Tag Archives: Bible

August 3, 2017 · 9:10 pm

WHILE WAITING…

I got up pretty early, packed my bags and set out for the airport. The traffic could be unpredictable sometimes, so I did not want to risk getting stuck in traffic and making it late to the airport. On that day however, the road was unusually free and I got to the airport before check-in time and the check-in counter was not going to open a minute before the set time. I had some waiting to do.

The check-in was smooth and uneventful. While waiting for the boarding time, I got myself occupied by reading a book – Start With Why by Simon Sinek. In my head, I had calculated when I was going to get home and how I was going to spend the rest of the day. As the boarding time approached, I heard the dreaded announcement. The weather at our destination was bad and we would not take off as scheduled. I had more waiting to do.

Waiting is not exactly my forte and soon enough I got tired of reading my book and tried starting a conversation with a fellow passenger. A few other passengers facing the same dilemma with me were ‘gisting’, a few were sleeping and others were just there. I ended up pacing about the waiting area till the boarding announcement was made and away we flew.

This airport waiting experience was transient, lasting only a few hours and I was glad for that. However, in reality we often get to wait much longer for the things that life presents to us. These ‘presents’ come in various forms like waiting for that dream job, waiting for a spouse, waiting to have a child after marriage, waiting for a promotion, waiting for a clear direction and waiting for that big break after years of faithful sowing.

While waiting as Christians, we have some sure words of promise in the Bible such as:

…All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (MSG)

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. Isaiah 43:2 (NLT)

“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! Isaiah 49:15 (NLT)

We often find ourselves tempted to think that God has not been fair to us, because in our own estimation, we have done everything that we ought to do and there is no rational explanation to our predicament.

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If we yield to the temptation and follow that thought trail, we often end up with depression and many questions in our hearts for God. The more we think and dwell on the issues, the bigger they begin to appear and the promises of God begin to diminish in our minds.

Joseph had no rational explanation for being in prison in a foreign land,…… we know how the story ends. Job could also not explain the terrible loss and pain he had to go through, but in the end, God came through for him. We will not always be able to explain why God allows somethings to come our way, but one thing is sure: He will neither leave us nor forsake us in the midst of those things.

I won’t claim to be an expert in knowing the best posture to take while waiting, but one thing I know that works is holding tenaciously and stubbornly to God’s word concerning whatever it is that we are waiting for. Meditate on it day and night until we have it permanently ingrained in our minds and it becomes indelible in spite of what the circumstances say.

While waiting, we can also draw strength from the little victories that God has given us in the past. Keep them fresh on our minds and know that the One who came through for us in the past is still the same and that He will still come through this time. His calendar may be different from ours, but He will come through.

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While waiting, we also need to continue steadfastly and consistently in prayers. God will always show up and make all things beautiful because failure is not part of His attributes. He is faithful and never changes. He KNOWS that we are waiting and His eyes are on us. Most of all, His grace is sufficient for us while waiting.

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August 28, 2016 · 5:30 pm

THROUGH WHO’S EYES?

I remember attending a party quite a while ago, when break dancing was the hit. As a four year old boy with very little self-consciousness and without any understanding of the concept of shame, I thought I was a really great dancer. You can’t blame me too much; after all I was seeing the world through my little eyes. My opinion must have been the right one as far as I was concerned.

As I took centre stage, people were clapping and laughing hysterically. I thought they loved my deft moves. However, like the little boy in “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, someone had the courage to bring me down from my high horse. My dancing was in fact nothing short of disastrous and I had no fleeting idea. This is much like what happens as we tread along life’s well-worn paths, we form opinions, our thought patterns are shaped and we develop customized perspectives towards almost everything. We almost always see ourselves as right, because we judge ourselves through the ‘self filter’.

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Looking at life generally and zooming in on our service in the Kingdom, we may actually have an incorrect view of what God demands from us, if we judge only through our own eyes. I guess the people that Jesus will address as He did in Matthew 7:21-23 will realize this too late:

‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

I can imagine how shocking and devastating it will be to hear that at the end of the road; after we must have thought to ourselves that we fought the good fight and finished the race well. We may even have had people cheering us on and singing our praises. But these opinions do not really matter in the end. Only one thing indeed matters – the view through God’s eyes.

When Jesus called His disciples, He had the priority clearly defined – Stay with me first before you go on to any form of service.

He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. Mark 3:14-15

In staying with Him, we know Him more, we become more and more like Him until our will is lost in His will and our selfish motives and intentions for serving in the Kingdom become non-existent. Whatever service we are using to occupy till He comes should flow from that personal relationship and an outpouring of love for God – this is the will of God. He wants us more than whatever we can indeed offer.

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February 23, 2016 · 11:18 am

FAITH IS NOW

I got the picture below from one of Strive Masiyiwa’s recent posts on Facebook (By the way, I strongly recommend that you follow Strive if you are not already doing so). If you don’t know the story behind the picture, it will pass for just any other nice picture. The photographer’s goal was to get a shot of the eaglet and he had to wait 8 hours to get that shot. 8 hours! It took that long because the mother eagle had the eaglet under wraps for the entire period. His lucky break only came when the father eagle came around and the eaglet popped up to say hello to dad for a few seconds.

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I can only imagine what that wait would have been like. The photographer could not afford to be distracted because the eaglet’s appearance was only going to last a few seconds. It was not just a casual and relaxing wait. He had to maintain absolute focus for the entire period. I’m sure that would have required a lot of patience to pull off. This is similar to the kind of patience that Joseph had to learn while spending time as Potiphar’s chief servant as well as a prisoner, after having those dreams that caused his troubles. David also displayed this scale of patience when running from King Saul, despite the fact that he had been anointed as King of Israel by Prophet Samuel. Abraham received the promise that he would have a son when he was 75 and he had to wait with faith and patience for the promise to be fulfilled 25 years down the line.

Today, how do we begin to speak about this kind of patience when we have been taught that “Faith is NOW…” This is a popular adaptation of Hebrews 11:1, which has been sold to many of us and we have gladly bought into it. We pray now and place God under obligation to answer us immediately or He would no longer be God. The answer must come NOW!

If Abraham lived in our days, he would have ‘travailed’ and demanded that God gave him Isaac at 76 years and David would have had to pray King Saul out of the palace immediately after being anointed by Samuel. The truth is that God still answers prayers like He always did, but on His terms as the sovereign God. My thought is that there is a place for patience when we pray in faith. When the answer does not come as fast as we expect, He is still God. When it appears as if our prayers will not get the expected response, He is still God. When the answer comes faster than we expect, of course He is still God.

Please think on the verses below:

Hebrews 6:12 – 15 (NLT):  13 For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:14 “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” 15 Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

Hebrews 10: 36 (NLT):  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

James 1: 3 – 4 (KJV): 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

2 Peter 1 : 5 – 7 (KJV): 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

Patience is still a priceless virtue.

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January 14, 2016 · 5:04 pm

TWO PHEASANTS AND AN EGG

Over the last holiday season, my kids and I got engaged in paying daily visits to 2 birds -a local breed of pheasants- that decided to breed at our backyard. There were two pheasants and an egg, so we christened one of the birds as Mama Pheasant and the other as Papa Pheasant. Each time we approached the new parents, they would make some noise that sounded like a tiny growl to ensure that we did not cross our limits and get too close. This was their way of ensuring that Baby Pheasant remained unharmed till the day of hatching and “manifestation”. Of course we never crossed our limits, not knowing what surprises the pheasants would spring at us if we dared.

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On one of the days, a thought crossed my mind as we were in the middle of our daily visit: the Baby Pheasant inside the egg had no idea of what was going on outside its shell and had no way of influencing the behaviour of Mama and Papa Pheasant. It had no way of begging its parents for protection; it did not have to do anything to earn the right to be protected. Yet it did not have any reason to fear. The parents were under obligation to offer the protection, even if it meant putting themselves in harm’s way – and they never failed. Day and night, they stood at their duty post, unwavering, unflinching and untiring.
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This is similar to the kind of covenant relationship that believers have with God. What an awesome privilege! Our covenant confers a plethora of promises on us. If we can take out time to understand the terms of this covenant in the Bible, we will live our lives in unimaginable peace. Just living, walking and working in the glory of the covenant. We will no longer give prominent place to enemies and fill our prayers with concerns about them. A highly superior version of the kind of protection that the pheasant in the egg got is just one of the benefits that we enjoy as believers.

If we are seated together with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6); if we are dead and our lives are hid with Christ (Colossians 3:3); if He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4); if the name of the Lord is a strong tower that the righteous run into and are safe (Proverbs 18:10); If the Lord is around us as the mountains that surround Jerusalem (Psalms 125:2), If the Lord will not allow the rod of the wicked to rest upon the lot of the righteous (Psalms 125:3) why should we be afraid of enemies. We should rather devote time to mediate on these promises day and night until they are ingrained on the tablets of our hearts. This way, we will be steadfast and unmoveable, working in the sound mind that God has given us instead of walking in fear.

The Bible verses referenced above are just a few of the reasons why we should be bold as the lion, living above fear of enemies. We will discover many more if we will be willing to search the scriptures diligently. We would then be able to treat them the way Jesus recommended in Matthew 5:43 – 48

43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy’. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

 One thing we can be sure of is this: No enemy in the form of man or devil can harm us if we remain under the shadow of the Almighty. It is our covenant privilege.

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September 19, 2015 · 4:26 pm

TONGUES AND POWER

But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (AMP)

And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. Acts 2:4 (NLT)

Just before the ascension of Jesus Christ, He promised to fill the disciples (and all Christians by extension) with the Holy Spirit to enable them fulfil the work of the ministry that was handed over to them. Shortly afterwards, this promise was fulfilled and this team went on to become the greatest band of world changers that the world has ever known. They went on to preach the gospel, speak with new tongues, heal the sick, deliver the oppressed and in summary live out Mark 16: 17 – 18

These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.” Mark 16: 17 – 18 (NLT)

The encounter with the Holy Spirit changed everything about them. Peter that denied Jesus in difficult times became a great preacher; recording about 5000 converts after his first major outreach. People brought their sick relatives to the streets so that his shadow would fall on them and heal them. All these happened because the Holy Spirit gave them the ability. The other disciples have similar stories of awesome exploits surrounding them. By the help of the Holy Spirit, even Stephen that was ordained to serve tables and share food also performed amazing miracles (Acts 6:8).

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Fast-forward to our generation. We have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit! Really, it’s the same Holy Spirit that worked in Peter, Paul, Stephen, Phillip. We speak in tongues and most times, that is the only evidence of this baptism. I really don’t think that was the whole plan from the beginning. We didn’t get the Holy Spirit just for speaking in tongues.

My thought is that when we receive the power of the Holy Spirit, we should live supernatural lives every moment of every day. It should make our church services unpredictable. It will make praise and worship more than just singing and dancing. It should make us pray for the sick as a first response to sickness. The power should enable us to turn people to disciples of the Lord and not just increase our church attendance. It should make us speak the Word of God with great power and not just eloquent speech. If we have that power, we will not allow ourselves to be manipulated by men to part our resources; instead, we will give bountifully and cheerfully. Moreover, the power imparts the excellent spirit in us, so that we stand out for the right reasons at the work place. We ought to be changed by the power and ability for the purpose of changing our world.

Where did we miss it? We need to get back to the culture of personal fellowship with God. The power to fulfil God’s purpose comes from waiting in His presence. The early church pioneers had to wait in the upper room until they were endued with power and ability. I believe that if we can wait, the same power and ability can be ours and we can fulfil God’s mandate effectively.

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June 30, 2015 · 11:49 am

WORKING FOR GOD

Somehow, we have always had it ingrained in the recesses of our minds that we had to do things for God and get really involved in church activities in order to get God to like us and do things for us. This meant that the answers to our prayers had a direct relationship with how much we had ‘invested’ in actually pleasing God. When praising God, we had to dance really hard like David danced for God to notice us and our shout of “Amen” had to be the loudest. And then to cap it up, we had to be actively involved in one or more church service units and be in church every other day. These are things and reading the verse below convinced me the more that serving God is not really about things:

 “Listen to my Message, you Sodom-schooled leaders. Receive God’s revelation, you Gomorrah-schooled people.  “Why this frenzy of sacrifices?”  God’s asking. “Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices, rams and plump grain-fed calves? Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats? When you come before me, whoever gave you the idea of acting like this, Running here and there, doing this and that— all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship? “Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—   meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning”. Isaiah 1: 10 -11(MSG)

When we become children of God, serving God in any area that we have grace to serve should be as natural as breathing is to any living thing. We don’t serve or do things because we need things, rather it is because He is our father and we are His children and the Kingdom is our Father’s Kingdom.  Most times, we clearly miss the point that what God really wants is just for us to love Him. Every other sacrifice or service should just flow out of our lives as a result of our love for our Father and the relationship we have with Him.  If God was interested in things, Uzzah would not have died when he tried to stop the ark from falling (2Samuel 6:7), after all he was doing a good thing.

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Every segment of our lives as God’s children should form part of our worship to God and there should be no compartmentalization into spiritual life and secular lives. God created us that we might be worshippers, but we have become everything else but worshippers. We have put working for God ahead of worshipping God.

I will end with this quote from a previous blog post.

“God created us for His pleasure. Our Christian service is also a part of us that should give Him pleasure. If I experience God’s blessings or not in the course of the service, I will still serve Him. God’s blessings are completely free and there is no way I can pay for all that He has done and all that He will do for me. Relating this to the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, the Pharisee came on the platform of all that he had done for God, while the Publican came ‘Just as I am without one plea’. We know the rest of the story. In Matthew 7: 7 – 8, God did not say you should go and ‘labour in the vineyard’ before coming to Ask, Seek and Knock. If I need anything, I can simply go to God as my Father and just Ask”

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March 5, 2015 · 11:56 am

THE INTELLIGENT CARPENTER

I was reading the book:  “Going Public With Your Faith” by William Caar Peel and Walt Larimore and I came across the quote below:

“The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables. Church by all means, and decent forms of amusement, certainly–but what use is all that if in the very centre of his life and occupation he is insulting God with bad carpentry? “ ….Dorothy Sayers

We can relate the quote above to the following verses of Colossians 3:

“And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father” Col 3:17 (NLT)

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”  Col 3:23 (NLT)

The key word for me is WHATEVER. The summary of the quotes is that as a Banker, an Engineer, Teacher, Soldier or a Stay-at-Home Parent, and indeed whatever we find ourselves doing, we should see every aspect of our lives as part of our worship to God, because we indeed spend a major part of our lives outside the church and worship ought not to be confined to the church building.

The average Christian sees a clear difference between the secular life and the sacred life, whereas there is no difference in the eyes of our Father. With this mindset, we make distinctions between our work as Christians at the workplace and the work of the Pastors in the churches. We easily forget that the death and resurrection of Jesus has made all of us a generation of priests. The pastor oversees a local assembly while colleagues make up the congregation for the Christians at the workplace.

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We are required to fly the banner of Christ at work, while living above reproach and exceeding work targets and the expectations of our bosses. Our lives at work must never give people any reason to speak against our Faith and our Father. Instead, we should shine the light so brightly, lifting up the name of our Lord and thereby attracting more and more people to the Kingdom of our God. Our excellence and general conduct outside the walls of the church and especially at work should drive people to seek to know the God we worship.

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The Bible and even history books are filled with examples of men who saw their work as worship and thereby became world changers. These are men that we look up to today as heroes of our faith:

Nehemiah was a government official, serving under the kings of Persia. Joseph metamorphosed from slave to servant to prisoner and eventually a top government official in Egypt. Abraham was more like an entrepreneur specialised in livestock farming. Daniel was an adviser to several kings in Babylon. William Wilberforce was a distinguished Member of Parliament in England. One thing that is common to these great men is that each one was outstanding at work, displaying extraordinary excellence. Nothing stops you from forming part of this list. The grace of God is sufficient for you.

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October 22, 2014 · 6:16 am

IT’S NOT ABOUT ME

Reading Max Lucado’s book: ‘IT’S NOT ABOUT ME’, I came across a fascinating story of something that happened when he was a guide in the art museum. His job was very simple: Lead the visitors to the paintings, answer their questions and step out of the way. The idea was for them to take in as much of the painting as possible, without unnecessary distractions and diversions. He stayed on track for some time and did just as he was directed to do.  However, he soon started talking a bit too much, thus shifting the focus from the paintings to himself. Little by little, he began to unconsciously block the paintings and just going on and on with his stories. He was sharply brought back in line by these words: “This job isn’t about you Max. Don’t obscure my masterpieces”

Most ministers set off on the right track, initially preaching nothing but ‘Christ and Him Crucified’, until those wonderful remarks at the end of the service begin to pour in: “Pastor, I felt God all through the message, the message was speaking directly to me”, “That was a wonderful message, I have never heard it that way before”. The worship leader just wants to lead the church into God’s presence, but the compliments can’t be avoided: “Your voice was so angelic”, “The worship session was something else today, everyone was caught up in the spirit”. “I felt something like a shock during the opening prayer”

When these accolades start pouring in, we start planning to ‘Preach up a storm’ at every meeting and singing to strike the right chord that will generate those wonderful comments. This somehow affects all of us, not just the preachers, prayer leaders and the singers. We all have a way of unconsciously deflecting the glory that is due to God to ourselves.

The truth is that there is nothing really wrong with the compliments and we never really set out to take God’s glory. However, when we let our guards down, we fall for this age long trick. Little by little, one short step after another. The tiny seed is sown in our hearts and it just grows without restrictions.

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Our objective as ministers in any capacity should always be to direct people to God our source. We should always strive to count ourselves as nothing but mediums. We are similar to the donkey that God used to speak to Balaam, the fish that God used to call Jonah to order or even the rod of Moses that turned to a snake to reflect God’s glory.

When God moves via our ministration, it is not because of us, it is not about us. It is not for us. Paul planted, Apollos watered and the increase came because of God. It is all about Him. Our ultimate goal should be never to obscure the glory of God in any way, just like the moon reflects nothing but the light from the sun. May we never fail in this assignment in Jesus’ name.

So then, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you may do, do all for the honour and glory of God. 1Cor 10:31

photcredits: allaboutgod.net

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September 9, 2014 · 11:29 am

ROWING WITH THE ANCHOR

I heard a funny story over the radio recently. A group of rowers wanted to undertake a challenge of rowing to another town in record time. The twist was that they would start the task at midnight with minimal illumination. They rowed as fast as they could all night, without stopping for a break. They had their minds set on the goal and they were not going to let a break cost them the record. At the break of dawn, with the first ray of light, they realized the unimaginable: they had not moved an inch. They were rowing with the anchor still firmly in place. 100% effort, but no productivity. Illumination makes a world of difference. It can indeed magnify your efforts.

By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path. (Psalms 119:105 MSG)

During the days of the stock market boom, quite a number of people that I know had fancy spreadsheets and charts for monitoring stock portfolios. That did not stop their fingers from getting burnt when the bubble burst. Many of the people did not really know the “way” of the stock market. It was just a fun bandwagon to join and everyone got on board blindly.

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With benefit of hindsight, there are many wrong steps we’ve taken that we never would have taken if only we sought answers from the One that knows it all before taking the first wrong step . Many of us are stuck with the wrong partner, wrong job, wrong investments and I dare say many ministers have no business being ministers in the first place. Just becuase of failure to enquire of the Lord.

There are so many pointers in the Bible that encourage us to draw near and ask before leaping, but somehow we always contrive not to.

There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. Prov 16 25 (NIV)

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30 21 (NIV)

“I am God, your God, who teaches you how to live right and well. I show you what to do, where to go. If you had listened all along to what I told you, your life would have flowed full like a river, blessings rolling in like waves from the sea. Isaiah 48: 17 -18 (MSG)

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Borrowing the words of the ageless hymn; “…Oh what things we often forfeit and Oh what needless pains we bear…” because we simply fail to ask in prayer and seek out the way from the Word. No matter what height we may climb to in life, we can never do without studying our Bibles and praying every day, with a view to becoming more like Christ. If this is not your normal way of life, I can boldly tell you that you are missing and you are most likely going to miss that ‘still, small voice’ when it comes to tell you which way to turn at the junction. There is so much light in the Word.

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February 9, 2014 · 2:45 pm

But Why Me?

I was driving around recently and my attention was caught by a funny mother-son scene playing out in my neighbourhood. I thought to myself: “I have definitely seen this before and I have acted this scene before”.  The mother got out of the car and released her toddler son from the shackles of the seat belt. She went to the other side of the car to attend to another infant and then without warning, the toddler took off.  With the infant in hand, she gave the toddler a chase and after some lengthy dribbling, she eventually caught up with the little one.

I have been involved in this sort of chase more than a couple of times and the temptation is always there in the heat of it all to think that other parents don’t have this kind of worry and that the case is peculiar to me and my kids. Anger and clouded vision created by the circumstances in which we find ourselves have a way of magnifying situations beyond what they actually are. We are often tricked into believing that we personify the term ‘long suffering’, and we involuntarily forget that the scriptures say that there is nothing new under the sun. Those questions that don’t have answers flood our minds: “Why is my own case different?”, “God what did I do to deserve this punishment?”, “When will I become like my mates?”,  “God Why…?”

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It’s not unusual to be overwhelmed by situations around us, but we can count on God to keep His promise, made in 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT):

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Many more of these promises exist in the Bible and it is our duty to search them out.  They are there because our Father loves us. He loves us so much that He will not just sit by and watch us grapple with pain and anguish. Put your arm in His arm and let Him lead. He knows how to take care of what belongs to him.

What’s the storm you are passing through right now? Be encouraged! God is on your side if you abide in Him.

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