SOMETIMES YOU NEED A MOVE

Good morning people. How are you doing?

I had been battling with rats (or mice, if you like). I detest them and now they were in my home. We got out the Mouse Glue Board and placed it in a supposedly "Strategic" location.

 

A week went by and the board caught some insignificant insect. The rats were still having a field day. The quality of my sleep wasn't improving (I wonder why they seem to play at night). Last night, I decided to try another location for the board.

 

In the middle of the night, I heard the (now) regular rat noises. I got up and after a few checks, I realised that the board had caught something. I beamed a torchlight and I thought I saw a rat on the board. I smiled as I went back to bed. A few minutes (or was it hours?) later, I heard another noise. Further investigation revealed that the board had caught one more rat (or so I thought). I decided to check well. Behold, there were 3 rats on the board. I should have guessed that there was more than one rat disturbing my sleep.

 

So, why am I telling you my mouse tale this Monday morning? (It's 6:06 am here in Lagos). As I was feeling smug about the mouse tale, the Holy Spirit pointed out to me that the Mouse Glue Board had been sitting in one position for more than a week catching nothing whereas there were rats running rampage. All that was required was a move of less than one meter.

 

Elijah had been enjoying supernatural provision at the Brook Cherith (1 Kings 17). However, there came a time when the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land. Elijah was the one that prayed and shut the heavens, mind you. Now, the place of his supernatural supply had been exhausted. Elijah could have stayed at the brook and called down whatever he needed to call down to get that brook filled again with water. He could have embarked on a 40 days fasting and prayer program to fill the brook with water.

 

Thankfully, he had enough spiritual sense to listen to what God had in mind for him at the time. He didn't try to activate the "48 Laws of Power" or the "15 Keys to Filling the Brook". No! He listened to and did what the Lord commanded. He changed locations and was miraculously sustained through the famine.

 

It's time for some of us to relocate. For some, it may mean a physical relocation while for others, it may mean a change in your mindset. Others probably need to make a spiritual move from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of God's dear Son. If you need to make a spiritual move, you can pray the "PRAYER OF SALVATION" below.

 

Have a blessed and productive day.

 

PRAYER OF SALVATION

O Lord God, I come to You in the Name of Jesus Christ. Your Word says, "...whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2: 21) I ask Jesus to come into my heart to be the Lord of my life. I receive eternal life into my spirit and according to Romans 10:9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

I declare that I am saved; I am born-again; I am a child of God! I now have Christ dwelling in me, and greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4)! I now walk in the consciousness of my new life in Christ Jesus.

Hallelujah! Congratulations! You are now a child of God. Please drop me a comment via the medium that you read this.

CONCERNING PLAGIARISM AND IDOLATRY

Good morning people. There are two unrelated topics trending in my mind today so I'll just write about them.

 

Why do people plagiarize? How can you steal someone's work and pass it off as your own? I mean, it's not like I agree with it but I can understand if you "copy and paste" without crediting the source for your homework/term paper. At least the aim is to get marks. It's wrong but I get where people that do such are coming from. In a past life, I may/may not have done so myself...

What I can't deal with is people that steal other people's stuff just because they want to post on social media. There's no money in it and it makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

I saw someone post Marriage Today's post and pass it off as hers yesterday. What sense does that make? I have pointed it out to her but I think it's still worth analysing.

 

There's also the interesting idea of someone posting a very similar update to yours, though the update is not the same word for word. One posted earlier than the other person. The second person said she wrote hers offline and posted later because she had network issues only to discover that #1 had posted a similar update. #1 claims #2 stole her status update and blocked #2 eventually. My people, what shall we say to these things? Can #1 reasonably claim that #2 plagiarized? Is there reasonable doubt in this instance? Did #1 overreact?

 

Moving on to my second issue; I saw someone's comment on a post that caused me to pause and think #ThatSelahMoment. He claims that XYZ is his idol. Thankfully, the XYZ in this case is not his pastor, lol. My own questions are these:

1) Is there any sensible reason for making a human being your IDOL? If so, how is that different from consulting "Ifa"?

2) What about when Paul asked the Corinthians to imitate him as he imitates Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1)? Why didn't he just ask them to imitate Christ?

3) What can we do to stop people from idolizing us? Are there character traits that make us susceptible to being idolized?

 

My people, what shall we say to these things?

Have You Settled?

Good day people. How are you doing? I trust that all is well.

 

A friend and I agreed to meet for the very first time on Easter Sunday. The meeting was set for a popular hotel in Lagos. I had assumed she didn't know her way around Lagos since she currently resides outside Lagos. She let me know that she was born, bred and buttered in Lagos.

 

We went there straight from church. I assumed we'll both arrive at the same time and fellowship together. Unfortunately, she had some delays so we needed to wait in the hotel. I realised that my daughter wouldn't stay cooped up in the car for long without creating a scene so we went into the lobby.

 

While we were waiting, my daughter wouldn't stay still. She kept going everywhere and touching everything. The hotel staff tried to be as accommodating as possible. It got to a point when I decided to take mummy action. I "arrested" her as I used to do when she was younger. I gave her some toys to play with as I secured her in one place by wrapping my legs around hers.

 

After struggling for a while without success, my daughter appeared to have accepted her fate. She kept playing with her toys and acting like all was well. However, unlike too many of us, she was actually studying me. Whenever she felt like I was distracted (calling or reading a text message), she would try again to release herself.

 

Eventually, I think it occurred to her that she could use her voice to create a scene and she would be released. As she started crying out and making a scene, the people around got involved and prevailed on me to release her. Not long after, my friend called me and told me she had arrived. I released my daughter and we both went to meet her at the gate.

 

Bartimaeus was blind. The blindness limited his progress in life. There were things he couldn't do because he needed others to guide him. The blindness was his prison warden. He had room to move around but beyond a certain point, his movement was restricted.

 

Suddenly, Bartimaeus HEARD that Jesus of Nazareth was near. Thankfully, the blindness had not robbed him of his hearing. Thankfully, the connection between his ears and his brain was not broken. Thankfully, as his brain processed the information, he realised that though the blindness had robbed him of the ability to safely navigate by himself to get to Jesus, it had not robbed him of his voice.

 

He began to SHOUT OUT! Those around him tried to drown his voice. They tried to convince him to settle and accept his fate. They asked him to SHUT UP (or suck it up). Learn how to make do with blindness. Live with it and make the best of it. That's great counsel generally, but not when Jesus is near.

 

Bartimaeus refused to settle; he shouted the louder. He kept at it until Jesus heard him. I wonder why Jesus still asked him what he wanted Him to do for him. Erm Sir, the guy is obviously blind na...A wonderful woman of God once taught me the importance of asking those you want to minister to what they really want. You may be there thinking they are concerned about blindness whereas their issue is how to pay the children's school fees, lol.

 

Today, I implore you to cry out to God concerning that issue that you've "settled" and learnt to work around. The Lord is near. Stay in the place of prayer until something happens. The situation may have kept you bound but you still have your voice. Raise it to the Lord and ask Him to show you mercy. We will testify, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

You can read Bartimaeus' story in Mark 10: 46-52.

 

Have a blessed and productive day.