Posts in category: The Shepherd

Many times, we find ourselves in positions where we have to do things that we are not really interested in.  It happens more often amongst the people of God.  The Church needs to set up a committee and a leader is needed, then you find no one wants to be the leader.  Somehow someone reluctantly takes the challenge while deep down inside they are not interested.  Quite often you find that it will take a special grace of God for the task to be accomplished successfully.  Why?  Because there was no willing heart to get the task done.  Our lives are full of many unpleasant responsibilities.  In our call to be of service to God, we find that this call requires that our heart be in the right place.  The call on our lives requires that our hearts be willing to serve the Lord.  Is your heart willing?

God loves a heart that is willing to do His will.  In Exodus 35, Moses relayed God’s commands about the construction of the tabernacle to the people of Israel. In giving the commands, God also gave several details about how the tabernacle should be built.  God directed that the Tabernacle should be built by the people from the beginning to the end.  He even told them when they should work on the Tabernacle and when they cannot.  One very important aspect of the instructions that was given by God to the people of Israel was that the work that will be done on the Tabernacle must be the work of only “willing” people.  “Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it…” – Exodus 35:5a (KJV).  This requirement established for God’s people a basic and fundamental truth. More than anything else, God wants our hearts.  When it comes to the things of God, many of us are on auto.  We just do things devoid of emotion, without our hearts in it.  However, our God Is not satisfied with mechanical actions; all of our actions must be accompanied by our heart.  He wants a relationship first before anything else we might want to do. 

The question is worth asking: Why do we do what we do? Are we doing what God expects of us?  Are we doing what pleases God?  And if we are doing what God expects, are we doing it with a willing heart? Many times, in our lives our base instincts take over and we do not conform with God’s expectations of us. We do not follow God’s will for us, and when we do, it is often with the wrong motive. God loves to use a willing heart to accomplish His purpose.  But God made us and knows our short comings, so many times He is willing to also come to our aid to help put our hearts in the right place.  When hearts are not right, He changes our hearts. I know God can change hearts. So, I look unto Him to help me with my heart and make it more willing to do His will.  We need to always go to God and ask Him to help us with our hearts just like David did in Psalm 51:10 (KJV): “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me”. 

God knowing that His wayward people do not have their hearts in the right place and have not the willing heart to do God’s will, reminded them in Ezekiel 36:26 about His desire and ability to do His work: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”  He knows where we are, and He is willing to meet us there.  Even where we do not have the abilities to do what we need to do, when our hearts are willing God will take care of the rest.  He did this for Moses and gave him abilities he never thought he possessed. 

God has blessed us with different abilities and so there may be times when you feel you are not up to the task because the task requires abilities you do not possess.  Because of this we do nothing.  God does not want us to do nothing.  All He needs is for your heart to be willing, He will make a way.  So, I urge you people of God, set your eyes on the Lord.  Make yourself available for His use.  Is your heart willing?  That is all you need. He can take care of the rest, “for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure”.

One song that keeps recurring in my soul these days is the song that we sing often and that has its root in the songs of David.  “Bless the Lord Oh my Soul” – Psalm 103:1a (KJV).  This song is a song that comes forth from the deepest part of one’s heart.  It is a song that comes forth because of deep reflection.  I am not sure about you, but sometimes I have found myself in a deep reflection such that some high and low points of my life are played in my subconscious like a video reel.  At the end of these reflections, I often find myself just blessing and praising the name of the Lord.  Reading Psalm 103, we discover that this song may have come from such a time of reflection by King David.

King David was thinking deep and having a conversation with himself.  I bet in that most reflective state he was also watching a movie about his life, a movie at which he has a front row seat.  He suddenly remembered all the benefits of God in his life.  He remembered it was God who forgave him, even when what he did amounted to murder, murder for selfish reasons.  He remembered that when he was sick and in the lowest point of his life, it was God who healed him.  He remembered that it was God who redeemed him from a life of destruction.  This same God showed him mercies and satisfied his mouth with good things.  In the stark reality of this moment King David had no control over the gratitude that swelled up in his heart.  The heart of gratitude that came up in a song, “Bless the Lord Oh my Soul”!  Have you found yourself in this situation?  Have you found yourself in this time of deep reflection where you had no choice but to praise the name of the almighty God?  Have you found yourself bursting out in songs of praise and worship when you remember the God who forgave you, healed you, preserves you, satisfies you, and blesses you with good things?

It is good to always have a time like this when we can reflect about God’s grace and mercy in our lives.  It is very easy to always put ourselves in the place of a victim when things that are not very pleasant happen to us.  That is the time we begin to ask, why me?  But our God is full of mercy and grace, and He can help us through our life difficulties. We forget that our struggles are only a very small part of our life in general and that when we put our struggles and our blessings on a scale side by side, our blessings will always outweigh our struggles.  Like the saying goes, many times we do not know what we have got until it is gone.  Even when it is gone, instead of appreciating the moment we had such wonderful blessings, we resort to lamenting about our present predicament. The story was told of a Scottish preacher, Alexander Whyte.  He was known to be thankful no matter the situation.  One Sunday morning the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought to himself, “Certainly the preacher won’t think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this.” Much to his surprise, however, Whyte began by praying, “We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.”  If that parishioner could only be as reflective as Alexander Whyte… 

Brethren, let us always be reflective in our relationship with God.  David was reflective and his gratitude came up in a song that blessed the name of the Lord.  Alexander Whyte was reflective and thanked God for the fact that the weather is not always gloomy.  Let us bless the Lord whatever the situation we may be going through.  The Christian injunction is for us to thank God in all circumstances.  It is difficult to do because we always choose to thank God exclusively for personal benefits to us which the devil can destroy. The Word of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 6:19-21 says “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If we act like David and choose to thank God for those treasures that are laid up in heaven, even when our earthly treasures are not doing as well as we want, our soul will always bless the Lord even in our most difficult circumstances.

King David’s expression of gratitude came forth in the form of praise and thanksgiving, with the whole of his being, for the name of the Lord, his God, our God, who forgives, who heals, who preserves, who provides and who satisfies. On this day I pray that David’s example of addressing his own soul will be followed by all of us and our souls will also well up in praise and adoration of the one who has redeemed us. “Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!”

Today we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, the day that our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  The importance of resurrection for Christians cannot be underestimated.  The Word of God made us understand in 1 Corinthians 15:14 that “if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.”  In addition to this, as Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:18-19 “those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”  So, without resurrection the whole basis of our faith falls like a pack of cards.  We however give all glory to God, who raised His Son Christ Jesus from the dead.  He is the firstborn of the dead and is vindicated by God in His glorious resurrection. Christ rose and we have hope that we shall also rise with Him. We look forward to the coming of the Lord when all who died in Christ will rise to live when they hear His voice. 

Practical Christian faith growth and maturity has been well articulated in the book of James.  However, without the resurrection of Christ, where will our faith be?  The Resurrection of Christ is a huge cornerstone for our faith.  The idea of the resurrection is so important that we who are Christians depend on it for everything we are and believe.  Colossians 2:13 tells us God has made us alive in Christ.  We cannot be made alive if Christ Himself is not alive. Romans 10:9 says, “if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  If He has not been raised, then what is our saving grace?  The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ also comes with great power. In our efforts to grow our faith to maturity, we must continue to rely on that power.  The power of the resurrection can mold us in a Christ-like fashion.  It is not a day’s job, but God will continue and will carry it to completion. The power of resurrection is able to convict us, confront us, and ultimately conform us.  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” – 1 Peter 1:3-4. 

Christ’s resurrection is an event that happened about two thousand years ago but is not over yet. In other words, it is not just another history lesson. The power of that event is still working today.  Aside from the centrality of our faith in the resurrection, it continues to impact our life today because of the power that is inherent in it.  For this reason, Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:10-11 said, he wanted to know Christ and also “to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” In Ephesians 1:18-20, Paul also prayed that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened in order that we may know the hope to which He has called us and also know the incomparably great power He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms.  Our whole faith and Christian journey sits firmly on the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Christ is risen and this is the centerpiece of our faith. There is power in His resurrection, and that power is so very relevant today in in our lives.  Today, we all need the resurrection power to experience healing, deliverance, to overcome family problems, to overcome financial problems and so many other trials of life that we face daily.  So, as we celebrate Christ’s resurrection today, I want you to remember the importance of this event to our faith and like Paul, let us pray that we begin to experience the resurrection power in our lives and that this power will help us persevere as we go through all of life’s travails, so that in the end our perseverance will finish its work and we will become mature and complete (James 1:4).

We have been studying the topic of “Loving God With All Your Mind” in our Bible Study Class for some weeks now using the text book written by Elizabeth George. During the course of our studies, we have addressed several topics including, “Training Your Thoughts”, “Winning Over Worry”, “Pressing For The Price”, and so on. But why is our mind so important to God that He spoke about it in several passages in the Old Testament like Deuteronomy 6 all the way to chapter 30 as well as the New Testament?

Well, the website defines the human mind as “the set of faculties including cognitive aspects such as consciousness, imagination, perception, thinking, intelligence, judgement, language and memory as well as noncognitive aspects such as emotion and instinct”. In Matthew 22: 35-40, Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”.

I submit to you that our mind is important to God among other things, because our mind is the chamber where our thoughts begin – the thought to love and obey God or not obey Him; the thought to build or to destroy; the thought to praise the Living God or to praise a lesser god; the thought to love our neighbor which comprises members of our family, someone we come across at a Gas Station or Bank, someone who happens to be our co-worker or business associate and many more people who we come in contact with in the business of living our daily lives. According to Elizabeth George, our minds are subjected to about ten thousand thoughts in one day! In addition to the thousands of thoughts that come to our mind daily, we also have multiples of social media feeding our minds with all kinds of information; while some of this information may be wholesome, others may not be. Little wonder then that Jesus admonished us not to “conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will” – Romans 12: 2 (NIV). And if some of these thoughts are not pure and holy, what can we do to exercise obedience? Because we cannot obey God if we do not love Him!

First, by renewing our mind on a daily basis, we stand to profit in our walk with the Lord because His Word has the power to filter and remove completely all the contaminants in our mind and lift us up above various elements of sins that may be besting us. Secondly, I recommend we pay attention to the Word of God as written in Philippians 4:8, which states – “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things”. 

In order for us to profit from this command, I believe that we need to dig deeper about each virtue and seek the help of the Holy Spirit to assist us with compliance. I also think that while meditating on this verse is important, it is more profitable to act on it – for it is by acting on it that we realize the benefit of compliance and the joy of our relationship with the Father. While some people may say that loving God with all our mind is impossible, I suggest that we take one virtue at a time and comply with the command to renewing our mind one day at a time. You and I know that we serve a good God and as such, He would not have told us to do the impossible. If God said it, He would supply the grace for us to rise to the challenge. Praise the Living God!

As I started meditating about writing on this topic, a song immediately came to my mind, “One day at a time”, the version by Cristy Lane. “Yesterday is gone, sweet Jesus, and tomorrow may never be mine.  Lord help me today, show me the way, one day at a time”.  We all need to live life one day at a time.  Just as the Bible has always enjoined us not to dwell on the past, it also teaches us not to be overly concerned about the future. However, our nature is to generally get bogged down by our past mistakes, misfortunes that are long past, embarrassments, and abuses that happened a long time ago. While we can learn from events of our past, the word of God for us is for us to make sure that we do not become prisoners of our past. God’s declaration in Isaiah 43:18 is “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.”  Similarly, our Lord Jesus Christ enjoined us not to worry about the future. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Matthew 6:34. If we are not to get bogged down by the past and not worry about the future, then we are left to live our lives to the fullest in the present.

One saying attributed to a professor of Philosophy at Harvard, George Santayana, says “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.  In essence, the idea is not to forget the past completely, but when we remember the past, we only do so to the extent it helps us to learn from the situation so that we do not repeat the mistakes again. As children of God we are also asked to live our lives in hope.  The hope of a better tomorrow.  The hope of eternal life.  However, while we live in hope for a better tomorrow we must not worry about tomorrow.  The idea is that we live a balanced life.  While we learn from our past, we must be able to continue living in faith and in hope without worrying about what tomorrow will bring.  In essence, we must live in the present.  So, when we think, we must think about the present. 

When we focus on the bad things that had happened to us in the past, we tend to forget that to get here we must have overcome all of them and God in His infinite mercies has brought us to the present.  Also, in worrying so much about the future, we forget to enjoy the grace that God has given us for the present.  The people of Israel, for example were great grumblers (Exodus 16).  They grumbled because they did not have pots of meat to eat again like they used to do in Israel.  They had forgotten that while they were eating that meat, they still yearned for a way out of their situation. So, they grumbled about the meat in the past instead of enjoying and being thankful of their freedom in the present. Many times, we so much romanticize a past that was not fulfilling at the time that we forget to enjoy the blessings of the present.  We either look at the past with rose-colored glasses or with glasses that so removes the light completely that we are only left with the gloomy part of our past.  We either remember things as better than they really were, or we remember them as gloomier than they really were. Rather than fall into these problems, why don’t we just live in the present?  Remembering the past can be good and educational, but not if it means ignoring the present.

In our thoughts we must drown our past and dull our fears.  Even with this Covid-19, many of us are fearful. The truth is today, many of us do not have Covid-19.  Why don’t we live life to the fullest today and let God take care of what happens tomorrow?  The present moment is all we have because yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may not even be ours.  We must live faithfully here and now and use this time that the Lord has given us to work for his glory.  We cannot afford to be wrapped up in some gloomy things that happened in the past or some over-romanticized event of the past that we forget to redeem our time in this present time.  While we are at home all cooped in, there are people out there who do not have food to eat.  There are people out there who only need to hear I love you over the phone. There are people out there who this Covid-19 thing has thrown a curve ball at.  Are you in a position to help?  What can you do to help?  Are you doing all you can do?  Think of those things.  Leave the past to the past and let tomorrow take of itself, you have enough to think about the present.  That is what God wants us to think about.  When we live the life God wants us to live in this present time, we are inevitably living for a future of eternity with Him. – Pastor Simbo Odunaiya