Month: April 2018

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity…” ‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭1:7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I once heard of a story of a promising young man who decided to wed his fiancée as his wife. The date was set, no expenses spared at all… All was in place and in sync for the biggest day of their lives which should be the happiest too, until six hours to the wedding. The man, unfortunately pulled out bringing shame to his family, friends, loved ones and especially, his bride to be. What was his reason? Out of every two marriages, one ends up in divorce (as you might know the divorce rate of marriages in the world is 50%). He couldn’t help but think that his marriage could be one out of every two to likely divorce hence his last minute retreat

What was his rationale behind this? It was fear! Fear made him had cold feet on the day of his wedding to his beautiful lady. Instead of seeing this as an opportunity to open a new chapter, build a life and home with a friend, possibly have children, create new memories… Rather, he saw it as a ticket to divorce and being among a statistic of failing marriages

Let us deal with this topic of fear. I believe we can all relate with this man one way or another. What is it? I will personally define it as the “unrealistic dread of the unknown which may seem real”. Does fear really have any basis or evidence to cripple you in the first place? I will answer this purely as an observer and a student of life- No! Most things we dread and consternate is nothing but an apparition

I really remember when I decided to respond to the call of God on my life i.e. to be a pastor. I remember how fear made me almost pass out on God’s opportunity for my life. I had the fear of being labeled young (late 20s) and not be taken serious, the fear of failure, the fear of being in a scandal (this one almost crippled me), the fear of having to be a role model and leader… Had so many unfounded fears which by the grace of God, I overcame and in my ninth year of pastoring, I have realized all these fears were unreal

Fear is not normal. There is nothing like “healthy fear”. We have reverential fear which means to be in awe of and treat with respect. It has nothing to do with terrifying fear or phobias. What do you treat with respect and honor? Well, I do that with God. He deserves that honor in my life and probably a few people I look up to and admire

So if fear is not normal and God given according to the scripture quote, how did it get here and has been a part of us in the first place. The Bible gives the answer to that. Look at this Bible verse

“And he said, “I heard You in the garden and I was afraid…” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3:10‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

When God created this world and the first man, there was nothing like fear. It only happened when man disobeyed God by taking the fruit of the tree. When he heard of God, he became afraid (fear) because of what he had done. Fear now became a gene passed on to the human race. Sin brought about fear. It is not God’s intention, desire or will for anyone to live in fear or have fear. So that explains why human beings now see fear as a part and parcel of them.

I wrote this to say, it is not normal and you can break away from that way of life and living. Fear has many negative implications which I will attempt to delve into but a few in our next post

Till, I come your way again

Peace and Love

“looking unto Jesus…” Hebrews‬ ‭12:2‬ ‭

We have looked at hindrances to finishing the race set before us and we have dealt with weights and unbelief. From the previous posts, we have seen the negative implications these two can impact on us

Today, let us look at the remedy to these: FOCUS

That’s right! Focus is having a “single eye” towards a task without being distracted. If we will want to amount to anything, the ability to “zone in” or key in to our assignment till it’s completed is very vital. Not focused lets you live a blunt lifestyle. Look at the sun; when you concentrate it on an object like paper through a prism, the paper will be set on fire. Why? Because the prism has the ability to focus all the sun’s rays into one place at the same time. Likewise, no matter how talented or skilled you are, if you can’t look at your assignment with a single eye and focus all your energies, you will have next to nothing or at best, minimum output

I believe as I am writing this, it has dawned on me strongly that skill or talent is not why people are not operating at their optimum capacity because every one has talent, some have skill because they developed and processed that talent into that but where the rubber meets the road, is the ability to key in and keep on going. That is focus

Now focus is powerful when it is on something. Focus is not in a vacuum. There has to be the point of focus. The verse above encourages us who to look to: JESUS CHRIST. Why? Because of all the earth’s movers and shakers in both historical and contemporary times, he is the only one who completed his race with wholeness. Look, I believe in maximizing your potential but not at the expense of your wholeness and sanity. Focusing on him draws wholeness and divine strength for your task. Above all, he is GOD.

What race was that? He came to save us from the sins of the world as was prophesied. Firstly, he didn’t allow the pleasure of living on this earth to distract him. We all like living and staying alive on this earth! Life is precious and it’s a gift to stay alive every waking morning. He lived to die whilst we are all dying to live, interesting! Let’s face it: nobody wants to die including me! He didn’t allow the betrayals of his disciples who were his friends to deter him, the pain and the embarassment of dying a gruesome death to stop him, the fear of death itself stopping him. Nothing was going to stand in the way of the timeless prophecies of his mission to the world. He was beaten, tortured and died a graphic death which Mel Gibson did well to portray an idea of in his epic blockbuster movie, The Passion of Christ. Not just that, he rose up from the dead and defeated the power of death to make a statement he is Lord over death. This is more than a fairy tale. It is a real historical event. About two weeks ago, the world celebrated an event called Easter commemorating his death, burial and resurrection

Jesus Christ is not just a prophet, a teacher or a good man as some will want you to believe. He is God; the Lord and savior of our lives. You can’t have an abstract relationship and use him as your blueprint to finishing an assignment until you develop a close, direct personal relationship with him. If you have any questions on that, let us talk. I will be willing to answer your questions on that

What makes him worth following and making him the centre of our focus if we will want to finish well? Let me quote a saying of his from the Bible

“Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.” Matthew‬ ‭11:28‬ ‭GNB‬‬

Thank God for public role models on this earth. You can use any of their life stories as tools of inspiration to get you from point A to B but all have weaknesses, loads and ‘secret struggles’ they are also looking to answers from.  Some of the biggest stars we admire and emulate to be rely heavily on brand marketing to be neatly packaged and presented as as a squeaky clean, wholesome individual who has no faults, no insecurities and can do no wrong. All it takes is for a scandal to appear and everything comes tumbling down. Nobody on this earth has promised to  carry our loads! They might give us a hand with our loads and struggles; very different from carrying though. Your favorite psychiatrist or therapist will go through your load to help you unpack and lighten it but you cannot dump your loads off him. He is not designed to carry them. People can help but will not bear your weaknesses wholeheartedly. With Jesus, he has promised to do that. Why don’t you dump off all your loads including every kind of weight and unbelief. He is designed to carry them

You finish an assignment from a point of rest and lightness which gives some sort of uninterrupted speed. That is the result of  “giving it all” to Him. You can’t win or make it in life without Christ being the centre of focus and most importantly, the Lord of your life. So before you tick all the boxes to ensure you are on the right path. One box considering ticking before you rev off onto the road of destiny, “Is Christ the centre of my focus?”

Till, I come your way again

Peace & Love

“… get rid of the sin that trips us up,” Hebrews‬ ‭12:1‬ ‭(CEB‬)

We are looking at hindrances that impede us on our walk to destiny or the race we are all set to run. The Bible passage above is where we glean our lessons from. The first encumberance dealt with was weights. Let us look at today’s which is unbelief
What is unbelief? It is the state of not believing or being a skeptic. A skeptic is one who maintains a doubting attitude or is just plain negative. The bible verse in Hebrews 12:1 was addressing the Jewish believers to run the race of faith and complete at the finishing line. Running a race is difficult and calls for endurance and grit oft times. You don’t sprint through a race out of sheer talent but an amount of “doggedness” is involved. This Christian walk of faith is likened to a race. The writer of the book of Hebrews used the term of athletics to drive his point home in finishing what God has tasked in our hands. In the context of faith in Hebrews 12, ‘the sin’ that competes or trips us up is unbelief. The Greek rendering of the latter part of Hebrews 12:1 reads like this, “get rid of the thwarting racer  in your every direction as a competitor”. The number one competitor that stands in the way of faith is unbelief

As you read this, what has God tasked in your hands? It could be that course, that business or showing goodwill to a neighbor or an enemy (yikes). Let us have a progress report of how we are doing. Please take some time to have a critical analysis of your performance NOT to condemn but encourage yourself that no matter where you are with your task, you can do better. It is said a staggering 92% of people don’t achieve their goals or finish. My heartfelt prayer for you is that you will break that mould

Unbelief or being a hardcore skeptic is a trip. You can’t do anything substantial or effective with that attitude. Everyone was born a skeptic, believe it or not! Unbelief is a natural attitude. It is hereditary that is passed down from one generation to the next. There are many factors that contribute to being a pessimist. I have seen people who boast about being an “eternal pessimist”. Maybe, you are one of them reading the article. Let me encourage you with a verse in the Bible which quotes, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. See yourself as an overcomer or an “eternal optimist” from today. Faith arises from what you say with your mouth and believe with your heart. Be determined that skepticism will play no part in your life. It is an uphill task going against the tide or fighting anything natural but with God on our side, we are more than conquerors

Unbelief makes you negative; you look at everything from a point of impossibility with a defeatist mentality and attitude. This attitude is a killer that is robbing many of their destinies. A story in the Bible found in Deuteronomy 1:21 where God instructed the Israelites to “go and possess the land”. Pretty, straight forward, right? What discouraged them? In verse 28 of the same book reads, “…our brethren discouraged our hearts saying…” . When you see a discouraged person, it is because he is struggling with unbelief. One common trait found in the remaining 8% of achievers is they have hope- they are self encouragers who don’t easily give up

Unbelief happens when you are hanging around with the wrong company and listening to what they are saying. You could go as far as you can with hope and the help of God if you refuse to pay no mind to the comments of the day. If the comments are that bad, then please change your circle of friends you hang around with. The Israelites were discouraged because of their brethren. A famous religious minister started writing articles for The Washington Post. He had great feedback from the editorial team who encouraged him to write the more. It went great till he started scrolling under the article to read the comments section. He was so discouraged and shocked at the vitriol of some “haters” that he ceased writing for the newspapers. He bemoaned the fact in his narration that he blew the opportunity to reach a wider audience beyond the church walls because of discouragement which stemmed from unbelief

Finish that course, open that business, pick up that project that has gathered dust because of inactivity, lose that weight, marry that person who is right for you, respond to that calling of God over your life, break new grounds, be daring… Free yourself off every entanglement and fly high as a kite. You have no ceiling to what you can do! You are your own ceiling. It is imaginary (all in your head). Step out of that comfort zone where it feels okay to be skeptical. Allow me through this medium to stir up that nest of skepticism where you rest that you will have no other option than to fly and be a eagle

In our next post, we will look at the remedy to weights and unbelief

Till I come your way again…

Peace & Love