Wednesday 27 May 2015

On Life. The Good Called Pain

Imagine you could
Step on a nail and not feel anything
Be pierced through with a knife and just keep going
Place your hand on a lit stove and just leave it there
Find your spouse cheating on your matrimonial bed, close the door and just go into the kitchen to make dinner
Take a moment to paint these pictures and you would have a glimpse of what life would look like without our innate ability to feel pain.
Our world would have been a chaotic mass
Everyone would be maimed one way or another
There would be no families or any family structure at all
There would be no sickness, only death
There would be death without mourning
There would be a world without lessons to learn
There really would be nothing to live for cause there would be no difference between success and failure
Pain is really a gift
It seems like it's one of our 'pass' to planet earth
It's what makes us know there's life in and around us
It's what makes us dream for the future
Pain helps us love, care, share and pray.
Pain makes us compassionate, patient, empathetic and passionate
Pain makes us wiser, stronger, better and bolder
Pain shows us our limits, boundaries, possibilities and thresholds
Pain let's us into our strengths, and our Hercules
With pain comes great gain
If there was nothing good about pain
Then should our tears taste as bitter as vinegar
But our tears taste as salt to show that pain, like salt, does preserve.
It just makes more sense #romans8:28
So the next time you feel the pain
Endure or enjoy it while it lasts
'Cos nothing lasts forever. Not even pain
No matter how long it takes, #hoteventuallyturnscold
#SMF

Monday 25 May 2015

ON CHOICES. Does it really take 2?

Amos 3:3 says 
'Can two work together except they be agreed?'
This scripture rhetoric leaves us with a NO answer.
However, in marriage, the consideration of whether you both can work together or not is a consideration that has come too late. The only answer to that question would be to go separate ways (when you always disagree), but there’s no such provision in Christianity. 

What you should be considering now is how you can agree in order to work together and that brings us the question ‘does it really take two?’ 
It’s beautiful when we agree on everything. Where there are no dispersions, disparities or disagreements at all on any subject whatsoever. But this is near impossible for the singular fact that you two are independent personalities. So then, how can we agree in order to work together as the scriptures have said? This answers the question. It really doesn’t take two!
Here's reality. There’s only one person that you know 100% and that person is you. It doesn’t matter that you are now married; you will never get to know your spouse completely. The scriptures clearly state that the only one who knows a man (or woman) is the spirit of that man (1 Corinthians 2:11). You are going to have to take the responsibility of playing your part to make your marriage work because that’s what God expects of you (Eph 5:22-31). The scripture says, 
‘If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone’. (Rom 12:18)
God knows that you can single-handedly make your marriage a success independent of your spouse. 
Without the guide that we have from God’s word, this would be practically impossible, but praise God, we were not left without a guide. He gave us His word so that we can live by it. 

Saturday 16 May 2015

On Choices. Ahab and Jezebel

1Ki 21:25 But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
Looking through the scriptures, I find that Ahab was fundamentally a good man. Yes, like his predecessors, Jeroboam especially, he did some things that really hurt the Lord, but he was definitely not the the 'worse of the bunch'. 
His major pitfall would turn out to be the wife he married, Princess Jezebel.
Jezebel introduced the worship of Baal to Israel,
Jezebel killed the prophets of God,
Jezebel threatened the prophet of an entire nation and caused ELIJAH to run for his life,
Jezebel killed an innocent man to get his vineyard and add it to the king's fleet of vineyards,
Jezebel caused the first ever 3.5 years drought in Israel (When she caused the people to sin, Elijah asked God to stop the rain so they would know He was angry with them). 
Ahab's reign turned out to be a plague to the people because of the woman he married.
In making wise choices, men are mostly left off the hook and it seems more of a 'girl's problem', but the truth is that the simple fact that you have a peculiar destiny on earth should point you to the significance of having the Spirit's guidance in making the life-time choice of whom to marry, male or female.
Cos I find in my life's dealings, destinies, made or marred by this singular, all-important decision.

Thursday 7 May 2015

On Dreams.Only evil people do evil things!!!

An old proverb says ‘only evil people do evil things’ and so I won’t harm you. (1 Samuel 24:13 CEV)
The verse above is an excerpt from the account in the bible of David’s encounter with Saul in a cave. David had the opportunity to kill Saul who had been looking everywhere for him in order to have him killed. Contrary to the expectations of his soldiers, David will not as much as lay a hand on the king but cut a piece off his robe as proof to Saul, that though he (David) got the opportunity to kill him, he had resisted the temptation.
Imagine how tempting it may have been for David to kill Saul. After all David knew that one day he would wear the crown and that Saul had lost both his spiritual and mental abilities to lead God’s people. But David refused to kill the king because he was more concerned with doing God’s word. 
Even when we know the goal we want to achieve is pleasing to God, the way we achieve it is just as important as the goal itself before God.
Hear what David said to Saul; ‘only evil people do evil things’. It does not matter how good the reasons you have for acting the wrong way. Your priority has to always be to do what God has said. 
In life we will be tempted to act, react or even respond the wrong way. But it’s just a temptation we have to overcome having settled in our hearts that God’s word has final authority.

Saturday 2 May 2015

On life; The Travelling Temptation

Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” (2 Samuel 12:4)
David kills Uriah to cover his sin and marries Bathsheba and so God sends Prophet Nathan to him with this parable.
The verse above is an excerpt from Nathan's parable, an analogy of what David had done and an allegory of what we call TEMPTATION.
What David felt that night for Bathsheba is in Nathan's story, the traveler who visited the rich man.
The fact that he was a traveler means that he had not come to stay. David (the rich man) takes the only lamb belonging to the poor man and serves as dinner to his traveling guest.
If we would remind ourselves that this temptation is on a journey that has come to pass and only a temporary pain or craving, then we could do what David could have done: take his eyes away and 'let that night pass'.
Even though David repented immediately and was forgiven by God, his life would never be the same again for this singular act.
I learn, in my Life's Drama, that upon 'morning', the 'traveler' always departs.
‪#‎eyesonthegoal‬