Boost! [6 Days]

 [Image via Flickr]

Do you believe that God in his loving mercies and unfathomable kindness wants to do some 'super' cool and great stuff in your life before this year ends?

Point of Correction : It's not the end of the year. The year is running to an end.
We've got 6 days left before this year ends.

Point to Remember : It took God just 6 days to make this whole wide world we live in and can't fathom it depths yet after uncountable years of exploration and research.

Point to Ponder : Do you think 5 days is too small for your situation and life?
I think it's in fact too much.

Expect the impossible

Don't try to calculate it

Believe God

Just trust God for whatever it might be you want to see in your life before this year runs out no matter how big, God is bigger.

Be sincere, God can handle your honesty.

Expect the impossible

Believe the one who makes impossible stories possible
Amazing things happen in 6 days
Remember it took him just 6 to set the world in motion
Point of Duty: You just believe (John14:1)

P.S. - Merry Christmas friends and a Happy coming new year. Lots of  'super' great things are still going to happen in your life before the end of the year. I hope you are expecting them. Less I forget, yes I wrote a special post for Christmas titled 'Tinsel' but couldn't post it up yesterday (lots of celebration on this end). Wanted to post it up next year Christmas but that's a long time. So I'm giving my readers the opportunity to decide if it should still come up this year or not. I would love to hear from you. 'Post' or 'not to post' 'Tinsel'. Leave a comment :)

Your Mind Would Change

Image via flickr

We are reminded as Christians in 1 Corinthians 2:16 that we have the mind of Jesus Christ. True and amazing thought but it doesn't always feel that way. Sometimes the thoughts that emanate from our minds might just discourage us from believing this truth. But the truth doesn't change, God's word says you've got Christ mind. People could be skeptical and say to you with their words and attitude, 'stop fooling you, where is the mind of Christ you claim to have?'. God didn't leave us helpless in these things, he has given us a way to prove this to the world.

"And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed By the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" - Romans 12:2

'That good and acceptable and perfect will' is that the glory of God is displayed through you and that's why you have been empowered with the mind of Christ. The way to prove this to the world is by renewing our minds - doing away with the old way of thinking and having a new way of thinking in Christ, doing away with our old ideas about life and ourselves and getting in God's truths about life and ourselves. God's word is filled with God's truth, what better way to renew our minds than by reading it and letting the truth sink in deep.

Keep at it, keep reading it, keep studying. Be diligent about it. It might just take time but hold on, your mind would change.

The Gym House of God

It's funny how we all admire the abs but no one really admires the dumbbells. It's funny how we admire the new born and the thought of going 9 months with another inner life is dreadful (or at least something to be handled with courage) for most women, or the sweet fruits off a tree and no one really likes the long wait of it being produced. To cut it short, no one really admires processes



And the funny thing is that processes are when things are actually made. The wait, the time it seems nothing is happening on the outside, thats the time when the real progress is going on on the inside. Just like a person working out at a gym, it doesn't just happen all in a day, the big muscles and the sexy abs, no not in a day.


The bible tells us in the book of Galatians that we reap what we sow. Great thought. Plant good seeds get good results but what we often forget is that things that are sown need time to grow before they can be ripe.


If you are a believer, a child of God, Jesus is working in you and he is also calling you to work out your salvation, like the determined man at the gym determined to burn off those fats and tone his muscles keep working it out. Don't get tired. Keep at it. Keep sowing seeds of the word of God which is the truth into your life. It's might take a while but if you don't give up, a tree is coming, a strong oak of righteousness. It's might take a while but if you don't give up, those strong muscles are going to begin to show, a mighty man of valor. Keep at it. Remember without process no progress. Go through the hard process. Work your faith out, your muscle would tear but they would rebuild to get stronger. Go through the process, you are making progress.


Welcome to the Gym House of God, the place where dreams are made.

Ponder.- I found the picture above via google. It really struck me as kind of funny and I laughed alot at it but it also tells a story too. Sometimes we are alike the child in the picture, we want to do BIG things for our God (which is alright) but we don't want to grow. We want to carry big weights as babies. Kind of sounds impossible to me. I'm in a place in my life right now where I believe God is calling me to leave some trivias and go deeper in him. It's not as easy as it sounds. I have cried many things for having to play the dum one in situations in which I'm right. I'm learning to let go of my 'good' rights for greater ones. Seriously, it's hard but I'm wearing my long term lens. I hope this encourages you wherever you might be in your walk with God. What things are you forfeiting right now for the greater in the long term? How would be reading your comments :)

Behind The Scenes

[Image by Chelsie Carolyn ]

 ‘She can’t get caught unless the writer wrote it that way’ I said to myself as I moved to the edge of my seat shaking. The tension was building and it wasn’t just in the movie I was watching but also in the room I was watching from. The protagonist in the story I was watching was being chased down by a killer. Near and miss, near miss, very near then the killer misses. You know the suspense bend and turns every action/thriller flick takes us through. It was so real, sometimes I found myself almost screaming for her. I was almost losing it till I reminded myself, this story was written and it was by someone. She can’t get caught unless the writer wrote it that way.

* * *

All the days ordained for me were written in your book - Psalm 139:16

* * *

That is a one writer story. I live in a two - writer story. The other writer isn’t really a writer, He is Satan and He is evil. His first tactic is to make the characters in this grand story believe he does not exist. Most do believe that lie and cast the blame on God for not writing for them a good story. God who is the true Author of this story is good. Everything that emanates from him is also good. He has made so many moves since this story began and the most powerful was to be crucified by characters in this story on a wooden cross as a man named Jesus. This was a costly move but it had to be done because of the Author’s love for us. This has established a boundary and invitation for as many as receive Him through Jesus to come into his story and live out his good handwritings.

God planned for us to do good things and to live as he has always wanted us to live. That’s why he sent Christ to make us what we are – Ephesians 2:10 (CEV)

I am in God’s story. I am living redemption’s story.  God is writing and sometimes I marvel at the twists and turns. I would be honest, sometimes it feels like I’m all alone and my author’s has let me to the devourers and enemies. Sometimes they are coming so close and the tension is building, then He shows up suddenly and delivers. I believe He writes well. When He’s the one writing our story, the evil that flies around can’t get or harm us cause He’s good and He writes good stories.

If you are in a place of so much pain and hard questions rather than blaming God for evil receive what he has done through Jesus His son. It's an invitation to be a part of the God story which has an happy ending. And if you are a believer, Please keep hope (the expectation of good) alive. God, the writer of your story is good (Want a prove of that? look at the cross) please keep your faith (Firm reliance and trust) in Him strong.

"What is our story if there are no forces painting facts against the truth that God ( who is the Author) is good? He has proven his goodness and love by coming into the story as a character named Jesus. He has shown us his wounds so that we need not suffer any more wounds. We blame because we cannot see the drama going on behind the scenes"

Question of The day:  Have there been events in your life that made you question the goodness of God? How did you move beyond that to a place of firm believe that all he does is good or what made you think otherwise?

" Our faith is an holy reminder . . . Not only to us but also to the forces of darkness. . .  'Look at this ones. On them is the blood. We have no right to lay our hands. His blood speaks for them' they whispered as they passed over . .  ."  

Laundry Services

[Image via flickr]

He sat on the street bench aiming at the next act of wickedness and depravity. Tangled up in all that had gone by, each action seemed like digging a deeper grave and called for a stronger pull. All the sex and the drugs, “I give up and I’m not even trying again” he said to himself

“No one believes I can be good, everyone would even laugh at a though of me being good, even I . . . So what’s the point?” 

That was when he made up his mind to travel down the wide road. Five years later, he’s a pimp and a hustler. He’s rising as the second best party-club manager in his community.

But five years later could have been different. He could have been whole and holy if he only gave up the dirty laundry he kept wearing which he called designers.

 * * *

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us – Psalms 103:12

I pray Jesus keeps showing us (or rather show us) how far the east is from the west is just how far he has separated the person we use to be from the person he makes us in him.

Most times, we don’t accept the change he offers with his nailed scarred hands because the new person he offers us is simply unrealistic. And sometimes it just cause we can’t see who He says we are in Him. But choosing to trust him with who we would become is the first step into freedom.

No stains are too hard for Him. I absolutely believe that. As I write, my mind flashes on stories of people accepting their ‘stubborn stains’ and wearing them like designer clothing because they believe they were ‘born this way’ but sincerely I beg to differ. If you are in a hard place, hang on! Jesus Christ is your righteousness, let him work his righteousness through you. Let him. You can be all he has said you can and more. And if you don’t know him please bring your ‘laundry’ (your life). There is forgiveness no matter what you’ve done. I repeat, there is forgiveness no matter what you’ve done. And my God? He is crazily in love with you. He’s waiting for you.

The Lord has appeared of old to me saying:

“Yes I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you “ – Jeremiah 31:3

So come.

We hear lies every day, from the media, TV and even the world around us that we can never change but Jesus offers change.

Like the character in the story we read, five years down the lane, whole or still broken, a pimp or a peculiar person who has been chosen by and doing great things for God, It really depends on a choice and only you is ‘powerful’ enough to make that choice.

Would you let Jesus come in and do your life laundry? His services are absolutely free

A new you awaits you.

"Scrub away my guilt

Soak my sins in your laundry.

I know how bad I’ve been

My sins are staring me down" – Psalms 51:1 (The Message)

"Soak me in your laundry

And I’ll come out clean

Scrub me and I’ll have a snow white life "– Psalms 51:7 (The Message)

“Come now, and let us reason together” says the Lord

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow

Though they are red like crimson

They shall be as wool” – Isaiah 1:18

Cassie

[Image by Alexey05]

In the end, we got news she stopped at the city before this

The last who saw her said she was raising her hands to a fast disco song at the city bar

Dancing, jumping, laughing and screaming 'this is where i belong'

I shook my head in sadness when I heard of Cassie cause I knew that wasn't her place

But a thought stopped my head from motion

Cassie is us

And sometimes we are Cassie

Stopping at the first ray of hope in a dark desert

Don't ever give up on your dreams

If God has shown you a golden city

Never settle for one because it's shining lights remind you of gold

Don't ever give up on your dreams

Its fulfillment is the long awaited answer to another's desperate prayer

Press on, don't settle, Let God answer a prayer through you

 

We are still waiting for Cassie

And yes we need her

She has the unique answer to a question we all long for to be to be answered

If you see Cassie tell her she ain't there yet

If you see Cassie tell her to pick up her bags

If you see Cassie tell her to leave the disco floor and continue her journey

If you see you tell you we are waiting

We are waiting for that song only you can sing

We are waiting for that book only you can write

We are waiting for that word only you can say

We waiting for that scientific world problem only you can solve

So pack your bags and leave the disco floor

And please please please if you see Cassie, tell YOU we are waiting

P.S. - for all the 'Cassie's who raise their hands to a disco song at a bar that is not for them to dance. Don't settle there. We are waiting for you.

 

"To all the secret writers, late-night painters, would-be singers, lapsed and scared artists of every stripe, dig out your paintbrush, or your flute, or your dancing shoes. Pull out your camera or your computer or your pottery wheel. Today, tonight, after the kids are in bed or when your homework is done, or instead of one more video game or magazine, create something, anything.

Pick up a needle and thread, and stitch together something particular and honest and beautiful, because we need it. I need it.

Thank you, and keep going."

— Shauna Niequist (Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life)

"Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children's glory completely" - Romans 8:19 (New Century Version)



The Story You Are Choosing

 [Image by James Sagi ]

There are two sides to every story. In fact that includes our story. There’s a story we know. The one we are familiar with, our history, the platforms we are used to performing our everyday life.  “I am. . .”. “I am  . . .”

But wait a second ‘who are you?’ Don’t bother you don’t have to answer that. You answered already. Yes, we answer every day as we journey through life. And we are always very careful about answering. We look at what has gone before us. We look at the past. We look down history and pick finely with glee from our past like a child offered several options for a birthday dress ‘I am . . .’

Answering the ‘who are you?’ question by looking behind might have hindered destiny for a man called Moses in the bible. Down history’s story Moses was a murderer and he wasn’t a fine speaker too. But my question is; how do murderers become deliverers? Or how stutterers do become persons who command kings with the hardest of hearts?

How?

They choose. . .

They choose to hear another side of their story.

We say we are guilty. He says we are forgiven

We say we are lonely. He says he is with us

We say we have a marred history.

He says all has been wiped away by his blood

The world is telling us a story about us. God is telling us a story about us through Jesus Christ his son.

Which are you listening too?

Or rather which are you choosing to be your story?

On Motivation And Waiting For The Big Moment

[ Image by erinrena ]

12:48 am

Saturday

Tonight I curl up lazily with cold hands in front of my computer wondering my motivation and the driving force of my conscious steps towards the successful life I want to lead. It’s been cold and rainy at my corner of the world, and I call it night though it’s morning because this is my night. My eyes have known the light of day for the past long hours. Far from my home with a couple of church friends on a retreat, it’s been a tedious day of giving and receiving. Oh yes tedious. At a point during the ordeal, I wanted to hold my eyes and cry hard while sharing with the group at a point, but a thought that swam in my mind for some hours some days back just seemed to surface instantly, showing up it head: we can’t give what we don’t have but sometimes it’s a hard process giving what you already have.

Right now that the day is over and I’m at a reading desk deep into my night, a friend which I’m sharing the room with is playing off Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit on the iPad and seriously I want to scream from my desk to the only Friend I know that would understand such a question of the heart. I want to scream ‘Why do I feel that way at times? Why is it sometimes hard to process the treasures of knowledge gleaned from the house whose foundation is built in wisdom? Why? But two things stop me. One, I would be screaming at the wall and that is a situation in itself. My friend would just simply freak out. It not so good screaming at walls when it’s not only you in a room, ask those who have tried it, honestly you wouldn’t find them. In fact if you do, you might just not get an answer to your question. You might just get a scream. And two, why scream at the wall? My Friend who understands the deep questions of my heart no one might understand is not the wall. He is Jesus. Though I might not see him with my eyes, he is not the walls. He is beyond the walls and He will be even when these walls have fallen.

I will wait for another day to see why sometimes it’s a hard process giving what we have. But why do I do the things I do. What’s my motivation? Why have I chosen to take the hard walk on the road to success? Why have I and am I choosing to do the hard things very few people are doing? Why am I still awake, reading blogs and typing away when my contemporaries are fast asleep? Why? Sometimes I feel foolish and I just stop. 'Nobody is doing it'. 'Life is not that hard'. I whisper to myself. But it’s in moment like that I receive grace to remember that I haven’t been to the end. But the ones who have been to the end I have consulted.

I remember inviting Barack Obama into my bedroom one cold evening. The monsoon rains were lifting and I was caught in a cold that was not my own. It just didn’t fit me. I am always rendered useless when I have a cold. I crawled under my carton colored blanket and I picked up a copy of Dreams from my father (President Obama’s Memoir which he wrote and published when ‘no one’ knew him). I was in a strange land serving my country which is required once one graduates from college or university or else I would have preferred by chocolate brown duvet a gift from my paternal grandmother (who is now late). It is thick and fluffy and would have absorbed more of the cold the rain brought but the idea of always considering it smart to travel light made me switch for the carton coloured blanket which was less bulky and also a gift from her. So on that very day I cherished it. I folded my legs in and cherished it as Barack Obama came in to my room to tell me how he gave voluntary service without end in the neglected suburbs of Chicago. How he heard the voices of those whose cries had been neglected by the government. How he encouraged when no one knew. How he gave hope to mothers with troubled sons when no one cared.

Please tell me friends, who doesn’t start small? Please remind me, which farmer reaps in a farmland he hasn’t sown. I remember that day, as I closed the book, night was setting in. I stepped to my window and looked out at the forming moon. Shaken by Barack’s story, I whispered in to the night “whatever it takes. I want to be’.

Several months have passed by now and I’m still contemplating an old question. The old question that made me curled up nights upon nights with Rick Warren’s purpose driven life. The old question that made me pledged that I would read it at least once a year. And somehow, just somehow, this writing brings the answer to the surface again. I find out here in a room far from my room ( my friend’s still playing Hot Pursuit on the iPad) that the best way to answer this very question is to tackle first head-on the ready answers I’m given by the world. So here we go.

Is it because some don’t believe that I can and I want to prove that I can?

That’s a no no for me. Sometimes back it used to be why. I wanted to show the people that didn’t believe in me that they were liars. But I can’t. That’s a cheap dream to waste a life on. I have learnt from a wise sage somewhere somehow; haters are to be pitied and sincerely prayed for and seriously I have started doing that and honestly, I’m on it.

I could go on, listing the answer choices the world gives me but tonight I’m thankful that the truth surfaces. Simple reason to the question is because ‘I want to’ and that friends changes everything; the desire that keeps burning in me to be all that I can be. On evenings after some stormy days after I have struggled on my life’s significance and the chaos is resolved, my eyes sometimes suddenly open to the truth that I am significant, my life matters, in the words of C.S. Lewis, I have an unique answer to a unique problem that would remain unsolved if I don’t step in and save the day. It’s in moments like this I know with a certainty that this desire wasn’t placed there by me. There’s a greater power fueling this burning desire. God has set me in motion to settle a part of the commotion.

It’s this drive that drives me to make every moment big in preparing for the BIG moment. Friends, our big moment would come but I must say ; if we haven’t learnt the art of transforming our most mundane and ordinary moment to big moments in the place of preparation, our BIG moment might just pass us by. Reason: We could not realize it for what it was.

"The ability to see the dream we have been given is refined in the hidden place. The man who wants the dream to become a reality keeps seeing even when others can't see a thing. And preparation helps us see better"

Question Of the day:

What seeds in your hands are in need of sowing or are you a farmer expecting to reap in a land you haven't sown?

Privilege

[Image by cubagallery]

I tip toe into the T.V. room

‘Will He come today?’ is the question that hits hard at my heart

A sense of confusion awakens me from the hands of the night and pulls me in still

So what am I to do?

I have come

I find my place on an empty side and seat still

My mind is sour

I want my bed

I doze a bit

I snooze for a while

My attention thaws

My mind wanders

And it’s then I remind myself I’m not an alarm

Why should I snooze in the first place?

And it’s then I am alarmed!

Alarmed by the truth that it’s a privilege

It dawns on me twenty five minutes into the ordeal that he’s been waiting for me long before I came.

And I came 15 minutes late

Actually I woke up 5 minutes late

I struggled with the inevitable hand that invites us to nature’s rest for the next 10

And finally I threw back the duvet, found my bedroom slippers and walked over like a knackered fresh army intake invited for his first drill

This is not a drill, I have to remind myself

It’s a privilege

An invitation to meet with the King of all the richest kings of the earth and more is a privilege.

I wouldn’t mind a morning with the Sultan of Brunei

In fact a couple of mornings

Guilt flushes my face as I think on that

When the Divine invites me on mornings and I feel jaded about it ; I need to see

Maybe I’m blind to who he is

He is God

The sultan would one day pass and shouldn’t be compared to the One whom he will one day answer to

Last time I heard

He’s bigger than this room

He’s bigger than this earth

He’s finger span is bigger than entire universe

 And last time I checked

He’s been waiting for me long before I came in 20 minutes late

And I’m wondering

How does a big God fits himself into my ‘tiny’ TV room to talk to little me?

Stepping Out:

The Christian is peculiar. He has a God that wants to meet with him or her, A God that wants intimacy and wants to know the individual personally, the real God. But most have made him into a ‘Sunday’ God, a God who is lofty and doesn’t indulge or isn’t concerned with our affairs. Or like the character in the verse above, some see relating to him as a duty.

But seriously, I beg to differ. . .

There can be expressions. There can be a dance. There can be a song of love. He can be a best friend and I’m learning that too. But wait. . . Like all relationships, our relationship with the Divine requires time, openness and some other things we overlook. And it's important to note that quantity does not equal quality but quality has to be consistent to retain quality.

So what can you do today to increase the quality of your time with God? Who knows you might just be starting out or you might have stopped overtime due to not ‘meeting him there’. I want to encourage you, it’s not too late. God would redeem the lost time and draw you close. So back to the question: what can you do today to increase the quality of your time with God?

It might be simple as resetting your alarm wake-up time.

Till Next time

U R LUVED



[How to] Run The World [Not Just Girls. . . Boys too]

[Image by  Libertad Leal ]

I just made a discovery right here at the corner of my room

I am not the center of my world

For a long time, I was the lead vocalist of my band

And God was a drummer

Sometimes he did the background vocals

From time to time, I will take center stage and we will do a few gigs

"God is playing on my show" i will always tell the invited guests in a frenzy, doing some rock moves to affirm I was cool

They always left the show with a look on their faces

The type you have when you have just seen the grossest scene from a horror movie, say Saw IV

"it's just a show" I would say laughing out loud

"God played. Didn't you enjoy Him?"

But we all knew the truth

I played and no one enjoyed me

It's funny how we want to do so much for God and we never let him sing the lead vocals in our lives

I am standing right here at this corner and all my band members are gone

The instruments are broken and all I'm left with : a haunting dream to run the world

God never left

No he didn't 

And God never did the BGVs

The god that we like to follow our every command is an idol

Taking the parts of God we are comfortable with and juxtaposing it with a new idea of what we think He should be equals an Idol

Finally, it good to know I can't re-invent God

God isn't a drummer 

And if He decides to drum; I better dance to his tune

So how do I run the world when all the members of my band have left

So how do I get to fulfill purpose with superstar written all over it

I better join His band

I better join the band of the one who already runs the world

Stepping out:

"your idols will break your heart"

We all love and want to do something BIG

This motivation and dream has lead a lot of people down the wide road of 'self destruction'

Do you think God is interested in You doing something BIG? Oh yes he is. A verse in the book of Ephesians talks about how we are his fine work of art which he wants to display for the whole world to see. But it's interesting how we want to 'lead' this God who knows the end from the beginning. In what ways are you finding yourself leading where you need to be led? In what ways are you taking center stage when you need to be playing the BGVs. There's a place of sweet surrender. Join God's Band today. In fact it's as practical as being committed to a local church where you can bloom.

Till next time

U R LUVED

Can I Listen To Your 'Art' ?

[Image by andreamoody ]

Can I listen to your heart?

Cause that’s all you’ve got

Can I listen to your heart?

In it is something unique

A story maybe

A song maybe

You’ve got a great voice

But can I listen to your heart still

You got an amazing persona

But can we get a glimpse of your heart

You’ve got a skilled public speaking style

But can I hear your heart beyond it all

In the heart live the treasures of darkness

Some hide their heart for the evil it might reveal

I say reveal your heart for the glory it might redeem

In the heart is something priceless

A gift for all men is kept in there by God

The unwise try to preserve the heart by keeping it locked up

But to reveal the heart is to preserve it

To reveal our hearts is to keep us going

I know a writer somewhere far away who keeps forging from her heart

It doesn’t bring the money

But somehow she isn’t going to leave the earth with what she was meant to give

when she leaves, she is a fulfilled being ready to rest

I know a superstar, maybe here, maybe there

Who keeps it all inside and sells all on the outside

The last I heard of her, she laid in a pool of her own blood

She sold her soul but never gave her heart

Can I listen to your heart?

You who sing beautiful songs with no beauty

And speak holy words in an unholy manner

In your heart is a gift

Cause when it comes from the heart there is a shift

Cause when we speak from the heart

Our words are worth more than works of art.

P.S. – For everyone who cages art in professionalism, it would do us good to ask ourselves from time to time ‘Where is the expression when it is caged?’

Stepping Out:

‘The creator and his work are one’

Are you are writer, singer, artist or someone involved in creative processes?

Do you see a part of you in your work?

Or better said does your work reflect what you believe?

When an artist doesn’t reflect his work it might point to some things much deeper. He is probably hiding behind his work. He is not comfortable with the story he has found himself in, so he seeks to paint a picture perfect story for a world that hungers for his own unique story.

In what ways can you communicate more from the heart through your art?

What chains are holding you down in doing this?

What are you doing about it?

"For art to speak, It must be from the heart."