prey for the enemy. It is something we must watch out for even in us. God won’t take away the pride, we have to decide to put it away so that we can then take on the nature of God. Please note that pride has nothing to do with how rich or poor one is; we have seen poor people that have been so proud you almost don’t want to have anything to do with them. It is a problem of the human race.

Proverbs 11: 2 “Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom”

James 1: 14 – 15 “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.”

Samson was ultimately destroyed by himself and not really by the enemy. He was endowed with all he needed to live and fulfill his destiny and heaven was certainly on his side but he seemed like a man that was bent on ruining his own life. Very often we are like that but then we blame it on all sorts of spiritual problems but we must remember that the “enemy within” is more powerful than the enemy on the outside. If we can conquer self, no matter how sweet it appears to be, then we can live that fulfilled and successful life that God ordained for us. Sometimes we don’t realize how damaging self is when it often presents itself as sweet and lovely, dreamy and silly but it is. Anytime self is in control of your life, you run the danger of destroying your life and that, no matter how sweet it appears to be.