You Get What You Pray For

Wow, a lot has happened since my last post in November 2013.

Today's insight is an offshoot from my Pastor's sermon yesterday morning. It has inspired me to write again, which is a huge deal because I have not written anything since November 2013. I said to a friend yesterday that I seriously feel as if God has, as in Job's day, said to the enemy "Have you considered my servant Joana?"

Yup, it's that hard. I feel as if God is stripping me bare and until yesterday's sermon, I was fighting it.  But no more, because as my pastor reminded me yesterday, the grape becomes even more useful after it has been crushed in a wine press. In the wine making process, the grape is placed under pressure until it is crushed and everything pours out of it. It is litterally trampled and seemingly destroyed. Yet, the end result is beautiful wine that can be preserved for years to become even more remarkable.

I'm in the wine press season of my life - where God is really crushing all the juices out of me. I was complaining until I remembered that you get what you pray for. For a while now, I've been desperately praying, "God, change me", "God, fix me", "God, I don't like the person that I am", "God, take everything out of me that is not of you".

God is answering me. He's answering me by putting me in places and situations where I have no choice but to let go of all those things that are tripping me up. He's shown me an image of myself in the mirror and drawing big red arrows pointing at the things that have to go. This process is hard, it hurts, it's scary and incredibly lonely sometimes but I know God is faithful. He reminded me yesterday that He has heard me and the fact that I'm going through this means that is answering my desperate plea to make me less like me and more like Him.

So folks, let's learn with me as it's a learning process for all of us. Don't believe any Christian who appears to know everything about this life, no matter how long they've been Christians. If we stop learning, we will stop growing and that is dangerous.

So here are the lessons I've learned between November and now.

1. You get what you pray for. When you ask God to work on you, He will. Don't resist the process.

2. In order for us to get to the point where we are useful to God, we have to go through the molding/crushing/shaping process. That process hurts but it is absolutely essential. Again, don't resist the process.

3. God hasn't forgotten you. He is faithful to finish what He starts. He hears our prayers, and even when it seems as if he is not there, He is, working quietly in the background, doing exactly what we asked. Stay focused and you won't lose sight of Him and what He is doing.

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Fruit of the Spirit: LOVE

This is the first of a nine post series on the Fruit of the Spirit. Before we delve into the whole thing, let's talk about the Fruit for a while.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23

You will note that the word fruit is singular, this means that each characteristic described above does not exist in isolation but is part of a whole. In other words, we are not being called to display only love without self-control, or kindness without faithfulness. These are all things that we should strive for.

LOVE

What is love?
We have discussed love on this blog before but let us define it again.

Simply put, Love is a decision to prosper another person above yourself. It means that when you love someone, you consider their needs above your own.

There are many aspects to love. Infact many languages have more than one word for the concept of love. Today we'll look at just a few ways that love is manifested.

Love for one person to another
The bible paints an excellent picture for what love is and what it is not in relation to people loving each other. In 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 it tells us:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

The bible also tells us that love for one another: 

Is Precious: 

Proverbs 15:17

A bowl of vegetables with someone you love

is better than steak with someone you hate.

Is Edifying: 

1 Corinthians 8:1

Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.

Is Unquenchable: 

Proverbs 17:17

A friend is always loyal,

and a brother is born to help in time of need.

Songs of Solomon 8:6-7

Many waters cannot quench love,

nor can rivers drown it.

If a man tried to buy love

with all his wealth,

his offer would be utterly scorned.

Promotes peace: 

Proverbs 10:12

Hatred stirs up quarrels,

but love makes up for all offenses.

Proverbs 17:9

Love prospers when a fault is forgiven,

but dwelling on it separates close friends.

These scriptures show us how powerful love is. If we learn to love each other the way it is taught in 1 Corinthians 13:4 -7, I'm sure we can all agree that the world would be a much greater place to live. 

Love of People for God

1 John 5:3 tells us something amazing: 

Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.
This means that our love for God can be demonstrated very easily. If we say we love Him, then what we have to do is pretty simple, keep his commandments! Wow. And here we all thought it meant we had to be at church a certain number of times for the week or serve on as many committees as possible or show our fellow Christians how much doctrine we know. Whilst these things are important, God simply requires one thing from us, that we do what He asks. Doing what He asks shows Him respect and shows Him love. 

Love of Money

This aspect shows us that love can have an evil side. Unfortunately for us, most of the problems we currently face in the world stem from man's love for money. People kill each other so that they can aquire what the other person has. Entire countries are suppressed and their resources stripped because of how valuable they are. We spend billions on war in an effort to control what another country has whilst children are starving all over the world. This list can go on and on and on. The point is that the bible is correct when it says: 

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:10 (NLT)

So today, let us learn to exercise love for one another, the way the bible said we should. Let us also remember that God requires that we show love to him in the simplest way possible, just do what He asks. And finally, be reminded that love directed at the wrong thing can cause chaos in the world and in our loves. Let us set our priorities according to God's will and we will be much better off.

Next week, we will exam the second characteristic of the fruit, JOY! 

Devotions like this one and others can be found in the Soul Food Series in Kindle or paperback format. 

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How To Be a Good Christian

Today's topic sounds a bit pretentious doesn't it? Well,  I certainly don't claim to know the secret to "good Christianity"  but over the years I've learnt that there are some qualities that are absolutely necessary in order to have any chance at succeeding as a Christian.  So here they are:

1. Determination - From the first day that you make a decision to follow Christ there will be opposition, naysayers, mockers and more.  If you want to make it past the first day, week or year then you need to be determined and sure that this is the decision that you want to make.  People will mock you,  laugh at you and remind you of your past. Now it's the time to be strong headed if there ever was one. Be determined that no one will change your mind with their lofty arguments, mocking or jeering. 

2. Persistence and Perseverance - This is closely linked to point number 1 but slightly different.  The Christian life can be fun, eye opening, joy giving and much more but it can also be very hard.  You will have moments when you fall, make a mistake and feel like giving up.  Don't.  You will find every ounce of strength that you need to make it in the Holy Spirit.  From the very beginning,  learn to depend on Him. It will come in very handy in those difficult times. 

3. A thick skin - One thing that always amazes me is this: the world thinks that they can do whatever they want to us or  say whatever they want about us and we shouldn't do anything about it because our Bible says to turn the other cheek.  As a Christian,  you will be lied to,  lied about,  hated for no reason,  ridiculed etc,  etc, etc.  Learn to let things slide off your back. If you spend your time worrying about every little thing someone does or says about you,  you won't have time for anything else.  Also note that even among your fellow Christians there will be people who hurt you for no reason.  Learn to look past that and forgive.  You'll find that you are a stronger person for it. 

4. Discipline - This one is a biggie.  Christianity is about following rules and our rules are clearly written down in sixty-six books.  Following rules requires lots of discipline so now is the time to learn some.  Forget all the rebellious ways of your past where you questioned every rule because what God says will never change.  Learn to trust that his rules are for your own benefit because they are.  Good discipline will keep you out of trouble.  Try fasting,  I've found that exercising control over the body helps to control the mind. 

5. Devotion/Faithfulness - Above all things,  stay true to God.  Remain faithful.  Don't get bored or slack with your Christianity and don't compromise.  Pay attention to your spiritual link with God.  If you do,  you will notice when it starts to fade.  Nurture your relationship actively.  Feed it,  set time aside for it and make it your number one priority.  You'll find that it is a lot easier to know what God wants from you and to hear His voice if you are constantly listening for it. 

I do hope that these tips helped somebody today.  Be blessed and have a successful day. 

Devotions like this one and others can be found in the Soul Food Series in Kindle or paperback format. 

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Gossiping

Gossiping.  We all know that it's wrong yet we all still do it.  Yes,  that's right.  I said all of us.   Every body gossips or has gossiped at some point in their lives.  Sometimes it happens accidentally or unconsciously but it still happens. 

It is so easy to be pulled into gossip.  You may not be a compulsive gossiper; you may not even like gossip, but somewhere along the line somebody comes to you with a juicy story that you just can't help listening to.  It may even appear that you are discussing the story out of concern for the individual in question.  However, at the end of the day, it's still gossip. 

Dictionary.com defines gossip as idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others.  We can all agree that we've all done that, right?

So what makes gossiping so dangerous? Let's see,  here are a few reasons.

1. A lot of the time the things we gossip about simply aren't true.  We can do a lot of damage to someone's character, family life, careers etc with idle talk.  We even justify our gossiping by saying where there is smoke there must be fire, but have you ever come across a situation where there isn't even an ounce of truth in a story that you've heard?

2. Gossiping can lead someone to depression.  The worst possible feeling you can have is knowing that you are being talked about but not knowing what is being said.  Maybe people have gone into states of depression because of this.  Others have committed suicide.  It's easy to say that people should keep their heads up and ignore gossip about themselves, but let's be honest.  Some people aren't very strong and we destroy them with our idle words.  We are like bullies preying on the weak. You never really know what people are going through behind closed doors and your idle talk may just be the thing that pushes them over the edge. 

3. It's just plain wrong. I clicked through one of my bible apps and just did a search for the word gossip in the NLT version. Even I was astounded by the number of results. Here are just a few. 

Proverbs 16:28

A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends. 

Proverbs 17:4

Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander. 

Proverbs 20:19

A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don't hang around with chatterers. 

Proverb 25:23

As surely as a north wind brings rain, so a gossiping tongue causes anger!

Proverbs 26:20

Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops. 

Psalm 15:1,3 (I advise that you read the whole chapter)

1 Who may worship in your sanctuary Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? 

3 Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbours or speak evil of their friends. 

So how do we avoid Gossiping? I said earlier that most of us do it unconsciously but there are ways to recognise gossip and nip it in the bud. 

1. Are you talking to a third party about somebody else's business? That's gossip,  so stop. 

2. Are you really sure that you are doing this so that you can help that individual? If so,  what is your plan for helping.  If you have none then stop talking.  It's not your business. 

3. We all have friends who are just dying to know the latest developments in some body else's life.  The unfortunate thing is that we often come across information because people confide in us.  So let us learn to keep things that are confidential to ourselves.  Don't even tell your other best friend.  It's how gossip starts in the first place.  When asked,  simply say "I was told in confidence"  and leave it there.  Eventually your friends will learn that they shouldn't even bother to ask you about some body else's business. These two verses of scripture bring out this point clearly. 

Proverbs 11:13

A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.

Proverbs 25:10

Others may accuse you of gossip, and you will never regain your good reputation. 

I hope these tips can help us become more aware of gossip and how easily we can fall into the trap.  As with all things,  awareness is the first step towards resolution. 

Have a blessed day. 

Devotions like this one and others can be found in the Soul Food Series in Kindle or paperback format. 

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People-Pleasing

Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. Galations 1:10

It's easy to get caught up trying to make people like you or even approve of you.  The world has us constantly seeking attention, affection and approval.  

Human beings are strange characters.  They don't like you for one thing, but if you change it and do want they want, they probably still won't like you anyway. 

Everyday in the media we see severe cases of people-pleasing.  Singers who want to be famous get on stage wearing next to nothing and the crowds go wild, soaking it in and buying out their records.  People seem to want to only listen to music made by "bad boys" or "bad girls" yet these same singers get seriously crucified in the media when their marriages only last a few days or they are caught with drugs.   Most of them can't cope with their people-pleasing so it affects their lives. 

People-pleasing is very dangerous for Christians and non-Christians alike. Even in our church lives we sometimes get caught up with putting on a show.  Sometimes we raise our hands just because it is the thing to do,  not because we want to surrender totally to God. We join certain committees just because everybody else thinks that you'll be good at it even though you don't like doing that particular thing. We even find ourselves marrying a particular person because everybody thinks that "you two look great together!". 

 Unfortunately for us,  people-pleasing has the undesired effect of not pleasing God.  If we spend the rest of our lives looking for approval from man, we will probably never accomplish what God has in store for us.  If we're busy worrying about what men will think of us,  then we'll be too distracted to hear what God wants from us. 

Trying to please people is like trying to fill a bucket with holes,  it will never happen. Man's perception of what is good changes daily. Somewhere on the planet on any given day and at any given point in time, there will be someone who does not like what you're doing or who simply doesn't like YOU. 

Pleasing God is so much easier and has many more benefits. First of all, God will always love you, no matter what, even when you make a mistake. Secondly, His plans for you have already been set. They won't change, because He never changes, therefore you won't be chasing a moving target. Thirdly, God will help you get to where He wants you to go. God guides us through every step in our process and is there to ensure that we don't hurt ourselves when we fall. 

So let us go through today remembering that our job is not to please every one around us or even to gain the approval of man. Let us remember that our focus should be on God's plans for our lives and what He wants us to do with it. Remember also, that what God wants from us is true worship i.e. a lifestyle that follows his commands. We can't be true worshippers if our lifestyles are following the commands of the person sitting next to us in church. 

Have a blessed day!

Devotions like this one and others can be found in the Soul Food Series in Kindle or paperback format. 

To grab a copy, click one of the images below.