The One Night Stand

Perfect figure. Smooth skin. Cute eyes. Silky, long hair. Miss Jerusalem. Outwardly, She was everything every girl would want to be. And then he saw her bathing and couldn’t resist such beauty. You see, this guy had a thing for beautiful women. He just couldn’t say no. Moreover, he was a king and so he could have anything he wanted. And so he sent for her, and slept with her and she became pregnant.

Strike One. Adultery. And that’s where the trouble began. Her husband had been in battle fighting for his country when this little “one night stand” happened. It was not supposed to go beyond that night but now that it had, something had to be done, and quick. So he sent for her husband and tried to get the guy to go home and lay with his wifey but this committed soldier did not take the bait. Strike two. Deceit. Instead, he chose to sleep among his master’s servants. 

Something just had to be done. So, the king wrote a letter to his commander to put this man at the heat of the battle so he could get killed. Strike two. Murder.

He did get killed infact, and the king took “Miss Jerusalem” as his wife.

This whole conspiracy displeased God and He sent His Prophet to call the King to order using a story that pricked the King’s heart and even caused him to pass judgement on the bad guy in the story; indirectly passing same on himself!

When he found out that that story was directed at him, he immediately admitted that he had sinned. However, this “one night stand” brought consequences to his descendants forever. One of which was that the one close to the King would lay with his wives in broad daylight. Crazy right? But read your Bible. It so happened.

Mehn. This story teaches us a whole lot of lessons.

Lesson 1: Flee from immorality. As simple as that. Don’t give the devil even a little chance. He’ll just ruin you.

Lesson 2: One sin leads to another. Look at the story. Adultery lead to deceit and then to murder. Sin only leads to more sin.

Lesson 3: Your sin will find you out. You cannot hide from God. Don’t try to cover up your sin. God sees all we do, even those we try to make “secret”. They will be made public someday. Remember, NOTHING is hidden under the sun.

Lesson 4: Sin has a long lasting effect not just on you but on the people you love. The King’s household suffered because of his “secret sin”. Watch what you do.

Lesson 5: Learn to confess sin. God is always ready and willing to forgive. When He points out a sin in your life, don’t hesitate to confess it. He will graciously forgive.

I like what the Bible says about this: it says in Numbers 32:23b – “...You can be sure that your sin will track you down.” (MSG)

 #singing# You cannot hide from God though mountains cover you, His eyes are well on you.

WaTCh YOuR bAck.

References:

The Holy Bible (2 Samuel 11-12:1-15)

FLOWERS, LEAVES, OR FRUIT?

FLOWERS, LEAVES, OR FRUIT?

Mark 11:12-14 “The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to find out if it had any fruit. When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then He said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And His disciples heard Him say it.

          One question, can you recognize every fruit you see just from its flower or leaf? I don’t think so. Maybe verrrryyyyy few familiar ones.

The dictionary definition of a fruit is ‘the part of a plant that consists of one or more seeds and flesh, can be eaten as food and usually tastes sweet.’

Ever wonder why Jesus says in Matthew 7:20 that “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them”? Why by their fruit? Why not by their leaves, or their flowers?

Hold that thought.

          Its obvious that God wants to eat from my life. He has invested so much in my life. (Isaiah 5:1-6) Am I bearing fruit for His glory? Since He has invested so much in me, I really don’t have an excuse not to bear fruit for His glory. And if God’s glory cannot be seen in/through my life, then I am but wasting His investment in my life and therefore He has the right to cut me off.

          What do people see when they look at me from the outside? When Jesus sighted the tree, it looked very healthy and was full of leaves. But until he drew close did He realize that it bore no fruit. Then He cursed it because of its fruitlessness.

          I must not settle for carrying just leaves and flowers and bearing no fruit because then will Jesus cut me off. In John 15:1-8, it says that to show that I am a disciple of Christ, I must bear MUCH fruit. When I bear fruit for Christ, He in turn does a work of pruning me which in turn enables me to bear much more fruit.

          But then, HOW do I bear much fruit?

          Its simple.

          Remain and abide in the vine; Jesus. Because apart from Him I can do absolutely nothing! (John 15:5)

I must allow Him to prune me, no matter how painful it will be or how long it will take. The end result will be continuous fruitfulness.

My abiding in Him should be daily and constant. I must never think that I can bear fruit without Jesus as the vine.

          WHAT type of fruit am I to bear?

God expects me to bear good fruit to His glory. Galatians 5:22-23 outlines various examples; Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. When my lifestyle is daily patterned after Jesus Christ, the fruits will show. When I take on the challenge of the Great Commission, bringing people to God’s kingdom, I am bearing fruit. When others seek to please and serve God because of my lifestyle, I am bearing good fruit. It goes on and on!

God wants to eat from my life. But the thing right now is, flowers, leaves, or fruit? Which one am I carrying? And if I am carrying fruit, am I carrying good or bad fruit?

Hold that thought.

REFERENCES:

1.    OXFORD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (8^th Edition)

2.    The Holy Bible (NIV)

Away from the crowd.

Mark 7:33- "After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spat and touched the man's tongue." (NIV)
I felt it absurd the day my friend's father asked I and his two sons to read Mark 7:33 because we were gonna discuss it and pray about what we had learned. I wondered what we could learn from this verse. However, after reading it over and over, I saw the light in that single verse! It's amazing how much treasure can be found in three lines of Scripture. Reading this verse caused me to cast my mind back to various miracles that Jesus had performed. And then it clicked. For almost every miracle, Jesus had approached it differently. He either spoke a word, performed an action or did something really weird and unexpected. For example, in the case of the blind man in John 9, Jesus spat on the ground, mixed it with dirt and rubbed it on the blind man's eyes and he received his sight. For Lazarus, He only spoke a word and Lazarus rose to life. This discovery opened my eyes to see that Jesus deals with our various problems DiFfeRenTLy.. I must be open to accept the way in which He may decide to deal with me during my periods of hardship and challenges. The way and manner He may decide to use to deal with my problem may not be suitable and will seem weird and 'not usual', but Just like the Bible says, His ways are not my ways... What problems or challenges am I facing now? Jesus wants me to turn it all over to Him. He is aware of what I am passing through and has all the answers. I must never get discouraged no matter what. Another thing God opened my eyes to see is that sometimes God prefers to take me away from the crowd to properly deal with my problems. The man in Mark 7:33 received his breakthrough only after Jesus took Him aside, away from the crowd of people. This made me understand that God deals with me on a personal basis. Sometimes I need to move away from the noise and distractions of the crowd and be alone with my Master. Only then will I be able to hear what He wants to say to me and only then will I truly experience what He desires me to. Is God trying to get my attention? Maybe He is letting me go through this experience so He can get my attention and take me away from the crowd.
This now places the burden of how my personal relationship with Jesus is. First things first, do I even have a relationship with Him? If I do, can I boast of a thriving love relationship between me and my Saviour? God can only make me in the secret place of my communion with Him. He works better in the quiet of my heart. Jesus desires a lasting love relationship with me. Period.

Mark 7:33; the magnitude of what one verse could do.



References: The Holy Bible (New International Version)
Picture from: media.mgnetwork.com

The Spirit Of LOve...

Mark 1:12 (ISV) "At once the Spirit drove him into the wilderness."
I like to see God's Holy Spirit as 'The Spirit of Love.' In this spirit are contained numerous different attributes such as joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control, faithfulness, and yes, even wrath! All these attributes of the Spirit are wrapped up in word; LOVE.
The Spirit of Love drives me into different dimensions of God's wide and vast love, tempting situations inclusive. This Spirit drove Jesus into the desert to be tempted! Considering that Jesus had just been baptised and The same Spirit of Love had declared God's love for Jesus, this didn't seem very reasonable! Jesus was tempted with his greatest need at that point, food. He had been in the desert 40 days without anything to eat or drink and so bread was a 'good' temptation at that point! However, we see from that story that Jesus overcame the devil's temptation because the same Spirit of Love was present in Him. If the Spirit of Love is present within me, there will be no temptation that He will not help me overcome.
The Spirit of love should also be at work within me, driving me to recklessly abandon myself to doing God's will no matter the cost. Jesus went to the cross and therefore accomplishing God's will and purpose because the Spirit of Love was within Him.
The Spirit of Love drives me to keep loving God passionately. The book of Songs of Solomon expresses the passion and intensity of two lovers for themselves. It also describes how passionately God loves His bride, the Church. Only the presence of the Spirit of love in me can enable me love Jesus with passion and intensity continuously. Can I love God through the pain of failure or bad circumstances? Only the Spirit of love can drive me to do this.
The Spirit of love also drives me to the dimensions of loving God's Word. The Psalmist said in Psalm 119:97, "Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long." I must constantly be in touch with God through His Word. I realize that I do not give enough time to keeping in touch with God through His Word. But, "What I love, I will have time for."
The Spirit of love at work in me drives me to obedience of God's commands. Ezekiel 36:27 "And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." Only the Spirit of love can drive me to obey God's commands.
Because I love God, I will seek opportunities to serve Him. The spirit of love drives me to do this without complaining.
And finally, The Spirit of Love drives me ultimately into a perfect love relationship with my Master. In this relationship, I will experience safety and security until He finally comes to take me home...
Is the Spirit of Love at work in me? Am I willingly allowing Him drive me to the different dimensions of God's love? Have I recklessly abandoned myself to God's will?
No matter the dimension of God's love that The Spirit of Love may drive me to, because He is present in me and with me, He will sustain me....
Thank You God, for The Spirit of LoVe...

God is God no matter what!

Daniel 3:17-18 says, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (NIV)
Polycarp (AD 69-155), bishop of the church at Smyrna was once asked to curse Christ if he wanted to be released from the Roman authorities. This undaunted saint responded saying, "Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" Because he refused to curse Christ, he was burned at the stake. Centuries before this incident, 3 young men, Shedrach, Meshach an Abednego faced a similar threat and still refused to betray their allegiance to Jesus Christ. They had faith in God regardless of the outcome of their situation. Similarly, they were thrown in the furnace but left unhurt.
I vividly remember when my father was brought down by Alzheimer's disease and how difficult it was even in giving him care. I also remember how we prayed and trusted God to heal him and restore him to perfect health. We had faith that God could heal him if He wanted to and that He could do otherwise if He chose to. We then decided to resign ourselves to God's perfect will. At the end of the battle, God decided to take my father away to a place of perfect rest. This meant his absence from us in flesh, but his presence with God in Heaven. It was so painful when he died, but we knew that it was all according to God's perfect plan.
These experiences have opened my eyes to see that in every circumstance of our lives as believers, we must display total faith in the One we believe in which is Jesus Christ. We must have faith in what God can do and most of all that He is God whether He delivers us from our present situation or NOT. We must have faith that He has the final say over our lives and that He knows what is best for us. We are only to make a decision to resign ourselves to Him and follow Him through it all. Is your faith in God dwindling? Be like the apostles and ask God to increase your faith! (Luke 17:5)
That is why He is God and will remain God! The day we we begin to understand His ways then will He cease to be God!
God IS God, ALL the time!!!









References: The Holy Bible, ODB (June 7th, 2013).

The Dividing Wall.

''The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance.'' Ephesians 2:14 (MSG)
November 9, 1989 was a historical and unforgettable day in the lives and minds of the German people. On that day, the Great Wall of Berlin fell! The people of East and West Germany were now free to travel to visit each other after being separated by this wall for 28 years! A day later, bulldozers began to break down this wall of separation. I can imagine what a re-union it would have been for families who had been separated by this wall!
This story reminds me of something very important in my life. It reminds me of what the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ did for me.
Jesus Christ has not just broken down the dividing wall between the Jews and the Gentiles, but has also broken the one between I and God. Sin created a very huge wall between I and God but because of Jesus' work of redemption for me on the cross, this wall has been broken down and now I have access to God through Jesus Christ. But it sad but true that we Christians often re-build walls between each other when things go wrong. This happens when we do stuff like keeping malice, gossiping about each other and putting on the whole "i'm better than you'' attitude. This is not right! Our constitution (the Bible) as believers tells us that we are to bear with one another and be at peace with one another too (Ephesians 4:1-3). Now that the dividing wall between us and God has been broken down, we now belong to God's household (Ephesians 2:19). If this is so, then rather than building walls, we should make effort to avoid building any walls and to break down any ones that separate us through the help of the Holy Spirit. We must show the world that we are indeed of the same household.
Our unity as believers first comes from our union with Christ.
Let's go break down some walls ya'll!!!







References: Our Daily Bread 2013; The Message Bible.

Sin bricks...

Imagine every sin you committed was a small clay brick and everytime you committed a sin, it was labelled on a brick and hung on your neck. How many bricks would you have slung over over your neck now?
How difficult will it be for you to stand up straight speak more of walking?
It would be almost impossible to do either if you will agree with me.
This is the easter season and any true believer would know that this is the period when we remember Jesus' death on the cross for the sins of the whole world. Many of us see the beating and all the physical torture that Jesus endured as the real punishment for our sins. That is not so! If the payment for our sins were the physical pains thaaat Jesus endured for 3 hours, then it equally means that all we just gotta do is spend 3 hours in hell and we would pay for sins and walk out of hell.
However, the actual payment for our sins was the eternal separation from God the Father that Jesus faced for those 3 hours. At that point, Jesus faced the wrath of God. God turned His face away from Jesus because He at that point, bore the sins of the whole wide world. THAT was the payment for our sins.
Let's go back to the earlier illustration. Imagine the sins of the whole wide world, each labelled on a brick and Jesus having to carry ALL of it. That was exactly what Jesus did on the cross. He carried our sins, past, present, and future, and nailed them to the cross. He took my punishment and diverted Gods wrath towards me to Himself. Jesus has perfected for ALL time the payment of my sins. Now there is no more condemnation for me because I believe in Him. Romans 8:1 says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
What does the death of Jesus on the cross mean to me? Does it mean life? Or is it just a symbol or a story that thrills me each time I hear it?
All that comes to mind is this phrase in a song I heard that says, "Oh Lord, Oh Lord, what could I have done if salvation had not been free?" Jesus has done for me what NO man could ever do for me. All...for FREE....
Thank You Jesus!!!





References: Sulmane Maigadi, The Holy Bible (NIV)