What I think I need

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The bible speaks of a danger in praying amiss. It says “you do not receive because you ask wrongly”. So with time, we learn that praying without understanding is almost just as bad as not praying because when we pray without an understanding of what we’re asking for, there is the possibility that we are even praying against the Father’s will and knowing the Father we serve, we know that His loving nature would not allow Him release to us anything that will destroy us, even if we ourselves don’t know it.

A lot of times, we come to God and we do not even know really the need we have to raise to God in prayer. We get so carried away by the covering of the need that we do not look deeper to see the root of the need and pray with regards it.

For example, you might see people praying for money a lot of times and you rarely hear them ask God for a job. A job has the capacity to satisfy the need for money over a long period of time, but in the moment, such a person is blinded by an absence of money and so is constantly praying that God provides money.

Similarly, you hear people raising requests constantly about a spouse, whether a wife or husband and you rarely hear people pray for God to make them the right person for whoever God is sending their way. Here again, were blinded by how the need appears and unable to actually decipher and pray concerning the root need, which is to be the person God wants you to be before He even hands another human being to you in matrimony.

I call this The kingdom perspective and for me, it is a constant prayer always that I see always through God’s eyes. The way heaven is seeing it. This is the understanding we need when we stand in prayer and the assurance that comes in ‘whatever you ask in my name, I will do for you’. Emphasis on ‘Whatever’. So long as it is in accordance to the will of God, it will be answered.

Looking again at the Samaritan woman at the well with Jesus. Notice how she is introduced. ‘She came with her water jar to get some water from the well’. At the end of that story in John 4:28, the bible records “leaving her water jar, the woman went back to town and said to the people…”

She was thirsty right? any sane human knows that if I am thirsty, I need water to drink. So she went off to get that water. What she did not realise and what she had been blinded to see was that her thirst wasn’t merely a biological longing for physical water. Her real need was to meet with the one who had the capacity to quench her thirst forever and as we see in the end, Jesus did exactly that! Even bringing her to forget her original need seeing as she left that meeting without the water jar she had come with.

When we come to Jesus, we always leave with the things that matter most. It is a trend in the bible. Elijah came in tears and regret after Jezebel had threatened Him and He left Gods presence with instruction. Hannah came with taunting and pain and she left with a Son, this thirsty woman came with a water jar and left with salvation.

Jesus knows most our deepest needs and so even when we approach Him and it appears like were not receiving what we’ve come for, we need to trust He knows exactly what He is doing because usually the need we think we need satisfied is really minute compared  to the bigger need behind what actually needs satisfaction.

It also reveals the value of our need. That our needs attract us to God who is then able to show us the bigger picture.

Some of us are with God now with an apparatus in hand to hold what we think we need and it appears like God is not even acknowledging the presence of that apparatus and that’s fine. Just stay trusting and open to receive whatever He does send, because He alone sees the bigger picture and that’s what He wants to open your eyes to see as well.

Needs

Eat and stop crying!

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redirect

Do we ever go to God with one thing and find that we’re being focused on something else, sometimes in relation to the original request, but most times, in something completely unrelated.

I remember a time in my life when I was praying for my Dad’s salvation, It was a daily prayer request and it had almost become second nature to mention in my prayers. One random day, while praying the exact same prayer, I felt God stop me from saying the words and He began to ask me questions about my dependence on Him (God) and about where I put my confidence in.

It was so random but I obliged and began to do some soul searching and it was not until my dad suffered a stroke and had to leave work that it all began to make sense to me the other angle God was opening my eyes to see.

Similarly, remember when Elijah has been threatened by Jezebel and He had ran away, from fear that Jezebel was truly going to kill him, remember when he arrived under the tree, all depressed, angry and suicidal, telling God to just ‘take his life’. Do you remember God’s reply?

After the very much deserved silence, God sends an angel with food, a lot of food and The angel tells him to ‘eat! for the journey ahead is great’.

When I tell people that God has a very funny sense of humour, they think I’m joking. How can I come crying to you about one issue and your next reply to me is to eat? Can you fathom how Elijah must have been confused? like is this Guy even hearing me at all?!

There’s a similar play of event as well in the old testament where people were off to war and before they go, they would enquire of God on what to do and God will either give the most comic reply that appeared as jokes, or sometimes, ask that the simplest things be done, like raising songs of praise and worship or playing instruments.

Half the time, this leaves us puzzled, like Elijah, were wondering ‘is he even listening to me?’, like me, were asking ‘but God, what is the correlation?’. Frankly, we don’t even see the full picture until it is done.

God is never insensitive or elusive about our feelings and requests, usually, He just recognises that there are moments of human myopia where we see so shortly and from that short sight, were getting overwhelmed. He takes it on Himself to redirect us to the larger picture like He did with me and also with Elijah, by asking those ‘unrelated’ questions which refocuses us usually on the big picture we are not seeing in that moment.

Don’t be scared or surprised if God is redirecting you in your prayer time, or if you get up after praying and God is leading you in a whole new direction. As long as were sensitive of His leading, we’ll be fine. There’s no better place to be than in His perfect will.

The only acceptable trials and errors

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I was thinking to myself this morning how we really do not know, until we have tried. I’m of the opinion that while experience isn’t the only teacher, it is a great and practical way to get a lesson.

I look at people doing certain things today and I truly admire their effort and commitment, sometimes, directly by complimenting or simply just internally appreciating them and praying more grace over them and their work. Most times I am not even able to think myself in their shoes because I have been there and realised it does not bring me joy, the way it does the person which is then again a constant reminder of the different courses that God has given to us all.

I played sports all primary and secondary school, football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis and even did some field and track events. I love sports! the spontaneity of it but even more the bringing together of people for a common goal.

I made beads and sold with my sister for a couple of years in primary school, we would also send some to my grandma’s and aunties. I figured I enjoyed to an extent the creativity of designing the outlook of the beads, but I didn’t enjoy so much the packaging or sales of it.

I learnt to an intermediate level, the violin and recorder in primary school, I started on the piano, and I really hated it. The violin seemed a lot better but it really still didn’t spark the fire in me. I only was dedicated to playing the recorder because I had to play it on assembly and sometimes, was graded on it.

I went for a beauty pageant in a camp in my 5th year of high school, funny thing, I actually won, but I know that if given a chance in my present life to go for a pageant again, i’ll probably decline. I hated the suspense, comparison and stress of dressing up for each round. I think what made me win it in the end was the quality of my answers which focused on social justice issues as well as the educational system of Nigeria, which really are my fort.

I did an art class all of high school and I loved that I could express myself, but I hated how messy it was. I didn’t like to get my hands stained, so I was not the biggest fan of the drawing, painting or colouring activities, although I did all my biology drawings in senior secondary school. lol

My oldest sister was a dancer. She use to have a dance group that danced at events and also at stadiums during commercials, so I had my fair share of dance lessons. I loved dance but i’d prefer doing it in front of my mirror or in church. But anywhere else, i’m not very comfortable. I’ve been in choir all of my life as well, singing is the one thing I might never stop doing. Not on a large scale level, but just expressing my voice through the raising of songs in worship.

I acted drama in church often, my mum was a minister in the children’s church and so whenever they needed people to act drama’s before lessons, they would always look for me. Not that I had the skill, just on the account of my mum. I hated it! I didn’t like faking a role or an accent. I also found the whole thing funny so usually you’d find me snickering while playing my role, no matter how serious it was.

I grew up in a bakers house. My mum baked it all, you name it! Both for the house and commercially, so I had done baking as well. Cakes, bread, donuts, chin-chin, puff-puff, meat pie etc. I loved it as well, but I hated the bits leading up to the actual activity and definitely how tired I felt after it was done.

I spent the summer after I graduated high school in a fashion design academy, learning to draw and cut patterns as well as sewing clothes. I hated it! I was scared of the sewing machine and I found the entire pattern drawing and cutting process extremely boring. The only reason I kept going that summer asides the fact that it was paid for, was that there were these 2 girls who came everyday and basically had fresh things to fight about, it was always so entertaining, so they were another motivation to keep going.

My foundation year, prior to getting into university, I spent it working part-time as a Sales adviser, and yes, I still hated it, I thought I might have outgrown it after my sale of my beads growing up, but I realised again that year that it was just not something I enjoyed or found fulfilment in, and that was totally okay.

My second year at University, I did a course called Computing Undergraduate Ambassador which had me going into a high school twice a week to teach year 9’s and 11’s Computing. I did really enjoy it! Interacting with the kids was fun and all, but it was only to an extent, I figured, it won’t be something I might want to do long term, I also figured that maybe I would prefer teaching older students rather than that age group.

My placement year, after second year at University, I worked as an Applications Analyst in a big organisation. It was very rewarding, but was it fulfilling? I think not. On that job I also explored quality testing, product managing and accounting roles and none of them supported the spark that I had within me, so while I did learn so much, I knew again, this was not it. This job also showed me that i’d rather work for a smaller company than a larger one. I loved how close knitted my team was. Not something you find in large organisations.

Along the line in all of this, my blogging, reading and counselling is something I do really enjoy. While it might not be the main dish of my career, i’m certain it will be a yummy side dish to always run to after the days work.

Now, i’m sure you’re thinking, why has she told us all this?

I want to draw your attention back to my first statement that ‘we never really know, until we try’. Having tried all of these things listed above, I know very well my capability with them. I have been able to identify the ones I loved, the ones I didn’t mind and the ones I out-rightly hated.

You know what this has done for my life? It has helped narrow down the options thrown at me. When I see an opportunity, I’m not just asking ‘can you do it?’, I’m also asking ‘would you enjoy this?’.

How hard it will be to answer that second question if I have no experience of it. They talk about exploring while you’re young. I’m an avid supporter of that statement because it goes a long way in focusing you on the one thing or things that will truly bring out the full ‘magic’ in you.

It has also made me very appreciative of people and their work, particularly for the things I have found to hate, I’m mesmerised at how another person does the thing with so much passion and adoration.

I don’t know what phase you are in right now in life, but keep exploring, keep learning and keep saying yesss. hate it, love it, be meh about it, just have an experience of it to know if you’d wanna do it again or not.

One of my entrepreneurial spirited aunts always sends me this verse;

Ecclesiastes 11 : 6

Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.

Don’t be afraid to  try. The least that could happen is you learn, which really is not such a bad thing.

I’m personally currently in a phase of cooking. I’m exploring cooking techniques and recipes. I’m also exploring areas in technology, social justice and politics and soon, i’d have opinions of each based on my findings…

Feel free to let me know in the comment section, what you’re currently exploring. No matter what it is 🙂

jack woman

What Friend are you? Flowwww or Flow?

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I realised that there are mainly two types of friends in this world.
The “it has happened, it has happened, let’s move on” gang, and the “it happened, but you were wrong, you know better for next time” gang.

On first glance, the first gang appears more understanding, accommodating and even more supportive and the second is definitely more in your face and also very direct.

I think we all need a combination of both in our lives. Especially among our friends.
If we’re too full of the first gang, we’ll get used to going with the flow even after we’ve done wrong, and if too saturated with the second gang, we might harbour guilt and shame of whatever it is that has been done.

I personally would say I fall into the second category and a caveat with being in that category is being careful that we’re not making the person feel worse than they already do about something.

2 years ago now, My best friend had a life episode which actually threw me off emotionally and cause were a close knit of friends, it was quite easy for everyone to tell something was wrong. We met up together with her and another mutual friend of ours (who by the way is chief of the first gang).

After getting my best friend comfortable, we got to the crux of the matter and after she opened up, our mutual friend was really quick to dismiss it in the name of “well it’s fine, you’re good and life goes on” and we were almost leaving that line of discussion but I didn’t want Her to go only in the feel-good factor mode, I needed her to understand her part in the ordeal and learn from it so it didn’t happen again in the future.

It’s honestly usually a tougher conversation with people in our gang but I think it’s always worth going down that line.
It’s definitely important that we be sensitive of the timing and manner of approach, but the level of relationship with a person will determine more these things.

At service today, we spoke about the Samaritan woman at the well. The one who had Jesus attention without even soliciting it, I bet in her day, she was object of envy to a lot of people, women in particular. We actually looked at her in the Bad Girls of the bible series, so please click the link and check her out.

I wanted to take our attention to the conversation that ensued between herself and Jesus when He asked her to ‘go and call her husband’. I love how Jesus appeared oblivious to a lot of people in the bible, in the sense that He knew already an answer, but He still asked the person. Same thing happened in Eden when God appeared and asked where Adam was and why He was hiding. He obviously knew that His highest creation had given into sin, but in asking a person to admit something they’ve done, there’s a level of awareness that comes to the person who realises their fault in confessing it out, which we see is what Jesus did often.

Her response to Jesus question about bringing her husband revealed that ‘she had no husband’. Which was accurate, but not the complete truth.

Jesus could have stopped there, He already knew the truth about her past with the husbands saga, but He still pressed on, telling her exactly what she had covered in the one sentence reply she had given. If we read on to verse 19 & 20, we see her attempting to outsmart Jesus by changing the line of conversation, and Jesus indulged her in the change of direction because the message was still going to go across either way.

After the conversation had ended, what happens???

She goes back to town and is screaming to everyone who will hear about how Jesus had revealed her past to her and possibly even disclosing that past, because it didn’t matter anymore, she was now changed by encountering the one who covered the sins of her past, present and future.

I’m drawing our attention to the fact that if Jesus hadn’t made known what she attempted dismissing by responding with one line answer, she would not have seen her fault, or even a need for the Messiah, because it was that part of the conversation that led them to Jesus revealing His identity to her.

Jesus Christ displays the effect of the second gang here, but doesn’t mean He was predominately in this gang.

We have to be well equipped in the people that characterise our support groups. We can’t have a group that has representatives of just the first category or just the second category alone.

Even in friendships, there must be balance. Let’s be intentional about that balance, make a review of your friends and ensure you’re well covered. If we’re friends, congrats, you already have a name down for the second gang! *wink*.

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That’s a picture of us 2 in our elements….

Chief Judges by nature

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People are so quick to use the “you don’t understand” line, even when they have not done justice in explaining, they just believe that you don’t or won’t understand and I’ve learnt to be very patient with such people. Not pushing them to explain beyond what they have but admitting that yes, maybe I really don’t understand, so can you please make it clearer for me?

It has taken me my few adult years on this earth to understand how the human mind works and in summary, as our thumbprints are different, so are our perspectives to things and so it is aberrational when I see people getting offended when they are misunderstood or misinterpreted. Cause being human as we are, it is something I think we need to leave space to accommodate. That ‘people might misunderstand my intentions sometimes’ and that’s totally okay.

It is also so easy to get caught up in the misunderstanding seat. To be the one who misunderstands someone, which is why we must be graceful with people who do misunderstand in certain situations cause we also fall prey sometimes.

I remember meeting a girl once who was so bent on dating this guy because of how affluent he was and she was bold enough to even admit it, saying that asides his affluence, he was god-fearing and nice and all, so essentially, she was not in just for the money although that was a plus and I remember telling her off one day about how she was making money such a determining factor in her decision of who she would want to settle down with in life and I honestly even got a bit angry and said things I probably should not have till in replying me, my eyes were open to seeing it from her perspective.

When you grow up with or without something, it becomes the standard or the norm for you. By God’s grace, I had my parents provide for me to a level I was not seeking outside of home, she didn’t have same story and so had come from a place of ‘I need to seek the one who’s gonna provide for me’.

From our different backgrounds, we formed ideologies of life and so it was foreign to her for me to be saying ‘why can’t you go home and get it rather than seek it outside’.

This is just one of many examples where I’ve imposed my own standards from my background on other people and where I have been imposed on from the backgrounds of others as well. It is something we will all need to be wary of so that we are not blocking ourselves from ministering to people at the level in which they are at and not the level we think they should be at.

It is kinda similar to the post on Culture difference pt 1 where I spoke about how we carry expectations in our heads from the places we’re coming from and when we meet with people who don’t carry same expectations and ideas, clashes ensue.

It is a daily thing for all of us, being able to remove ourselves from our own shoes and stand in the place of another. This is in no way endorsing or compromising the values we stand in, but challenging ourselves to see it from a whole new perspective that could even equip us for future connections.

perspective

Uncomfortable at Home

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not enough

There’s been a consistency in the lessons I’ve been learning in this period of my life, but what I’ve seen is that it is not just for me, it is a mass-teaching by the Holy Spirit to all the saints in preparation for home.

Hey guys, lets get up-close and personal. I know there is a deep desire within each and everyone of us to make-it in this life, even before we get to heaven and while ‘making it’ does have a vary of meaning based on the individual, there exists some constants in everyone’s definition, some of which include happiness, peace, acceptance and true fulfilment in whatever we do.

So what happens is that, in a bid to achieve and accomplish these desires, in a bid to make our relevance known on this earth, we sometimes get distracted and forget that it is not as important as where we are headed and so even while we do exploits here for the kingdom and for One purpose, we cannot neglect the initial and most impactful call which is to do it all for His glory while also multiplying those in the kingdom.

I came across a post on Instagram and this is what it read “If you died and went to heaven today, chances are that you would not want to stay. Your life on earth has proven that God’s presence alone is not enough“.

Please do you have any idea what this means? Have you any clue the gravity that these words carry?

That we get to the habitat for which we were created but because we got used to the temporary habitat, we are unable to enjoy that for which we were made. That we get into the presence of the I Am, and yet still feel as though we’re not. Should this not scare us? should this not cause us to run to the feet of ABBA and just beg for a renewal of our hearts and mind? should this not push us to ask for an identity that is in tune with our real permanent habitat?

We’ve been so carried away with the ‘ideals’ of this world to the point where we forget that it is all so temporary and does not end here.

In the last few days I’ve seen God give various people the same message in a vary of ways. Reminding us not to get too comfortable to the point where we don’t enjoy the comfort of our real home.

How can we get to heaven and be strangers??? How can we get there and be learning the ropes of worship and prayer when all of this time has been devoted for it??? How can we get to heaven and be learning the songs of praise when we should have learnt it all here?

But no, we’ve been carried away by the ideals of the media in visuals and music. We’ve got so used to scientific knowledge to the point where we question revelation knowledge. We’ve accepted that there must be physical proof to validate a thing when God is the only proof received by faith that we really need.

God started my year with a deep hunger of a revival and He accompanied that hunger with a promise to fill us up. To prepare us and to equip us with all we need for home. Are we sleeping on His equipping? are we blinded by the world we don’t even see the revival? Have we been carried away by the ideals that we don’t even recognise the divine?

We cannot get home and be strangers. That would be tragic.

The Default settings

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I think the devil has a very cunning way of getting us to do the exact thing we said we would not, whats funny about it is how we sometimes convince ourselves of having thought through whatever it is and made the best loving and logical decision.

I remembered this morning how I use to prepare myself subconsciously with come-backs (a response to someone who has said something unpleasant to you). Like I would have the entire conversation play out in my head in advance and prepare myself for what to reply and at what point. So in my mind, I had done the right thing by ‘thinking before responding‘, I was not responding in haste but from thought, however that thought was merely preparing my attack, not even taking a defence, both of which was wrong when it came to dealing with people.

Similarly, I was speaking with someone yesterday about something I had posted on social media that she had contrary thoughts on and she started with “I wanted to come say it to you personally here before a stranger will insult me and I won’t take it”, so after she shared what she wanted, I responded starting with a quote of her ‘I won’t take it’, so she could buttress further and she went deeper saying that if someone came for her, she was definitely going back for them, so to avoid that, she privately messaged me.

Together with this and my remembrance of the past, I realised how ‘self’ is set to ‘attack’ by default. We aren’t programmed to love first when faced with anything unpleasant, we’re mostly programmed to defend and then attack, which only explains why we think through our comebacks before they happen and shield ourselves from the attack of people so we don’t also attack back.

For the beginning part of my christian journey, I deceived myself into thinking that the more I stay on my own, the less likely i’ll be to sin, I won’t need to receive or give offence, so it was like ‘Lone wolf speaking only when spoken to’. This meant I was limiting my social interactions and also my reach to people who I was suppose to be light and salt to. I didn’t realise then that the test of our faith is when we’re faced with the exact things that could cause us to fall and then we overcome. Anything that is not tested cannot be proven.

I cannot be claiming to be something or someone without being tested on it. Interactions with people always brings that test, it’s where we learn patience, kindness, gentleness but ultimately, unconditional love.

We have to reset our defaults to ‘love’, we have to submit to the Holy Spirit to the point where we really don’t mind being attacked, all were concerned about is giving love, even though it means us being trampled upon. We also need to know that we cannot run away from that which is meant to grow us. Christianity does not mean limiting social interaction, it is even more a call to go and distribute love anywhere and at any time.

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“(S)He has to be God-fearing”

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god-fearing

Who usually has this title as a response to “What do you seek in a spouse?”

Even if you don’t, you’ve probably heard someone else say it. We all want to be with someone who is sold out to God, who believes, activates and walks by scripture and who honours God above all else! That’s key in the believer’s dream of a spouse.

People ask me the “what do you seek in a spouse” question very often, I think almost more than I am asked “how are you?” (Okay, i’m definitely exaggerating) but honestly, the frequency is high, but usually, half way into answering them, i’m cut off and asked how God-fearing didn’t top the list and I always struggle to even tell them that ‘it was never on my list’.

A criteria is like a benchmark a person should meet right? But I realised that ‘being God-fearing’ as a Spirit-led woman makes my desire of a godly spouse a standard and not really a criteria to be met. Do you have any idea how many God-fearing men and women there are in the world? Requesting he/she to be God-fearing is almost like saying he/she must be male or female. Funny right?

I think sometimes people also say ‘He/she must be God-fearing” because they haven’t even weighed other characters, traits and attitudes that could be found in a person. Christian couples don’t only pray and do bible study in marriage, please don’t be misled believing this is all that is done. I always challenge people to step forward, for a believer, God-fearing is almost bare-minimum, what else are you looking out for? A particular gift or fruit of the Holy Spirit perhaps? a trait or character like being able to learn from a person? and not even only in spiritual matters. Other aspects as well.

Your spouse should be God-fearing by default as a believer and by God’s grace, my faith does not allow me believe it is open for debate, so let’s press in, let’s ask God more questions. Questions like ‘what we might be deficient of that requires complementing’, it helps us prayerfully seek these things in a spouse as led by the Spirit of God.

By all means desire a God-fearing spouse, but please don’t stop there! Because even in your personal love-relationship with Jesus, you people don’t only pray and do bible study. Jesus is the complete-package lover, there’s laughter in the relationship, there’s gentle correction, there’s patience is working you through getting the hang of something,  there’s teaching of what you don’t understand, there’s even dealing with pain together.

How do we now take this complete, all-in-one package and just say God-fearing?

What’s the difference???

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There’s actually an urgent need for us to grow and mature as Christians and get to the point where we become labourers in the vineyard too. But remember you cannot be a labourer without the knowledge of a labourer so you will first attain a specific level of knowledge before you will be sent into the vineyard to get more harvest.

A few days ago, I was reading the parables of the kingdom.
Shortly and concisely, in that parable, Jesus planted wheat and then went to sleep, while He slept, an enemy came and planted weed. When Jesus helpers woke up and went out to check the farm, they saw that there was both wheat and weed growing. They came back and asked Him.
“Didn’t you plant only wheat?, where has the weed come from?”
Jesus answered and said the enemy came and planted the weed.

So the very wise servants then asked, “should we go and uproot the weed??” I mean farmers do it a lot today don’t they!?! Uproot weed when they notice them.
But Jesus said this “no, lest while you gather the weed, you also uproot some wheat, so wait till the harvest”.

The only reason why Jesus would be careful to not send his servants out to the field to uproot the weed is because He is concerned they might uproot some wheat with the weed.
And I sat asking myself how this could be a possibility because skilled farmers know distinctly, the difference between weed and wheat, and I realised why there’s a possibility of that? It’s because there’s almost no distinction now.

From the image from this passage, especially in our time, we’re too joined and entangled with the weed the enemy has planted to the point where even if they want to uproot the weed, there’s every possibility that we’ll also be uprooted, so Jesus saying ‘no’ is for our safety and benefit, but I believe there wouldn’t have been a need for the safety measures if the servants are able to see clearly which are the weed and which are the wheat.

But everybody is claiming wheat and in as much as you truly might be wheat, you’re somewhere joined or entangled with weed which puts you and the rest of the body in so much danger, your way of life is so identical to the weed that there’s almost no difference, but you’re suppose to be wheat.

You see, the reason why we need to grow and mature as Christians is because we’re actually holding the whole body of Christ back. Remember? Different members but same body. When you come to Christ, despite the fact that your salvation is personal, were all working as members of the same body for a sole purpose.

Jesus said at harvest they’ll bundle the weed and throw them in the fire and gather the wheat and put it in His barn. Even at that harvest, I often pray that there’ll be a clear distinction to separate the weed from the wheat.

There has to be a difference in the way we live our lives, there’s no two ways about it, we can’t be identifying as wheat but being identified as weed! This transcends to every aspect of life. God is asking us to be wheat without shame, bold wheat that can be identified from miles away.

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The Human Butterflies

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I totally believe when people speak of the ‘transformation power’ that lies in the gospel. Until you have been changed, I don’t believe you have experienced the ‘hit’ of the gospel because that’s the purpose of knowledge, to bring change, and the purpose of the gospel is positive change, not just change. The kind where you’re stripped of self and daily  being moulded to resemble Christ who is the ‘First begotten’ and not ‘Only begotten’ anymore by what He did on the cross.

It is always a working of inside-out, never outside-in because the gospel aims for the core of us and not just the do’s and don’t’s. It is more concerned about the root than the fruits and that explains why I usually have a little problem with stewards of the word who attack the fruits and not the root.

I also usually say to people often willing to stop bad habits never to attempt doing it by themselves because it will not work. Will-power won’t betray itself. But the Spirit of God remains supreme to will-power, so rather than attempting doing it by yourself, hand that will to the Spirit of God within you and watch Him bring the never-going-back change that only He can produce. He works step by step, there’s no magic about it because the transformation He allows us experience prepares us to also administer to other people who go through the same issues.

Paul put it like this ;

He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. – 2 Corinthians 1:4

So if you’re struggling with stopping any habit or trait in your life that you have identified as limiting and toxic, don’t just wake up and say ‘Today, I will not do this and this’, ask the Holy spirit to empower you against whatever it is because by Jesus death on the cross, we are no longer slaves to sin!

I daily see the Holy Spirit breaking ‘self’ in my life and honestly, it remains my biggest testimony because everything that limits and causes me to stumble is in self, so my daily prayer is ‘God please save me from myself‘. I can’t begin to tell you what the answers to this prayer has done for me.

Yesterday again I was reminded, coming back from church, normally i’d get home and get preparing for the coming week and all, but the Holy Spirit just dropped names in my heart, and when I finally settled down to understanding these names, I realised it was the people who would usually be in church that weren’t, so the instruction was simple ‘message them and check they’re okay’. Despite stalling, I finally got to doing it and as I did it, God took me to realising that I could only do this by His power, because if left to me, I won’t be too bothered about who turned up and didn’t turn up to church, so He was breaking self-centeredness in self and honestly, it felt sooo good!

Fast forward to early this morning, I got a notification of a follow on my Instagram and opened it up to see who it was and after a few scrolls over the person’s page, I realised I didn’t appreciate their use of profanity in captions as well as their approach to loads of things which was evident in the captions and I mentally decided I couldn’t follow this person back cause I didn’t want to be exposed to that on my timeline.

Moments later, I felt a nudge to go follow her back and I heard in my Spirit that ‘Since you’re both following each other, she sees your captions, you see hers, so we can hope that she’s convicted by the slightest by the words that you could have in yours and you’re conscious not to allow her words or mannerism rub off on you’, and it made perfect sense to me, so I followed her back.

All these seeming small and mundane things that I see the Holy Spirit speaking to me about shows me the changes He’s making in me. It is never really the massive things as we usually think, it always starts from the small.

Let’s be intentional about this submission to change shall we? Grace is sufficient!

Have a beautiful, productive and blessed week! You’re graced in every way for it.

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