Holy are you Lord et al...

Hello peoples,

I've been away for a while, I'm back now. I've been reading a lot of blogs but not writing anything on mine. So today I purposed in my heart that I will write even if my post does not have a flow to it.
First, I would like to share this new song by Hillsong that I love. It's called Beautiful Exchange, and my favorite part goes:
Holy are you Lord,
Holy is Your name,
With everything I've got,
My heart will sing how I love you.

So, I've been through some ups and downs regarding my courtship with Mr. But I thank God that He's brought us through it, and we're stronger for it. I'm just learning to be still and know that He is God. I'm learning to take all my issues to Him in prayer and trust that He will work things out even better than I can ever arrange for myself. He's just good like that. So I roll all my cares over to Him for He cares for me. I will not lie though it is not an easy task to just be still. We're doers, always trying to figure out what to do to fix a situation, it doesn't come to us instictively to just let go and trust God. Oh but I'm learning to do that. To not say too much, to not worry too much, to not react at all. He is faithful.

So my dear friends, till I return again, have a blessed week ahead and be still and know that He is God.

All in God's Timing (Part 8)

So sorry y'all, I have been really bad with keeping up with this series and this blog in general. :( Ok now back to the story.
It's Tuesday morning and Labake is awake at 5AM. Initially she woke up to use the bathroom but as she went back to bed to resume sleep for another hour, sleep had eluded her. In the span of five minutes her mind was inundated with what had to be done for the day and little details that she really could have waited till after breakfast to figure out. Still musing about her to-do and wish list, she chided her overactive mind for depriving her of another hour of precious sleep.


"Okay, meeting with Kevin at 10AM, I need to get all the documents and information for that ready by 9:30, After lunch I have a 1:30, what's that meeting about anyway? Am I taking lunch to work today? Hmm maybe I should just get something out. But what? What am I going to get for lunch? It would really be nice to go to McCormick and Schmick but it's too formal and expensive for just lunch. Maybe for dinner... Oh my goodness! Don't I have a date with Osa tonight?! Why does this date keep surprising me? I've known about it for a while... Toke said she was going to stop by to help with my outfit right? Speaking of outfits, I need to get out of bed and figure out what I'm wearing to work today!"


With that, Labake rolled out of bed and prepared herself for work. As usual the shower was a brutal wake up call; works better than her alarm clock. When she got downstairs, she spotted her mother in the living room with her Bible open. She paused in the hallway debating whether she should disrupt her morning devotion or just call her when she was on her way to work. She opted for the disruption, she might have some nuggets of grace to share withe her before she starts her day.


"Good morning mom!"


"Ah oko mi good morning. How was your night?"


"It was good. Thank God. How was yours?"


"It was good. Are you off to work?"


"Yes mom, I just wanted to greet you and disrupt your devotion" Labake said with a grin.


Her mother laughed. "As always my dear. Eh I was reading my Every Day with Jesus, and today's topic was on guarding your heart, especially in the area of relationships. As I'm not looking into any new romantic relationship, I felt maybe I should pass it on to you. My dear, be careful how you let any man into your heart o, I know I pester you about getting a man and getting married, but it is better to be single and have peace than to be with a man that will destroy your heart."


Labake's heart almost stopped. Did her mother know about her date with Osa? Was she eavesdropping? She quickly calmed her nerves and responded, "mom I hear you, that's some solid advice though. I have to run. Don't bother making dinner for me tonight, I will be going out to eat." With that Labake got up and made towards the front door.


"With who? By yourself?" but before she could finish Labake was in her car.


All the way to work, and throughout her entire day the words of that scripture played over and over in her mind. "Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it flow the issues of life." For some strange reason, she couldn't shake the words out of here mind.


She got home later than she had anticipated that evening so she had to run into the shower the moment she was in her bedroom. As she was getting out of the shower, she heard Toke greeting her mom and exchanging pleasantries with her. Good. She didn't have all the time in the world to wait for Toke. She can get the basics together and Toke will just put the finishing touches to everything.


"Ah ore, you're almost ready. How are you darling?" Toke said as she walked into Labake's bedroom.


"Toke thank God you're here on time, I got home late so please let's hurry. Does this necklace go?"


That was all Toke needed to hear to begin working her magic on Labake.

When they were done, they hurried downstairs and Labake hoped that her mother wouldn't see her leave so she won't have to explain why she was so dressed up. Thankfully for her, her mother was not in the vicinity. She opened the front door for herself and Toke and they got into their separate cars. Toke was on her way home and she was on her way to a date. A DATE! How long had she been on one? Did she even know how those go anymore? She really needed to get into the romantic mood. So all the way driving to the restaurant she played romantic songs and tried to calm her nerves.


Upon arriving at the restaurant, a valet was at her door to park her car. She was ushered into the waiting area of the restaurant, where the Maitre d' welcomed her and asked if she was meeting someone. She replied that she was meeting Osa, and quickly he took her to his private dining area. She was taken away by it all.


"Hi. Hello." She said as she approached him, sticking out her hand.


"Oh wow. You look amazing. Nice to finally meet you." With that he took her hand and pulled out her chair.


After they were both seated, Osa had to take her in. She was beautiful beyond what he had anticipated. Those pictures didn't do her any justice at all.


"So how was your day?" He said, jolting her out of the nervous wreck she was becoming, made evident by the way she was fiddling with her napkin.


"It was nice, very busy but so far so good." She replied regaining her composure and the conversation the rest of the night was easy. He was charming and definitely a gentleman. She was a natural beauty and he was beginning to catch a glimpse to the inner beauty as well.






When they had finished eating, they danced to a live jazz band till she hinted it was time for her to go. He walked her out to wait for her car to be brought to her; all the while holding her hand. When the valet pulled up in her car, she turned to him and thanked him for a lovely evening, he thanked her as well and expressed a desire to see her again soon. She leaned in to hug him and say goodnight, and he pecked her on her cheek. A rush of butterflies were released in her belly as she walked to her car and drove off, playing the night over in her mind. By this time she had forgotten all about, "guard your heart with all diligence for out of it flow the issues of life."

Letting it all out

I need to let it all out

Let out the frustration

Let out the fatigue

Let out the anger

Let out the disappointment

Let out the anxiety

Let out the tears that are welling up

When is relief going to come?

When is respite going to come?

When is help going to come?

When is hope going to rise?

When is joy going to rise?

When is laughter going to rise?

I lift my eyes up to the hills, where does my help come from, my help comes from the Lord the maker of Heaven and earth. That's what the Bible says. These says we're living in are proof that we need supernatural help. The ordinary just won't do. I can't rely on man for the arm of flesh will surely fail. Our eyes are on you Lord. Send help. Send help. Send help. He will keep in perfect peace he whose mind is stayed on Him. Out eyes are on you Lord.

Fathered by God.

As I type this post, I'm listening to a sermon about walking with the Father and getting our joy. The preacher said something that just stuck with me and reminded me that I'd been wanting to write about being fathered by God. He said, "busy-ness is the pain-killer of an orphaned soul." Very profound statement. Plainly speaking, this statement means that when a person is so busy they are only using that to deal with not having a relationship with Father God. I've been there.

Most of us, at some point in our journeys with God we're in the stage of being a servant to God. Either we're there when we first got born again or we got there after years of being in the Kingdom. You may ask is it possible to be born again and not have a relationship with the Father? The answer is an alarming yes. It is very possible. Often times people understand the concept of Jesus as Savior, as Lord, as our way to Heaven. We know He is Almighty, we know He is great and powerful and mighty to save but a lot of times most of us don't know how to deal with the reality of Him being our daddy.

Do you know it is possible to be in a family with both parents and not have a relationship with the father? Sure, he's your father, you're a product of his seed, you even look like him. He clothes you and feeds you, he disciplines you makes sure you have what it takes to stand on your own two feet but one thing is lacking. The thing lacking is relationship. That place of knowing your father intimately and him knowing you intimately. Where your relationship with him doesn't hinge upon whether you performed well in school or not, or whether you played really well on the field. You just enjoy your father and there's nothing he can ever do to make you doubt his love for you, and there's nothing you can ever do to make him stop loving you.

Now take that concept and apply it to God and multiply that by a gazillion. If you're like me you know it's hard because the standard of fatherhood the world has shown is really not that great. We live in a broken world where not everyone had a father figure so for many it's very difficult having a heavenly father. The good news is that it is very possible to be fathered by God. The thing is, He's already been waiting for us we just need to reach out to Him. Each person's relationship with Father God will be different just as my earthly father relates to his children differently. But know this: He cares soo deeply and He loves us more than we can ever understand.

Jesus said, "I no longer call you servants, I call you friends." Let's be sons of God, and not only that, let's be friends.

>>> Have you ever struggled with being fathered by God?

Reflections

Hello Blogville!

Please forgive me for my hiatus. There's been soo much going on that kept me away from you. First it was the fact that I felt that I had nothing to share then it was the ban on all non work related use of the internet at work. Today though, I just had to come here by hook or by crook. I can't say I have a word from the Lord for you, so please bear with me.

So a week ago on May 11th it was birthday. My birthday cake had 3 candles on it so I am three years old if you need to know. I got a really nice gift from my Mr. God bless him! I took the day off and spent the first waking moments with the Giver of Life to reflect on how far He's brought me. And even now I'm still on the reflecting train. God has been so awesome to me. I remember times that I honestly thought I wouldn't make it through. That my dreams were nothing more than vapor that will pass away and I will be left with nothing. Through my fears, He's held me in the palm of His mighty Hands, proving to me that He is the keeper of all my dreams.

I reflect on how I used to be and how I'm not that way any more because I have new life in me now. The things I struggled with no longer have me bound, not that I'm perfect but because I now have the choice to not be bound. I can choose in the freedom that He shed His blood for.

I can go on and on, but I won't make your eyes sore from reading. The main thing is that He has brought me from a mighty long way. What about you? Where has He brought you from?

Conversations with God

Recently I just read a book titled "Never the Bride" by Cheryl Mckay and Rene Gutteridge. It was a totally amazing experience. The authors did a great job mixing humor with some very sound core truths about God's heart for us. The book is about a young lady, Jessie, who is single and seriously searching for her Mr. Right. She has a huge crush on her best friend (a guy), Blake, who doesn't see her as a potential mate and so she spends her time dating other men while at the same time waiting for Blake. Her life takes a turn for the better as she develops a living, real, relationship with God. God actually appears to her in human form and that's how their relationship starts. Now I'm not going to ruin it for you, so go get a copy.

There are some things that just struck me in the book though. One of them being the reality of her relationship with God. The relationship was so real and so honest it was quite refreshing. Maybe because she didn't have the religious background that most of us have. When we pray (which is conversation with God) we tend to be very formal, like we put on this air and hardly do we wait for a reply. In the book though because she could see God in a physical body, her conversations with Him were so much more real (for a lack of a better word). I mean you see her letting it all out, the disappointments, her questions, her adoration. His responses are real too. It's funny because people around her began to think she was losing her mind due to stress and depression. She on the other hand is caught up in the most romantic relationship of her life. This book really challenged me about my relationship with God. Have I gotten stuffy in my conversations with God? Instead of presenting myself as I am, have I been reading scripts to Him?

The more I ponder on this, the more I realize that I have. I yearn for that type of living relationship with God, not the one where I'm just always interceding. Don't misquote me, intercession is very vital to the body of Christ; you will be surprised how your interceding has given someone else a breakthrough. But I don't want to intercede so much that I lose out on hearing Him talk to me on a daily basis from the mundane things in life to the big issues. God is just as much interested in the tiny details of my life as He is in solving world hunger. So today, my charge to myself and to you dear reader is that we approach our heavenly Father's throne just as we are and just bare it all to Him.

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16)

Letter to the Church: Is It well?

This was pulled from the faith column on 234Next.com, please enjoy.


The scripture declares it is well, but is it really? The prophet (Jeremiah I think) said of the priests of his day, and I paraphrase; the Lord says “my people are full of sores, yet the priests rub them with ointment and tell them it is well”. What does this mean? Straightforward really; Israel was infested with sin, yet the priest told the people that all was well. Today the pastors tell us the same thing; it is well, the Lord will bless you. Yet God who does not change is still saying, “if only the people who are called by name will turn and repent, I will heal them of their sins”.

Today, certain words have become archaic, forgotten, discarded, and mentioned only as infrequently as possible. These words? Sin and repent. Sin is mentioned in passing at the time a person becomes ‘born-again’, and repentance is sometimes attached at the end of the sermon, during the alter call. Following this, we are fine, supposedly, and on our merry way to heaven. Washed by the blood, and led by the spirit. But I remember a story that Jesus told of two men who came to the temple to pray. One, a religious Jew, prayed thus; “Father, thank God I am not a sinner like that other man”. And the ‘other man’ prayed thus; “Father forgive me for I am a sinner”. Who did Jesus say went home a righteous man? The ‘other man’. Today, we are the righteous Jew, the sons of Abraham, bought by the blood and led by the spirit, deceiving ourselves that the blood of Jesus has cleansed us of our sin and we thus on the highway to heaven. Care is required and scrutiny of our ways, necessary.

Sin is real and present, and repentance is a state of being. Jesus defines sin at the level of the heart and therefore ensures that we are almost all in a state of perpetual sin. His evidence of fornication, murder, covetousness and greed is always at the level of the heart and mind. Most are struggling, many are falling, plenty live in self-deceit and denial, and for the very religious, we are like the righteous Jew in Jesus’ story who don’t even know that Jesus regards us as sinners.

Ask a Christian, “are you sure that you will make heaven”? And they’re sure to reply, by the grace of God or, through the blood of Jesus. As for carrying our own cross, that’s not necessary as Jesus has done it all. We forget that he was the same man who said, “except a man carry his own cross, he cannot be my disciple”. Most do not even realize that Jesus redefined sin. So a Christian, man or woman, is most likely to believe that they have never committed the sin of fornication since they became ‘born-again’ simply because they have not physically indulged in the act. But at the level of the heart; the rest is best left unsaid. As for covetousness, our hearts know almost nothing else as our prayers tell the story of ‘give me this and give me that’. We want to gain everything even though Jesus asks us to lose our lives. Is it really well with us? Is it really? Who declares that it is well? The self-styled men of god who are more interested in successful ministries (as defined by numbers, size of church building and monetary collections) or our heavenly father who is only interested in the riches of holiness and the glory of righteousness.

I don’t remember any testimonies about overcoming a long fought battle with a particular sin, or someone finally repenting from lying and thanking God that he had remained 100% truthful for the last one year. The church would be irritated at such testimonies and ask people to keep their victory over sin to themselves. But business success, house building, promotion at work, long-awaited marriage, fruit of the womb, and of course that luxury car, of these we testify daily. Is it really well with us?

When will turn again to the days of old, when John cried in the wilderness, REPENT! When will we take our place and watch like Habakkuk? When will we like Abraham leave everything we know behind and look towards our promised land in God? When will we listen to Jesus, when will we agree with him, when will we truly follow him. Is there not a prophet in the land!?

-Kola Lawal, 234Next.com.

Sow your tears.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. (Psalm 126:5)

I know that the title of this post is a little depressing. However, I do want to discuss sowing our tears. This past Sunday this scripture just began to run through my mind. Sowing my tears and reaping in joy. I just had to meditate on that. How do we sow in tears? Is it just crying over our misfortunes? Is it mourning and being in grief? First of all what does sowing mean?

Sowing is when we take something that has potential to grow and put it into an environment where it first dies and then multiplies itself. A farmer takes a seed, goes out to his field, puts the seed into the ground and in the coming months, the farmer reaps a bountiful harvest. Just like the farmer, we also have to sow. We have heard of the law of sowing and reaping as it partains to finances. But what about this verse? It's not just talking about sowing seed (money or acts of kindness) but it is talking about sowing tears. How then do we sow in tears?

Sowing in tears means to sacrifice and in my time of meditation I have realized it can be done in these two ways:

-Prayer

-Dying to my flesh.

Sowing in tears through prayers means fervent and passionate prayer. You know the kind of prayer that involves your heart. The kind of prayer that moves you beyond your self. The kind of prayer that keeps you up at night, the one that keeps you at the altar after the pastor has said the benediction. It is the kind of prayer that as you're praying streams of water are flowing from your eyes. Those tears reflect the passion in your prayer.

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds (John 12:24)

Here Jesus was telling his disciples a principle of the Kingdom. The principle of how to reap a good harvest in our spiritual life. Dying to ourselves is sowing in tears. The reason why it can be considered sowing in tears is because it will be very difficult. Your flesh will war against you and protest such denial and betrayal. But like a good farmer, you have to look into the future and make preparations for your future. A good farmer doesn't eat all his seeds. Neither should you spend all your life satisfying your flesh because the end of it is destruction. If you are courting someone this is the season to sow purity into your relationship so that you can reap God's blessings in your marriage. If you've been put in a place of leadership this is the time to sow integrity because he is faithful over little shall be put over much. And above all, die to yourself because this is the highest sacrifice you can make to God. After all it will require your tears.

Turning your Mess into a Message...

Excerpt:

How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?” (Ps. 4:2). These blows aren’t random or incidental. They strike directly at some part of the heart, turn the very thing God created to be a source of celebration into a source of shame. And so you can at least begin to discover your glory by looking more closely at what you were shamed for. Look at what’s been assaulted, used, abused.

As Bernard of Clairvaux said, “Through the heart’s wound, I see its secret.” Let me put it this way: What has life taught you about your God-given glory? What have you believed about your heart over the years? “That it’s not worth anyone’s time,” said a woman. Her parents were too busy to really want to know her. “That it’s weak,” confided a friend. He suffered several emasculating blows as a boy, and his father simply shamed him for it. “That I shouldn’t trust it to anyone.” “That it’s selfish and self-centered.” “That it’s bad.” And you . . . what have you believed? Those accusations you heard growing up, those core convictions that formed about your heart, will remain down there until someone comes to dislodge them, run them out of Dodge.

(Waking the Dead, 118)

My pastor once preached a message title, "Turning you mess into a message." Months later I am finding myself thinking on this parituclar subject. I was at a conference last week and the minister spoke on "The manifestation of the sons of God." However she spoke on that verse in Romans 8 from a different perspective. Allow me to share just a few words from the message with you, please know that these were what I got from the message, not necessarily what she said verbatim. "Look at the area where you've been attacked the most in your life, that's where your destiny/glory is." You may say well what does that mean? Let me paint a picture for your mind. Imagine a young girl, all her life all she's ever dreamt of doing with her life is to sing. She would sing in the garage when she gets back home from school. In her mind she wasn't just singing in her mother's plain garage, she was singing before thousands of people. As she grows older, her parents and others around her try to discourage her from pursuing her dream of singing. By the time she's in college, singing is not something she really sees as her glory but rather something she does on the side. Boyfriends, and so-called friends ridicule this gift and say, "if you really want to sing you should do this and do that." They mock her voice and never really validate or support her dream, her glory.

It is my hope that as you read this today, that if you've been in that girl's shoes, you don't let anybody tell you you're not all that. It is only because the enemy knows the treasure that is on the inside of you that he uses those to whom you look for validation to discourage you. Discouragement means to loose heart. Once you lose heart you lose passion and when passion and zeal are lost there's nothing else to live for. So get up and manifest as the glorious child of God that you were made to be.