There's More... So Much More!

Hi Folks. Happy New Year… Welcome to 2016. I’m trusting God that this will be a great year for all of us in Jesus’ name. Last year, on January 1^st, I challenged y’all to take God’s Word as it is and live in His promises. I know some of us who took that challenge seriously and are happy we did. Praise God for that.

For about three weeks now, I’ve been praying, asking God what He wanted to share with us here on Temi’s Race for the New Year. Just a few days ago, I sensed that He'd like me to share what He's been dealing with me on.

Recently, as I studied my Bible, I had a sort of déjà vu kinda moment. I didn’t enjoy my Bible study that day like I should have. I realized there was hardly any connect between my spirit and God’s; and honestly to myself I observed it had been going on for days. I was learning alright, but the thrill wasn’t there and it sucked. (For someone who enjoys studying her Bible more than anything else, that was a big deal). I’d been there before. That was some years ago. That time my drum was a lot smaller and so was the content, but proportionally, it wasn’t much different from what I realized that it is now. Yeah, now I have a bigger drum and more content of God, but there’s still too much space for more in my bigger drum. The knowledge I have about Christ isn’t enough. Now, I want Christ Himself. I want closeness. I want a more intimate relationship. Yes, I have Him. But what I have is not enough anymore. I am thirsty; I need my thirst to be quenched. But after it is quenched, I want to thirst again. I am hungry; I want to be filled. But once I’m filled, I want to be hungry again. I need more of God. Not a one time or seasonal dish anymore. I want Him daily; every moment of every day – all of the time. This is what I found myself telling God over and over again during my church’s one week global congress this past December. I just really couldn’t pray for anything else sufficiently. I just want more of HIM. 

And from this year on, He wants you to desire more of Him too – desperately, like everything depends on it, because it does.

Enough of doing things to please yourself. Enough of running after ambition for your own benefit. Oh, brothers, enough of getting drowned in those success, prosperity and self-improving sermons. Enough of flipping over Matthew 6:33. Enough of using Christ only for your personal gain; quoting and holding on to scriptures in “faith” for the sole purpose of enriching yourself and having having having. Enough! Enough, please. Let’s focus on Him. There’s sooo much in Him. So so much. Focus on Him this year and beyond. Enough of all that pleases you. You were made for His pleasure (Revelation 4:11; Isaiah 3:7); please, give Him pleasure. 

See folks, it may surprise you to learn that God does NOT have a purpose for YOUR life. No, He doesn’t. God has a purpose. God has a plan. It DOES include you; but it is NOT about you. The fact that it includes you is what makes Jeremiah 29:11 for you; but there is no part of His purpose or plan that is about you. No. there isn’t. It is not, it cannot – never has, never will be – about you. So, enough of making it about you. It is His desire that every believer would understand this truth and begin to live it out. You see, at every crucial/changing point in your life, God expects you to take a step back, and rather than ask, “What is God’s plan for me here, or at this point?” He wants you to ask, “What is God doing in this place, at this point? What is His purpose? And how can I fit myself into His plan?” Whatever the answers to these latter questions are become your purpose. That is, His will becomes your will. His desires become your desires and His plans, your plans. It is always about Him.

This simply means that your good paying job, your education, your nice house/car, your business, your money in the bank aren’t part of His plan for your life. No. Instead, they are some of the tools you will need to achieve His purpose. Your spouse, your children aren’t His purpose for your life. No. Your union with your spouse and your children is a tool you’d use in fulfilling your own bit of His purpose. There is no “your” ministry. There is HIS ministry that you are meant to work in. 

Brothers and sisters, stop paying too much attention on the tools; focus on the task and more on the One who assigned you the task. A mechanic who keeps admiring His solid and beautiful new tools will never get the job done. Focus on His task. Give Him pleasure. When you understand that nothing is about you, you won’t be too downcast when things don’t seem to be going favorably. If you’re in the center of His will, you’ll know that however things go, as long as they work together to get His job done, you’re good. Unlike the fair weather believer, you’ll be able to say, “When things look up, LORD, it’s all about you; and when things look south, it’s still all about you, GOD.” (But don’t be afraid. No one works for Him without getting rewarded). 

Folks, it’s not enough to know about God. This is especially to my fellow New Creation Realities’ friends, Bible teachers, and Pastors. I know we love to seek His word, hold on “Rhemas” and share them. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, that’s awesome and highly encouraged. But let’s not only learn about Christ, let us learn Christ. Let’s know Him (Ephesians 4:20; Philippians 3:10). Anybody can know about anybody. But not anybody can know anybody. There must be relationship. There must be fellowship. There must be intimacy. I know too many pastors/ministers who search scriptures only because they have to preach a sermon. This should not be so. No. This is why hungry sinners come to church and go back hungry. A lot of “active” believers don’t even know their Shepherd. They don’t know His voice. They don’t hear. They don’t listen. They don’t follow. This is why winds of doctrines come and attempt to sway them about. Jesus said in John 10:28-29 that there are some people who can NEVER be snatched from His hands. He described them in verses 3-5, 27. They are His sheep. Are you His sheep? Do you know His voice? Or you’ve only heard that He’s a gentle talker? Do you know Him? Or you only know about Him? Do you listen to Him? Or you only listen to those who listen to Him? Do you follow Him? Or you only follow man and what men say? If you don’t even know to whom you belong, how do you expect sinners to come to Him? Paul said, I know whom I have believed (1^st Timothy 1:12). This means, it is one thing to believe Him, it’s another to know Him. God is calling out to us at this time, folks. He’s inviting us to come know Him like we never have before. How will you RSVP His invite? Positively or negatively? 

Brother and sisters, I’m writing with so much passion. There is more of Him. He wants that quiet moment with you – often, not seasonally. He wants to tell you secrets. He wants to whisper in your ears. He was to listen to you too (a back-and-forth communication with Him). He wants you to find solace in His arms. He wants to love you. He said this in Zephaniah 3:17 (I love the NLT version). Don’t get carried away with the busyness of life. This world will pass away. It’s only a matter of time. Don’t get carried away by the beauty and sturdiness of the tools He has given you. Partner with Him who has given you the tools and together with Him, get the job done. Stop running after the comfortable things of life. I know they are nice. But I’d rather you run after Him who is called Comforter. In the words of Tommy Tenney, be a God Chaser. There’s so much more of Him that you can have, and like me, I know there’s a lot lot lot of space in your drum for more. You only need ask. He’s more than willing to give you more of Himself in ways that can’t be explained with words.

I encourage you brethren in Christ, from this year on, have Him and seek to have more of Him – every moment of every day. It’s so much worth more than anything else. 

 

Happy New Year once again. I long to hear from you as you experience intimacy on a fresher level with HIM this year. God bless you.

And please, share this post with other believers. Perhaps, this is a timely message for them too.

WHAT GOD EXPECTS OF US AT CHRISTMAS

Hey guys, Kunle came around from Australia to visit and we had a wonderful time. Before we parted, I gave him a notepad and a pen to write down a Christmas message for y’all, our readers on Temi’s Race and he did. So this piece is from Kunle & I. By the way, it has been a great year writing for this blog this year and I’m very grateful to you for taking out time to read, make comments, share and even send personal encouraging messages. I appreciate you all. 

So, this Christmas, I chose to run away from the hustle and bustle of Port Harcourt (the city where I live and work) to a very serene environment where my parents live. There’s not a lot of noise about Christmas here, but I must say I’ve had a really great time resting, reading, eating, and meeting a few very nice people, some of whom I joined for prison evangelism last Friday. 

The requirements to go along for the female prison visit were simple: bring along some [specified] gifts for the inmates, come with a valid identity card, and be at the bus stop for 7:30AM wearing a Christmas hat. I was fine with all the requirements except for the “wear a Christmas hat” part. Even though I love Christmas very much, I hate Christmas costumes [-apologies to all the Christmas costume lovers; they are cute, but not just for me]. I struggled so much with that part that I even thought that N600 (less than $3) for two Christmas hats (one for my sister) was too much. Crazy, I know.  Hehe… Despite all my silent tantrums, I succumbed and got the Christmas hat and I wore it to the prison visit the following day. After our leader had shared the message of Christ’s love and hope to the inmates and we were about to take our leave, a few of the inmates approached us to request that we give them our Christmas hats. Of all the things we took along with us to them, the only thing that got them really excited was the Christmas hats. Of course, I was too happy to let mine go. Not particularly because I hated it, but because it made someone smile. I still remember the cheer on her face when she looked at me a short distance away and mouthed, “Thank You”.

Christmas for so many around the world is a season for celebration. Mothers are excited about their turkeys; kids, snowman; and some others, lights and fireworks. I love all these things myself. But Christmas has only one reason and that is JESUS. And for Him, since His mission was to save man, the best way He’d like us to celebrate Christmas is by telling people about Him, giving to the poor, visiting the imprisoned, and showing kindness to the homeless and love to the orphans. 

This Christmas, we (Kunle & I) encourage you to take a step out of yourself and those lovely gifts you got and just share some love. Share your food with a homeless person, give a Christmas hat to someone you know may not be able to afford one, sow a Bible or devotional into the lives of the lost, tell people about Jesus. He’s the reason for this season and without Him, everything you do at this time really means nothing.

Thankfully, I’ve had another opportunity to sow into another prison visit this Christmas and also participate in  a neighborhood outreach. I hope y’all can find a way to reach out with Jesus’ love too.

DO HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Hey… I’m gonna leave you here with the Jackson 5’s rendition of “Give Love on Christmas Day”. Enjoy it!

THE MUSICIAN, HIS MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, HIS MUSIC

I got my first electric keyboard when I was eight years old. I think I was in Primary 3 or 4 at that time. What earned me the keyboard was simple. We had a music class in school where we had to learn to play the recorder (the plastic toy-like one). I turned out to be pretty impressive for a girl my age at playing the recorder and dad noticed. So he promised to get me a way better instrument – a real saxophone. I got a keyboard instead. Many years later, from conversations with dad, I now suspect that he got the keyboard because he always wished he knew how to play the instrument, and since he couldn’t, he hoped his children would be able to. Yeah, that’s not selfish at all. *wink*.

Okay, at this point, I should clarify that dad didn’t buy that keyboard specifically for me. He got it for all of us kids, but I happened to be the only one interested in it, so I took control of it and luckily, my siblings didn’t object. 

Twenty-One years later and a newer, bigger electric keyboard (standing right beside where I write now), I still cannot play the keyboard to save my life.

While I agree that my musical intelligence is highly pathetic, I must say that I know a few things about instruments. I know that:

1. An instrument cannot play itself. It requires the input of a musician – skilled or amateur (like me) to produce sound from it.
2.  The quality of music produced from an instrument is highly dependent on the skills of the musician who plays it. 
3. If an instrument refuses to yield to the musician – if the keys of the piano are too stiff; if the pedals of the drum-set wouldn’t move; if the strings of the guitar or violin are broken – the instrument cannot be played; at least, not to its optimum performance. A good musician will try to get his instrument fixed; however, if the instrument doesn’t bulge after his efforts, he’ll get a replacement.

These things I know for sure… And you know, it kind of explains Romans 6:13.

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. – Romans 6:13

For a long time, I thought I had to bring the music out of my life. I thought it was my job to do the work that needs to be done to get it right with God. I thought for many years that Jesus had done the work on Calvary and it was my turn to get it right for myself – “put in the hard work, get it right Temi or get out of God’s Big Book of Life.” But then I read Galatians 3:1-3. In this passage, Paul expressed anger at the Christians in Galatia for trying to work out their salvation by themselves without the Holy Spirit who convicted them of sin and caused them to be saved. Paul, in fact, told them it was foolish to even think like that. 

Here’s part of what he told them:

 Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. – Galatians 3:2-3 (The Message)

Hmmm… So it meant I was doing it wrong. 

A while later, I found out, through study of my Bible, that that portion of the Bible where we are asked to work out our salvation with fear and trembling has a follow-up verse. No one told me about verse 13. They always stopped at 12. So who could blame me for trying – working my salvation out – with literal fear and obvious trembling? 

Oh how liberating it was to find the treasure in verse thirteen!

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. – Philippians 2:13

That certainly buttressed Paul’s point in Galatians. Working out one’s salvation isn’t the work of an individual by himself. He has to do it in partnership with the Holy Spirit – God taking the lead. You cannot do it by yourself; you’ll only crumble under the weight of it all. If it was something you could do for yourself, Jesus needn’t have come to die for us. If we could maintain our salvation by ourselves, we could as well have saved ourselves from the start. 

This truth perhaps goes to show the difference between the Christian who lives in line with God’s principle and those who live carnally. If we would ask Paul today, “How can God work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure?”

He’ll refer us to Romans 6:13, and give us this simple answer: Yield!

To yield is to “give up or surrender oneself; to give over, to relinquish, to resign oneself to something else.”

What amazes me most about that verse is that Paul didn’t ask believers to only yield ourselves to God. He also asks us to yield our bodies as instruments of righteousness unto God. 

So, back to instruments… Being told to yield ourselves as instruments unto God, we can rightly say that God is our Musician and we are His Musical Instruments. If we yield to Him, He’ll produce amazing Music from our lives. Just as an instrument cannot play itself, in the same way, we cannot play music off of ourselves. We cannot become perfect by our own human efforts. We cannot work out our own salvation without Him working in and through us for His good pleasure. We need the input of the Master Musician to produce beautiful music out of our lives. How Amazing! How Relieving!

But… 

If you followed closely, you’ll realize that I skipped something. I didn’t mention that there are two musicians – both, highly skilled. The earlier phrase in Romans 6:13 tells us of another musician - Sin. There are two musicians; and this goes to show that unlike my inanimate keyboard that has no choice as to who plays it, every person decides which musician plays him/her. Your choice against one musician is an automatic choice for the other. So, the difference between a believer who pleases God and he who pleases the devil is the choice each made on to whom he’ll yield.

God wants to produce pleasant music out of our lives. He wants our lives to call the world’s attention of His love and sacrifice on Calvary. He wants the music of our lives to turn others to Him. But this is completely dependent upon us. Yes, it is foolish to try to finish what God began, but God won’t force Himself against our will. If you refuse to yield as an instrument in His hand, it will be difficult for Him to produce good music out of your life.

So my friends, to whom do you yield?