All posts by : Simbo Odunaiya

I have continued to reflect on the extreme strange circumstances that we have all had to face this year. I said strange, because for those of us in this age, it is quite strange.  But it was not quite strange for those who lived through the flu pandemic.  However, because they lived through that age, and the strange circumstances they experienced that time, we in this age are able to relatively live with the flu almost as a routine disease.  I can imagine that people who live 50 years from now will look back at the experience garnered from this troubled time as a blessing for them and the breakthrough on the current pandemic.  I have said all this to point to a fact that our present circumstances may be blessings in disguise.  This reminds me of an article I wrote a while ago which I revisit again below.

Many times, we experience blessings that are not disguised. This had caused me to meditate over the ratio of our blessings that are disguised and ones that are not and a picture formed in my mind.  The picture I am getting is that when I examine my life, I realize that I have had far more incidents of good things happening in my life than bad things. It is easy for me though to concede that the bad circumstances, when they happen seem to command more of my attention. Thinking again, I realize that the bad things seem to occur less frequently.  I have also noticed that my worst experiences have, by far, been the debilitating fear I have of bad things happening to me.  A loved one is sick, and I begin to fear that he/she might die.  I go for a job interview and for one reason or the other I begin to feel like I might not pass the interview or be accepted for the job, and so many other fears like these. The fear of getting into a bad circumstance is like torture and this is in spite of the knowledge that our Lord has not given us a Spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7).  Another thing that is noteworthy is the fact that, so far, I have managed to recover from whatever circumstances I have found myself in in the past.

These experiences tend to support the notion that there is more good than bad in life; the bad is not as bad as fearing the bad; and we can recover and live happily in spite of the bad circumstances. One can then surmise that our fear of bad circumstances may actually get in the way of enjoying the blessings of God which far out-number the circumstances. InRevelation 2:10 (KJV) the Bible says “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. So, our experiences in life may have more to do with where we focus our mind and our heart than the bad circumstances that happen in our lives. If we, however, orient our heart in the right direction, the joy of the blessings of God will definitely be our portion again.

I have heard many people say that being happy is a choice.  The revelations here do support that fact.  Focus on the good things God has blessed you with and you will have a far more exceeding joy than if you concentrate on the trying experiences you have. According to Elizabeth George, in her book “Loving God with all your mind”, we must train our thoughts to think the truth about our experiences and focus on living life one day at a time.  Our recollection of our bad experiences in the past should be for only two reasons.  Either because we want to thank God for having brought us through or because there were some lessons we learned from those experiences we need to put to use. Our experience of life usually has more to do with what we focus our attention on than it does with the events. One bad thing might happen, but ten good things are all around you. If you only see the one bad thing, then life is bad. When you are in the midst of a bad thing, you will experience pain and difficulty, but it won’t kill you. In fact, many great things come from bad times. Bad circumstances are often the precursor to positive change and personal growth.  There is a choice we always have to make in the course of our life journey and that choice is either to be a victim of our circumstances or to be victorious over our circumstances.  The choice to be victorious is the choice to be happy.  My brothers and sisters, let us choose to be happy despite our circumstances as we refuse to succumb to the fear of bad circumstances.

Christmas is here again and anywhere you turn the Christmas songs will be blaring once again.  My favorite of course is “’Tis the season to be jolly!”.  I love this song because it often describes my feelings at Christmas.  Every Christmas my joy index has this time-tested tradition of going through the roof.  It did not just start; it has always been so for me and I am guessing I am not alone.  All one needs to do is look around at Christmas and you can literally feel the joy in the air.  The source of the joy is not always the same for everyone because Christmas is one of those times of the year when America has successfully merged spiritual and material joy.  I am not quite sure that the extent of the joy is the same this year, especially if what we have been hearing about the impact of this Covid-19 pandemic is true.  This year had been that year when many have fallen sick with the mysterious Covid-19 virus, and at the last count before writing this blog, the number of deaths in the United States due to the pandemic had gone beyond 300,000 people.  So, I know that his year’s Christmas will be a mixed-feelings affair for a lot of families because over 300,000 seats will be permanently empty at the dinner table.  In addition to this, many who have the grace of still being alive will not have the pleasure of celebrating this “most wonderful time of the year” with their children or parents because of the rampaging pandemic.  Despite all this, I know it is still the season to be jolly.

Being jolly, or cheerful, or happy, or joyful, or merry at Christmas does not depend on our circumstances.  If we are in the true Christmas Spirit, we can be jolly despite the circumstances surrounding us.  What is the true Christmas spirit?  It turns out that we do not need to be spiritual to go along with the idea that the Christmas season is a time to be jolly or that it is the most wonderful time of the year.  Materially, the season is the most commercially viable time of the year.  For some folks, the material joy is a mirage because they are not able to engage in the commercial activities and will therefore not necessarily feel jolly or think that there is anything wonderful about the season.  So, when we talk about the Christmas Spirit it is different strokes for different people. For those who love to drink, the Christmas spirit comes in a bottle; for many folks, the Christmas spirit is the number of gifts they get; for the Scrooge, in the Scrooge movie, the Christmas spirit was a ghost; and for those who are well to do, it is about the money they have to spend.  The true Spirit of Christmas is not about any these things.

Those who do not know true story of Christmas can only have the joy of Christmas when their circumstances give them cause to.  If the circumstances are not favorable for them, these people will come very near the celebration, hear the songs, see the fanfare and yet never completely be in the Christmas Spirit.  They will experience the fun and the excitement, but never make the connection between their celebration and the event itself. These folks will be like people at a wedding who celebrate with more energy, laugh louder, and drink more wine than anyone else, and yet they have never met the bride or the groom. They have no real interest in the marriage. Their real and only interest is in the celebration. Take away the party from them and you remove the celebration. On the other hand, there are folks in the wedding who will remain joyful nonetheless even if there is no wedding celebration because the source of their joy is the marriage itself.  So when a pandemic like Covid-19 takes away the normal of our Christmas celebrations, what remains is the spiritual.

This is the main difference between those who have the real Christmas spirit and those who don’t. For those with the real Christmas spirit, if you removed their trees, and their lights, and the gifts, and the decorations, with the drinks, the food, and the music, the story will still be true and they will still be jolly.  So, it is another season to be jolly, but I also hope it is another opportunity to know the full story of Christmas and its importance for our lives.  Let us, amid all the hoopla, not forget about the baby in the manger. Let us not forget that this baby, Jesus, came into the world to redeem us and that He paid the supreme sacrifice for you and I.  Let us, in fact, remember that “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.”  If we do remember these in all our merriments (or no merriments because of the circumstances), we will be in the true Christmas Spirit and it will indeed make us want to be jolly.  This season I urge you to make efforts to know and love our savior more, and if indeed this puts you in a jollification mood, so be it. Afterall, “’Tis the season to be jolly!”.

How does one accept something that is already regarded as unacceptable?  Ironically there are several things that happen in our life that are unacceptable.  Yet, many times we do not have any choice but to accept them even when they are deemed unacceptable.  Accepting the unacceptable is about accepting things that we have no power to change.  Refusing to accept them is a sure pathway to losing our peace.  We battle serious illnesses, and we find it difficult to accept them.  We lose loved ones and we cannot bring ourselves to accept it.  We fight, we kick, we complain and refuse to accept.  The idea here is not that we should not make efforts to change bad situations, but that we must recognize the truth of that situation. 

Our natural reaction to uncomfortable situations is to change the situation.  However there comes a time when despite our best efforts we are not able to change some situations.  This is when acceptance comes in.  No matter how much we try, we cannot change the weather.  We can do something about it, but we cannot change it. As a matter of fact, the sooner we accept that the weather will be what it will be, the earlier we are able to do something that helps us to deal with the harsh part of it.  We cannot change our past.  The more we think about the painful aspects of our past, the more difficult it becomes to move on.  So, acceptance not only gives us peace, it helps us to deal with our situation.

Accepting the unacceptable is about surrendering fully to the will of God.  Our Lord Jesus Christ in human flesh had to suffer.  It is not a path any human will love to take.  Jesus Christ had to accept to walk this path of suffering so that God’s plan for Him will be fulfilled.  The situations of life that come our way are many times not about us.  They are about God’s will.  Yes, they may be uncomfortable for us, but they are about God’s plan.  Refusing to accept these situations, as uncomfortable as they may be, is the same as rejecting the plans of God for us. Again, I should point out here that acceptance does not mean we will not pray, and acceptance does not mean we will not do anything about the situation.  Whatever we do will be to the extent that we are able to effect a change in the situation.  What we should not engage in is to worry and worry about situations we have no power over.  So, when we are sick, we go to the Doctor.  When we require help beyond our powers we go to God in prayer.  Going to God in prayer is a recognition of our own limitation and an acceptance of the fact that only God can effect a change in the situation.

The popular prayer of serenity is about recognizing the limitations of our power and ability.  “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference”. This here is what it means to accept the unacceptable.  We must seek the courage to change bad situations that comes into our lives, but we must understand that only the serenity of God can help to accept our limitations, and after we do, it again leads to the peace of God in our lives.

One of the reasons we fight accepting difficult situations is that we believe once we accept the situation, we may never be able to change it.  The truth however is that because we cannot change the situation, we need to accept it.  When we accept the unacceptable, it does not mean we are condoning it or embracing it.  It just means that we accept the fact that the situation is what it is.  Yes, we may wonder why it is happening or why it is happening to me, in particular?  That does not change the fact that it is happening.  I like the way Elizabeth George puts it.  “I don’t have to understand everything”; “I don’t need to understand everything”; and, “I can’t understand everything”.  There is no situation that comes to us that God does not know about.  His Word is good enough for me. The Word of God says “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13.  When it is happening it is difficult to believe, but once it is over we can always look back and see the hands of God in how we overcame.  We will only be able to look back when we do not allow worry to destroy our minds during our period of suffering.  Accepting the unacceptable is about allowing God to do with us what He desires.  It is about walking to our destiny and not away from it.  May God keep us in His will always.

This Covid-19 pandemic has acted to expose many government officials who never live according to the rules they themselves make.  The news media has been inundated this week with news of many leaders who ask people to stay home due to the Covid-19 but who themselves never follow the rules.  It is a common malady that people like “the do as I say” but not the “do as I do” kind of life.  Christians do not have this luxury because God has called us to live by His Words.  I believe the most important aspect of being a Christian is the idea of living by the Word of God.  It seems it is also the most difficult.  Quite often it is easy to live by the Word of God when that Word is advantageous to us.  It is not that easy when the Word requires us to go through actions that are difficult or painful.  Valley experiences seem to make us forget who we are.  We are children of God and “in Him we live and move and have our being” – Acts 17:28a(NKJV).  We live by the Word whether in the valley or on the mountain.  

Being followers of Christ, there is no better model for us Christians than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ Himself.  Right from the beginning, in His humanity, He was familiar with the written Word of God and was willing to abide by it. “It is written, ‘That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’” – Luke 4:4.  Knowing the written Word of God and fully understanding the context in which they are used was obviously helpful in how Jesus Christ dealt with the machinations of the devil. Being familiar with God’s Word will help us, like our Lord Jesus Christ, not to fall into the fowler that Satan is always preparing for us.  “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.” – Psalm 119:11(NKJV).  The Word of God is our great protector.  It helps to insulate us from living the sinful life.  Therefore, one of the most important activities we should engage in as Christians is learning the Word of God.  We must make sure that we learn the Word of God, know its correct meaning, and be ready and willing to apply them whenever the situation arises. “Therefore, you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” – Deuteronomy 11:18(NKJV).

Studying the Word of God is however of no use if we are not determined to live by what we learn from Scripture in all circumstances.  Learning the Word of God but being unable to put them into practice makes the study of the Word an exercise in futility.  We do not learn the Word of God just for the sake of learning; we learn so that we can put the Word into practice.  The idea of growth and maturity in Christendom is about putting into practice what we learn from the Word of God. 

The high point of living by the Word of God is that His Word comes to our aid in times of trouble.  Psalm 119 is full of several examples of the Psalmist calling on God to come to his aid in accordance with His Words.  During that time when we are in the valley of life, we are able to call on God to save us according to His Word; and only those who know the Word of God can make reference to it. When the times are hard and we are on our last strength, then it is time to call on God to strengthen us according to His divine power.  “I am afflicted very much; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word” – Psalms 119:107; “My soul melts from heaviness; Strengthen me according to Your word” – Psalms 119:28.  In these times God’s Word can revive, God’s Word can strengthen, God’s Word can save; and only those who know about the efficacy of God’s Word can take advantage of it.

Every time we appeal to God’s grace, mercy, and power according to His Word, we are also saying that we have been living in line with God’s Word and living by the provisions of His Word.  We need the help of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this because it is through the Holy Spirit, that God works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure – Phil. 2:13(NKJV).  There is nothing we can do on our own.  However, when we make our human efforts and ask the Lord to help us through the power of the Holy Spirit, God is gracious.  It is when we ourselves have all we can to live by His word that we can look back and say to God, like David who lived according to God’s word, “You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word” – Psalm 119:65.  When we live by His Word, He deals with us according to His Word.  May God always deal with you according to His Word, in Jesus’ name.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all my brothers and sisters in the Lord.  As I often say, each time I think deep, I always end up feeling that my tank is full of God’s blessings and therefore have no other recourse but to be thankful.  I trust that especially in this year 2020, where many people have personally felt its ups and downs, you feel the need to be thankful.  It has been a very long year, although the Lord has not added a single minute to it.  It has however felt that way.  If we do the needful and think just a little deeper, we find that there is so much to thank God for.

Our God is awesome and deserves all our praise and gratitude.  Where and how do we start from, to measure the fullness of God’s blessings?  When we look back at our lives this year, despite the dark clouds that showed up once in a while, it has been God all along. When we look at how His Word has guided us, comforted us, and given us hope (Hebrews 4:12), being alive at this time is a testimony to how His grace has been sufficient for us and how His power is made perfect in our weaknesses.  For many of us who have had health challenges this year, especially the Covid-19 challenge, these challenges have helped us to build strength and character.  For those who have lost loved ones, we now know beyond any doubt that only He could have kept us standing.  What about the family He has given each of us, whether by blood or faith, they have always been there for us and made our lives quite meaningful.  We are surrounded by love and His peace, what else can one ask?

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night” (Psalm 92:1-2 – NKJV).  I pray that this will be your portion on this day of intentional thanksgiving. I know it is not the typical Thanksgiving this year because many of us are celebrating it without the kids at home as would usually be the case; another one of the curve balls the year 2020 threw at us.  I pray however that in spite of whatever you may have been through in this year 2020, that you are ultimately strengthened by God’s peace and that your hearts are renewed by His joy such that your focus will be turned away from whatever issues you have and back to God where it should be on a day like this. 

The Bible says “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” – Psalm 150:6. We are not here by our own power and as long as we still have breath, we must continue to give Him thanks and praises. In this Thanksgiving season, we all must continue to reflect on our lives and know that we are still here because God still wants us around.  If He still wants us here, it must be because there are things we still need to accomplish.  There are plans He has for us that we must still get done.  Let us, on an opportune day like this, spend time reflecting on how we live our lives henceforth.  Knowing God has been good to us should engender from us a heart that is full of gratitude, but it should also cause us to reflect on our relationship with Him and why He is keeping us around. 

We must also do our part to stay around for the master’s service.  “Only the living can praise you as I do today.  Each generation tells of your faithfulness to the next” (Isaiah 38:19 – NLT).  Only the living will worship the Lord, so we must not only play our part in staying alive but make sure that others are also able to stay alive to worship God.  We are not here for ourselves. We are here to serve others and to worship our God most high.  This therefore brings to mind what is going on in our world today.  In this pandemic time, let us do our part to keep ourselves and our neighbors safe.  Very soon vaccines will be available for all of us, but before then, the next best thing is to make sure we wear our masks and maintain social distancing.  We must do our own part and not break these rules.  We must make our best efforts to follow them because it is in following these rules by our state and local governments that we play our roles in keeping our community safe and keeping God’s people alive to worship Him.  We must also minimize how we move around in the interim so that we can all join hands to reduce the rate of infection.

Once again, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving season.  Remember also that we must keep thanking God in all our circumstances.  That is God’s desire for us.  May His praise never depart from our hearts and our mouths, in Jesus name.

How we approach our Christian journey ultimately depends on what we think really counts in matters of faith.  There is no doubt that very often we get it completely wrong and therefore approach our faith based on a wrong premise.  All of these are factors in how we worship God, and maybe even have their place in the outcomes of our worship.  The problem is that many of us have become experts in majoring in the minors.  We tend to focus our energy on the issues that concern us personally, instead of living God’s will for us. 

Majoring in the minors of our faith always looks like something other people do.  Unfortunately, it is one of those planks in our eyes that we never see even as we manage to see the speck in other people’s eyes.  If our faith is not about His word, or His truth, loving Him with all our minds and loving our neighbors as ourselves, then it is most likely that we are majoring in the minors of our faith.  It is not a new phenomenon.  Majoring in the minor has been with us since the days of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Recall what Jesus Christ said to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:23-24, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.  You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” Meaning in a hierarchy of important actions, the pharisees focused on the least important things while they neglected the most important.  In short, they majored in the minors and minored in the majors.

We must know that everyone majors in something.  This is not an issue in which we can be cold or lukewarm. The good things of life often cause us to lose focus on why we are here and for whose glory we are here.  We spend so much time in or efforts to acquire the good things of life that we forget what the purpose of those good things are.  So, we get into situations where we worship those things rather than serve God.  Many of us start well, but it does not take too long for the distractions to take hold of our focus and we find ourselves concentrating on the minors of our faith.

There are several things that can happen in our lives and cause us to loose focus or perspective.  Whenever we loose focus or perspective, we can end up being masters of the minors.  Our Christian lives are often burdened with personal challenges like illness, worries, worldly desires and other sinful activities that ends up pushing us towards the minors of our faith.  These events in our lives are often strong enough that the unwary can be influenced even when they do not plan to be.  In our walk here we must always remember that we do not live for ourselves.  Our lives must be fully dedicated to serve God and to serve mankind.  Any deviation from these ideals will ultimately push us towards the less important activities of our faith.

Majoring in the majors of our faith should always be about engaging in actions that result in the glory of God. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” -1 Corinthians 10:31.  Our actions will glorify God when we live the truth of His words.  We are made in the image of God, so, our actions should give people a glimpse into the character of God. If we engage in actions that detract from how people perceive God, then we are giving a false picture of God and have therefore forgotten the important things of our faith that we should be about.  Those who encounter us should experience the love of God.  They should experience firsthand what it means to love our neighbors like ourselves.

Our major in our Christian faith is aptly summarized in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, – “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”  His commandments have also been succinctly stated in Matthew 22:37-40 – “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  If our actions are not dictated by these commandments we are majoring in the minors. Let us learn to put first things first.  We covet His grace to be able to do so.

If there was ever a year in which it is difficult to praise God, it must be the year 2020, with all its attendant issues. However, praising God is something that God wishes us to do, and to do as naturally as we breathe. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” – (Psalms 150:6). So, it is a great day to praise the Lord. Why? Because we still have breath to praise and glorify the most-high God. Only the living can praise Him. So, anyone with any intention to praise the almighty God better does it now because tomorrow is not promised to anyone. Let us lift our hands and give ourselves completely to praising the Lord! We can only praise who we honor and prize highly. If we hold the Lord in the highest state of respect and admiration, it will be easy to praise Him.
Several things can happen when God is praised from the heart. Some folks prefer the quiet solemn way to praise God, but there are others who, when they are praising God, do things that can get people wondering what is going on. They are all acceptable forms of praise. Yes, whatever fits your fancy when you are praising the Lord, just as long as you do it from the heart. There was the Bible story of when Jesus came near Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives in Luke 19:28-40. He had sent two of His disciples after a colt (a donkey). When they brought the colt to Jesus, they put garments on it and Jesus got on the donkey to ride. As Jesus was riding in, the whole multitude of the disciples began spontaneously to rejoice and praise God in a loud voice saying, “Blessed be the king that cometh.” They were praising God in a loud voice and some of the Pharisees were either embarrassed or felt like that was not the way to praise God because they told Jesus, “Master, rebuke your disciples.” Our Lord Jesus Christ however gave them an instructive response, He said “I tell you, …. if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” So, as we respond to God’s goodness and power in praise to Him, if you feel like doing it with a reckless abandon, go ahead. I am sure you do not want the objects to start praising God in your stead.
Sometimes we are going through some difficult times and we cannot even bring ourselves to praising God. Remember though that we can still praise God despite our circumstances. Recall when Paul and Silas were in jail – Acts 16:25-31, despite their circumstances they started singing hymns in the middle of the night. The Bible tells us that as they were singing there was a violent earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison and all the windows and doors of the prison flew open. You see it does not matter what our circumstances are, when we praise God chains are broken and burdens are lifted. You see, our trials and our problems are not bigger than God. So, get in the act of praising God and let God know that you know that he can take care of all of your problems.
There may yet be others who have felt the touch of His mighty hands. The Lord has just shown up mightily in your lives and you do not know what to do. Well, I want you to borrow a leaf from the lame man at the gate called “Beautiful”. Recall the man was begging for money from Peter and John. Peter told him that “Silver or gold I do not have” – Acts 3:6, then “Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong” – Acts 3:7. The Bible tells us that once this man received his healing “he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God” -Acts 3:8. When people saw him, they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. You see, when you praise God with all your heart, and all your being, it lets people recognize the grace of God that is working on your life.
Many of us feel ashamed to let ourselves go when we praise the Lord. Well, today is a great day to do it and not feel ashamed after all the Lord’s mercies are new every morning. We must get into the habit of praising God with reckless abandon for anything, at anytime and anywhere, because whatever we do, anyway, is for the glory of the Lord. I am not suggesting that you shout, I am saying do it with all your mind and all your soul and all your spirit. When we praise God, our joys will be full, our souls will be lifted up, and our faiths strengthened, to the glory of His name but only to the extent of our immersion in our praise. – Pastor Simbo Odunaiya

As we continue to talk about God’s promises and how He fulfills them, we must also pay attention to some promises that require some action from us.  Those promises usually hinge on God’s desire for us to have a relationship with Him.  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be open.” – Matthew 7:7-8.  Here God promises that whenever we ask things of Him, He will respond to us by giving them. Of course, we must also remember the warning in the Bible that says we must always ask with the right motive. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” God will always fulfill His promises when our motives are pure, and He is the sole judge of that.  In Jeremiah 33:3 we also read, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” God wants us to pray, and without ceasing. He wants us to ask for things we need, but He also wants us to just call unto Him and fellowship with Him so that He can reveal more of himself to us.

All through the Bible we get the idea that God wants us to pray. God is pleased when we initiate a conversation with Him.  Many times, Christians behave in the same way that children behave.  Right after our conversion we cannot seem to get enough of God.  We seem to take all our issues to Him, and I must add that He graciously listens to all of them.  However, as we continue to grow and get accustomed to the blessings and great benevolence of God, we seem to relax and kind of step down in our relationship with the Lord.  When I think about my children, it seems like they do exactly the same.  When they were younger it is almost always “Daddy can I have this?” or “Daddy can I have that?”.  If not asking for what they can get, they were asking “Daddy what is this?” or “Daddy what is that?”  Now fast forward to their teenage years when they only want to speak to teenagers like themselves.  The only time they remember to talk to me is when they need something.  However, I don’t want that, I really would like to have conversations with them.  In fact, if only they can have meaningful conversations with me, they may not need to ask for many things that they do because I would have known that they have such a need and they too would have understood my heart much more than they currently do.  The same holds true for our God almighty. 

Our God desires communion with us, He wants to know us, and He wants us to know him. No human activity draws us more deeply into the heart of God than prayer and there is no better way to learn about prayer than by praying.   God wants us to pray, not only when we want something, but every time.  However, praying is not always easy. We struggle to find the time to pray. Sometimes we are not sure exactly how to pray and what to pray for, except in situations when we are in great need.   Clearly, God wants us to pray, therefore when Christ’s disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, He gave them and us, the model prayer which teaches us to pray.  This is our model for prayer, and it can be done in any order and at any time.  It is about communing with God.  We can do it with words, we can do it in songs, and we can do it in worship.  The main thing is to commune with God.

When we pray, we must do it in total submission and trust that He answers, but His answers to our prayers will be what is best for us, His beloved children.  “For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” – 2 Corinthians 1:20 (KJV)

So, I urge each of us, as we seek to live in God’s promises, to always remember that His promises are sure and steadfast. Let us learn to develop a relationship with Him through our conversations with Him. Remember that the idea is to commune with Him, so put aside all weights and all other things that get in the way of a great communication with the Lord. Open your hearts and pour them all out to Him.  Remember that while our experience of prayer may be easy or difficult, we must know that in praise, songs, or prayer, we will always meet God and His promises for us shall also be fulfilled.

In my last piece, I drew attention to God’s truth, that we are His Masterpiece.  How do we become God’s Masterpiece?  We become His Masterpiece when He creates us anew in Christ Jesus.  So, the moment we accept Jesus Christ into our lives we become God’s Masterpiece, well, presumably.  The truth however is that becoming God’s masterpiece is one thing, continuing to live as God’s masterpiece is another.  The idea is that once we find Jesus Christ, we are no longer who we used to be.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17.  Essentially, once we are in Christ, we have become God’s Masterpiece, except something causes us to backslide. 

The same process that leads us to Christ is what will keep us in Him.  We must confess Him daily, that is, our faith must remain; we must be obedient to His word, that is, we are guided daily by His word; and we must live our life in such a way that the Lord is pleased.  “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord” – Ephesians 5:8-11.  We must live life in such a way that His glory always shows forth in us.  We must live a fruitful life of the Spirit.  Our lives before Christ is likened to darkness.  I become a masterpiece because I now live a life of light in Christ.  The old has gone away and the new is here. To remain a masterpiece, I must continue to live a life of light in Christ.  The dark things I used to do must give way for the light of God. “All the bad, bad things I used to do, I do them no more; it’s a great change since I met God”.  All the bad, bad thing things we used to do must give way to the goodness, righteousness, and truth of God for us to remain God’s masterpiece.

Some of the methods God uses to relieve us of the darkness of our past life and prepare for the glorious life of a masterpiece, are weeding and pruning.  These are terms that we normally use with planting and growing.  To live life as God’s masterpiece, certain things need to be planted in us and they must not only grow, they must also bear fruit. The fruiting stage of the plant is when it is grown and becomes productive.  For a plant to grow to the point of being fruitful it must be nurtured.  One way of nurturing plants to make sure that the plant bears good fruit is to remove weeds.  This way the nutrients will be enough for the tree to bear great fruits – Mark 4:18-19.  The weeds are always in the way and they also share in the source of nutrition.  We must pray against the weeds of our lives.   Let us pray against the things that take our time but are not gainful.  Let us pray against the things that just get in the way of focusing on the Lord.  They are weeds, they need to go, let us uproot them with prayer.  Note that weeds grow naturally but what is planted must be cultivated.  The dark deeds of our past must be weeded continuously. They tend to return on their own.  Only nurturing will help the goodness, righteousness, and truth of God to grow in our lives.  So, pray that all entangling things will be removed from your life so you can stay focused and bear fruits spiritually, materially, and physically.

Pruning is the other way to make sure that the plant grows and bears fruit.  Many of our attitudes are not acceptable to the Lord. So, we must be pruned.  We must remove the dead branches of our lives so that the living branches can get more nutrients to bear good fruits. God Himself prunes us so that we can bear more fruit. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener” – John 15:2 (NIV). There are things we do that are not necessarily sinful but are not helpful either.  So, we must pray that the Lord will prune us and remove all unproductive and bad parts of our lifestyle so that we can be productive for Him.

To continue living the life of God’s masterpiece, we must pray that we will remain grounded in Him. A branch cannot bear fruit unless it remains attached to the vine – John 15:4. We must remain grounded and not allow the glittering things of life to sweep us away from the protective arm of God.  An unattached branch is dead, and a dead branch cannot bear fruit.  We are children of love; we are children of light.  Stay grounded in His words, stay grounded in His truth, stay grounded in His love, and stay grounded in His light.  Only then can we have the slightest chance of being fruitful which is a prerequisite for one who lives as God’s Masterpiece.  May we always remain God’s masterpiece, the apples of His eyes, in Jesus’ name.

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” – Ephesians 2:10.  Wow!  This is one of those statements from the word of God that always makes me go, wow! If the Bible did not say it, I am not sure how much of it I would have believed that I am God’s masterpiece. 

When I was young, I could not have believed this even if I had seen it in the word of God.  Back then, I was this wobbly young lad who tended to drop everything and break everything.  I could not stand up to any of my contemporaries, so I cried about every little thing and many of my siblings found this quite annoying.  The thing about all of that was I knew it myself that I was an irritation.  So there was no doubt that I did not feel like a masterpiece then, and I certainly did not look like a masterpiece, but God’s Word says I am not only a masterpiece, but I am, in fact, God’s masterpiece. 

I am God’s masterpiece, which means I am God’s jewel, God’s workmanship.  Being God’s masterpiece means I am intentionally created by God.  The creator of every masterpiece has a lot of intentionality behind the work created.  This means I am special. The Word of God says “for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” – Psalms 139:14. It is so good to know that I am not only special, but that the Lord also thinks I am special. How I wished I had come across this word of God at that time!  It would have helped my confidence which was lacking a lot in those days just because I felt I was not up to par.

This reminds me of the story about the seven-cow bride.  In a small indigenous town in Africa the custom is for prospective grooms to pay a bride price, or dowry, in cows.  Often, the most beautiful girls attract the highest number of cows and, usually, the dowry for the most beautiful girls range between four or five cows.  Young girls in the town will often joke about how many cows they believe their suitors will offer.  There was a young lady in the town who was so plain that no one thought she could attract more than one cow.  However, a young man was attracted to the character of this young lady and decided to ask for her hand in marriage.  The suitor had heard of how other girls had made fun of the young lady and how many cows she might get.  The young man decided to do what no other person had done and offered the parents of her bride seven cows.  The parents were happy, and the bride was elated.  Now this girl had the singular honor of having received the highest number of cows from her suitor.  She moved to her husband’s house and as the day passed, everyone started noticing a new bounce in the step of this new wife.  Her dress started appearing more beautiful.  When she walked, she walked so elegantly. In no time she became so glamorous that she was the talk of the town.  People were taken aback by the transformation.  A friend of the groom who visited them asked him why he offered seven cows for a plain bride and he said, he just wanted to have a seven-cow bride and because of his love for his wife he believed she is a seven-cow bride.  He added that it is evident she has risen to the level of her bride price. 

My brothers and sisters, we must live up to the value our creator placed on us.  We are God’s masterpiece created anew in Christ Jesus.  This means our rebirth; our faith has improved our value in the eye of the Lord.  I found the Lord and I found my worth.  I found, to my content, that I am God’s masterpiece.  God loves his creation.  If for some reason you still had thoughts like I had before I met the Lord, I implore you to take a moment and meditate on His words.  Listen to the truth of God’s words.  You have been fearfully and wonderfully made.  The word says “He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” – Ephesians 2:10b.  Do not let “untruths” take over your mind.  When we know who and how special we are, we can begin to walk in our purpose. When God looks at us, all He sees is beauty and greatness.  We are His priceless work of art with divine potential to do things within His good plans that are unique, special, and designed to give us an expected end. Glory!