Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sit sown at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. II Timothy 2:4
Truth is if you have nothing worth dying for, you really have nothing worth living for.
The life of a soldier is such a one that perfectly exemplifies that; it requires total commitment till the point of death. Indeed, if you desire a thing so desperately, your passion must exceed the price you may need to pay to acquire it. Now wonder the death and resurrection of Christ is so aptly described as ‘the passion of Christ’.
Furthermore, a man enlisted indicates he has bought into the vision and substance of his master. He is no longer his own. He has been bought.
Let these words of Jesus – “nevertheless not my will but thine will be done” (Luke 22:42) be our stay and comfort as we deploy ourselves to the master’s work.
– gideon gbeja
| All as sheep are gone astrayEach one is gone in his own separate way
The light of the Gospel has cast its rays Hear the voice of the master; He calls today
It gladdens my heart to do your service To snatch the life of a man as from abyss To release the soul the devil often hardens The kingdom of God; surely it widens
The sacrifice of Christ has set us free But for His love, where would we be We once were blind but now we see For us He’s risen once slain on the tree
We with eyes yet were blind we grope in vanity hoping to find Something perhaps to satisfy the mind Alas from above, TRUE LOVE; none of its kind
Flesh of my flesh, Bone of my Bones Such intimacy desired but then I was alone Until for me the king left His throne To redeem my soul that we may be one
– funmi aina |
If there is anything I desire believers to ever ponder over, it is what comes to our minds next when all things seems alright. Most times, we kneel at the place of prayer especially after we’ve considered the greatness and urgency of our needs.
Right from when the thoughts of our hearts are set in motion at the blast of a new day whistle, to the night prayers on our beds, we mutter with our lips “hope deferred maketh the heart sick…, God let there be speedy response and solution to all these needs”.
However how late the prayer seems to be answered, or these needs seems to be met, people immediately forget the long duration of time the waiting process lasted. As a matter of fact, the heart rejoices just like a woman that has just been delivered of a baby, and straight away forgets the labouring period. Almost immediately, the time we spend kneeling to pray reduces, we immediately devote the ‘excess’ time to caring for the things just provided us. For example, if it is a car, we spend time admiring, cleaning, and maintaining it. Automatically, the hours spent in the prayer room becomes converted and transferred to the caring heart.
Pause a while and take a stock of your life; haven’t you stopped those serious prayers? Have the quality time usually spent in prayers reduced since those needs were met? This suggests to me that we most a times pray when we have needs and stop praying when they are met. By this, we walk contrary to Jesus and Paul’s admonitions in bible. “…men ought always to pray and not to faint” Luke18:1, “pray without ceasing” I Thessalonians 5:17.
– adeyiga awomuti
