Posted in Beyond Comfort Zone, CONTROLLING SELF, Uplifting Christ

Secure Your Borders

Let’s talk about WALLS today. The news lately is dominated by building walls. Yeah! “Trump Wall just got 10 feet taller”. It’s interesting to know that One continent that takes Walls or Border Security seriously is Europe, especially UK. That notwithstanding, almost every street has got CCTV to instill confidence in the British people that their country is well guarded, either at the borders or within the country.

photo credit: http://www.123rf.com

Narrowing this down to our personal lives, WALLS are set of values, principles, beliefs, etc that guard and guide (or direct) our thoughts and actions. Self Control is centered around building and maintaining these walls. It’s important because the enemy can easily slip through when we compromise.

  • Why do you need WALLS?

2 Chronicles 32 has interesting story about Hezekiah. When he realized that King of Assyria had plans to attack Jerusalem, he quickly repaired all broken sections of the wall, and constructed a second outside the first. He also increased his weaponry and made sure the city was well guarded. After these, he said to the people; “Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discourage because of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side! He may have a great army, but they are merely men. We have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles for us!…” (v7-8, NLT) emphasis added.

Notice Hezekiah knew God was on their side, and He would help and fight their battles for them. However, that didn’t stop him from guarding the city. God expects us to do same. That is He is on our side, to help and fight for us but we’ve got to keep our walls intact.

God didn’t send angels to build the walls. He only came in when they were ready and had called on Him for help.

Your enemies can’t attack your life when your WALLS are built on Jesus Christ, our STRONG foundation. They may try to attack but God’s angels await to destroy them. However, when part of your walls are broken or you have no walls at all, you become vulnerable. Anybody can attack, steal, kill, and destroy.

  • WALLS AND BRIDGES

Often people are quick to criticize when WALLS are mentioned. They say BRIDGE connects. That’s so true but where would a bridge connect to your life? There has to be a secured entry point where the bridge would connect. By this you can filter what comes in with the help of God’s word and His Spirit.

  • Do you have broken or no walls?

The risk is high because the thief cometh. When you have compromised or no values, principles, or belief that guard your life, here are some of the dangers:

  • You will find it difficult to manage your key resources like Time, Money, and Energy.
  • You will have no requirement(s) for existing relationships and choosing new ones. Remember that some people are mere distraction.
  • You will have no specific standard(s) for dealing with challenges.
  • The enemy can blow you around like Chaff.
  • Anything at all can steal your Joy and Happiness.
Be on Guard; WATCH

In this year, let’s work hard to build and maintain our walls to ensure that our fields are well guarded. We can’t afford to let the enemy steal God’s precious blessings for our lives. Guard your Field.

Posted in THOUGHT FOR THE DAY, Uplifting Christ

Thought for the Day: April 15, 2015

20130215-173932.jpgFor God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7, AMP)

Posted in CONTROLLING SELF, SOUL FOOD, Uplifting Christ

EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT

His KingdomI am writing this piece to encourage you, who have been suffering from addiction, that everything’s gonna be alright. God hates sin but He is patient waiting for you to come to repentance.

It’s easy to be judgmental or critical when we see someone repeating the same sin, habit, or mistake over and over. What we fail to understand is that something led that person into such sin, weakness, habit, or mistake. I was once addicted to certain habit for over 10 years so I know what I am talking about. It took the Grace of God, His help through discipline to come out of that habit.

My message for you, who is struggling to stop or quit bad habit (like jealousy, pornography, gossiping, drinking, drugs, quick-tempered, masturbation, sexual immorality, greed, homosexuality, etc) is that do not think or believe that that is how or what God created you to be.

God created you in His image and likeness. Know that everything about God is perfect. In the scripture, there is a story about a farmer who went to sow good seeds in his field but an enemy came to sow bad ones at night. In other words, God deposited good things in you. However, Satan came to sow bad ones in you at night. Night refers to those times when you were far from God. That is when you were not taking your prayer life seriously, when you did not spend enough time reading His word, or you were dormant.

The good news, however, is that God knows you are in that situation. Jesus came to destroy the works of the enemy to set you free. You can get up on your feet once again. You can be made whole again. Paul said “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

What I will encourage you to do is that keep moving forward. Keep taking one step ahead of the other. Do not quit. It does not matter how many times you fall down, what matters is your zeal to change from that habit. I will liken this to a little child who is learning to walk. Each time he falls down at an attempt, he says to himself that “I will try again”. That child may fall down a thousand times but at the next try, everything turns to be alright for that kid. I believe you can make it.
Commit yourself to prayer and fasting, and learn to discipline yourself by staying away from doing the little things that lead you to sin, that habit, or mistake. Remember that God has not destroyed you yet because he does not want you to die in your sin.

I remember what changed my situation was that I made a bold decision to quit. I fasted and prayed and started saying No to thoughts that led me into that habit. I exercised self-control. It was not easy at first but as I kept moving one step ahead of the other without looking back at the many times I fell, but looking up to Jesus, I dominated that habit.

God will be your strength as you make decision today to quit in Jesus’ Name.

I know you can

I will conclude with the words of Bishop Clarence E. Mcclendon;

Keep on moving forward
For God is going to what He said
As a matter of fact
Even if you failed the first time
Get up
And do it again
And this time it’s going to work
Because this is the hour of visitation