FULLY KNOWN AND LOVED!

“Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you…”.

– Jeremiah 1:5a

When I was a kid, I used to be so fascinated about the sun. I was never able to comprehend how the sun seemed to follow me every single time (same way I didn’t understand how my sister was older than me given that I was born in March and she in April😹). I remember being in my dad’s car on our way to church, looking out through the window and seeing the sun moving as fast as the car. Whenever the car stopped, the sun stopped too. And when it moved again, so did the sun. What was even more fascinating was that it was same for every single human being. So while I was in Lagos, in my dad’s car, watching as the sun “followed” me, you could have been in Edo state or in the Bahamas, or in Queens, or even in a small town in the middle of East Africa, watching the sun chase after you too. All at the same time.

Sometimes, I’d try to trick the sun. I’d start running towards a particular direction, watching as the sun followed me, and then I’d swiftly switch to a different direction. And I’d see that the sun had switched with me. I enjoyed watching the sun follow me. It was fascinating, the fact that the sun could do what MTN network couldn’t; it could follow me “everywhere I go”. I marveled more at the fact that it also had the ability to follow me and 10 billion others at the same time.

A while ago, Holy Spirit reminded me of this fascination of mine from my childhood. He used it to explain how peculiar I am to God, how peculiar you are to God. God doesn’t just love us as one big body of Christ. His love isn’t one big pie that we all have to share and take a piece from. His love is special and personal to me, as it is to you too. Holy Spirit made me see that God doesn’t just know me as “one of His children”. He knows me by my name, He knows me as PRAISELYN (here’s where you insert your name lol). It’s great that I have a personal relationship with Him. But it’s even more fascinating that He has a personal relationship with me. And even though He loves everyone of us, He loves me (and you) differently, in a personal way.

I can trust that He knows what is good for me, not just because He is God and He is all knowing, but because He knows me personally. The 12 disciples were all disciples of Jesus, and while Jesus related with them collectively and together, He also knew each of them personally, differently, at the same time. He could cater to their different desires because He knew them. In biblical parlance, to “know” means to have sexual intimacy with a person. So when the Bible said “Adam knew His wife Eve”, it was saying Adam had sexual intercourse with his wife. In the same vein, God’s knowledge of you is as deep and personal and sacred as sexual intimacy between a man and his wife. Husbands can only experience that kind of intimacy with their wives. That’s how it is with us and God. He doesn’t just have general or head knowledge of you. He KNOWS you, deeply, intimately, separately.

This understanding brought me to a deeper place in my relationship with God. That anytime I come to Him, anytime I approach Him, He wasn’t just seeing “one of His many children”. He was seeing Ahaiwe Praiselyn Chidinma (and my other name that I won’t share😹). That in Gethsemane, when He felt like giving up the journey to the cross, He thought specifically of me and said “nevertheless Father, not my will but yours be done”. That I am not just one of the millions of lives He came to save and have a relationship with. I am known by my name, by the numbers of hair on my head, by the sound of my voice and the tingle in my laughter. Just as you are too. He knows you personally. And if that isn’t the most incredulous thing ever, I don’t know what is.

Just incase you’ve been feeling unseen, this is to remind you that you’re no outcast. You’re not “one of many”. You’re the 1 that He would leave the 99 for. You’re His reason. Yes, you. Remember this when next your feelings try to tell you something else. Remember that you’re the daughter or son of a King. Now, straighten your crown, cross your legs if you please, set your back straight, and walk in this reality. Until later, God bless!

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UPROOTING AND REPLACING: THE SECRET TO LIVING ABOVE SIN

           “The secret to living above sin is to replace secret sin with secret place”

                                                         – Vladmir Salvchuk

Hello friend. Hey! I’m talking to you dear. Yes you reading this right now. Have you ever struggled with losing weight? No I do not mean physical or body weight. I mean spiritual weight. Have you ever gotten so tired of dragging along baggage that weakens your growth in Christ? Are you currently struggling with secret sins? Pornography addiction? No? How about social media addiction? Thought as much. Do you get tired of falling back into the same thing you said you would never do again? Yes? Well then darling, this post is for you. If you would spare some of your time and attention to read through this post, I’ll share with you what the Holy Spirit has taught me over time, and what has been keeping me standing and running and steadfast. Shall we begin with a story?

Once upon a time, there lived a young man who owned a house. This man had a lot of rooms in the house, about 10 rooms. The house belonged to him, but he rented out all the rooms to tenants. He wasn’t occupying any of the room. Now this man had always desired good and upright tenants. Tenants who wouldn’t cause him any trouble, tenants who would treat the rooms like theirs. He had 9 of such tenants occupying 9 of the rooms. Unfortunately, he had one really bad tenant occupying the last room. This tenant was stubborn, wicked, envious, and evil. He was giving the man sleepless nights. The man was troubled everyday. He really wanted to get rid of the tenant. He did all he could to get him out. At a point, he thought of tolerating him, and he tried to do so. But the more he tolerated, the more the tenant frustrated him. Finally, somehow, someway, the landlord was able to evict the tenant from the room. He was so happy and joyous that he had gotten rid of this evil tenant! He celebrated, danced, thanked God, and relaxed. Finally, he could have peace of mind. But something happened. (I’m tempted to say “find out in my next post!)

    The very next week, another tenant packed into the house. And this tenant was TEN TIMES worse than the previous one. This one didn’t just frustrate the landlord, he frustrated the other tenants too. In fact, the other tenants started to think of packing out because of this one tenant. This time, the landlord cried his eyes out. He begged God to divinely chase this tenant out. He didn’t know what to do. How could he have gotten rid of the last evil tenant, only to get someone even worse? What could he do? Again, by some divine means, the new worse tenant was evicted from the room. The man celebrated again! He was happy! He was joyous! He gave a huge offering in church. He testified everywhere. Everything was fine again, God had answered his prayers. Lol. Little did he know. Three days later, an even worse tenant packed into the house. This new one was set to take over the whole house completely. It was war! This one stayed for a longer time, but God be praised, he finally left. The landlord sat down and wondered what he could do to stop bad tenants from renting the room. And God said to Him “son, as long as that room is empty, you’ll continue to attract evil tenants. Until you go yourself to search for a good one, that room will always be available for the evil ones”.

       Guys, many of us are like Mr Landlord. We’re uprooting, but we aren’t replacing. Truth is this: An empty room is available to ANY tenant. I remember studying the book of James a while ago when I was battling with distractions from several sources. The Holy Spirit made me understand that it’s impossible to not be distracted. I can’t take away distractions, but I can replace them. And that has never been more true. You know what’s so beautiful about the bible? Whenever it tells us to not do something, it goes ahead to tell us what to do instead. When it says “lay aside every weight that easily trips you up”, it goes ahead to say “instead, run with endurance the race that is set before you”. When it says “do not be drunk with wine”, it goes ahead to say “be filled instead with the Holy Ghost”. When it says “never let ugly or hateful words come out from your mouth”, it goes ahead to say “instead, let your words be seasoned with grace”. For every thing that we shouldn’t do, the bible tells us what to replace it with instead. So it doesn’t leave that space in us empty, it tells us to fill it with something better.

The secret to living above that thing that you keep going back to is to replace it. It’s not enough to uproot it. It’s not enough to kill it. It’s not enough to get it out of that room. As long as that room is empty, it would keep coming back. If you’re looking to buy a house, you do not go looking at houses that are already occupied, you look for houses that are empty. Similarly, when the devil is looking for a place to set up his camp in your heart, he takes up an empty room, a room that is occupied by nobody, because an empty room is an invitation to any buyer. Many times, we exhaust our efforts trying to get the enemy out. We spend all our time praying and fasting, begging God to deliver us from whatever it is that is eating us up and damaging our walk with God. But guess what friends? No matter how many times you’re delivered, no matter how many times you repent, you’ll not find true freedom until you give that empty space to something better. Still not convinced? Let me show you another picture. Jesus died so that we can be free from sin. He took away the power of sin from us, and made us no longer bound to the pulling and cravings of sin. But you know what else He did? He didn’t just leave that place  empty. He didn’t leave the space where sin was living vacant. He replaced it with righteousness. It wasn’t enough to remove the power of sin. Sin has legs, and it can walk. When it sees an empty room, it takes it. See the devil is roaring about, seeking for whom to devour. And you know what? He’ll only devour the one who offers himself to be devoured. The devil doesn’t have the power to devour any believer, unless that believer gives him a room.

Dear friend, the Holy Spirit is calling you to replace whatever it is that you have uprooted from your life with Him. He’s asking you to give Him that room, that space. He sees how much you’re crying and asking Him to take away this evil tenant occupying a room in your life. But He’s saying “sweetheart, if you don’t give that empty room to me, he’ll keep coming back.”

What is that thing that God has uprooted? Is it addiction to social media? Replace it with addiction to the Word. Is it addiction to sexual sins? Replace it with addiction to the Word. Cultivate a new hobby that would take up that empty space. Because if it isn’t replaced, then it’s open to the devourer. If it isn’t replaced, it’s as good as inviting it back. It doesn’t matter how many rooms you’ve surrendered to Jesus, if there’s an empty room yet to be surrendered to him, the devil will assume an invitation. And of course, he comes with friends.

 I pray that the Holy Spirit opens the minds of our understanding and helps us to discern this truth. I pray He helps us replace whatever we have left behind with more of His presence. Because if we give Him a room, He’ll occupy it. He’s a gentleman, He won’t come in unless we ask Him in. So what are you waiting for darling? Go ahead and ask Him in. He’s waiting.

Until later, God bless you!

A DIFFERENT KIND OF VALENTINE- NO GREATER LOVE.

WARNING: THIS IS NOT YOUR REGULAR LOVE STORY!
I’ve never been truly fascinated about the whole idea of “Valentine’s day”. All through my early years as a child, I never understood why my primary school classmates exchanged sweets and crackers and hand written letters on colourful cardboards on February 14th as a symbol of “love”. I never saw my parents do anything special or different on the 14th of February every year in celebration of their love. Valentine’s day was like every other regular day for me and for the people around me. The only thing different about it was the uniform touch of red and white on every passerby on the street.
In my pre-teen years, I finally began to understand the rationale behind this day of love that everyone “in love” treasured so dearly. Although I was never directly involved, I anticipated the morning of the 14th of February every year so that I could enjoy the competitive expressions of love by teenage boys to their teenage girlfriends. I anticipated the “oohs” and “aahs” and “Praiselyn see what he gave me!” comments. And in my young mind, the best expression of this “love” that everyone seemed to share was the exchange of beautiful gifts and longer hugs. And red and white.
I do not intend to disregard the significance of this day of love. Absolutely not. In fact, I hope to be able to celebrate this special day with a significant other in the nearest future. But the point of this post is to remind you of an even greater expression of love that surpasses the most expensive Valentine package you could ever see. Today, I read through the history of Valentine’s day and I was touched by the sacrifice a man named Valentine made for the sake of love. If you haven’t heard the story before, the epitome is that a priest gave up his life so that couples could freely express their love to each other. As I read this amazing sacrifice story, my mind was drawn back to the Ultimate sacrifice of love, for love, and by the author of love Himself. And I was reminded that regardless of the great sacrifice attached to the history of Valentine’s day, the truth remains that NO GREATER EXPRESSION OF LOVE EXISTS THAN THAT WHICH CHRIST MADE FOR YOU AND I.
No other person has ever taught and represented the true meaning of love like Christ. The bible tells us in 1st John chapter 4 that God is love. Love has no other meaning outside Christ. Love is not what happens on Valentine’s day. Love is who Christ is. Love is not in the gifts that are exchanged, love is in Christ. Christ is not just the greatest expression of love, Christ is the ONLY expression of love. And so when people think they are looking for love, they are actually looking for Christ, because Christ is love. Now the question is this: how can you extend or express this love that is Christ when you’re yet to experience it yourself?
One of my favourite Latin maxims as a law student is “Nemo dat quod non habet“. It means “you cannot give out what you do not have”. This is our reality too. You cannot give out a love that you have not known or experienced. Christ was able to express love because He is the epitome of love itself. Because of love, Christ, who is love, came to reconcile us to the Father, so that by believing in that love, we too can be extensions of love to a love-seeking world. That’s the true meaning of Valentine. That’s the only meaning of Valentine. No other gift can outweigh the gift of the Father- His son. Today’s post is a call to receiving this gift. It’s a call to accept the Valentine invitation of the Father. It’s great to love and be loved. It’s amazing to receive gifts and sweet messages as an expression of love. But it’s even better to receive and enjoy the most important kind of Valentine, the BEST kind of love ever known to man, the love of the Father. Truly, no greater love exists. No greater love.
If you have never received that love, why not invite Jesus into your heart today? Why not experience a deeper and permanent kind of love today, one without heartbreaks or long distance issues? Why not accept the only expression of love today, the love of the Father? Today God is asking you to be His forever Valentine. Not just for February 14th, but for the rest of your life. I have accepted that invitation, and believe me, everyday is Valentine with Jesus. He doesn’t wait for the 14th before He shows you how much He loves you. To know Him is to know love. Hop on this love train today with me friends, I’m willing to share The Lover of my soul with you!

EVERYTHING OR ANYTHING?

“For your Glory, I will do anything, just to see You, to behold You as my King, I want to be where You are…”

~ “For your Glory” by Tasha Cobbs

Yesterday, as I was about to start my personal fellowship with the Holy Spirit, I put my songs on shuffle so I could worship for a while. And the first song that played was For Your Glory by Tasha Cobbs. As I listened and worshipped, the Holy Spirit gave me a revelation for this post, a revelation that hit me so hard and left me shattered in His presence. And as I share this with you today, I hope with all my heart that you’re left shattered too, just as I was. I believe the Holy Spirit is flooding every heart reading this with revelation light and with understanding, and when you’re done with this post and you retire to your secret place, you’ll be overwhelmed by His presence more than you’ve ever been. So many of us are constantly craving and longing to “be where He is”. So many young people are longing to experience and encounter God. So many believers are hungry for a personal understanding of Jesus. And today, the Holy Spirit is ready to open our hearts to a truth that we must understand, if we truly want to “be where He is”.

So as I was listening to this song yesterday, the Holy Spirit said something to me. The song says “For your glory, I will do ANYTHING, just to see you, to behold you as my King” The Holy Spirit said “how many people are actually willing to do ANYTHING to see me”? As that question echoed in my heart, He said “Praiselyn, believers need to understand the difference between EVERYTHING and ANYTHING”. Believe me, I was lost for a minute. And then it hit me. It hit me so hard, I got on the floor in my room and I cried. I cried and cried for myself. Let me give us an illustration with The woman with the issue of blood. Let’s assume that this woman’s name was Hannie. Now Hannie has been afflicted with a peculiar kind of sickness for some years now. She was bleeding uncontrollably. She was smelly, she had no friends, no family, no strength. Hannie knew the nature of her sickness, she knew how bad it was and how she needed restoration. Now here’s Hannie’s “everything”; Hannie did everything she had to do in order to do away with this disease. She went to the hospital regularly, saw a lot of doctors, ate good food, took a lot of fruits and vegetables, avoided processed foods, drank enough water, washed her clothes regularly, etc. This was everything she could do. And she did it. She did it diligently. She didn’t slacken. Yet, she wasn’t getting well. She was still bleeding. Nothing was happening. Nothing was changing. She had done everything she could, and nothing was happening. Now look at what Luke 8:47 tells us about Hannie’s ANYTHING. “When the woman realized she couldn’t hide any longer, she came and fell trembling at Jesus’ feet. Before the entire crowd she declared, “I was desperate to touch you, Jesus, for I knew if I could just touch even the fringe of your robe I would be healed”. When Hannie realised that everything she could do wasn’t going to get her restored, she decided to do anything she could do to get her restored. And what did she do? Hannie decided to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. Look at what she said. “I was DESPERATE to touch you Jesus, for I KNEW if I COULD JUST TOUCH even the fringe of your garment, I WOULD be healed. Hannie realised that EVERYTHING she could do was within her comfort zone and ANYTHING she could do was outside her comfort zone. Hannie was comfortably doing everything she could do. And guess what? Everything she could do had a limit. It had an end. She got to a point where she had exhausted everything she could do. And then she started to repeat the pattern over and over again. She would go to the hospital again, she would eat fruits and vegetables again, she would do everything again. It became a pattern. The Holy Spirit needs us to understand that our hunger for Him, our thirst for more, our desire for Him, all of it can only be satisfied outside our comfort zone. Outside our “everything”.

So many of us are desiring of Jesus. So many of us are hungry for fire. We’re hungry to burn and burn for Him. We’re thirsty for Him, we want to be consumed with Him. We’ve done everything. We pray consistently, we study the word everyday. Yet, there’s no change. And just like Hannie, we begin to repeat the pattern. We keep doing the same thing over and over again, yet there’s no result. No change, no satisfaction. The truth is this: There’s no space for comfortability in Christianity. See, there’s no complexity in serving God. It’s simple. But it’s not easy too. It’s not comfortable. We can’t expect to experience more in our comfort zone. We can’t expect to be filled by only doing everything we can do to see Him. God is bigger than our comfort zone. He’s bigger than our space. And so we have to go outside our comfort zone to see the rest of Him.

So when we sing “I’ll do anything to see you”, do we really mean it? The song says “Lord please, HEAR MY HEART’S CRY. I’m DESPERATELY waiting to be where you are. I’ll cross the hottest deserts, I’ll travel near or far”. There’s a different kind of cry that our hearts cry. That’s the cry that the Holy Spirit listens to. That’s desperation. That’s the kind of cry that David cried. The cry that is desperate and longing, willing to do ANYTHING to see Jesus, to know Him. The Spirit and the Bride says come to all who are spiritually thirsty. It’s in the book of Revelation. But guess what? If you’re not thirsty, you won’t even make an attempt to come. The Holy Spirit needs us to get to that place of genuine desperation, the place where we are willing to do ANYTHING. Anything is ANYTHING. There’s no limit to it. There’s no end to it. Anything is ” whatever it is even, if it isn’t within my EVERYTHING. There’s a kind of cry that provokes God to move. That’s a cry of a desperate heart. The woman with the issue of blood said “if I could JUST TOUCH. As in, JUST TOUCH. This woman struggled through the crowd, she didn’t care that people were squeezing their faces in disgust as she passed, she didn’t care that she was being ridiculed. Her heart had began to cry. And she was moved to do ANYTHING as a result of that cry in order to get restored.

Friends, there’s so much of Christ to know. There’s so much to drink. There’s so much to experience. But there’s only so much we can experience in the space of our everything. Sometimes we’re scared to leave that space. We’re scared to come out of our comfort zone. We’re scared to do anything that would pinch us. But guess what? God honours sacrifice, so much so that in that place of sacrifice, in that place of doing anything, we find Him as He is. Three Thursdays ago, I woke up to go for my classes and the Holy Spirit told me to stay back and pray. I had two classes that day. 7-9am and 9-11am. I’m an auditory learner. I learn better when I listen. But the Holy Spirit told me to not go for that class and to stay back and pray. It seemed very absurd, it didn’t make sense. But I stayed back, and after my roommates left, I spent some hours enjoying fellowship with the Holy Spirit. And I can tell you with all honesty that I was short of words after that experience. I felt new. I felt alive. I felt revived. I felt like a new born baby. Sometimes, God would require us to give up so many things for His sake. It may seem hard, it may seem like it doesn’t make sense. But guess what? That’s your ANYTHING. And you’ll find more, you’ll see Him, when you do ANYTHING. I could tell you so many notable persons who did ANYTHING for the sake of God, who gave up ANYTHING just so they could be where He is. Paul is my favourite. That man literally said “to die is gain”. And we know how authentic Paul’s relationship with God was. Look at David. That man was a hungry man. There was never a time He wasn’t hungry or obsessed. He would go to the wilderness, even when He had a kingdom, and crave for God. Jesus tells us in the bible that “You’ll find me, when you seek me with ALL YOUR HEART“. We would find God, our hungry hearts would find Him, our thirsty hearts would find Him, when we seek Him with ALL OUR HEARTS. When we are willing to do ANYTHING, to give up ANYTHING, for His sake. Even when it is not comfortable with our flesh.

I’m so challenged by this revelation. I’m so challenged to get out of my space so I can be where He is. And so like Tasha sang, I’m making a declaration that for His Glory, I will do ANYTHING, I’ll do anything to see Him, to know Him. With all of my heart. Until later, God bless!

GOSPEL : THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!

Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. First for the Jew, then for the Gentiles”.

If like me you went to Sunday School all your childhood, you’ve probably heard this song:

If you do good, kingdom. Oh, oh, oh, oh Kingdom

Oh, oh, oh, oh Kingdom waiting for you

If you do bad, no-more-Kingdom

Oh, oh, oh, oh no-more–Kingdom

Oh, oh, oh, oh no-more-Kingdom

Waiting for you

Recently, I was thinking about the lyrics of this song and wondering who came up with it, especially alarmed because the song is primarily taught to children maybe with the idea, “let’s just sum up this salvation thing in a way they can quickly understand”. What troubles me even now is the fact that many who are Christian (perhaps 2, 10, 20 years in Faith) will read and hear those lyrics and can find nothing wrong with the song. Let me cut to the chase: THE SONG IS A BOLD-FACED ANTICHRIST LIE! One of my greatest concerns – it started last year sometime in June – is that there are so many professing Christians who actually know nothing about salvation and the reality of how it works, or how it comes.

I really, really like our opening verse because it is the summation of a lot of theology and contention that we have in the Church today. It says ‘the Gospel is the power of God UNTO SALVATION’.Whatever the Gospel is, in it we discover God’s power (not human power or willpower or some other power) to save (makes me think of that song ‘Mighty to Save’).

The word ‘Gospel’ itself gives us a clue about what the message should be like. At its root, the word ‘Gospel’ is a conjunction of two words which when translated literally mean ‘Good news’. So if you’re following me, you’ll see that this thing that is God’s power to save comes as some form of good news. This explains why in Romans 10:15, Paul says “how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things”. He wouldn’t call their feet ‘beautiful’ if they were harbingers of bad news. This gospel is a story of peace (Romans 5:1), it is ‘glad tidings (news) of glad things‘.

I’m a Law Student. Law Students have to learn these things called ‘maxims’ which are usually in Latin. Like proverbs or idioms, they compress a whole idea of truth in one sentence. There’s one of them: expressio unius est exclusio alterius i.e. the express mention of a thing excludes another. So if I say ‘all the girls, come and seat at this table’, it’s obvious I mean all the girls and no boys. In the same way, the fact that the word ‘gospel’ is qualified by such things as ‘good news’ and ‘glad tidings’ means that when we begin to get bad news or sad things, we already know that’s not the gospel. This slams the door on every sermon ever about fire and brimstone but no Jesus, that get people afraid and emotional but not repentant and never truly believing in Jesus, and a lot of the bullying done in the name of the gospel.

While those ones are obvious, we seem to have forgotten the other bad (oh so terrible) news preached from many pulpits in the name of the gospel. One of my favourite verses ever is Ephesians 2:8 “for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast”. Salvation is a gift! You do not earn a gift. You don’t pay for it. You receive it. This is the opposite of that sad news preached from pulpits I was talking about earlier. One thing so sad about this is the impossibility that these so called sermons preach about. How can we tell people to work their way to God or Heaven when Isaiah says in his 64th chapter that ‘all of our righteousness is as a filthy rag’? And those outside Christ are ‘dead in sin’? (they are dead in din. What they need is life. How can a dead person produce life? Eternal life? They need life first. And we know that dead people cannot raise themselves ) and ‘no person will be justified…by the works of the Law’ (Romans 3:20)? and ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23)? and ‘righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ…’ (Romans 3:22)?

I could go on and on but I’m sure that you see the point now. People who believe they can earn salvation have already put themselves in a trap. It is like pouring water in a basket. It will never fill. It is working for something that can never be earned. God saw that we couldn’t do it ourselves which is why He sent Jesus. If we could work our way to God, guess what? Jesus is a big waste of time. What am I driving at? Enough is enough of feeding people with the notion that somehow, they will work their way into being right with God. The GOSPEL, and not hell fire, or fear, is what brings salvation. It is also the power of GOD to save and not the power of some church doctrines about tattoos, earrings, make-up, speaking in tongues, and especially not human ability to please God. The way it works is: humanity owed God a debt, humanity was too poor to pay the debt, God asked his Son who could pay the debt to do so, if you accept that you owe this debt and receive the payment, you become debt-free. This simple logical plan is repentance and salvation.

I believe in balance so let me set something straight. Am I saying it’s just about believing in Jesus and then setting yourself on autocruise, doing what you want, when you want, and how you want? (let me put it like Paul) God forbid! Because salvation does not come by works does not mean that works have nothing to do with salvation. We must rightly divide these things. There’s a huge difference between ‘working for salvation’ and ‘working out salvation’ (Philippians 2:12). One is the hopeless contradictory situation of trying to ‘earn grace’ and the other is accompanying ‘faith with works’ (James 2:17 & 22). The summary is this: we do good not to be saved, but because we are saved. And if you claim to be saved but have no fruit of it, it places a huge question mark on your salvation. This is first for Born-Again Christians. Let’s stop selling people a false idea of how to get right with God. People’s souls are at stake here. And also, to those who are not yet believers or who intend to be believers , trust me when I say I know how popular the believe is that “if I do enough good things, God will like me/ I will make heaven/ I will have a good relationship with God”. Truth is, Jesus and Jesus alone, and his FINISHED work (as per, you do not add or take from it) is THE WAY to God. However, being saved does not end our relationship with the gospel. The same gospel that saved you is the one that will build you. In it, you will discover the finished work of Christ and what it means for you (Ephesians1:18) because that is the point of this faith. Hebrews 13:5-6 ‘For He Himself (God) has said…So we may boldly say’. What did He say? And what does it mean we can say? We must understand how what Jesus did affects us. This is why the Epistles must be a constant read for the Christian because in them, the Apostles explain what Jesus has given us.

Let me finish with this verse: “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace,which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)

The ‘word of his grace’ which is the gospel, will build you up and give you an inheritance with all the Saints. Solus Christus.

ALL HE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS IS A ROOM!

luke 2:7″She gave birth to her first son, wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them to stay in the inn

I wanted to tell you a story. A different Christmas story. Not the usual Bethlehem story. Not even the story from the prophecies of Isaiah. I wanted to share a totally different Christmas story which you’ve probably never heard of. But as I made my notes, proofread them, made corrections, and prepared to type, I remembered yesterday’s Sunday school lesson and suddenly, everything changed. Suddenly I got a different leading and a new revelation. I remembered the words of the speaker yesterday and I realized that I needed to share this. The intriguing thing is that this sudden revelation may have been completely ignored in the Christmas story seeing that it isn’t so relevant. Everybody has become so used to the “Mary the virgin getting pregnant and Joseph the carpenter being the obedient fiance and the wise men with their gifts and the shepherds following the star and the birth of the Savior of the world”. Yes. That’s the wonderful Christmas story. But there’s one lesson we’ve missed out on. And in as much as I’m itching to give you this amazing Christmas story that hasn’t been told before, I’ll be a good girl and share this lesson that the Holy Spirit laid in my heart.

I wasn’t exactly concentrating in church yesterday during Sunday school. I was at a new church with new faces and so I was a bit uncomfortable. I was actually looking at the silver ring on the finger of the speaker and wondering how old her marriage was as she had advanced in age. And while I was looking at the patterns on her dress, she called my attention and asked me to read out Luke 2:7 which is the bible verse above. And that was when it hit me. Poor Mary must have been very tired looking for a place to birth her child. Everywhere was occupied with people travelling for the census. The hotels were filled to their maximum capacity, the motels and inns had no extra bed. There was NO ROOM for Jesus to be born. You see, Mary was definitely not looking for a luxurious suite to birth her child. She wasn’t even looking for a well furnished comfortable room. All she wanted was a room. She didn’t mind that the room would have no furniture, no baby cot for the child, no fan even. She just wanted a room to deliver the Savior of the world and beyond.  But there was no room. And Jesus was born in a manger.

Today, even now, Mary is in labour, tired and stressed and ready to deliver. All she’s asking for is a room. From you. All she needs is room to birth Jesus in your life. Jonathan McReynolds (my ultimate favourite) brought me to tears with his song “make room”. Are you so occupied with frivolities and vanities that there is no single room for Jesus? Is your life so filled up with school and work and relationships and all the so-called necessities of life that there’s no room for Jesus? Are you leaving out Jesus in the dark manger because there’s no room for him in your life? Are you shutting the door of your heart because you’re too busy having fun and you can’t afford to make room for Jesus?

I wish we could see beyond the carols and the jingle bells and the Christmas lights and the delicious home made meals. Yes these things are good too but I wish we could take out time to look beyond them and see a tired Mary, heavy with child, seeking for a room in our hearts to birth Jesus. Christmas reminds us of the birth of the saviour of the world. But what is more important is that he hasn’t even been born in the lives of some of us. What then are we celebrating if he hasn’t been born in our lives? What are we dining and wining to if he hasn’t found room in us to be born? Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m not giving you what you want. Maybe I’m being overly spiritual in my understanding of Christmas and its significance. I’ve never even seen it this way myself. But the truth remains that all our celebrations, all our gifts, all our Christmas concerts, all the family dinners and hangouts, all of it is meaningless if we’ve not made room for Jesus to be born.

I’ve been saying for a while now that all I want for Christmas is a guitar (I still want one dad. Just in case you’re reading this). Now, Jesus is saying to you and I that all he wants for Christmas is a room in your life. Not the “Joy to the world” musicals and the “Oh holy night” specials. All he wants is a room. A room in your life for him. And as the year runs out, I’m telling him to move my habits over, to move my ego over, to move my plans over, to move over whatever it is that takes his space. I’m not keeping Mary out anymore. I’m making room for him to be born. Right now. And second to wanting a guitar for Christmas, I want you to do same with me. Until next year, God bless.

 

Before the evening comes.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 “Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say “Life is not pleasant anymore”.

One Tuesday afternoon, in a family law class, a question was thrown to the class by our dear lecturer. We were discussing adoption, and somehow there was a diversion and we found ourselves debating on how much level of education a woman should get before ” settling down” and by settling down I mean “getting married”. Of course, beautiful and ambitious Hadiza said her level of education should not scare a man away from her, but make him see her as an asset instead. Our sweet boy Jalil disagreed and said a woman who isn’t married in her early stage is less of a woman. Whoa! I was blown away with that very erroneous statement. However, our millionaire Chinyere said a woman needs to get married before “ the evening of her life comes“. That was such a poetic rhema lol. But yes, that’s the inspiration behind the title of today’s post. (The title and not the post itself.) I couldn’t get that phrase out of my mind. Before the evening comes. Before the sun sets. Before we become tired and go to bed. Before the evening comes.

In high school, we treated this poem in literature talking about the whole seasons in a man’s life starting from his birth, to his teen age, to his youth, and up to his old age which was his evening. From the tone of the poet, anyone could tell that the most exciting season of a person’s life is his youth. And I’m certain that you would agree with me as well. It’s amazing to be young. People attach “wild and free” to “being young”. And the popular snoop dog sang ” So what we get drunk,so what we smoke weed,we just having fun, we don’t care who sees, so what we get high, that’s how it’s supposed to be, living young and wild and free. So you see, it’s common knowledge that most people get to do everything they want and have fun and get the best out of life in their youth. Of course it’s good to have fun. I mean, we only live once don’t we? What is the point of being young if we can’t enjoy ourselves and do all the amazing things that a person can only do when he is young?

You see, God is just so smart and amazing. He must have reasoned that humans would want to get the best out of life in their “morning stage”, and rest in their ” evening”. And you know the good thing, he didn’t stop it. He could have as well programmed us to act like zombies and robots and do nothing exciting. But he didn’t. He gave us the go ahead to have fun in our youth, enjoy our youth, live our best life in our youth. All in our youth. But then again, Solomon who must have had all the good times in life reminds us that even in the midst of our fun and in all the excitement of our youth, it is pertinent that we remember God. When I first came across Ecclesiastes chapter 12, I was confused as to what “Remember your creator meant”. I didn’t forget him before. But as I asked the Holy Spirit to teach me and help me understand, it suddenly became clear. Imagine your dad gives you his credit card and tells you to go get whatever you want and have a good time. But before you leave, he tells you to remember him. I can’t speak for everyone but I know personally that in the process of spending his money and having fun,I remain conscious to the fact that I’m accountable to him and therefore I wouldn’t use all of the cool cash and do as I please. Because I would go back home to tell him how I used the blank check he gave to me. Because the credit card isn’t mine. Just like my life isn’t mine. I can have all the fun I want now, and in the process of doing so, forget that I would have to give an account for it.

Dear young person, dear youth, dear teenager, dear young adult, what better time to serve Jesus than now that we are young? Why wait till when your evening comes and you’re all tired and old? Solomon was a paragon of fun and enjoyment and the founder of the chop life gang himself. But in all of his wealth and glory, he concluded that all is vanity and the whole point of our existence is to fear God. To remember him. And our bonus as young people is that we can do that before our evening comes. We can have all the fun and good times we want, we can choose to live in the excitement that comes with youthful living. But even in that, all that Jesus is asking is that we remember him. He wants us to include him in our fun plan. He’s asking that we don’t forget to love him while living our best lives. He knows there is so much distractions and wrong assumptions that come with living in the fullness of our youth. But he’s asking that we remember him in all of it. He’s asking that we include him in all of our fun plans and ideas.We’ve left him out of the fun so many times because we think he’s a boring party spoiler. But today, he wants us to know that we can have fun with him. We can be young and dope for him. He’s not the boring solemn old person that we have envisioned him as. He doesn’t want us to get carried away with all the excitement and forget him. He wants to be involved now. Before our evening comes.

Someone asked me if I don’t feel like doing some of “these things” sometimes and get bored of Jesus. And that’s exactly the problem! Why should being a genuine Christian and having a relationship with Jesus seem boring and unappealing? People have become very accustomed to the mentality that the whole Christianity thing is just for the old and married people and then young people choose not to seek God and have a relationship with him because the thought of missing out on all the seemingly good things is unacceptable. I did think so too. But I’m beyond glad that I can testify that life with Christ is literally the BEST life. And it’s even better now that we are young, before the evening comes. So what do you say darling? Are you in? Until later, God bless! #YDFC

When it’s OK to strip!

Hebrews 12:1″Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

Tommy was the Usain Bolt of his time. He was fire on the field! Nobody could ever run faster than him. Tommy had won countless number of awards, and he was still collecting the trophies on a regular basis. You see, Tommy could have just been alright and perfect with his intelligence and skill. But he had to mess up everything by letting pride set in. So one race morning, Tommy woke up and felt he wasn’t recognised as he should so he decided to carry about 120 past trophies with him while running that day so that people would know he didn’t have much to loose if he didn’t win that day. Tommy legit tied up all that heavy metal to his back, put some on his head, and set out for the race. He thought he was so good, he could win the race with all the excess baggage he had. And so when the race began, it was no surprise that he couldn’t go twenty feet before he started to stagger and pant. “What? Why am I staggering? Ok maybe I’ll just drop 10 of these trophies. I’ll definitely be faster then”. So my boy Tommy dropped some of his accomplishments on the ground and continued the race. No need to say that he was way behind others still. He dropped some more on the ground, but no matter how many he let go of, he just couldn’t run faster. With much hesitation and struggle, Tommy finally dropped ALL of the weight he was carrying, and that was when he could push forward and win the race.

You know guys, when I think of it, I think I am presently a Tommy right now and this post or message or whatever you choose to call it is meant for ME. Yes I know I’m the one doing the typing and all, but the way my spirit man is piercing my conscience right now as I’m seated on the couch typing this, I am more than convinced that this sudden WORD is meant for ME. And in as much as I’m resisting to, I’m going to tell you how. Hopefully, someone somewhere is in the same place I was and after reading this, would be able to come out of it.

You see, I’m a very private person. I might be all smiles and jumpy outwardly, but there’s a lot I don’t share with people because I’m dealing with some insecurities. What I’m about to share right now, only very few of my really close friends, and my family are aware of. Personally I don’t feel it’s alright to bring my past to the open, but I know God has a purpose for telling me to do so. So here goes. When I was about 7 or 8, I was abused sexually for the first time. No need to go into major details, but I was just a tiny child in primary 3 whose vulnerability and low self-esteem was taken advantage of by a school bus conductor. Well fast forward to high school, we relocated so I thought I was over that. Only for an electrician in the house to take advantage of daddy’s spoilt fan and mommy’s non-functional micro-wave to sexually abuse a 10 year old. Again. For the second time. Fortunately, somehow dad and mom found out about his ‘electric fixings’ on their little girl and sent him away. I thought that was it, nobody could make a mess of me again. But then, I was wrong. Jss2 came and some senior boys in the school bus felt it would be fun to practice what they watched on the driver’s phone on a small girl who had low self-esteem, and who couldn’t bring herself to trust anyone. So for about two years, this girl was manhandled on a daily basis, both verbally and physically, by not less than 4 senior boys at the last row, the last seat, in the school bus. Sometimes she pretended like she was asleep just so that she didn’t feel like she was intentionally letting them use her the way they wanted, like a football on a field. No she didn’t tell anyone, not because she didn’t want to, but because the people who she thought were her friends, who she once tried to tell about what was happening cornered her at the back of science complex after school one day and slapped her and called her a whore and all sort of sexual abusive names. Anyways, her sister got to know about it and she told their parents. Her dad took her out of the school and moved her to another school. Finally, she graduated from high school and moved to the university where unfortunately, she met again one of those ‘senior boys’ who had contributed to her misery. This time though, it was harder that she had to see him everyday in school, remembering every minute he had laid his hands on her.

You see guys, when Paul says in Hebrews that we should strip off EVERY weight that slows us down in our race, in our walk with God, he didn’t just mean sin alone. He said EVERY weight. It could be weight from the past like mine was, it could be weight from negative people in your life, it could be weight from distractions, it could be weight from toxic relationships, it could be weight from secret sins, it could be weight from any thing. I got to realise, though a little late, that holding on to my past experiences, not forgiving myself and all those people that hurt me, and not letting God forgive me, was slowing me down in my walk with God. It was so much weight on my shoulders, that whenever I tried to move forward in my relationship with God, I just couldn’t. Because those things I allowed to stay were weighing me down. And I couldn’t chase and run after God the way I wanted to. The way I needed to. I had to put away my past, as hard as it was, with prayers, with tears, with trusting the right people, and most importantly with trusting God, before I was able to move forward. Man I had to strip! Now I understand that it isn’t as easy as it sounds (believe me I do understand). But unless you want to win the race, unless you want to move forward, baby you’ve got to strip. You’ve got to lay aside that sin, that past, that person, that relationship, that attitude,and that unnecessary pride. You’ve got to strip off them and RUN. Because nothing, absolutely nothing, is worth compromising your faith for. I’m still on the process, but at least I’m moving forward. Don’t stay where you are because of some heavy weight. God is ready to work on you if you’re willing to let him. Take them off and chase him. You could never move foward with God if you’re still comfortable with that weight that easily trips you. Now I didn’t say so, Apostle Paul did. Until later, God bless.

PS: PLEASE SHARE THIS TO ANYONE YOU THINK WOULD NEED IT. SOMEONE OUT THERE MIGHT BE ON THE VERGE OF LOOSING. GOD BLESS YOU!

What are you craving for? The giver or the gift?

Psalms 63:1’O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.’

Imagine getting back from work or school, soaked in sweat from the hot sun, and so thirsty, you could hardly breathe. I’m certain that the first thing you would reach for once you’ve gotten home is a cold bottle of water to quench your thirst. But what happens if you get home and there is no water at all😣? Do you then take a slice of bread that won’t satisfy you but only make you thirstier?

For a while now I haven’t been so active on the blog and that’s because I was trying to be refilled with the thing that matters most to me. It seemed so much like I was drained and dehydrated, and I was trying to get my satisfaction from somewhere else other than Jesus. I was suffering from a kind of loss and I thought I could fill up the vacuum in my heart with frivolities and things that don’t really matter. But I wasn’t feeling better. I talked to a few friends about it and I thought I’d be fine. But that emptiness was still there. But guess who helped me out? His royal majesty, King David. Apparently, David had experienced what I was experiencing and he knew just what I needed. And I’ll tell you how.

So a really long time ago, David was forced to leave his throne and run to the wilderness to save his life. I can’t tell if he was pursued by ‘bad guy Saul’ or by ‘bad guy Absalom’ at that time but I know it wasn’t a good one. He had to leave the palace and his Kingdom. He was in so much trouble and his life was in danger. Man he didn’t have water, and you can tell how thirsty he must have been with the sun shining its brightest. And you know what was worse, God wasn’t so pleased with him at that time. So David’s greatest loss wasn’t just that he had been separated from his power and rule or that he was in the wilderness. It was that he had been separated from the worship of God, from his presence. And you know what David wanted the most? He wanted the lord. He wanted to be filled and be consumed with the presence of the Lord. Even with the ache all over his body, with the sun beating down on him, with his Kingdom lost and his life in danger, all David thirsted for was Jesus. If you read further in Psalms 63, David said he is satisfied in the presence of the Lord. David wasn’t craving for the power he had lost, for the kingdom he had been forced to give up. He wasn’t craving for the gifts. He wanted the Giver who could fill him to the brim and quench his thirsty soul. Because the giver is enough for him.

Sweetheart, what’s your satisfaction? What are you thirsting for? Whose touch does your body yearn for? Are you after the gifts that can only satisfy for a short time or the Giver that satisfies forever? You see, our hearts would forever be restless until we find rest in him. Because the Giver did not make us to be filled up by the gifts but only by the Giver. Man was created for God, and at the core of our being is a vaccum that only God can fill. Until Jesus is enough for you, until Jesus becomes your satisfaction, nothing else can. Not the pleasures of the world, not a man, not a woman, not a porsche assurance, not school grades, not your career, not children, not anything. That emptiness that we sometimes feel in our hearts can only be filled up by Jesus. That’s why he said we should seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness. You see that? He comes first. Isn’t it time for us to get to that stage where even in the most challenging wilderness, all we thirst for is his presence? Even in the midst of heartbreak and hopelessness, all our soul yearns and longs for is him? It isn’t even enough to thirst for God. We need to be satisfied in him. We need to enjoy him. William Guthrie said “It’s the experience of a christian to be able to say of Christ, less would not satisfy, more is not desired.” That is he alone is enough for us. Even without the gifts. Today’s post is a wake up call. What indeed are we after? Where is our satisfaction found in? Is our soul really thirsting for more and more of Jesus or are we thirsting only for what he has to offer? We don’t even need to get to the point where we loose everything before we begin to long for God. Even in abundance, in times like this where it is so easy to be consumed by the interesting offers of this world, our satisfaction, our completenes, can only be found in Jesus. In the Giver.

I’ll end with the story of the young man who went to an old preacher in search for God. After so much talking and the old man noticed there was no progress, he took the young man to the river, grabbed his head, and put it inside the river. The young man was squirming and struggling so bad to get his head out of the river but he couldn’t. Finally, the old man brought him out of the water and asked,”just now, what did you need more than anything?” “Air of course!”,the young man replied. Smiling, the old man said “so son, when you want God as bad as you wanted air,you’ll find him”. Until later, God bless!

If you’re in the middle, he’ll vomit!

Revelation 3:15-16″I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other. But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!

Hot. Cold. I remember some primary school recitals. Multiplication table, Roman numerals, word and opposite. Hot. Cold. Two words that have direct contrast. It was either hot or cold. There was never a space for Mr lukewarm. I guess you’re wondering where I’m going to right? Maybe Luke would help us understand better.

Luke Warmer Middleton just got into college. He was so excited to begin a new phase of his life, and get involved with the activities and fun encounters in the college. Oh how he couldn’t wait! On his first day, the trumpeter group approached him and talked him into joining the group. After playing his favourite song, Luke became obsessed with the trumpet. He joined the group immediately, and started to do everything they did together. In fact, Luke became a trumpet himself. A week after, the horn players approached Luke, and after playing his favourite song as well, Luke fell in love with the horn. However, the school policy was that a student could only belong to one music group. Luke refused to choose between the trumpet and the horn. He wanted to be part of both even when he had to pick one. He wanted to do a little of trumpet and a little of horn too. On the day of the school’s musical play, Luke put both the trumpet and the horn in his mouth and tried to play both at the same time. The sound was so terrible and disturbing that the music director came up stage and sent him out of the hall and out of music. From that day, everyone called him the middle man.

Now as unrealistic as this illustration may seem, I believe it helps clarify our subject matter to an extent. If you go through revelations chapter 3 (very mind-stricking chapter!), you’ll discover that Christ had a whole lot to say to the churches of old. However, the most relatable one that really got me was the message to the church in Laodicea. That church though! Have you ever puked because you were so irritated with something that you couldn’t stand? That was exactly how God felt about the Laodicean church. These people were described as lukewarm. They weren’t hot and they weren’t cold.They just had a little bit of hot and a little bit of cold. To understand better, let’s differentiate between hot and cold (not literally of course). You see, light is accompanied with heat. A candle can only burn and give light when it is lit right? Now imagine a cold dark house filled with people. Once the fire place is set, people would automatically rush towards it to get warm and to see. The light of Christ inevitably produces a strong sense of warmth in a believer’s heart. Your soul and whole body begins to burn for Christ and you so desperately want to be aligned with him so that you can please him. In other words, you’re HOT for him. A hot Christian. But on the other hand, when you can no longer feel the heat, the burning passion, the fiery vibe in your heart, you may be seen as COLD. A cold Christian no longer feels the need to be with Christ and so blends into the attributes of the World. But do you know what strikes me the most? It is the fact that Jesus would rather a person be cold than lukewarm! A lukewarm person is not totally hot and not totally cold. He’s somewhere in the middle. Sometimes he gets attracted to God for a moment and maybe feels the need to pray. Other times he joins the crowd and live the life hard, having a “good” time. So he’s the middleman. He wants to taste both sides. Jesus said in Mathew 12:30 : “whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters”. There is no space for lukewarm friends. God hates lukewarm! The worst thing about lukewarm Christians is that they are unable to see their own spiritual condition for what it is. At least, a cold Christian is aware that he isn’t for God anymore. But a lukewarm Christian thinks he is for God whereas he’s not. I understand that times are hard and day by day it gets harder for a Christian (teenager) to maintain his stand. But we need to pick a stand. My friends would say “pick a struggle”. We need to define our lives. Are we burning for Christ or for the world? If we are in the middle, we’re sending out a message to non believers that it’s OK to sit on the fence. We’re saying it’s OK to listen and get interested with ungodly stuffs, and come to church on Sunday to lift up holy hands. Isn’t it sad that Jesus would wish a person was cold, than for that person to mix godliness and ungodliness in the same cup? I’m not saying we have to be perfect. Sometimes I get carried away and find myself doing things that God abhors. But we need to set our standard straight. Let people know where we stand. We can’t be professing God this minute and be doing otherwise the next minute. Of course Jesus wants everyone to be for him. But he doesn’t want our partial commitment. He wants us to burn for him alone without getting attracted or associated with wordly pleasures. This is difficult and may seem impossible. So I believe that one way to keep the fire burning is to make repentance a habit. Realign yourself with Jesus everyday. Victoria Orenze said “when they see me, they see Jesus”. Make confession a habit so that people would see Jesus when they see you , and won’t have to think twice to speak about you. So the question now is, are you Hot or Cold? Are you making God crave your heat or making him puke from your lukewarmness? Pick a stand today my love. You’re either for Christ or against him. There’s no space for lukewarm. May the fire on our altar never run dry. Until later, God bless!
PS: Thanks a whole lot for the continual support family! I’m beyond grateful. Don’t forget your questions, contribution, constructive criticisms and encouragements are more than welcome in the comment section. Please share and help others get blessed too!