Showing posts with label The Power in You. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Power in You. Show all posts

Sunday, 3 October 2021

The Power in You (A Personal Testimony) — Part Five.


The Champion in Elijah:

Elijah had his ups and downs, just like we all do. What made him stand out is at the end of the story; he lived out of his higher nature, rather than his lower nature. He did not allow the temporal interruption of doubt to have full sway in his heart. He doubted, but never forgot his source. He was moved but never forgot where his sustenance comes from. So, rather than all that which befell him take him away from God, he ran to God. He ran to his source.

Aristotle teaches, "it is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light." Why? The aim of the darkness that hits us is to immobilize. It is terror, and as terror does, wants us to think it is all there is. We must not buy into its merchandise. No matter the circumstance of life we find ourselves in, there is always something we can do. We can go to our source, and trust Him for the next step. We can stay faithful in the last word we heard from Him.

The Vision that Makes Whole:

We see a similar disposition in Job. What a man of faith he was? We will probably never fully understand what his wife meant by him cursing God and dying. All glory to God, Job was wiser and much stronger than that. He was dejected, just like Elijah and Cain. Sin had several suggestions for him, just as well. Job, like Elijah, and unlike Cain, understood his source, and held so tightly in faith, irrespective of the beatings of life.

Job saw beyond his immediate pains and saw the glory at the end of the ages. [Job 19:25-27; Psalms 130] Like, Jesus Christ, [Hebrews 12:2] his vision of the end gave him strength in bearing with the immediate, temporal pain. He knew and did not forget the source of all that is good in him. [James 1:17] He appreciated the fact he might not always understand his ways. He preset his boundary conditions to ALWAYS trust in God. [Job 13:15]

The Ball is back in our Court:

When there is a crisis in your life, do you know, do you have who, and where to run to? Do you run to, or from God? Is He your last resort or do you have some other option(s) in your back pocket? Is anyone else bigger than God in your life? Or, will you say like Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15a) Though I don’t understand the picture, nor see clearly, yet will I trust Him. He is the only constant in this ever-changing world. 

Our reference and definition of things ought to always be in comparison to Him, who changed not. [Malachi 3:6; James 1:17] Changing things cannot, and will never define our God. Rather, our God gives definition and meaning to the changing circumstances and situations. We might not always understand, but we can always trust. That is all He requires of us. That is why He says, 

“Always be joyful. Always keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, TLB)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Friday, 10 September 2021

The Power in You (A Personal Testimony) — Part Four.

Made from the Same Stock:

What comes to mind when you think of the prophets? Do you think of them as some supermen or women? Do you see them as some special breed, specially handcrafted by God (as against every other person coming off the mass production line)? I don’t know what your view is, but the bible tells us, they are no different from you and me. The first part of James 5:17 reads, 
“Elijah was as completely human as we are.” (TLB)
No other place in scripture shows the humanness of Elijah as this story, of him running from Jezebel. He had the same challenges and tendencies as we all do. What differentiated him, like any other champion, include, the decisions he made, that is to say, his willpower. "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will." (Vince Lombardi)

Isn't it rather funny, when we see a lot of lost souls trying to differentiate themselves from the laity? They call themselves by various funny names and wear various attires, all trying to show a superhuman status. Fools, they don't realize how pitiable they look. Ignoramuses kicking against the goads. Guess what the Lord has to say about them. Revelations 2:15 reads,
"Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate."
Masquerades:

The word Nicolaitans is taken from two Greek words, "Nikaō,' meaning ‘conquering the people,’ and "Laos," meaning ‘to conquer.’ The doctrine of the Nicolaitans was one of clerical hierarchy superimposed upon the laity and robbing them of spiritual freedom. These people had no clue who Elijah was. They see themselves better. Their senses have been corrupted. Such are the ones spoken of in Matthew 7:21-23,
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
Be careful not to model your life after these lost souls. They are not on the way to heaven. Why do you suppose Jesus needed to be identified by Judas Iscariot. Would that have been needed if he masqueraded himself, or carried himself in such a way as to separate himself from his disciples? Not sure where today's masquerades got their wisdom from. Surely not from heaven.

Through the Eyes of Cain:

You do realize Cain was in a similar emotional disposition, like Elijah, after God rejected his sacrifice. [Genesis 4:1-16] That was a failure in his life. He felt dejected. He felt rejected. Unlike Elijah, he did not recover. He allowed his emotion to run riot until they were out of his control, and he committed the unthinkable. He killed his brother.

The funny thing is, God came to him, warned him against the path he was toeing, and how to get off the toe way. [Genesis 4:6-7] Cain did not heed God's counsel. He allowed the little leaven to leaven the whole lump, and produce after its kind. Like Cain, God always comes to each of us on the day of our visitation. He seeks to get us off the highway to hell.

God seeks to keep us on the "strait and narrow" way to heaven, and all it entails for us, both in this life, and that which is to come. The challenge is, he cannot force us. We have free agency. He gave us free will. He will not take it back. He admonishes, but the choice is ours to make. The continually cries out to us, "choose life." The choice is ours.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Monday, 30 August 2021

The Power in You (A Personal Testimony) — Part Three.

When I Don't See His Hands, 
I Can Trust His Heart

The Neurotic:

An unsettled past is one of the symptoms of a neurotic person. There is something amiss in the way their brain processes things. It is hampered, hence loses its efficacy. As Dr. Nathaniel Branden, a psychotherapist, describes in his book, "The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem," self-esteem is "the experience of being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and of being worthy of happiness."

An unsettled past sickens the mind. Instead of a smooth flow at milliseconds processing speed between the various parts of the brain, our yesterday (past), today (present), and tomorrow (future), the flow is much slower. Its efficacy is diminished. The unresolved yesterday is challenged in providing the information the brain needs in making decisions for today and the future.

The consonance is lost, or out of sync. This exhibits itself as stress in the physical body, anxiety in the psychological sphere, and sheer disorientation in the total make-up of the person. The remedies to the loss cannot be applied until there is a real and full coming to the realization of the new normal. Only then can they be touched and handled by the remedies.

Grief, But Don't Lose Your Heart:

Picture Credit: Dimitriy Bilous / Getty Images
So, are you faced with any human experience today you need to grief for and over? GRIEF! Don't let anyone talk you into an unnecessary, fake macho appearance. You are human, and there is nothing wrong with that. Be human. Be You! Grief and let your soul come back to reality. "Time heals what reason cannot." (Seneca) Allow time to process what has occurred. In all stay within the boundaries of the Truth (The Word, The Way, and The Life). [John 14:6]

Don't let your sorrow take you away from the way of life. In the face of truth, your sorrow is sheer temporal. It exists only in time, it cannot take precedence over that which is eternal. Your visible loss is nothing in the face of the invisible. Your visible loss is only a daughter of that which is much bigger. Don't be sold out to the daughter that you miss the mother. Don't be too lost in the creation that you miss the creator.

What will make a major prophet of God make this prayer, 
“It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” - 1 Kings 19:4b.
Did he really want to die? Was he really ready to die? If he was, why was he then running from Jezebel? Or, is there more to his prayer? 
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Sunday, 20 September 2020

The Power in You (A Personal Testimony) — Part Seven.

Why Me?

The Lord, Our Secret Weapon:

That brings to mind our Lord's Prayer. Jesus teaches us to pray, "...lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." [Matthew 6:13] You do understand that is wrong for English to have "not" and "but"in the same sentence referring to the same thing. Right? Try rephrasing that for any other topic that might come to mind, and you'll discover how out of place it is. 

More so you'll never find a supporting scripture for the prayer, "...lead us not into temptation." It is foreign to the counsel of scripture. One, you can never pray away temptation or trial. They are a normal part of the process of life. You cannot pray to determine the kind of trial that will come your way. That is under the "law of sowing and reaping" and the future your destiny is calling out to and or for.

And, when the trial comes, you sure don't want to go it without God. You sure don't want to navigate it without the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit to warmth and to guide. The scripture tells us of Christ that he was LED into the wilderness to be tempted. [Matthew 4:1] You sure don't want to go where the Holy Spirit does not go with you. He is our comforter and power source.

Moses knows a thing or two about this. He was going nowhere if God was not going with them. [Exodus 33] Verse 14 reveals why, and the difference His presence makes in trial or temptation. "And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”" (Exodus 33:14) Wow! Calmness in the midst of trouble all around; an anchor to keep the station in the middle of contrary wind, waves, and swells. 

Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Saturday, 19 September 2020

The Power in You (A Personal Testimony) — Part Six.

Why Me?
Elijah at His Wits End:

Elijah sure must have felt the same way, David felt. [1 Kings 18:20 – 19:18] He thought he had won the final victory for God in Israel. After all, he had gone at the Lord’s beckon. [1 Kings 18:1] He had just shown God is God, killed the prophets of Baal, and ended the drought. Who would not expect better things to follow? Lo and behold Jezebel gave him a shocker [1 Kings 19:1-3]. His mountain experience suddenly became a valley one.

'Ever been there before? When your whole world suddenly comes crashing down. It's the suddenness that grabs you. It comes without warning. At least if someone gave you a time notice you might afford to put your house in order. Lo and behold no one does. It just suddenly comes upon you like a flood, without warning when you least expect it. While reveling in the euphoria of success and breakthrough, evil comes knocking.

No doubt the reason why some people in, supposed, advanced nations (cultures) commit suicide when such fate befalls them. They have no God in whose hands to fall and comfort themselves. When that which they have made a god fails, they seemingly lose their reason for living. Their psychological castle has crashed. Their anchor has been taken away and, there is nothing to hold station for their boat (life).

Suicide is Not the Answer:

If only these know there is more to life than this side of eternity. In their foolishness, they suppose the end of life, on this side of eternity, is the end of it all. So, they snuff their life assuming it translates them to a place of rest, or at least nothingness. Sorry to disappoint these, but life here is not all that there is. The scriptures teach us, "it is appointed unto men to die once, then the judgment." We will all stand in judgment based on how we lived on this side of eternity.

We will all need to answer for how we lived our lives, what we did with the talents the giver of life gave us. We will have to explain to Jesus the basis for taking our own lives. There is no reason good enough for suicide. Yes, it is a seemingly easy escape from the seeming pain of this life. A seemingly cheap drug that only gives momentary supposed relief. The question is to what? What does suicide deliver us to? Yes, the devil. beclouds our mind to think it is to rest. Really? 

That is not what Jesus teaches. Remember the story (not a parable) of Lazarus and the rich man? [Luke 16:29-31]

© 2015 Akin Akinbodunse
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Monday, 10 August 2020

The Power in You (A Personal Testimony) — Part Two

It's Okay to Cry
To Grief is to Heal:

Grief and time have their own healing effect. In fact, Seneca puts it this way, "Time heals what reason cannot." Wow! Even God did not stop David from crying. Crying is therapeutic. It is cleansing. If anyone is grieving, please, let them grieve. Nothing is more harmful than premature treatment. There are mental and physical health implications of not grieving appropriately.

So, if you see anyone grieving, please, let them grieve. Let them heal. We should remember that grieving, though a painful process, ultimately helps us move forward when allowed to run its course. Reasonings might heal some. You might be able to rationalize some things. However, some things might never make sense. Only time can cause them to fizzle away. The hormones secreted into the bloodstream need time to fizzle out.

Some things need an eternity to make sense of. Those need time to melt down in your heart. Those need a soothing touch of love and reassurance, which needs time to penetrate deep enough to cause the effect. It is not in the words said but in the assurance of friendship, family, and love; the assurance of presence, care and connectedness; the feeling of being seen, counted, and recognized, not just mere statistics.

Give Time for Healing:

Give time for grief to lose its force. Let it be softened by time so it can endure the remedies. Yes, life needs to go on, but you don't want to be too much in a hurry. "Don't tell someone to get over it. Help them get through it." (Sue Fitzmaurice) Religious people out of their ignorance try to talk away grieving in several different ways. They try to explain the unexplainable. Like the popular God needs an angel in heaven.

Really? Unknown to them, in their stupidity, they paint God as wicked. People grieving don't need needless fake explanations. They just need presence. They need to know they are being seen, they are not alone. May God continue to deliver us from the chains of religion. "The glory of the Christian life is that we have a hope that overwhelms grief. It doesn't eradicate it. It overwhelms it." (Tim Keller)

If you don't settle records with your past, it will forever haunt you, especially when you least expect it and at the most opportune moment. David and his men cried till they could cry no more. They got to the end of their grief. Only then could they be touched and handled by the solutions.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Monday, 3 August 2020

The Power in You (A Personal Testimony) — Part One

It's Okay to Cry
Introduction:

At no other time in my life did “The Power in You” become more apparent to me than some years back, when I lost a lot of money. I was very distraught. I basically questioned all I hitherto believed, asking where the broken hedge was. I lost faith in myself and was open to what anyone else had to say. It was like I had failed. "There must be something about me that is not working," I concluded. Everything looked dark, gloomy, and hopeless. 

David and His Men Crying:

Grieving:

I sure understand how David and his men felt when they came back to Ziklag and saw the devastation of their camp. [1 Samuel 30:1-6] The questions that ran through their minds were no different from the ones that ran through mine. How did this happen? What did we miss? Where did we miss it? How can God allow this to happen? Is there a broken hedge in our life? How will we ever recover the lost grounds? 

What will make grown-up men weep “until they had no more power to weep?” [1 Samuel 30:4] You will not understand until you have been up the mountain and suddenly get thrown down the valley. It is easier to get used to the valley if you have never been up the mountain. It is a different thing once you have tasted the mountain. You can come down the valley by choice. Not a problem. It is different if you are thrown down against your will.

Deliver My Soul, O Lord
To Grief is To Be Human:

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, orator, and tragedian, in his letter to his mother, Helvius, as she grieved the loss of her husband, is quite instructive. Seneca was at that point in time in exile on the island Corsica, just off the coast of France. He had been accused of having an affair with Julia Livilla, sister of Emperor Caligula. While in exile, Seneca lost his father, his son, and his wife. He fits the credentials of one we can learn a thing or two from. Doesn't he?

Seneca had delayed writing his mother because he wanted to give her time to grieve. He did not want to intrude upon her grief while it was fresh and agonizing, in case the consolations should rouse and inflame it. "For an illness, too, nothing is more harmful than premature treatment." (Seneca) He was waiting for her grief to lose its force and, being softened by time to endure remedies, it would allow itself to be touched and handled.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Amazon

Adsense Footer

Adsense Code Link