| Recently, my friend and his family came over to Dubai for a vacation. My first meeting with them was at a water park where they were hanging out with other friends and families. When I got there my friend offered me some refreshments but I mildly declined. I didn’t think it was wise to make him spend money on me. As a “big boy” I felt I should pay for my refreshment. Moreso, my friend has offered to take me on fully sponsored dinner cum boat cruise latter in the day.
The next day, we met again for a dinner at my friend’s luxury holiday apartment at the Hilton. Whilst we were having dinner, my friend decided to extend the departure date for his wife and children by a day but the authorities refused. Disappointed, he began to lament how he had paid a total of $15,000.00 to cover the holiday for his wife, three young children and nanny, not knowing he could have got the package for as low as $4,000.00, feeding and accommodation inclusive. Much as I felt bad that a lot of money had gone down the drain, it dawned on me that I should not have starved myself at the water park since all expenses had been paid. I sold myself short. Just as I sold myself short based on my ignorance, as Christians, we sometimes do likewise. Many times we forget that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross ( John 19:30) paid all the expenses so that we can live an all-round successful life (Rom.8:32-33). “Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.” (2 Pet.1:3-4 The Message). The verses above highlight these five salient points;
I want to encourage you to be steadfast and not sell yourself short. You have all things in Christ. May you to enjoy the bounties made available to you by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, even as you grow in the knowledge of who he has made us to be (2Peter 1:3). -Emeka Ofia |
| “I find it difficult to forgive myself”. This is a common statement on the lips and minds of many believers. One major reason for this is because for most of the quagmire we fall into, we remembered what the Word said about that situation or had a nudging from God about it but decided to press the “ignore” button. The other day I went to an office and wanted to park my car under a nice shade. I had a strong nudging not to do so, but I felt, what could happen to my car in such a serene environment? When I returned few hours later, I saw a massive dent at the back of my car and the first thing that came to my mind was … I knew it! He warned me but I wouldn’t listen. For a long time as I looked at that dent, I just regretted not obeying the Holy Spirit’s leading and reminded myself again of how I have made a mess of some other things in my life in a similar manner.
From a dent in something as ephemeral as a car to a dent in our lives that was caused by not walking in the Spirit, we have got to learn to forgive ourselves and not be found making the same mistake again. You can’t afford to be taking cue from Judas Iscariot; he could not forgive himself for betraying Jesus Christ and he ended up hanging himself (Matthew 27:5). On the other hand, Simon Peter forgave himself after denying Jesus thrice, turned back to the same Lord he had previously denied; and he became one of the foremost leaders in Christendom.
God is still willing to use you to influence lives positively and advance progressively to greater heights in life if you learn to forgive yourself and accept His forgiveness. I recall that for 10 years after I became born again, I lived like any bad guy on the streets. But a time came when I decided to forgive myself for walking in error, reaffirm my belief in God’s forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus and make a drastic U-turn in my attitude. In a short while, God transformed the course of my life. You may not be able to change your past, so stop allowing it to destroy your wonderful future. It is clear you screwed up by entering into that relationship; Yes! you knew you shouldn’t have taken that job which landed you into the job market again; That investment was not worth your sweat in any way, but you failed to listen to the Spirit; You may have occupied an enviable position in that church for years while you grew very lean spiritually; Perhaps you haven’t been giving your best to the work of the ministry committed to your hands. Forgive yourself today, accept the forgiveness God is stretching towards you, and move on with your life. Just give your best to ensure that going forward you obey the nudging of the Holy Spirit and live in obedience to God’s word.
You may not be able to go back to have a brand new start, but you can start now and have a brand new end. Bask in the heavenly freedom you enjoy. If the Son of man has set you free, don’t be the one to re-entangle yourself in bondage.
– Tope Aladenusi |
Have you ever noticed that God currently says blessed and not bless1. He says washed and not will wash2. He calls you cleansed, and he says you are sanctified2. He says forgiven3 and not that you should be looking for forgiveness. He says you are called.
It’s such an endless list – justified4 and even delivered5.
The issue is not so much about what God should do to you; rather it is about what God did. No wonder scripture says you have received the spirit of God so that you should know what God has freely given you already6.
The word of God is not revealing what God is about to do. Neither is it a blank cheque to fill in what God should do. It is an accomplished deed revealing all that God has done for you. Ephesians 2:10 aptly describes you as God’s masterpiece. A master piece does not need any touch again by the maker. It is complete already.
Let’s face the facts and accept who God says we are. You may not feel like it. People around you might not suggest it. You may even have been acting contrary to it all the while. But this does not deny the fact that God has made you whole. For in Christ all the fullness of the God head dwells in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ – Col 2:10
Ever seen anyone deny the humanity of a baby because it fails to speak?
If only you had a glimpse of the man within. You would wonder why you had been fooled all the while.
Again, remember these are not issues you neither pray into reality nor carry out any form of work for it to manifest. The same way you would not tell a 3 year old baby born without any defect whatsoever to pray to walk.
This is simply what we should affirm or rather acknowledge. We should allow it rule our mentality and take over our very walk. There is something about you. Time is not called to tell it. It is who you are and have been made in Christ Jesus.
One alarming thing I noticed in the letter of James was in the description of the mirror – like quality of God’s word. God’s word is not out to show who you should be; rather it tells you who you are. That is who you are now. Learn to agree with the word. Renewing my mind in accordance with this truth and the true image of who I have been made makes me align my walk accordingly.
1 Eph 1:3 2 1st Cor. 6:11 3 Eph 1:7, Col 1:14 4 Rom 8:30 5 Col 1:13
– bolaji akanni
It is a wise decision to want to know where you stand, whether you are on the path of success or not, but it is possible to do this in an unwise way. There are two common ways believers score themselves that always results to detrimental consequences.
Some believers feel they are experiencing success in life when they compare themselves with others they believe are in the same social stratification, age group or work class with them and it is as though they have an upper hand. That is why some pastors feel rosy when their church congregation is more than the one close to them and some men feel groovy when they buy luxuries their friends can’t afford.
Some other times, when believers realize that others they classify as their mate are getting results they are yet to get, they start feeling envious. That is why some ladies change the tone of their prayers when most of their friends are getting married and some men start having sleepless nights when their friends got a higher paying job, built a magnificent edifice or bought a new car.
Perhaps right now you have a keyboard and a mouse in front of you. Can you try to use the mouse to type the word “SUCCESS”? If you succeed in doing that, try using the keyboard to click on the word you typed. Yeah! Such things don’t make sense when we are dealing with objects, but don’t you wonder why they make a lot of sense with believers? How will it sound if the mouse suddenly begins to lament that ‘I cannot type’. No wonder II Corinthians 10:12 says “…When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise”.
In the story of the prodigal son, the Bible says in Luke 15:17 (NIV) that “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘how many of my father’s hired men have food to spare’. The prodigal son scored himself not with his fathers hired men but with the standard in his father’s house. The right way to know whether you are still on the path of success is to score yourself with the standard in God’s word and in view of His plan for your life, which is unique to you alone.
– tope aladenusi