Category: Thoughts

Don’t Just Charge, Change!

Probably, you’ve heard a teaching or piece of information that tingles your ears and excites your very being. For the next few hours (or days, if you are lucky), you can’t contain yourself. You blow fire and brimstone. You think you’re ready to explode…

But you don’t. Instead, you implode!

So, your excitement drops back to sub-threshold levels. The energy’s gone and your ensuing coldness makes you cool with everything. You aren’t passionate anymore. You’re merely going through the motions…

Then you hear another one. And this one excites you. You are ready. Ready to start the cycle again. And again. And again.

See, you can get all charged up all you want. But if it isn’t backed up with the desire to change, it becomes as the creaking of an old rusty gate. Trust me.

Yes, you pray and read the Bible. And you’re excited when you do this. But don’t you know it is possible to continually abide in that state? Or even make the quantum leap to the next level of change on the spiritual ladder? This has happened to people before and it is still happening. Charging up isn’t the end of the matter. Change is.

What of an eye-opener regarding your career or life? You’ve heard it before. You’re hearing a similar one again. The good intentions are flowing all around you. Don’t let it stop there. Step forward and do something different than just charging up and running down.

Enough with the sinusodial lifestyle! Stop flunctuating between levels of excitement and those of cold indifference. Instead, let each excitement level be the springboard to the next stage of your journey to destiny. Don’t just charge.
Change!

Sowing In Tears

Life throws things that seem to buffet us all around. We find ourselves pushed to the the wall. We get frustrated. At ourselves. At people who surround us. At the circumstances. At God.

In instances like this, it seems God isn’t interested in us. So, we cry and cry. And cry some more.

Read this exerpt:

‘They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weeping, bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him’
– Psalm 126 vs 5 & 6.

Note that the secret in the joy at the end isn’t a function of the tears shared. No, joy is as a result of sowing. Yes, sowing is painful. It’d never be convinient. You’d even be tempted to eat your seed. But I say to you, when you sow, you’d definitely reap in joy!

Are you going through a hard time now? It wouldn’t last forever. In fact, it’s just an opportunity to invest in your next windfall of blessings. Don’t just cry. Sow. Sow seeds of prayer. Sow seeds of time. Sow seeds of love. Sow seeds of money. Just sow. Remember, if you sow tears, you’d reap tares. Sow something worthwhile. It’s well.

‘Ember To Remember

My good friend Lola runs a great blog here:
www.belifteddotme.wordpress.com

She recently completed a series of great posts bearing ‘Ember To Remember. I’ve asked to ‘borrow’ this title and she graciously replied in the affirmative. So, there shouldn’t be any copyright issues, eh? Alright, I’m just kidding!

On this topic, Lola was mentioning a lot of things to be thankful for, especially during the last four months of the year. I’m also going to arrive at that same direction, though I’d be taking a slightly different route.

In my post, ‘Praising the devil’, I mentioned that Africans are the most religious people in the world. I also mentioned that Nigerians are the most religious Africans and Yorubas the most religious Nigerians. You see, in most societies, the last trimester of a year are the most enjoyable ones. You start making preparations for Christmas and the turn of the year, isn’t it? Not so with the Yorubas. They call the months in the last trimester of the year the ‘BA-BA-BA’ months. Shocking, eh? Well, according to their mentality, they expect this period to be one earmarked with a lot of misforturnes in the form of accidents and deaths. And because they expect these things, they do happen! Mostly due to man’s activities.

God is not the architect of a seasonal oubreak of evil. No! What actually happens can be explained as follows:

Towards the year’s end, it’s normal for people to want to share the festive periods with families and loved ones. As a result, there’s a lot of travelling during these periods. The transportation industry, especially road transport, sees this as big business. The players in this industry then calculate that they can make even more money if they can make more trips in a day. So, they travel at supersonic speeds. In addition to that however, as a result of corrupt leadership, very few good roads even exist. And consequently, a combinations of factors lead to accident and deaths.

But, I want to submit to you that it doesn’t have to be this way. God isn’t wicked. He’s a loving and caring Personality. He wouldn’t let His sun to shine on His people throughout the year only to prepare a season for accidents at the end of the year. Many have remembered this season as a result of the pain that a loss of a loved one has brought to them. This isn’t God’s perfect will for His own. His business with us is life. Abundant one at that! But should that be an excuse for reckless living? God forbid.

It’s God’s joy when we remember this season as one that brings to us love, fruitfulness, happiness and the good things of life. See to it, then, that you live life circumspectly with a due sense of responsibility. Truly, only then would it be an ‘Ember to Remember.

To The Pessimistic Ones

Pessimism is the uncanny ability to expect and see the worst in everything. In one of my earliest posts (Check out ‘Words Onwards’ on this blog), I mentioned that confusion, fear and its adherent complications arise from a thought. Many fail to see the tremendous amount of latent potential energy that is lying in a thought.
Our thoughts define our emotions.
Our emotions define our actions.
Our actions define our behaviours.
Our behaviours define our characters.
Our characters define our values.
Our values determine what we get out of life.
Take a look down the chain I just elaborated and you’d find that what we get out of life originates from our thoughts.

A positive thought doesn’t consume more willpower than is required for a negative thnught. Why then do pessimists afford themselves the luxury of dwelling on bad thoughts? After all, it’s the same effort it takes to have either a positively beneficial thought or a negatively harmful one.

Renew your mind and consciously make an effort to screen what you think about. Personally, I’m not up there just yet. I believe God would strengthen us all.

XOXO

During my initial forays into the social networking world, I used to see the word ‘XOXO’ at the end of many emotionally blissful status updates. Females are mostly ‘guilty’ of this. Being my usual inquisitive self, I googled ‘XOXO’! I saw that in online messaging, it meant ‘Hugs and Kisses’. Still vague to me, I ‘researched’ a bit more. Then I found it. Each ‘X’ stands for a person’s four limbs while each ‘O’ stands for a person’s head. Thus, ‘XOXO’ stands for two people embracing. Albeit an horizontal one!

If I was asked to summarize life in one word, I’d say: Relationship. With God. With man. With your family. With your neighbour. With your bosses at work. With strangers. Relationship! Relationship!! Relationship!!!

All of life’s problems are relationship problems. And all relationship problems bore down to love. Today, we speak of spiritual dryness in our worship centres. Why? Because we don’t love God and have a relationship with Him.
We speak of strife in our families and neighbourhoods. Why? Because people are not relating in love.
There are political tensions in every nation of the world. Why? Because the people and the leaders don’t have a working loving relationship with God and their fellow citizens.

So, how do you think you are faring ‘relationship-wise’? Good? Bad? Moderately okay? Whichever you pick, a healthy relationship with God and man is possible. Let’s make an effort to make our world a better place because it begins with you and I.

XOXO

We All Belong To One Race

When man was created, he was NOMINATED to be the choice of ALL creation. Alas, with our own hands, we have chosen to DENOMINATE ourselves into various divisions. Today, the talking point is about the Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants and the like. Tomorrow, it is the Negroes vs the Caucasians. The day after, we are talking about the caste system!

To be succinct, God created man to have dominion over the whole earth. Not over each other. All men were created as equals. Nobody is superior to anybody. And nobody was created to be less priviledged than anybody. However, for so many, the battleground is in the mind. So, some take their God-given dominion and place it under their equals. While some have an inflated self-image and enforce their dominion over others.

Instead, life should be seen as a race where everybody can be a winner. Everybody is eligible to run in it, irrespective of religious or social backgrounds. Life is a marathon race. Free for all, but dependent on endurance rather than speed. It is not how fast, but how well that would count in the end.

What’s the next step for you now? Lay aside every unnecessary weight that would slow you down in running the life race with endurance. You really don’t need the extra load of sin, bad habits, riotous living or traditional prejudices and unhelpful customs.

Race with purpose!
Race with intent!!
Race in God!!!

Dead Men Aren’t Supposed To Die, But…

3rd October, 2013.

Sad day for Nigeria.

It’s appointed unto man to die but ONCE, and after that judgement. Into eternal life. Or eternal damnation. I’m not one to judge the actions of anybody, but I believe God talks to us in diverse ways. One of them is by nature.

So, what happens when a plane carrying the remains of a dead man crashes? Coincidence? A Supernatural allegory? I’m not one to say. However, what I’m fully aware of is that God is not to be mocked, whatever a man sows, it’s the same he’d reap.

As I’ve said before, I’m in no position to judge anybody. It is however imperative to say this: In our life journey, we should strive to always fear God and love ALL men.

My condolences goes to the families of those that were on board on that plane. May God grant them the strength to bear their losses.

Peace.

Number Of The Day: 53

Today, Nigeria celebrates her 53rd year of independence from British Imperial Colonialism. The journey from 1960 till the present date has been very far from a stroll in the park. The country has had more than her fair share of crises, coups, religious, tribal and civil wars, as well as terrorist attacks. The nation has been blighted with corruption in every sector ever since the oil boom began in the 1970s. Sometimes, I look at the entire situation and wonder if things could have been better if the British colonial masters DID NOT grant Nigeria independence in the first place. Because to me, Nigeria is just like an overgrown baby at 53!

However, I’m not going to remain pessimistic about the state of the nation. Neither am I going to continue lashing out at the country’s flaws. I’m going to hold on to my belief that Nigeria would eventually turn out to be great again. Someone once compared the shape of the African continent to that of a gun pointing downwards. If that is the case, Nigeria is geographically located at the ‘trigger zone’ of Africa. It is my belief that Nigeria would serve as a trigger point to catalyze better positive change in the whole continent. It’s just a matter of time…

In the meantime, I wish Nigeria a happy independence celebrations. I believe the country would enter and fulfil the purpose of God for this endtime.

‘In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion. (Isa. 18:7)’

Walking Dead

‘Everybody wants to go to heaven, but none of them wants to die’.

For some, the macabre topic of death has become one that is discussed only at funeral services. It is talked about very briefly and in hushed tones. Death is one of the facts of life. In fact, living in a denial of death is the riskiest possible way to live.

The Syrians laid a seige against Samaria in 2 Kings 7. The seige induced a famine within the city. So severe that mothers boiled their babies to eat. Now, there were 4 lepers who were outside the city gates but quite far from the enemy’s camp. In those days, lepers were ostracized because they were ceremonially unclean and could contaminate anything they touched. So, these men had nowhere to go. If they returned to the city, they’d be stoned. Even if they were not stoned, they’d still starve to death. And if they had gone into the enemy’s camp, they could be slaughtered. Like chickens.

With time, these men became unsatisfied with the status quo. They were tired with life caught in the middle on no-man’s land. Besides, they were starving. They knew that there was nothing within the city. But what if the solution existed in the enemy’s camp? The way to know for sure was to find out. Even if it meant losing their lives. That was the point they became ‘Walking Dead’ men!

As discovered later, the attitude of the lepers paid off! They were the first to witness the miracle that God had wrought. This miracle consequently abolished famine within the very city they were ostracized from.

It started when the lepers became dead to themselves. They simply couldn’t die anymore, as they were already dead to fear that had initially imprisoned them.

We all should embrace this attitude in unpalatable situations. When we are comfronted with a need to change our circumstances. Note that unless we say like Esther, ‘…if I perish, I perish’ and brace up to face our situations head long, our circumstances would stubbornly not change.

‘Self-help is no help at all, self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self’

Malo Malo Malo Malo

Insteresting title, isn’t it. Yes, I also know that it looks like some mumbo-jumbo excavated from some extinct barbarian language from a prehistoric era. But while the words are indeed from a quite obsolete language, it’s one of the neatests wordplays recorded in history.

The words are in Latin. A rough interpretation would be as follows:
‘I’d rather be an apple tree than be an evil man in adversity’.

Initially looking at the statement and its interpretation, it was devoid of meaning to me. I even felt it was some form of nmemonics developed by Latin students. However, after taking a closer look, a truth hit me. Many times in the Bible, the righteous are referred to as trees (Psalms 1 & 92 are just a few of the numerous examples). They are firmly rooted in faith in God. They have thick trunks so that they aren’t tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. They are evergreen and are always flourishing. They are fruitful, yielding fruits such as love, joy, peace, patience, self control and the works. The shade their leaves offer, as well as their fruits, are refreshing to all and sundry.

Indeed, living like this is a million times much better than the adversity an evil man brings upon himself by wicked living.

‘Malo malo malo malo’