Allowing God to be God

The problem with man is that he always wants to be in control of his life.  Man wants to live according to what is right in his eyes and does not appreciate it when anyone tells him that he is wrong.  Commonly what he sees as right is what the majority has deemed RIGHT.  I have the privilege of working is schools and asking young people questions that expose their understanding of who God is and their view of morality.  I have met some “smart” young people who gave me “smart” answers that seem to justify their moral decay, but in the end; they all agree that their behaviour is immoral and sinful before God.  The problem is not so much that they are addicted to these things, but the willingness to stop doing it.  The reason it is hard is because stopping means accepting that there is a superior, unseen being whom they need to trust; which ultimately means not being in control of their lives.  I thought that this was interesting because I realized that one can be “saved/born again” but still have part control of their lives.  Living with God is about allowing him to be God in your life so that you can be who you truly are. I know that it is not as easy as I say it, but it should happen if we are to live a life of abundance with God.  We need to trade in something small (our control) for something bigger than us (life in abundance) to superior being who cannot be wrong. 

My team and I were having devotions and we had a time of silence before God to hear what he is saying to us about the scripture that we had just read.  We had read Galatians 5 which speaks about the battle between the spirit of God and our sinful nature. When you look at the sinful nature, you find that those are the things that are easy to do and do not require much thought.  These are things that we do impulsively and give us sensual pleasure. A juxtapose of the spirit and the flesh exposes that the spirit man fulfils the inner man (content) and the sinful nature satisfies the flesh (container).  Life is far deeper than the physical and for that reason; a life led by the sinful nature is not sustainable.  We always want to do what we want to do and often morality or God’s laws are like a rude intrusion in our lives.  As I was sitting there silently before the Lord, he said: “Forget the little off ramps of your sinful nature, stay on the highway of righteousness and I assure you of this: you are headed towards a glorious destiny.”  Now this hit me hard because of the last sentence which mentions DESTINY.  Often when we do these things that we want to do, we never think of the consequences.  If staying on the highway of righteousness leads me to a glorious destiny, it means that the off-ramps of the sinful nature will lead me to the opposite of that.  Deep inside every human being is a desire to reach the glorious destiny but the there is a discrepancy in this desire and their behaviour.  To reach the glorious destiny, you need to stay on the highway of righteousness.  I then asked God: “what if I get stuck?” to which he responded: “it is better for you to be stuck on the highway of righteousness because I you will be closer to me. If you are on the off-ramps; you will not get sustainable help because it will not be from me.” He then closed it off by saying something that he knew that I struggle with, and this is what he said: “If someone passes you at top speed, do not worry about keeping up with them because you do not know what my plan is for his/her life.” 

Part of walking with God and allowing him to be God in your life consists of being willing to do things that do not make sense to your fickle mind.  There are things that will not make sense to you that he will ask you to do.  It did not make sense for the disciples that he could multiply the five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand hungry souls.  It did not make sense for Noah to build an ark that will accommodate all living creatures.  It did not make sense that Jesus will rise from the dead after 3 days.  It did not make sense that Sarah would have a son in her 90’s. It did not make sense that David would kill Goliath with a slingshot and a stone.  It did not make sense that Samson would slay 1000 soldiers with a jawbone of a donkey.  It did not make sense to Martha to move that stone from Lazarus’ grave.  It did not make sense for Moses to use the rod to part the red sea.  Above all, it did not make sense (to me at least) why a holy God would care so much about a sinful man like me.  God loves us and he wants the best for us, if only we would submit our will to him so that he can do as he pleases with our lives. 

There is a monkey trap that is used all around the world to capture monkeys. It is a staked container with a hole cut into it just wide enough for the monkey to stick its empty hand into it.  The container is baited with something attractive to the monkey.   The monkey reaches for the bait and then will not release the bait and cannot pull its hand out of the container with the bait in its hand.  It is then captured.  Is this not how we are sometimes? We are baited with sensual pleasure that make us feel nice, so nice that we are not willing to let them go for the freedom that is in Christ Jesus.  If we let the sensual pleasure go, the trap can no longer capture us, we are free and I am so sure that all of you want freedom. 

God Bless and thanx for reading. 

Does God Really Care? Part II

The Israelites are not the only ones in the bible that were like chameleons in the bible.  There was another group of people that were just like them; the disciples of Jesus Christ.  We read in the word of God about all the miracles that Jesus performs in their presence. In Matthew 14, Jesus feeds five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and 2 fish.  Right after this, the NLT says that Jesus “insisted” that they go ahead of him and cross to other side of the lake while he dismissed the crowd. Some other translations say that Jesus “made” them go ahead of him. The KJV says that Jesus “constrained” his disciples. The mentioning of Jesus insisting/constraining his disciples go ahead of him suggests that they did not want to leave.  While Jesus stayed behind to pray, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, because a strong wind had risen and they were fighting heavy waves.  The bible does not say this but I can imagine what was going through the minds of these guys at that moment.  I imagine them thinking that the reason why Jesus insisted they leave ahead of him was so that they drown and die in the belly of the sea.  I mean if he is all knowing; surely he should have known that there would be a great storm in the sea, so he purposely led us there to die.  Sometimes that is what we think, that God has led us to a place so that we can die.  It could be a job which you sure that God told spoke to you about taking, and things don’t go as smooth as you thought it would and you start thinking that he led you there to finish your career.  When all these things are happening in our lives happen, we forget about what he just did and we think of how he is failing us (or so we think).  Now in the midst if the storm, Jesus appears walking on water and the disciples think that he is a ghost.  And I thought that at this moment the disciples thought “oh no, things cannot get worse than they already are” “I mean it is enough that our “Lord” has abandoned us to die in the belly of the sea, but now a ghost. Shoo.” 

We all know that in the end Jesus reveals himself as Lord once again and after Jesus gets onto the boat; the wind stopped.  When Jesus came into the boat, the disciples started to worship him saying “You really are the son of God.”  Now their faith is restored.  I imagine that all the thoughts they had about him were all erased in their minds, more like “gulp … I take that back, you’re the Man.”  One would think that after witnessing such great miracles, the disciples would never ever doubt him again. Especially since they said that they realized that he “… really is the son of God.” But in a couple of days, we read in the bible that Jesus heals multitudes of people on a mountain.  Then Jesus called his disciples and told them he feels sorry that the people had been there for 3 days and had nothing to eat. The disciples ask where they would get enough food to feed the people as they have 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish.  I am stunned by this because if I was them and I saw what God did with the 5 loaves and 2 fish; I would say: “well … you multiplied the bread and fish a couple of days ago, sure you can do that with this that we have now … right.” I probably wouldn’t have thought that I can do it, but I sure will put some faith in him.  This shows that Jesus was just another “man” to them at that moment, they had really grasped that he was God. So Jesus does the same miracle that he did a couple of days ago and feeds four thousand hungry souls. 

Is this how we would our relationship with God to be like?  We give him tests to prove himself, and even when he does we still don’t believe.  How about we give ourselves to him and allow him to do what he wants with or lives?  Won’t you just allow him to be God and do what he does best … “working everything together for our good.”  You can only do this if you TRUST him and we trust when we are sure that we are loved.  If you still do not trust him, you most likely are not sure if God loves you.  The sooner you admit this, the sooner you can deal with it. 

What does this mean then? Does it mean that we are hopeless? Is there is no cure for our doubting disease? Well … the Israelites and the disciples were just examples of how we are as Christians; it doesn’t have to be that way because there are models in the bible of what we should do in such situations.  One of the models is Paul (Saul of Tarsus.) In the book of Acts, Paul gets a vision of someone calling out for help in Macedonia and immediately gets on his way to go there and preach the gospel as he believed that God was leading them there.  Now he gets to Philippi and there was a fortune teller who made a lot of money for her owners through telling the future.  Now Paul got irritated with this woman and drove out the demon that gave her the ability to tell the future.  At this, the owners were angry and accused Paul and Silas of disrupting the city.  Paul and Silas were stripped and beaten with rods and imprisoned.  If we look at the situation we might say that Paul has every right to be angry at God, right.  I mean God led him there, now where was he when he was beaten and thrown into jail after doing His work? Well, thank God that he does not think that way because his trust in the Lord then shows us another one of the many miracles that God performed in the Bible.  While Paul and Silas were in jail, they were singing hymns and praying to God.  I don’t know about you, but I do not imagine them praying like this: “Lord break these chains and get us out of this place in your mighty power in Jesus name, Amen!!!!!” No, I imagine them just giving God the praise for who he is and what he has done.  I imagine them affirming God’s power and just thanking him.  We all know that there comes a great earthquake and all the chains were broken and doors flew open.  To cut the story short, the guard is saved through this and Paul and Silas don’t break out of the prison, instead they wait until they are released by the magistrate.  Paul did not look at this as torture, but an opportunity for the Mighty God to reveal his power through him.  I love that!!! Imagine if Paul and Silas were moaning in the prison cell and all the other prisoners were listening, the testimony of a great God would be killed, but they praised him and his glory was revealed.  The question is: In your trials and struggles; would you like God to be glorified or the testimony of his goodness and love to be nullified and made void?

You have asked God a lot of questions in your walk with him, now allow him to ask you these questions from his flawless word:

 “What, then, can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Rom 8:31

 The one who did not spare his own Son, but offered him as a sacrifice for all of us, surely will give us all things, along with his Son, won't he? Rom 8:32

Who will separate us from the Messiah's love? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or a violent death do this? Rom 8:35

Let us close this with what Paul assures us of in Romans 8:37-39.

In all these things we are triumphantly victorious due to the one who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is ours in union with the Messiah Jesus, our Lord.

I once thought that if Paul had to mention all the things that cannot separate us from God love, he would run out of ink.

God Bless Ya Staxxxx

Does God Really Care?

Does God really care?

There are 2 stories in the bible that illustrate something that is so true about us in our Christian walk.  I like the disciples and the Israelites because they are so much like us.  We are so similar, there are instances in our modern lives that can be compared to those of the Israelites and the disciples; and we will go into them in a moment.  We all go through some times when we actually if God really cares about us and loves us, and all these feelings and questions come when we go through some very hard situations. Our Christian walk is filled with quandaries.  God knows this about us human beings. In exodus 13, the bible says that “God did not lead them along the main road that runs through the Philistines territory, even though it was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said: if the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt”   If we were to carefully listen to all the questions that we ask ourselves about God when we are facing battles or challenges, we will find that the big questions is; “Does He (God) really care?” even though we do not utter these words exactly.

So the Israelites have left Egypt and in the wilderness they take a detour towards the Red Sea as commanded by God through Moses.  As they camp near the shore of the Red sea, Pharaoh changes his mind and gets on his way to bring back the Israelites back into slavery in Egypt.  Now I can imagine how happy the Israelites must have been when they left Egypt, thanking the Most High God and praising him for all the wonderful works that they witnessed him do in Egypt.  The bible tells me that they left with silver and gold, so they must have been very excited that the Lord had finally come through for them as promised.  In the midst of their happiness and celebration, an unexpected dodge ball comes their way and they now starting asking themselves that question; “does God really care”.  The Egyptians approached them, they totally forgot about the power that God displayed in Egypt and start asking the hard questions of doubt and fear: “Why did you bring us out here to die? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you that this was going to happen?   These questions make me think.  Were they just waiting for God to slip and then tell Him how they really feel about his not-so-good idea of bringing them out of Egypt?  I can imagine some of them even saying: well “God”, thanks but no thanks, I’m going back to Egypt, at least there I will be alive!  Let’s bring this to our context and point out some of the questions that we ask in our modern world.  Why did you take my father/ away just when I gave my life to you? Why was I raped just when I had become saved? Didn’t you promise that things will be better if I gave my life to you? Where is the freedom that you promised?  Why? Why? Why? As we wet our pillows with tears that we just cannot seem to stop.

Maybe you are asking the question, well … does He … does He really care about us?  Let us go further into the story.  So Moses’ response to the questions is a brave risk that fully relies on the Lord himself.  He says: “don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today.  The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again, the Lord will fight for you. Just stay calm” I will be honest with you, if I was in that crowd of Israelites, I certainly would have liked hearing that.  I mean, how I am I supposed to “stay calm” when I am staring right in the face of death and there seems to be no aid nearby. Then one of the biggest miracles ever recorded in the bible happens, the red sea is parted and the Israelites cross on dry ground.  The Egyptian army was drowned in the sea and the Israelites were saved! The bible then says that after they witnessed this miracle, “… they were filled with awe before God and put their faith in him and his servant Moses.” The answer that Moses gave sounds more like the one we get from fellow brothers and sisters when they say; “everything will be fine you will see” and I know that most of the time our response to that is, when? How? But the Lord takes care of his sheep no matter what happens! There is no record of them coming before God with a prayers like; Lord I am so sorry for doubting you when you gave so many reasons to trust you.  Instead, the next chapter (15) begins with them singing a song of deliverance to the Lord.  3 days later, they complained and asked the same question again; “does God really care about us” when there was no water to drink.  And the Israelites journey to the Promised Land is filled with quandaries and these kinds of stories.  They complain, forget about all the good that God has done and when he comes through for them; they just carry on like nothing happened.  I know that the road we travel is not easy, but what good is our faith if we will never get to use it?  What good is our faith when we will only remember that we have it when life is good? What good is our faith when we forget who God is in our battles/travailing/hardships, struggles/ or whatever you would like to call it?

In the questions that the Israelites asked Moses, there was always a Why?  I reckon that most of the questions that start with “why” are often quite hard to answer satisfactorily. I heard someone say something powerful earlier this year just after I had learned that my best friend’s father had passed away. Honestly, I was asking myself (and God) why? And I suspect that is what my friend and his entire family were asking themselves too. A friend of mine said to me; “the question that we should be asking is: what now Lord?”  I tell you this really opened my eyes to a loving Shepard who dearly loves his sheep and will do anything in His Mighty Power to take care of it.  May you live with the conviction that God is not working against you, but for your good.  And though we do not understand how he is glorified when we are in pain, I will still worship, praise and serve him even in my struggles that seem “unfair” because I am assured that he really cares for me.  If God did not care about us, he wouldn’t have gone through the cross for us. Remember what Jesus said: “… in this world you will have many troubles and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living, the world owes you nothing; it was here first.”  Mark Twain.

God bless ya stax, and watch out for the next story on the same topic that focuses on the Disciples.

Authenticity is Power

“Authenticity Is Power; Plagiarism limits people from finding their true potential”

One thing that Human Beings were able to master is imitation.  You see a lot of imitations of what God actually created.  Comedians imitating our politician’s voices, make plastic flowers look so real. People fake happiness/joy by taking drugs that make them euphoric. People are satisfied with a piece of what something could actually be. Lauryn Hill puts it in this way “Fantasy is what people want, but reality is what they need”.  So many people would not mind you telling them a lie, just so that they can feed their thirst for something that can be better than what they can really experience.  I read something where someone was experienced inexpressible joy and he said: “I did not know that God believed in parties, but now I know that he can throws he biggest party in the world” this suggests that he was satisfied with the little parties he enjoyed in the world and never thought that there can be anything better than that.  God is willing to be real with us, he wants us to open up and be ready to receive him in all his fullness. 

People go for fake because they are not willing to pay for the original.  When one buys a fake pair of branded shoes; for arguments sake, they buy it at a cheaper price knowing its original price.  What they are suggesting is that; the shoes are nice, but not worth the money they are asking for it.  Now, let us shift this to a Christian context; Jesus said that if you want to follow him, you must pay the price of following him and taking up your cross.  When a Christian fakes this, they are suggesting that a holy life is good, but they are not willing to pay the price of taking up their cross to follow Jesus.  It is almost like saying: “thanks, but no thanks”

I recently found out how diamonds and pearls are formed.  This blew me away because for every one of them, there was a way human beings had created the cultured pearls and diamonds through their own ways.  Because there is a high demand for these things, people make them in their own ways to speed up the process for their own benefit.

Diamonds are known for being the most durable gemstones and the hardest material naturally available on the earth.  This tells me that there is power in being under pressure and enduring hardships, you will be like the diamonds.  The most beautiful gemstones on earth go through so much pressure.  If you wonder how hideous things like oysters can create such beautiful pearls, the answer is simple: God makes all things work together for the good of them who loves him and are called according to his purpose. 

God does not delight in pretence himself; he wants real and authentic relationships with his children (Romans 12:9, 10)

When the Philistines had captured the ark of God from Ebenezer, the bible says they took the ark of God and put it in the house of Dagon (their god) and set it up beside Dagon.  When they woke up in the morning the next day; Dagon had fallen face down before the ark of God (Read 1Sam 5:1-3).  Now this is not only a story that demonstrates God’s power, but I would like to believe it is a story of God saying “I am the only true and living God”.  All our counterfeits have limitations; Dagon cannot talk, fake flowers cannot grow, fake branded products are of the quality of the original and in the same way; we cannot be Christians cannot be without Christ. We will be fakes if we are to live without Christ.

The other reason why people never get to know the real Jesus is because they want to know him in an objective sense, but like St. Augustine once said “God can only be encountered in the now”.  The bible says; ”taste and see for yourself that the Lord is good …”(Psalm 34:8) this means a head knowledge of him being good is not enough to know the real Jesus, when you have encountered him is it totally different because now you can attest it and not only tell of what you believe. 

This is what I believe: “A distortion of reality dominates the minds of them that have not encountered God” 

Sello "Scalo" Mmane, God Bless you all.