We Are The Sermon [Not What Is Said About Us]

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Open the window
And let the air of your country in
Face reality, if it slaps you in the face, Let it sting
You are here and this where you are.
If you want paradise, it's time to make your habitation look like it.

I once had a friend who never liked calling things as they are
She spoke in a language no one understood and got no help.
She said happy ten times in a very short sentence and everyone thought she was an angel
We never connected personally cause I thought one day she would fly away to another place and that would break my heart.

Stand at you door and face the giants of the valley you live in
When you bring them down, it would be recorded in history you were an Overcomer
Cause you can be an Overcomer without ever being one cause you chose to fight no battles.
Fight, oh fight, this is how you get stronger.
Fight, oh fight, this is how you become who you are.

I once had a friend who neglected the negatives
The positives were his favorite things
Highlight the negatives and he would call you a pessimist
This is like calling the doctor a murderer cause he detected some tumors.

I believe the light has a greater focus when we know the darkness we are facing
I believe who we are is a sermon for only us . . . for a while.

Sometimes the best thing that have been said about us are actually 'Notes to Self'.
We are forgetful about who we are
We need a reminder and the definitions of our being are to be spoken over and over to our own self first.
The only thing that reminds the world is what has been done.
The world tags you a mad man if you keep naming yourself, shouting your praise and they don't see the characteristics of your name. . . after a while.
In fact after a while they get fed up and term you background music

Dear you, the focus is not the world here but that though the name you've been given is beautiful and true, you also have to be beautiful and true.

Open the window
Let the air of your country in
Face reality
If you want paradise, transform your hell
Don't neglect the negatives but develop them into colorful positives
Stand at your door
Face the Giants of the valley
Most of all remember: We are the sermon not what is said about us
Take your chances
You can
And this is your challenge.

Scaffoldings

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Have you tasted real prayer? 

You come in scared, weak and confused and that's okay cause He holds you even right at the door and welcomes you in like a child, asking even before you step in what food or drink you will be needing for your soul.

Sometimes it's not about the food but you just want to talk with your Father. You know, just talk about how it can all get so overwhelming and ask Him if He can embrace you just one more time to remind you that He and all He's done is real. 

Sometimes you lay back your head on his bosom only to wake up. He's gone but you are strong. As you get ready to leave, you hear a voice whisper into your ear : I'm with you. You turn but there's no one. You feel strong, confident and focused. This was not the way you came in and it okay to go now.

This is prayer.
It leaves you stronger than you came in
There's clarity to move forward
Don't leave that place until the Light goes before you

This is prayer
Maybe why we don't really pray is because we have a thing for stumbling around in the darkness.
Maybe why we don't come back because of the boredom we faced the last time is cause we came strong and sufficient
I have learnt to come to the river with my biggest jars even when the whole house is full of water
I have learnt to visit the king remembering nothing is my own
Come needy
If you don't need a thing you need a knowing
A knowing of the most important things in life
Come weak
If you feel strong, wrestle at the door and ask him to leave you with a limp so you can depend more on Him.
Come scared
Cause the best prayers are an exchange
Fear for faith
Grumblings for thanksgiving
Weakness for strength
Confusion for clarity

A little one of mine in Sunday school once asked me: uncle, how long do we have to spend in the place of prayer?
I opened the bible then and quoted a lot of verses of different people who prayed and 'how long it took them'.

If I were to answer now this I would say: till the mountains become a place you can tread upon gracefully little one.
Till the fear in your heart concerning that issue you're praying about dissolves at the entrance of overcoming faith.
Till you are strong enough to take down that Goliath don't stop praying dear.

Most of all if we remember the scaffolding for prayer, that beneath whatever method you choose, be it speaking in tongues, screaming till the neighbors bang on your on door and tell you to shut it up or whispering liturgies from an old worn out book over and over, that the scaffolding used in building the house of prayer is to communicate with the Source of Life, to speak to Him and most of all hear from him about the life he gives, how he's navigating the world, what boat He currently wants us on and how we can avoid the storms or go through the necessary ones, I think we will pray more. I also think we will see that prayer that is not to a personal God (or that is to a God who claims not to be near or not to ever have known your name ) is worthless.

Drop the big definitions. Drop the flamboyant styles and what your mother said you must believe.
If prayer is best described as a connection who is your prayers connecting you to?
When last did you hear him call your name?
Cause somehow that's the whole essence.

Question of the Day

Can prayer exist without a God who is interested in you personally? Shoot! I would love to hear your thoughts.