Monday, December 26, 2016

I'm waiting on God. Really? How are you waiting?

Image via IoT
Are you waiting on God? How are you waiting? Do you know there is a foolish way of waiting? It came alive to me last week. I played a major character in the encrypted script.

So we had an office party, and I invited our "new" roommate. The evening was lovely. And we left early so that our roomie can go pack up her things to her new home - our place.

We both agreed that she would text/call me once she arrives at the building so that I could meet her and let her in and also help her with some of the things. It will take her like 45 minutes or so she said.

Then I got home, changed out of my work clothes and all that. Placed the phone by my pillow and dozed off. I remember waking up now and then to check my phone. But no sign of text or call from her. I slept off again.

After a while, I woke up from my slumber and checked my phone. Alas! It was past midnight. I had about 14 or so missed calls and 3 SMS from our new roomie. Oh boy, I jumped out of bed. But I didn't have to go far because I saw bags and someone else cuddled on a bed at the other end of a room.

She got in. Our other roommate [our host] let her in...

To cut a long story short, as I reflected on how everything had played out, I realized that in a way the event that night reflects how I might have been waiting on God too.

You know, even if my roommate did not arrive at the time we both agreed, knowing that she was going to return, I should have actively kept watch and waited for her call instead of cuddling comfortable in bed. I could have sat at the table, read a book, stayed on the computer. Or do something other than snuggling comfortably in bed that made me sleep off on the watch.

Fellow soldiers in Christ, are you waiting for the Lord's return? How are we waiting? Are we expectant but tired out? Knocked out of breath? Or waiting while actively reflecting the ways of our Lord, preaching the gospel, reaching out to lost souls with love and compassion?

Are we watching and praying?

Remember the parable of the wise and foolish virgins? God forbid that we miss the mark!

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming." Matthew 25:13

Are we waiting on God for the manifestation of what He has spoken concerning our lives? How are we waiting? With high expectation, while feeding our faith or just chilling and NetFlix?

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31 KJV

How are we waiting? May the Holy Spirit, our wonderful counsellor, empower us to keep watch and not slip off or sleep off on duty.

Shalom!



Sunday, December 18, 2016

The god of this world hates you...

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." John 15:18. 

You can't be of God and expect to be loved by the world! 



Friday, December 16, 2016

Jonathan and David: Notes on love and friendship


"...Jonathan became David's closest friend. He loved David as much as he loved himself."

Another passage describes it as, "...the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." 1 Samuel 18:1.

And David's felt the same way. Here is how he described his feelings after Jonathan passed on:

 "I am distressed for you, my brother, Jonathan; greatly beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful; surpassing the love of women" (2 Sam 1:26).

Their friendship didn't just happen though. It was intentional and it was nurtured. See 1 Samuel 18:3-4. They didn't just connect on social media and left the rest to become history. They actually connected and made a pledge of loyalty of sort.

Some people joy in being alone...but woe to him who has no friends! What will he do in the day of adversity? Two can get each other's back and keep eachother warm in this sokewhat cold world.

Some people joy in being a social butterfly and cheerleader of people's party...but how many of these people are really reliable? So woe to him who has too many unreliable friends...lol...that too will bring too much trouble:

"One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,
    but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24 

On love and friendship, here is the standard to be copied:

 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16

Friendship is love...
Love is giving...love is also receiving...Love is a verb. 

When you read Jonathan and David's story, you will see that it was not all mushy-mushy. The men risked their lives for eachother. The bond was even transgenerational! Jonathan's grandson, Mephibosheth, was impacted positively by this friendship. (2 Samuel 9:1).

It is the end of the year and I am thankful for the friends and family that God has blessed me with. But I'm thinking, Lord how can I improve the quality of my friendship? How can I love intentionally and selflessly like You do? How can I be passionately in love (not just by feeling) and allow my soul knit to another's like David and Jonathan?

Teach me Lord! Take me to a higher level of this love that is your nature (1 John 4:7-8)! God is love!

Words to live by:

1 Corinthians 13:1-10
The Message (MSG)

The Way of Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled."

So help me God. Amen.

Shalom!


Monday, December 5, 2016

Life Interrupted: Navigating the Unexpected

Back to Eden.
Dreams.
Schemes.
Worship.
Life.
Submission.
Ministry.
Battles.
Protect your calling...
Obedience.
Lost in His will.
Grow.

Reading a book and seeing yourself in the pages leaves you wondering, "did God create us in twos?"

Currently on my reading list:


Sunday, December 4, 2016

Ru-hamah: On this path called life



My feet took me places
my heart would rather not have been.
But we already know by now
that evil would never tempt us
with things we do not desire.
So the fall was high,
but not higher than the Most High.

The lover of my soul,
He lifted me out of the pit
beheld my beauty like the first night
and welcomed me home.

My first love, Ishi,
I come to you broken.
The woman with light in her heart
tells me
that your mercy, Ru-hamah, was there all along
and your love is enough,
I believe.