Category: Spiritual

Low Information Diet: The Breakfast of Champions

I read a lot of books because I write a lot…

Or maybe I write a lot because I read a lot.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions”. Since books are compendiums of experiences, it is safe to assume that reading books can stretch the mind into new frontiers.

Last year was a great year of reading for me…I think I read about 50 – 60 books.

Pretty impressive, right?

However, I am starting to find out that I had been going about reading books the wrong way. I realized that I was focusing on ‘just-in-case’ information, rather than ‘just-in-time’ information. ‘Just-in-case’ information leads to action paralysis which is often due to mental clutter fluttering through the mind. You’re merely accumulating information just for its sake. You really don’t need that!

What you need is ‘Just-in-time’ information which would give you a competitive advantage over anything that life may throw at you.

 

David and Saul

Image result for david and goliath

When reading the story of David and Goliath, many people fail to realize that the war between the Israelites and the Philistines was that prolonged because of ‘Just-in-case’ information.

Take a look at the following verses from 1 Samuel 17:1-7, 16.

“Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him…

…And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.“

How were the Israelites able to measure Goliath’s height with stunning accuracy? Six cubits…and a span. It doesn’t get more accurate than that!

How were they able to know that his helmet was made of brass, and his coat made of mail…without even touching him?

How were they able to know that Goliath’s spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron, or that his coat weighed five thousand shekels of brass…all the way from the mountain where they were standing?

All these unnecessary information kept the Israelites captive to one man. For 40 days!!!

If they had put down their compasses, set squares, French curves and protractors, and simply got down to attacking the Philistine army, they might have had a shot at winning the battle.

If you can take this, you would be on the right path of simplifying your life greatly: Not every information is important!

I know this post started with mere accumulation of information from books, but it’s much more than that!

There are several of you reading this right now, who have been held captive to information overload from gossip blogs and news sites. For others, it is their Facebook feeds and emails. Still, others more (including yours’ sincerely), it is your favorite football team. You know your team’s latest scores, their transfer targets and the jersey numbers of everyone on the team – including the B team!

Regardless of the type of information, our minds are just being bombarded time and time again with ‘just-in-case’ information that we do not need.

I mean, who gives a rip about whether Kim Kardashian was really tanned or not?

How is knowing ‘the number of times Jon was stabbed when he was murdered at Castle Black’ going to benefit you?

Who cares whether EFCC has the best Twitter handler ever?

Not every information is important!

Goliath was trending and David didn’t even know!

This simple fact of David choosing to be ignorant about Goliath’s attributes and well-informed about the attributes of God positioned him for victory. What Saul and the Israelites saw as too big to defeat, David saw as too big to miss!

 

The Tetris Effect

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If you’re old enough, I am sure you should be familiar with Tetris. You know, that game where you had to arrange falling blocks into empty pockets of space at the lower part of your game screen. If you were not able to do this fast enough and the blocks got to the high enough to stop more blocks from falling, it was game over.

Well, some scientists decided to have some more fun with this game.

So, they got a bunch of Tetris lovers and made them play the game for extended periods of time – up to hours a day for weeks!

Here’s the interesting thing that happened next.

The gamers started seeing everything around them like, wait for it…falling blocks!!!

It was terrible. I can almost imagine one of the participants just sitting there chilling and busy figuring out the kind of block that would fit into the space between two cars following each other!

However, you shouldn’t be surprised with the findings. The Bible had been right all this while and it’s always nice to see science finally catching up with the Word.

Whatever you focus on continually would manifest in your life!

This is why Proverbs 4:23 says, ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.’

A lot of people are not are not diligent with what they allow to go into their hearts. This can happen in two major ways:

  1. A lot of people are focused on all the wrong things. We are all aware that if you focus on the negatives, you would lead a stifled life. I’m not going to dwell too much on this.
  2. A lot of people are focused on too many right things at the same time! I’m more concerned about this second way because it is much more prevalent in our day and time.

Back in the days, I used to think it was cool to be focused on so many things at the same time. In fact, I used to pride myself on my ability to multitask because I had multiple talents. However, if you go through the path of trying your hands on everything you come across, you would find yourself living under the illusion of being an expert when in the real sense, you are not. It would also force you to be spread out too thin – since you are simply trying your hands on everything and not spectacular in anything. Man was not made to be spread out thin. Rather, he was created to have depth!

This is why I say multitasking is the highway to mediocrity because the only thing you become good at doing is doing multiple things poorly!

 

There Is A Better Way

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I have said it before – God is The God of Principles.

Sadly, we live in a generation that gets the order of God wrong every single time:

We first try to accumulate the information we think we need and then we try to ask God to approve our agenda. When we find out that the agenda does not work out, we dump it somewhere in the recesses of our brain – alongside the information we gathered with it.

Wasting precious time and mental resources.

And then, we look for the next shiny information source to consume.

The cycle always repeats itself again!

Listen up: God is deliberate.

I do not think He created us to be Jacks of all trades, and masters of none.

Just the same way each cell in our bodies has a specific purpose which contributes to the general well-being of the body, I believe every individual has something specific to contribute to God’s wonderful ongoing story of creation.

The only way to find that specific purpose that God wants you to do with your life is to ask Him to reveal this to you. Only then would it make sense to start accumulating as much information as possible on your highly specific assignment.

We were not created to be spread out thin like shrubs. Rather, God designed us to be trees with depth in Him.

Find your purpose in Him first!

Then you can start building depth in God through the Word and cultivating expertise through accumulating “just-in-time” information within that narrow niche.

God bless.

 

Who Died And Made You God?

Within the space of two weeks, two different people within my circle of influence were visibly shaken by other people’s opinions about them. One moment, we were talking and jesting, the very next moment, they were wrapped with so much doubt and uncertainty in themselves. What I found most appalling is the fact that nobody had been physically present to make them feel bad.

I can empathize since I was once a victim too.

I had always attached a large importance to what people thought about me. In fact, in a bid to maintain my “Nice Guy” persona, I went to great lengths to conform to other people’s expectations of me. Not only did this leave me in the quagmire of mediocrity, I was also constantly overwhelmed and frustrated, because I was spread out too thin, trying to “meet up with the standard”.

Right now, God has cultivated me to the point where I really could not give a rip about your opinions of me.

Remember this?

By the way, you can still get your copy by clicking on the picture above!

Anyways, I may still have tendencies to be shy in a new environment, but I am secure in the love of the Father to know that He’s got me – any day, any time. Of course, by now, you should know that one of my favorite Scriptures I like to quote about this matter is John 12:3-5:

“Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”

Are you like the way I used to be? Frustrated and overwhelmed with meeting up with the opinions of others? Pay attention to the following practical tips that may be helpful in helping you to a life of freedom and abundance – just as God wants it!

 

The Father, The Son And The…Donkey!

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I’m sure I’ve heard Ebenezer Obey sing a song about the story I am about to share. Ah! The good ol’ days…

But I digress.

So, there was this old man who had a son and a donkey. They were apparently going on a long journey and the father put the boy on the donkey, while he walked by the side. As they moved along, they passed some old women sitting in the shade. One of the women called out (I’m pretty sure she was a Yoruba woman), ”Ahhhhhh…..Shame on you, a fully fit boy, riding while your old father is walking. What is this world turning to? Ahhhh….the children of nowadays!”

The man and boy decided that maybe the critics were right, so they swapped positions.

Later as they passed by a group of mothers watching their young children play by the river. One (Yoruba woman, of course!) cried out in protest, ” Ahhhhh….eh!!! Oooooooo!!! Ahnahn! Ahnhan! Ahnhan! Wat hapin na? How can you make your little boy walk under this terribly hot sun while you ride! Ahnhan…don’t you have any conscience?”

So, what did the duo do? They simply decided that maybe it would be in their best interest to walk.

Next, they met some young Warri men hanging out.

“Oboi! See craze o! You guys have a healthy donkey to ride on, and yet you’re both walking!” one of them shouted.

So, both the old man and his son climbed the donkey.

Then they met a group of Animal lovers….

Of course, one of them shouted, “You people are so mean! Imagine you were the donkey, how would you feel carrying two people on your back?”

The old man and the boy saw that there was clearly no way out of their ‘predicament’, so they struggled to carry the donkey.

As they crossed a bridge, they lost their grip on the really confused animal and it fell to its death in the river!

This is pretty much the first lesson to be learnt: Irrespective of what you do, people would always talk about you!

If you do something, they would talk. If you refuse to do anything, they would still talk. It makes absolutely no difference if you do anything or not, because people would always find a way to still talk about whatever you do.

Funny enough, in my experience, I was able to find freedom to live above people’s opinions of me the moment I realized that opinions would still be formed – regardless of what I do. If that’s that’s the case, I might as well go ahead with what I feel God is leading me to do per time!

 

Nothing Has Meaning, Except The Meaning You Give To It

Image result for janus optical illusion

Some days ago, I wrote the following on my Facebook wall:

“All human phenomena are absurd outside context. E.g, money: ‘Give me this Ferrari and I’ll give you a piece of paper with digits. Deal?'”

I was with a person who posted Christian content on his personal Facebook wall.

Now, that would not have really mattered, except when you consider the fact that this person is a highly-placed individual in a very secular community. So, naturally, some people started criticizing him for posting such content.

That really got to him.

I mean, it’s not like he shared some nudity or pornographic images on his Facebook timeline. He only shared a few encouraging lines from the Bible and he was being criticized for it?

If you look at the issue the way I have started seeing things, you’d realize that some things do not even make sense at all, except you decide to read meanings. Everyone accesses social media via their phones and laptops and if you are working yourself up because someone criticizes you on social media, in the ‘realest‘ sense, you are actually getting worked up with your phone! Whoever is criticizing you online is not in the same room with you, and there is no need for you to waste mental energy rehearsing your rebuttal in your mind. There is simply no time for that!

I remember a story I heard while growing up. Now, don’t quote me anywhere because I’m not sure whether it’s fact or fiction.

So, this witch went to a party and she was served jollof rice and fried rice – topped with chicken wings. She took offense and some days later, she started afflicting the family who organized the party. One way or the other, the witch was soon found out and she was asked why she decided to afflict the family.

Her response? Her rice was topped with chicken wings, instead of chicken thighs!

While some of you might laugh at the story I just shared, a lot of you reading this post are just the same way. In fact, so many would be offended if they went to a party and were served water, instead of juice or wine. They would forget that water is probably the healthiest liquid you can drink. Rather, they would think that they have just received the worst insult that any human could possibly endure!

Don’t even get me started with those who feel offended because someone handed something over to them with their left hand – instead of the right hand….

 

Receive Understanding To Tie It All Together

You would not believe it (just kidding!), but God has an opinion.

He has an opinion about everything – and He has His opinion about you!

If there was ever an opinion you need to highly consider in your life – that opinion is God’s.

This is where Understanding comes in play.

You see, Understanding is a supernatural discernment and perception of reality from God’s point of view. In essence, it is perceiving and accepting God’s opinion about things, people and places per time.

The truth is that with Understanding, it is impossible for you to be confounded, depressed, confused or at a loss. Why? You have the benefit of a supernaturally elevated perception – one that is backed by the very breath of God. By understanding, you are tuned into the dynamics of the spirit and your comprehension of actions, events and intentions becomes razor-sharp.

To me, the most outstanding feature of understanding is that it is applicable to EVERY aspect of your life. That includes your physical well-being, career, social life, relationships, spiritual walk with God, emotional intelligence, financial health and so on.

Proverbs 8:9 says, ‘They are ALL plain to him that understandeth’

Understanding makes all things plain to an individual.

Understanding is all-encompassing.

When it’s in full manifestation in your life, you understand the ways and timings of God, you undestand people, you understand things, and most importantly, you’d understand how God sees you.

He sees you as righteous.

He sees you as anointed.

He sees you as wise.

He sees you as forgiven.

God sees you as beloved!

The more you focus on God’s perspective of you, the more you can walk in the full awareness of God’s love – without anybody’s opinions holding you to ransom!

And if they try, you can look them squarely in the eyes and ask them, “Who Died And Made You God?!”

 

Truths YOU HAVE TO START Keying Into

Wow!

It feels so good to be back here. Yeah, I know you must have missed me very much. Don’t worry folks, over the next couple of days (or maybe weeks) I’d more than make up for my enforced ‘sabbatical’ from blogging.

While I was ruminating on what to use for marking my return to blogging, I realized that there were numerous Children of the Light who had no idea of certain laws, perks or if you like, truths that should govern their everyday life. For this reason, I felt that I should share some of them with you:

1. The Holy Spirit makes intercession for you (Rom 8. 26)

2. Christ makes intercession for you (Rom 8. 34)

3. You are putting on Christ (Gal 3. 2, 5)

4. You have the Spirit of God’s Son resident in you (Gal 4. 6)

5. You have been blessED with all spiritual blessings in Christ by God (Eph 1. 3)

6. You WERE CHOSEN in Christ before the earth’s foundation to be holy and blameless (Eph 1. 4)

7. You’ve been acceptED as one of God’s beloved (Eph 1. 6)

8. You’ve BEEN MADE to sit together with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2. 6)

9. Through Christ, you have access by the Holy Spirit to the Father’s presence (Eph 2. 18)

10. The power of God in you, is able to do for you more than what you ask or think (Eph 3. 20)

11. God is at work within you to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil 2. 13)

12. God has qualifiED you to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light (Col 1. 12)

13. God has deliverED you from the power of darkness and translatED into the kingdom of His dear Son (Col 1. 13)

14. All treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ. Interestingly, your life is also hid in Christ! (Col 2. 3; 3. 3)

15. You have been elected in God (1 Thess 1. 4)

16. The Word of God works effectively in you (1 Thess 2. 13)

17. You have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness (1 Pet 1. 3)

18. You have been called to be a partaker of the Divine Nature (1 Pet 1. 4)

19. In everything, you are enriched in Christ (1 Cor 1. 5)

20. You are God’s temple and the Holy Spirit resides in you (1 Cor 3. 16)

21. You have the Mind of Christ (1 Cor 2. 16)

22. All things are yours….and you belong to Christ (1 Cor 3. 21, 23)

23. You are joined to the Lord and you are one spirit with Him (1 Cor 6. 17)

24. You are the image and the glory of God (1 Cor 11. 7)

25. There’s a treasure in you (2 Cor 4. 7)

26. You are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor 5. 21)

It doesn’t stop here.

You can take up the Word of God and search for more verses that tell you who you are in Christ. Feel free to add more to the comments section below….

What He Did For You: A Physiologist’s Viewpoint

I felt the need to take some time out just to try and summarize the PHYSICAL implications of what Christ did for you and I over two millenia ago. This goal of this piece isn’t to undermine, but to make you all the more appreciate the spiritual significance of Christ’s death and resurrection.

At the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ’s sweats were as droplets of blood. This is medically referred to as HEMATIDROSIS. It occurs in instances of great emotional distresses, as a result of ruptures of the capillaries of the sweat glands. The condition usually makes the skin very tender, meaning that the physical assaults that Christ would later receive were going to be really painful for Him.

After Christ was arrested for a sham trial, He was smitten on behalf of the High Priest, by an officer. Though, we can’t determine the exact force of the blow, it’s easy to estimate that these early beatings were sufficient to induce MULTIPLE CONTUSION, especially because Christ had earlier gone through a phase of HEMATIDROSIS.

Between the Lord’s Supper and the end of the Roman trial, Christ endured great emotional stress compounded by His disciples absconding and a beating after the Jewish trial. He was forced to walk for almost 3 miles to the various trial sites. Besides, Christ must have slept little (if at all) and all these factors were going to make Him particularly vulnerable to the severe scourging He’d later receive.

The whips used by the Roman soldiers had thongs, to which small iron balls or sheep bones were tied at intervals. Though, Jewish law commanded that the highest strokes a man could receive was 39, the Romans had no limits. So, it’s save to say that Christ’s flogging could have been much worse.

Christ was whipped by two Roman soldiers referred to as LICTORS. He was whipped on His Chest, Back, Gluteus and Legs. The beatings tore His Skin and underlying subcutaneous tissues. Then the underlying muscles were tattered by the whippings. The ribs could have been fractured by repeated blows, leading to laceration of superficial blood vessels. At a point of the fierce whippings, blood would have spurted out of His deep wounds with each beat.

Blows to Christ’s back would have been excrutiatingly painful. Perforation of the back muscles by the whippings would send impulses that exceeded the pain threshold. The spinous processes of His vertebrae would have been cracked as a result of the beatings.

By the time the lictors were done, Christ had lost so much blood that He had a reduced blood pressure and blood flow. This would have led to a state of shock which would in turn lead to irreversible cell and organ damage.

A crown of thorns (which was most likely to be a helmet of thorns, rather than a carefully plaited crown) was placed on Christ’s head. With the crown on His head, He was also receiving blows to that same head. This would have driven the thorns deeper into the highly vascularized scalp and forehead. At this point, the pain could be best described as indescribable, because of the perforation of nerves, arteries and veins on His head.

Roman soldiers got Christ a royal robe which they consistently wore and took of Him. Each time this happened, the clotted blood on His wounds would reopen, bleed and cause more pain.

Weakened from His scourging, Christ was made to carry His Cross. He fell from the weight of the Cross. This could have led to a blunt chest trauma and a contused heart.

Christ was dehydrated and hypovolemic by the time He reached Golgotha. Nails of about 5 to 7 inches in length were driven into His hands and feet. The nails caused injuries to His median, peroneal and plantar nerves. Insects burrowed into open wounds and orifices in His battered body.

On the cross, Christ had difficulty in breathing. Maximum inhalation was only possible when His body weight was supported by His outstretched arms. But exhalation was impossible in this position, besides, the pain would be too much for His perforated arms to bear, so He had to shift His weight back to His lower extremeties. Christ had to alternate between the two positions just to keep breathing, yet He also had to be careful so as not to reopen clotted wounds. Eventually, fatigue would build up in His muscles and so, He was forced to support His weight on His lower extremeties. Not being able to breathe properly, Christ’s chest and respiratory muscles became paralyzed with increased strain and pain. The inevitable was only moments away…

To ascertain Christ’s clinical death, a random Roman soldier pierced Christ’s side at an angle that reached the base of His heart. The serous pericardial fluid, as well as blood from the heart, gushed out of Christ’s side.

Christ was buried and on the third day, He was resurrected and now is on the right side of power.

But what I continually see, is Christ, with His outstretched arms on the Cross, saying:

“I love you this much. I’d rather die, than live without you”

What would your response be ?!!

How To Command God: Quick Steps

Motivational preacher’d be like:
“And I shouted, “God!” and INSTANTLY He replied me, “Yes, my son!”. Then I told Him, “Move this mountain, Lord!” and He said, “Yes, my son! Would that be all?””

And I’m like: Is that the picture of the Ancient of Days you have in your puny mind…sir ?!!
A talkative God?
A God you can wrap around your little finger?
A God that is waiting on you just to serve all your whims?
An inferior God?

(Before I go on, I must say that the title of this post is a LITTLE bit….er….misleading. You won’t be seeing any tips on how to command God. Sorry to disappoint you, but kindly spare me some minutes. I promise you won’t regret it)

Now, on commanding God, it seems to me that a lot of preachers have taken Isaiah 45 vs 11, a bit out of context. The verse says,

“Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and His Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hand, command ye me”

So, they see the phrase, “Command ye me” and then proceed to exercise their “authority” over the LORD Almighty.

Funny, isn’t it?

But to have a better understanding of the contextual meaning of a Biblical text, it pays to read the preceeding and suceeding verses.

Verse 10 says,
” Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? Or to his mother, What hast thou brought forth? ”

Now, this is getting interesting!

From Isaiah 45 vs 10, it is apparent that verse 11 is a QUESTION!!!
In essence, God is saying: Inasmuch as you can’t question your parents about why they gave birth to you or why you have certain features in your physique, you also can’t question His purpose regarding you!
He’s not asking you to command Him.
Instead, God is saying, “You shouldn’t dare to command Me!”

Well, that should settle this issue.

But if you still have doubts, let’s check verses 12 and 13:

“I have made the earth and created man upon it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city and shall ket go my captives, not for price or reward, saith the LORD of hosts”

Regardless of what we declare, decree or command, it is His Will and Purpose for our lives that would stand in the end.

Look, don’t waste your time commanding Jehovah to do your own selfish, lustful desires. We are not meant to command God. We are meant to do His own will and bidding.

Do yourself a favour: Whenever you pray, instead of commanding God, find His perfect will by His Spirit; and pray in that line.

Remember, swimming against the tide causes you to expend a lot of energy while you cover very little ground.
On the other hand, flowing with the tide is both easier and rewarding.

Be wise!!!

A Phone’s Kind Of Faith

I use a small java phone:

The Nokia C2-05.

It is a slide phone with ‘old-fashioned’ alphanumeric keys.

Over the past couple of years, the phone has been quite indispensible to me.

I make and receive calls on it.
With it, I send and receive text messages.
Since I don’t have a laptop, I surf the net with this same phone.
I check mails and maintain THIS blog with it.
I even upload and download files and ebooks on it.

Now, a couple of months back, I was going through some trying moments. I believe God ministered to me with this analogy:

We pick up our phones and effortlessly expect to send and receive messages, make and receive calls, browse, upload and download files. Instances when this doesn’t happen, we simply check the phone settings (or our airtime balances!) and rectify the issue.

No wires link our phones to the sites we download from.
No ropes join our phones to other phones when we make calls or send messages.

Instead, we believe and unconditionally trust in the unseen microwaves and radiowaves in the air, even though we don’t see them.

Yet, when asked to have faith in the power of God, we fidget and fret!
We ask to see physical manifestations, first!

You see, prior to the discovery of phones, telecommunication towers and satellite dishes, already there were invisible microwaves and radiowaves. Because man was unaware of them then didn’t mean they didn’t exist.

Thankfully, man learnt to harness these invisible waves for his use.

The same goes for faith and the power of the Spirit!

The power of God is available to and for all and sundry. Words can’t even begin to describe the potency and magnitude of the power of the Spirit!

But, until you can have that simple and unwavering belief similar to the one you have in your phone, when you expect it to work the way you want it to, without any doubts, only then, would you begin to be a partaker in the goodies God has in store for you!!!

A Heart Condition

Picture this:

You are in a doctor’s office, waiting anxiously for the results of the invasive tests you just did. The doctor soon comes in with his professional poker face. He sits. And looks at you squarely.

‘You have a heart condition, sir’

Well, the fact is that you actually DO have a heart condition. And so do I.

Fortunately, by ‘heart’, I don’t mean that fleshy, four-chambered, fist-shaped organ in our chests that pumps blood through our bodies.

No. I mean that inner you where the very fibres of your emotions are knitted.

If it were possible to check your heart condition, what would be found?
Anger, Bitterness, Strife, Envy, Lust and Jealousy?
Or Love, Joy, Peace and Gentleness?

No one needs to tell you which is the better option.

To crown it all, the best Heart condition one could have is a Heart of Worship. And I don’t mean those slow songs that we listen to on Sundays. Those are fine, but it goes more than that. A Heart of worship is a lifestyle!

When you look at the magnificence of nature and you wholehearted bless God. That’s worship!

When you bless God for the very breath you take in every moment. That’s worship!

When you remember to let your heart sing uninhibitedly to the King of kings, not only for the large milestones in your life, but also of the daily benefits. That’s worship!

Cultivate the best heart condition today.
A heart of worship!!!

Four Cardinal Points

When I was younger, I used to tease my female classmates. A lot!

For instance, I once asked them how they would feel if on their wedding day, the officiating minister read John 4:18, instead of I John 4:18.

The latter reads:
‘There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love’

And the former reads:
‘For you hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly’

Needless to say, the very prospect of that scenario sent shivers down the spines of those ladies. Bless their hearts!

On a more serious note, the most memorized Bible verse is John 3:16. It talks about God’s love for humanity and how God sent His Son to give everlasting life to as many that believe in Him.
However, not many Christians are familiar with I John 3:16:

‘Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren’

For some reason beyond me, we all have been indoctrinated with an attitude of selfishness.

Our 4 cardinal points seem to be: Me, My, Mine and Myself. For others, it’s worse: I, I, I and I!!!

We all naturally want to amass and amass for ourselves to enjoy alone.
But alas, we are instructed to walk in the steps of Jesus.

Jesus put aside the splendour of His glorious heavenly majesty and came to the earth as a full man. Yet He was without sin. This fact alone should motivate us to be less self-oriented.
But Jesus didn’t even stop there!
He went on to die for our sins and imputed us with His righteousness. And we’d never be able to repay Him for His act of love.

Now, it’s highly unlikely that you are going to die for another person. Christ has already done that!
But are you willing to get ‘spent’ for the benefit of the less priviledged?
Are you willing to offer yourself as a living sacrifice in whatever manner that seems neccessary at any point in time?

Remember, you can’t walk with God and stay alive (to your Self-ish Cardinal points)

Lose your (Self) life, and you’d find your (God) life. The difference is so clear!

Is ‘COOL’ Really Overated?

When I saw it again this morning, I just knew it was time to chip in my two cents’ worth.

Is it a good thing to be ‘COOL’?
Is ‘COOLNESS’ really overrated?

Well, let’s first identify what ‘COOL’ is.

For some, it could mean being reserved, shy and soft-spoken.
Others would disagree and say it means being smart and trendy.

As a Christian, I believe being ‘COOL’ entails much more.

Yes, I understand that we are different people with different characters, mindsets and ideas. And as a result, our interpretations of ‘COOLNESS’ is a subset of who we are…

But allow me to submit to you, this day, that the height of ‘COOLNESS’ is being totally wrapped up under the control of the Holy Spirit!

Really.

Don’t you know it is possible to be charged up with the FIRE of the Holy Ghost, yet at the same time you are overflowing with living WATERS?

Duh, THAT’s cool!

You can be as BOLD as a lion, and still be GENTLE as a dove? Logically, they just don’t go together. But again, nothing in the Spirit ever makes sense logically.
How much ‘COOLER’ can one get?!

Be sincere now:

If you were just a regular ‘Joe’ and you came across a highly anointed individual, who manifests spiritual gifts and fruits, what would be your response?
I, for one, would go into my closet of prayers and desperately cry out for the Presence of the Spirit in my life, more than ever before!

My point is this:

There is a dearth of genuinely ‘COOL’ individuals out there.

What we have mostly, are individuals who fit into our preconceived notions of what ‘COOL’ should be. And as always, our preconceived notions are usually wrong.

The right kind of ‘COOLNESS’ is like a beautiful masterpiece of the Spirit.
It can never, never be overrated.
And thankfully, it’s meant for all!