HOPE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY

As I prayed for my nation, Nigeria, on that regular morning, I found myself beginning to thank God for hope in another Country, for that Home where there are no more tears or dying. It was surprising sort of. I was supposed to be praying for God’s mercy to prevail in Nigeria, for God to deliver us from evil, and there I was praising God for my future Country.

Taking some time to think about it, I have come to accept that the situation is very bad – almost beyond hope. Please, don’t get me wrong, I still have hope that Nigeria will be better someday. But I have come to learn that we can’t have the life we long for here on this earth. My husband and I have talked a lot about relocating to somewhere better. My colleagues and I have those conversations too. However, if we think carefully about it, we will see that there is actually nowhere here on earth, no country that is without troubles. For example, the recent, unfortunately too regular cases of mass shootings / killings in the United States gets me worried for my family and friends over there. There is also lots of news of killer floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc. around the world every year – in countries that are tagged good and those that are just getting by. There are wars here and there. And it’s like the more we hope and pray, the farther we are from what we desire.

So I understand why God led me to praise Him that day for the place He has prepared for us over there. God knew that this present world would get to this deteriorated state; that it is a place where the fullness of who God is cannot be maximally expressed. He knew that sin messed up things so badly and as Paul puts it Romans 8:21-22, even “all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” and that “with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.”

GOD knew all this. So because He knew that that we cannot completely be who He created us to be here on this earth, He made plans to create a new earth. This one will pass away. And all things will be completely under God’s control, exactly as He wants things to be. Jesus Himself will be the King of that new Country. So we don’t need to believe the lies of politicians anymore. Believers will be rulers of cities in that Country, so we can rest assured knowing that godly people are the ones ruling. There will be no more dying, no more wars, no more tears. There won’t even be the need for the sun or the moon; God Himself will be our light. It is indeed a glorious city. It’s certainly a place to look forward to. And that’s why God led me to praise Him.

So, if you’re a believer and like me, you are sick and tired of what’s going on around you. You want to run away and you’re not sure where to; I have good news for you. This too shall pass. It may take a while. But it will. There is Home in a better place. There is Hope of a better life – lived exactly as God designed it. However, while we wait, we can keep on living for Christ here – to live is Christ. You can relocate to any country on this earth (I probably will). But always live knowing that wherever you are is not your final destination. Your true Home is that future Country.

If you’re not a believer, unfortunately, this life is the best you can get. It will get worse for you – because there is also a place for you. But it is a place without God and without love. And a place without God’s love is full of darkness, pain, horror, sorrow, and everything evil and undesirable you can think about. The good news for you is that Christ is still your hope. He died to deliver you from the power of darkness, and if you’d only come to Him, surrender your all to Him, believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is LORD, you shall be saved. Yes! it’s as simple as that. There is hope of a better life ONLY in Jesus.

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done.

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

REVELATION 21:1-8

HE CARES FOR YOU

Phew!!! I’ve missed my blog.

2017 was a very very eventful year for me and my family. Thankfully, there were a whole lot more good news than bad ones. Top on the list is the addition to our little family; our beautiful daughter, Grace Oluwalayotemi (Oh-lu-wah-lah-yaw-tay-me; meaning God is my joy).

 

 

Being a mother has taught me so much about God’s love and care for us, His children. Several times, I catch myself wondering that if I, a human, can carry so much love in my heart for another human; I wonder how much love God carries in His heart for me.

Something remarkable happened some days ago. On December 23^rd, we had our usual Evangelism/Church Planting outreach (I once mentioned it here). My local church was involved in planting a new church around the area. We had had a morning session that Saturday and I returned to the church with my daughter for the evening session. Being an open, uncompleted building, I realized that it was getting cold that Harmattan evening. Because it had been hot all day long, I had forgotten to carry some warm clothing along for Grace. Even the covering cloth I had was just a light flannel. The time was only about quarter past six and naturally, I expected it to get colder. I checked her diaper bag for an extra onesie and wore it over what she had on. I folded the flannel into a triangle wrapped it around her shoulders and put her on my lap for skin-to-skin warmth. I wasn’t satisfied. I put her back in her car seat which I had in front of me, and pleaded with a sister in church to help me look after her while I rushed home to get her sweater and a thicker blanket. I got on the road, hoping to get back to my daughter in 15 minutes tops. That didn’t happen. Fifteen minutes turned out to be almost an hour.

 

 

Wait… before I continue, I have to add this. While pulling out of the parking space that I had managed to get when I arrived earlier, I prayed a simple prayer, “God please keep this parking space for me.”

Anyway, I got onto the major road leading to my house and it was jammed in traffic. If you live in Nigeria, you’d know that most traffic situations can seem hopeless. This was one of those. It wasn’t clear what was causing the traffic, but there was tight traffic. To make matters worse, the house key was with my husband, who was with kids in teenage camp. I called him to meet me up, so he was coming from the opposite direction – jammed in traffic as well. To cut the long story short, I thought it wise to park my car and walk up to my husband to get the house key, then walk home and then walk back to my car. After about forty minutes of power-walking, I finally made it back to my car with my baby’s warm clothes, turned around and went back to the venue of the church planting service. I felt spent.

 

 

When I got there, the parking space was still there waiting for me, exactly as I’d left it. I was so grateful. As I thanked God, happy for the parking space, he spoke to me. He said, “See how much trouble you went through to get your daughter warm clothes that she may not even need. Does it not show that I care for you even more? That I care for all my children even more?”

I considered it and realized that God actually loves us and cares for us very very much. And it’s not about what we’ve done or not done. It’s not about who we are. It’s completely about who He is. He is Love. He can’t function any other way. Even when things aren’t going as good as we’d like, we can trust that he’s working things out for us. If my daughter were a little older, she would have thought that mommy abandoned her when she was cold and in need of warmth. And it was not so at all.

 

 

It’s the same with God. When we are in need; when we are desperate, sometimes He may not tell us anything, but we can trust that He’s working things out for our good. He promised to care for us until our hair was gray and white (Isaiah 46:4). I know He didn’t lie about that.

2018 is here. This is another year with countless uncertainties. Although, there will be challenges, discouraging situations, and times when you’d want to give up, this is another year when you can completely put your trust in Him, remembering that He works for your good, even through unpleasant circumstances (Romans 8:28).

 

 

In 2018, you may doubt a lot of things, and that’s okay. But never doubt God’s love. Never doubt that He cares for you. Knowledge of this will see you through and keep you going as you fulfill His purposes this year.

Happy New Year! It’ll be a glorious one in Christ.

 

 

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***The end of my story: I got to Grace 10 minutes to the close of service, and she was sweating. It was a complete waste of my time. But put in the same situation, I’d do it again for her.

MAKING TREMENDOUS POWER AVAILABLE

Hi guys, first I should apologize for my rarity on this blog. My schedule has gotten a whole lot tighter than it used to be. It has been a challenge and I’ve had to reorganize things. I’m working to ensure that I don’t slack too badly on here. I sincerely apologize.
 

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The Senior Pastor of my church once said, “There is no prayer God does not answer. The only reason it seems God does not answer sometimes is because we get tired of praying.”

For so long, I wondered what He meant by that, because I felt I prayed long and hard for the things I desired. I felt. However, thankfully to God, I came across some scriptures about praying / asking God for things that made me begin to agree with Him.

Mark 11:23-24 – “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”

John 14:13-14 – “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”

1^st John 5:14-15 – “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

Well, so I knew that if this is God’s word then it is not a lie. So yeah, I agreed with our Senior Pastor, but I still did not understand it.

God wasn’t finished with me. He opened my eyes through some preaching and personal study/meditation to His truth in James 5:16_b; and even better to the Amplified Classic translation of the Bible.

James 5:16_b (AMPC) – “The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].”

While meditating on this portion of James 5, I began to analyze it and break it down in bits. And the little revelation (“little” because I know God’s got more for me from here) I got on it has helped improve my attitude towards prayers.

So what is it about this kind of prayer that I love so much and makes me confident that God answers prayers?

Let’s break it down.

1.       It is earnest: It is serious, intense and deep. AMPC further breaks down “earnest” into “heartfelt” and “continued”.

It is heartfelt. You see, this isn’t the kind of prayer you make that has no basis or meaning to you. It must mean something deep for it to be described as heartfelt. It must be genuine, sincere. It is not one that is made amiss or with ulterior motives or with shallow mindedness.  It must mean something to you. Little wonder why sometimes when prayer points are called out in churches or other Christian gatherings, one does not see the effect. It’s simply because many people just attend prayer services as part of their routine activities. It really means nothing to them; even when they are asked to pray for themselves. The effectual fervent prayer is a heartfelt one. The one making the prayer takes it very personal and passionately.

It is also a continued one. When the Bible says “pray without ceasing”, it means pray without ceasing. When it says “ask until your joy is full,” it means exactly that. And when it says “continued”, it means continue, don’t stop. A prayer that yields result isn’t one that is made once and forgotten about. Don’t mind those people who tell you that the time you spend praying doesn’t matter. Prayer is about quality and quantity. They both matter. I agree with my Senior Pastor and I understand him now. Indeed, the reason why lots of us do not receive answers to prayers is because we stopped praying. We didn’t “pray through” as Dad Hagin puts it. And because we didn’t, the power needed to deliver the fruit of our prayers was not made available. So we go around saying God didn’t answer our prayers. He did. We just didn’t receive it. 

2.       It is “prayer” not “complaint”: Prayer, in its simplest definition, is having a conversation with God. In this conversation, we make clear, unambiguous statements and we receive clear, unambiguous responses from God. Many times, our prayers do not yield fruit because we moan and complain rather than ask. You rehearse your situation to God and remind Him of how unfair it is and how you’re suffering and why it is not your place to suffer, etc. whereas, God has asked us severally in His word to “ask”. Talk to Him. Make a conversation. Don’t complain. Ironically, our complaints to God may indeed be heartfelt and very continuous, but because we complain rather than pray, we don’t receive. Mark 11:23-24 gives us a very good example about a clear straightforward request – “whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea”. In prayers, state exactly what you want to happen. Don’t rehearse the entire sad situation to God; He knows about them well better than you do. Be clear with your request. Pray. Don’t complain. 

3.      It is offered by a righteous man: Now this is where we may want to shoot ourselves in the leg, because we think of our inadequacies. But according to God, a righteous man is anyone who has accepted Christ.

2^nd  Corinthians 5:21 – “For he hath made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”

Jesus took our place and justified us before Father. He took our sin and gave us His righteousness. Therefore, before God every believer is righteous, that is, in right standing with God.  So it means that as long as we are all Born again, any prayer we offer to God is a prayer of a righteous man (and the Holy Spirit through John tells us in 1^st John 5:14-15 that we have an unwavering confidence in God that when we pray, He hears us and because He hears us, we will receive what we have requested of Him). It’s important to note that when we set ourselves to pray, Satan will attempt to remind us of our shortcomings in order to discourage us from praying. Don’t give in to him. It matters not what the devil says about you. What matters is how God sees you. And praise His name, He sees you as righteous – one who can approach Him boldly (Hebrews 4:16).  

[Let me quickly point out here that our justification through Christ doesn’t give us license to sin, rather it takes the sin license away from us. So if you’re living continually in sin and enjoying it and you call yourself a believer – righteous and heaven-bound, I honestly really do not understand your own kind of salvation. Be saved!] 

4.      It makes tremendous power available: There is no distance in the spirit realm. As we pray, things are being effected as they need to be; especially when we pray in tongues. One thing we must know is that God has done all He needs to do concerning a looooooot of things. What brings them to manifestation is the prayer of faith. When we refuse to pray, we dull God’s ability to act on our behalf and we allow the powers of darkness take over our situation. An earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of the righteous man makes tremendous power available. This tremendous power healed that woman with the issue of blood, raised Lazarus from the dead, won the heart of Saul-turned-Paul over to Jesus, and ULTIMATELY, raised Jesus from the dead. It is the resurrection power (Romans 8:11; Philippians 3:10). It is the power that will raise us again on the last day. And according to Ephesians 3:20, it is already at work in us. Prayer only makes it available. So why won’t you pray?

5.      This tremendous power is dynamic in its working: That is, it is active, it is vigorous, it is forceful, it is effective and it is energetic. There is no telling where this power can go – what direction it can run in. No matter how difficult or far-fetched we may think our requests are, this tremendous, dynamic power of God is more than capable enough to turn every situation around. I mean, if it can raise Jesus from the dead, it can do anything. Something we should understand about Jesus’ resurrection is that it was different from every other resurrection before then; in that Jesus wasn’t just raised from the physical dead, but more importantly from the spiritual dead (having taken the sin of the whole world upon Himself); hence Colossians 1:18 declares Him “Firstborn from the dead”. Romans 8:29 says He is the “Firstborn among many brethren”. It is a marvelous great power, and it is only wise that believers do not slack in putting it to work. 

 

The effectual (earnest, heartfelt) fervent (continued) prayer of the righteous man availeth much (makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working). – James 5:16b (KJV/AMPC)

IN HIS LOVE – No Rules, No Limits!

Everyday of our lives, God wants to have a very personal relationship with us – very personal. You know the way you relate with your sisters who are your besties (like how Komi, Fiyin and I relate)? God wants a 100 times more personal, more intimate relationship than that with us. It may seem strange because we have often dealt with God as that Big Guy up there that we must not offend if we don’t want to have his big stick whacking our heads. That’s what we have been taught, that’s how we have related with God all our lives.

Yes! We call Him Father. We sing His beautiful songs; get in the motions; preach of His love, tell people that He wants a personal relationship with us; many times, even think that we have a personal relationship with Him. But truly looking at it, we realize that many of us still see God as a manager – a manager of life, of the good book, of the evil book, of accidents and safety, of the roads, of those who go to heaven and those destined to hell. Seeing Him as a manager, we become managers of God ourselves. We deal with Him too “softly” so He doesn’t hurt (or get angry) – like an egg, we treat Him like He is so vulnerable. So we ask Him for the big things only, pray mechanized prayers (using ten or so rules of highly effective prayers), study the Bible because we’re told that God expects us to. We mechanically deal with a God who is so versatile, mysterious, and oftentimes unpredictable in His working. This is a thousand miles from how God intends our relationship with Him should be. God desires a love relationship – one that isn’t boxed by rules.

When I first got married (only 3 months ago), I wanted to begin to act by the “rules”.  You know how we constantly hear of roles of the man and the wife, what is expected of the man, what is expected of the woman, etc. I wanted to be the “good wife”, flawlessly playing my duties right. Thankfully, my husband kept ringing it in my head with love that our own marriage should not be defined by rules. I gradually relaxed and praise God, I enjoy a love marriage – not a “rules” marriage. I have come to realize that it is the love we share that makes us do the things we do for each other, not out of obligation, but out of love. God expects even better.

A love relationship with God is not controlled by rules. No! It is intimate, dynamic, full of life, and liberating. That’s how God wants us to be with Him this year and every day of our lives.

First Corinthians Two is one of the over a thousand passages I really love in the Bible. It talks about the Spirit of God knowing perfectly the mind of God just like the spirit of man knows the things of man. But because we have the Spirit of God in us, we can also know the things of God. In fact, verse sixteen tells us that we have the mind of Christ. That thrills me! 

However, I’ve thought about this, “If this is indeed true for every believer, why do we still struggle to know God’s will concerning situations of life? Why do we feel a need to consult several people before we make decisions on critical issues? And having done that, why do we still make grave mistakes for making the wrong choices?” I mean if I have the mind of Christ, I should be undoubtedly sure about what is right and best all the time. So why do I often struggle? I believe this has a loooot to do with the relationship we share with God. A love relationship is what makes spouses of many years to begin to look alike, talk alike and complete each other’s sentences. The more we treat God like a manager and manage Him alike, the farther from Him we get.

The kind of relationship God wants from us is that where because we are in constant commune with Him, we know the exact route to take to avoid traffic or dangers while driving, the exact clothes to put on that will endear interviewers to us when we go job seeking, the exact words to say that will bring comfort to a troubled heart. Since we have the mind of Christ, it means that we know His will as regards any and every decision we have to make. You won’t need to go around asking other people’s opinions; you won’t need to ask for a sign or seek confirmation from anywhere. You just know what to do because He tells it to you.

Imagine how amazing our Christian walk will be if we indeed related with God in love and intimacy – like He desires. Of course, we can never attain this without constant fellowship with Him in worship, prayers, Word study, and testifying of Him. So yeah, the rules are good, but our relationship with Him should not be controlled by them. It should be controlled by love.

I look forward to a new level of intimacy with the LORD this year 2017. How about you?

Happy New Year 2017

Servants Don't Deserve Special Thanks

Several years ago, I came across some of Jesus’ words in Luke 17:7-10. The passage talked about how servants were required to do their duty and not expect any thanks… something like that…

“⁷ If your servant comes in from plowing or from taking care of the sheep, would you say, “Welcome! Come on in and have something to eat”?
⁸ No, you wouldn’t say that. You would say, “Fix me something to eat. Get ready to serve me, so I can have my meal. Then later on you can eat and drink.”
⁹ Servants don’t deserve special thanks for doing what they are supposed to do.
¹⁰ And that’s how it should be with you. When you’ve done all you should, then say, “We are merely servants, and we have simply done our duty.” (CEV)

This was a surprise to me because it was different from the “pay-back” messages I was used to hearing. Things like, “Pay attention to God’s matters and things of the Kingdom, so that He can pay attention to yours.” Or “Give a financial seed of promotion or fruitfulness or whatever, so that God can give back to you.” Or “You should be involved in sanctuary cleaning, so that God can clean up every mess in your life.”

While it is true that God rewards great service (Galatians 6:9), it is not right to serve God only because you want to reap from Him. That is not love. That is selfishness. Many of us believers are actually selfish. We do things for the Kingdom from a heart of “getting-back”. Despite knowing that God gave us His Son without reserve and has promised to give us all things freely (Romans 8:32), we are not ready to give Him or His anything for free. “After all, He’s a wealthy God and has all things to give,” we say.

Isn’t it surprising to learn that Jesus (God Himself) does not agree with our kind of thinking? You don’t praise a servant for doing the job he was employed to do. Why should we be patted on our backs for every single act of kindness we extend to a fellow human being? Isn’t that our duty? Aren’t we supposed to love others freely just as God has loved us? Aren’t we supposed to serve God without expecting anything?

A few years back, I was given an award in an organization I belong to. The award was for “paying all my dues on time and supporting the vision.” I was so excited about the award only because it came with a gift that I really liked. Days later however, I reflected and realized that I did not deserve the award. Nobody did. As a member of the organization, I was required to pay my dues and support the vision. I had not done anything extraordinary. I had not done anything special. I’m guessing the leadership probably thought it was important to give that award to encourage payment of dues. But the fact that others did not do what they were expected to do doesn’t make it special that I did.

Let’s think about it, are we praised for delivering our daily duties at work every day? I don’t think so. So why do we expect to be commended for every act of love and service we give on behalf of our Heavenly Father.

Dearly beloved, no matter how hard you work for God’s kingdom, don’t do it out of a heart of selfishness. Do not do it because you hope to receive a reward. God is a righteous God; you will never miss your reward (Hebrews 6:10). However, remember that in God’s vineyard, you are a servant doing the Master’s will. Like Jesus said in Luke 17:9, servants don’t deserve special thanks for doing what they are supposed to do.

Even more, we are actually God’s children, not merely servants. If you had a child that asked you to pay him for being a child to you, how would you feel? Imagine that you did some laundry and had your clothes out on the clothesline, and you had a child who saw the clouds gather and then took initiative to bring your clothes in. Imagine that you got back home at night and he handed you a bill because he brought your clothes in, how would you feel? I’m sure not great.

So think about it… when you serve selfishly, have you behaved like a true child to your Heavenly Father? Why do you want to be specially encouraged before you go out and evangelize Christ to sinners? Why is it so important to you to be reminded that when you sow bountifully you reap bountifully before you can give financially to the church building project or the feed-the-hungry cause going on in your church? Why can’t you serve from a heart of love, selflessness and gratitude?

In our daily Christian walk, we should always remember that servants and children do not deserve special thanks for doing what they are supposed to do. In fact, no one does. When you’ve done all you should, then say, “We are merely servants, and we have simply done our duty.” (Luke 17:10_b)

TODAY I SAY I DO

I started this year 2016 deeply in prayers. I remember sharing with you that I learned some great truths about prayer from Pastor Chris Onayinka which really did transform my prayer life. I still pray and I still thank God that I stumbled on those audio messages (click here for that article). It was in one of my prayer times that the LORD placed it in my heart to choose September as the month in which I’d get married. Yes, September 2016! At first, making that prayer was easy, and I saw it as a good thing from the LORD (I still do). However, later, thinking about it and the impossibility of it made it a little bit more difficult to pray. But I chose to hold on to prayers. My head doubted a lot; but as Dad Hagin advised, I ensured my heart didn’t doubt. I remember my best friend, Simi, calling me on my birthday and when I told her what I’d been praying about, she asked, “Oh is there somebody yet?” I said, “No, but that’s what is going to happen.” She said, “I admire your faith.”

I didn’t admire my faith, because it seemed impossible. Little did I know that I’d already met my husband and God had already placed it in his heart so that He could accomplish what He had purposed in our lives. We’re not getting wedded in September exactly (’cos today is October 1^st), but we fulfilled our traditional marital demands yesterday, September 30^th. 

It has been a … I-don’t-know-how-to-describe-it heck of a journey for Deji and I. I read somewhere that the fact that something is the will of God doesn’t mean it is going to be easy and doesn’t mean there will never be challenges. Indeed, readjusting yourself to fit God’s plan isn’t necessarily a pleasant transition. We both learned that truth early in our relationship and it has helped us get to where we are today – each day we are more than grateful to God for His faithfulness. We would never have it any other way.

And that’s why today I say ‘I do’…

Today I say ‘I do’ confirming that what He promises, He also will perform (Romans 4:21).

Today I say ‘I do’ to the will of God concerning marriage; trusting that He who has begun a good work is able also to complete it. (Philippians 1:6).

Today I say ‘I do’ proving true that no one was made to live for him/herself. Now, I have a daily reminder that I need not look out for my own things alone, but also on the things of others (Philippians 2:4).

Today I say ‘I do’ to the things I already know and the ones I don’t even know. (Joshua 1:9).

Today I say ‘I do’ to God’s choice for me. I get to become one with him who is whole and complete in Christ. (Ephesians 5:31; Colossians 2:10)

Today I say ‘I do’ to the love of my life, my prince charming; knowing that the storms will rage sometimes and the fires will burn, but God will never fail. (Isaiah 43:2; Hebrews 13:5).

So, I say ‘I do’ till death do us part.