Luke teaches us

LUKE 12:35-40

Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, ³⁶and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! ³⁹ But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

Expanding on Vs 35:

Be dressed (let your loins stay girded) à you have to put on garments, you have to get ready and you need to spend time getting ready. You have to dress appropriately for the occasion. There is an event to look forward to. How do you prepare and what do you wear?

You have to prepare your mind for action (1 peter 1:3). Now the things in the mind are as a result of your thoughts so you gotta align your thoughts with what you want to do.(romans 12:2, philippians 4:8)

Then you have to put on the breast plate of righteousness and belt of truth (Ephesians 6:14). There is a call to holiness and purity, to walk in integrity. Live a life that pleases God and strive to be Holy as He is Holy. Let the things you speak be edifying.

Ready for service (ready for action) à now this is the occasion for which you are getting ready. It is a very active phase and for action you need energy, you need to be in good shape (eyesight, knowledge, battle tactics and strategy, muscle strength ...they all need to be on point)

So therefore you need to have your lamps shining à we need light to illuminate the darkness, to be able to see cos the Son of Man is coming like a thief in the night. You need to be able to tell your own fellow soldier from the enemy. You need to know where to step, light illuminates your path. This light is the Word of God (psalm 119:105). It will energise you and give you the most up-to-date and specific information you need for action!

The lamp will not give out light if it is not filled. This then means that we need to fill our lamps with oil. The Oil is the Spirit of God. We need to be close to him, ready to act on his every word. Walking in the spirit will come through praying the spirit and diligently studying the word of God. We must become best friends with Him. Now if we are wise, we will fill our lamps way before He comes! (Matthew 25:7) that way we have stored up enough to get through the darkness ahead.

So be ready, Pray and Keep watch (Matthew 25:13). Don’t be caught sleeping i.e don’t slack in your spiritual life, you must be on the ball continuously so you are not caught off guard. The devil is not sleeping so why should we? He is Looking for whom he many devour, He is looking for a point of weakness in you. If you give him a little loophole, he is going to take full control of you and oppress you. Now you choose...Staying awake to wait for the Master who is coming to show you Love or satisfying your flesh and sleeping to meet an end of oppression?

...The love of God is like the ocean,you can see its beginning, but not the end. :-)

Demolition

Crunch.Crunch. The sound of my soles against the scattered debris. I manage to make it to the entrance of the house. The Door; hanging on a half broken hinge joint covered in scars from years of insult. Meticulously, I lift it aside making a way for entry. I come to an old lounge; fraying curtains and tattered carpets. Everything is worn out. The carpet is blood stained; evidence of repeated violence, hatred and injury. The curtains are blacked out completely; no light getting through into the home. In the far corner of the room, there is a wilting green plant. It’s seen the repercussions of years without water, sunshine or nutrients. Adjacent to the plant pot is a little white door. The golden door knob seems to be the only source of light in the house, resting against a nice sanded and white coloured door. If I didn’t know where I was, I would say that the door was brand new! It stood out in a house that was falling apart. Curiosity beckoned out to me, drawing me in a step at a time.

An empty room lay before me. Clean and spotless except for the cobwebs hanging from the corners of the ceiling. A chair sat in the middle of it. This was no ordinary chair, it looked like it belonged to someone of high prestige – like a throne made ready for a king. The head rest made with gold, encrusted with diamonds. The arm rests were purely gold, shaped into two lions. But something was still odd about the room. Black bin bags were lined behind the chair containing all sorts of junk: magazines, time tables, old phones, letters and an endless display of items.

“Miss! We are about to bring the house down!!” a very loud voice yelled behind me.


My search through this room came to a sudden halt as I ran through the house making a quick exit. I tried to find the Construction worker that had just alerted me but smoke was everywhere. I was semi-blinded and the smell of toxic fumes made my eyes water. Through the fog, I saw the silhouette of a man. Machines were rearing up to go; drills were poking away at the ground.


“Why is the house being broken down?” I shouted through the noise


“Because the owner finally accepted that it’s time for a renovation.” He stated calmly, with a sort of smile that expressed his contentment with the decision.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What? What was that all about? I hear you ask. Let me explain the metaphors in the short story above. We are all born with a vacuum in our hearts. If you think of the keyhole on your door, it’s a certain shape right? You have a key designed to fit that hole perfectly which then opens it. It’s the same idea with this vacuum in our hearts. We have a hole that is God-shaped. That’s just the architecture of us human beings. This is a truth that many people don’t know till they’ve tried to fill it with a million other things. A triangular block is never gonna fit into a circular hole. That space is designed for God and He does want to fill it but often we clog it up with other things.

The little room with the white door and golden knob can be liked to vacuum in our hearts for God. If we fill it in with Junk, We displace God from his place. A room embellished with cobwebs is not fit for king, I mean really; it’s not even fit for anyone. I’m sure you would go into house that was liked that, it’s just too creepy and it shows it’s dirty and unkept.

The Little room in the story was however in a process of being cleaned out. It was clean apart from the cobwebs and bin bags. Some of the items in the bag exemplify some of the things that can take fill up our minds leaving no room for God. You can read an awful lot of junk in magazine which triggers a chain of thoughts that will probably lead you to carry out the wrong action. Timetables: we can be so busy with school, jobs or just what we have to do in the day that we are stressed up and tied down.

Letters: our conversations with people. What are we saying? Are the things coming out of our mouths pure, holy and of good report? [Philippians 4:8]. And how much time are we spending on facebook, twitter, skype, on the phone and so on?...do we talk and talk till we are so tired that we can’t say hello to God in the day?

I’m not even trying to point a finger here cos I’m included. I know how many times I’ve been on the phone for soo long that when I get off, I’m too tired to read my bible or pray so I just end up sleeping.


But we all through processes where we are cleaning out that room. We start off on the journey fine but somewhere along the line we trip up and fall. Hey! We are not perfect. The most important things is that we don’t stay down but get up and continue on the journey. You may have to clean out that space for God several times but each time confess your faith knowing who you are in Christ. You have been set free!


The green wilted plant – the Holy spirit. Who is he and what does He do? He breathes life into you [Genesis 2:7]. I like to think of him as a compass or for the very modern minds, a ‘sat-nav!’ He gives directions, guiding you into the TRUTH [John 16:13] and He reveals to us the mind of God. If you knew what God thought about what you were doing and where you are going, you’re pretty much sorted don’t you think? You wouldn’t have to second guess anything ‘cos you know His thoughts exactly.


But How does He speak to you tho? Your conscience mainly! He makes the Word of God LIVING hence why we say The Living bible. The Word of God is able to divide your soul and spirit, it can penetrate the heart; it can CHANGE you! It’s that sharp! [Hebrews 4:12]


There’s also your spirit Man which needs to grow and be nourished as well. That’s why you need to constantly read the Bible. Think of what not eating for a week could do to you. Yet often, we find ourselves not reading the Bible for days and weeks. Just Like the plant, it will start to wilt if it didn’t receive nutrients. It needs light, it needs oxygen. Ever read the bible and just felt on top of the world? Maybe because you’ve read something that’s just dispelled a dark cloud of fear and all of a sudden you can see the light and feel its warmth. It’s a breath of fresh air!


Coming back to the appearance of the house, we notice that the door is not shut properly ‘cos it’s nearly broken. It’s also got a lot of marks in it. Think of this as your heart. A half closed door would have a loop hole where anything could just be let through. And maybe it’s like that for some of us. Life never quite goes the way we plan or expect. We may have suffered from lies and betrayal, bruised by hurtful words, shattered by loss and pain and in the end we are left with scars to show for it. But it’s not the end. There is a God who can heal. He has got so much skill; like the master Cardiac surgeon he can give you a new heart. The scars may remain just as a reminder of where you’ve been and how you have progressed but without the pain. You’ll have a completely new attitude!


The black curtains represent where we are holding grudges and hardened our hearts. Unforgiveness prevents a lot of good things from reaching you. It’s the only poison that kills the giver as opposed to the receiver. It does nothing for you! It takes you further from God, you’re constantly on so-pissed.com and people want to avoid you for that; it’s like you carry a negative energy with you. Now, I’m not saying it’s easy to forgive. Trust me, it’s hard but that’s why you need God’s help to do it. Ask Him to help you and you’ll be amazed when you notice one day that no longer feel anger towards a certain person. :-)


And for the gruesome bit…not really! Lol. Blood stained carpets – our sins that warrant Jesus’s blood to be shed. So we’ve all done wrong…yeah, not a surprise. The famous saying goes “to err is human!”. We all individually struggle with different things. It’s a constant battle really. We sometimes do the things that we don’t want to do, Uncle Paul even confirms with me on this: [Romans 7:19]. We’ve probably been in that place where you confess the same sin over and over again.


I’m not in anyway saying it’s ok to do wrong, nah…it really ain’t! however when you do, please don’t just sit there and cry and feel sorry for yourself. Maybe you feel terrible and make yourself feel guilty but really? Does it work?... Don’t focus on it, it’s not gonna help you. You should focus on Jesus instead. If you spend more time confessing your faith – confessing that God empowers your life – you’ll need less time confessing your sins. We are no longer slaves to sin and through Christ we can do all things!


Ephesians 4:23 – be made new in the attitude of your minds. You make something new by renovation. Renovation is a process, it doesn’t just happen overnight. The Bible is the plumb-line for our lives. It tells us if we are a straight, integral structure or if we are skewed and about to fall off the foundation. We can evaluate our choices, decisions, thoughts and actions against the truth of God’s word.

God wants to begin that process with you today. You may Know Him already but you feel you’ve been off track lately or you may not know Him at all. IN any case, He is waiting with arms open wide to welcome you home. He wants to demolish the lies you have believed for so long, the old values you have held onto and the beliefs that have shaped your behaviour this far.

With the power of His word, He will change your mind. Every action starts with a thought. A change in your mind, will affect the way you think and therefore impact on the way you act! Once the demolition is complete, He’ll begin to renovate your life.

We all want to change, we all want to be better people. But at times it feels like you’ve come to the end of your rope. You just don’t know what to do from here and your life feels out of control. But there’s Hope! We have hope in Christ [1 Timothy 1:1] The fact that God sent a saviour means we need one. He wouldn’t just waste energy or effort on things that are unnecessary.

The question now is: Would you accept His invitation? Are you willing to allow this renovation take place in your life?


...The love of God is like the ocean,you can see its beginning, but not the end. :-)

In the Cave

We all go through Hard times. It energises some of us and propels us forward while it paralyses others and stops them in their tracks! Imagine you've been a high achiever all your school days, you graduated with a 1st class degree, you now got a good job. You have a good friendship network, and you're preparing to get married soon. All of a sudden, life turns on you. Everything that used to go well doesn't anymore.

There's someone who can relate to this in the Bible - David!

David had everything going for him. Samuel anointed him to be king; he defeated Goliath; Saul chose him as a musician and warrior; the army loved him and wrote songs about him. THEN his life fell apart. He lost his job and his marriage failed; Samuel his old mentor died; his best friend Jonathan couldn't help him, and Saul's soldiers hounded him until he had to hide in a cave.

At some point we all do time in the cave! It's where you end up when all your earthly supports are gone. It's where you learn important things about yourself that you can't learn anywhere else. It's where God does some of His best work in moulding you into the likeness of Christ.

It's where your worst inadequacies confirm that you're out of your depth, and where God sends His power to flow through your weakness.

When David prayed, 'You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living,' he had no way of knowing there was a crown in his future, or that he wasn't going to die in hiding. For all he knew, this cave he was in right now might be as good as it gets.

When you're in a situation you can't fix, can't change and can't escape, trust God! Trust God! Trust God! As long as your sense of security is tied solely to your success, it'll always be fragile. But when you know that God is with you even at your lowest point, you can handle the cave and come out stronger!

- Adapted from UCB Word for you today

It's in the Cave, where the mirky waters threatens to swallow us and the echoes of silence haunt us; where the ropes of loneliness and starvation tie us down and the darkness completely obscures our visison...it is there and then that we need to Completey TRUST God, taking refuge in Him.

Psalm 142: 5 - I cry to you, O LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."


...The love of God is like the ocean,you can see its beginning, but not the end. :-)

It's all in The BOOK

The Greatest Book ever written. It's Author is the Almighty omniscient God. With only 66 books - 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament - it covers all situations in Life. Yet somehow, we never manage to ever 'finish' reading it.


You could read the Bible for a lifetime and not 'scratch the surface'.


There's no other book Like it. Here's an excerpt from 'UCB Word for you Today':

"There's an aura the Bible generates that no other book does. Martin Luther said, 'The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.' Try laying a newspaper on your table at a restaurant and no one will give you a second look. But lay your Bible on it and they'll stare at you, watch you chew your food, and maybe even take a note of your licence plate when you get into your car. That's because the Bible creates a sense of God's presence that forces a reaction in the hearts of men and women.

We are changed as we read it. Our core values are altered, peace enters our spirit, joy wells up within our heart. 'The Word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us to what we really are' (Hebrews 4:12 )."


"...but the word of the Lord stands forever. And this is the word that was preached to you". 1 Peter 1:25

The Word Is Alive and when it goes out it stands; it has to accomplish something so it would not return back to God void. The answers you need are in your Bible, so make it part of your everyday life. It's our manual for daily living, it's all in The Book! We just need to make time to study it. Now i don't mean a quick glance while you're in a hurry to get somewhere. you need in-depth studying, pondering on what you have read, searching the scriptures ... You need understanding!

Acts 17:11 "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."



...The love of God is like the ocean,you can see its beginning, but not the end. :-)

James Says II

Carrying on with my previous Post on the lessons from James 1, i'll just be talking about the other half of the chapter that has to do with acting on the word of God.

Verse 19-20 of James 1 advises that "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, /for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires".

This here, is a key basic message for use in relationships. It's all about communication, anger only complicates things. We have 2 ears to listen and just 1 mouth to use in speaking so we should listen twice as much as we talk. Notice it also says be SLOW to speak and become angry.

Everytime, somebody says something that annoys you, notice how your anger soars to a 100% and you utter some harsh words without even thinking about it; almost like a reflex action. You need to spend time listening and processing your thoughts so you don't say things that will rip someone to pieces. Words tend to be ingrained in our hearts and minds, they cannot be taken back.

James goes on to say that we should " get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you". further on in the passage, we can not do this by only listening to the Word of God --> that's just deceit! deceit to ourselves.

The bible says study to show yourself approved of God. By default, we are sinful beings and evil desires that are part of our nature lead to sin. So therefore we need to train our minds how to think and what to think on. As a man thinks in his heart so is he. What you think is what you become!.

The Word of God keeps us from sin, as David rightly said in Psalm 119:11 "your word have I hidden in my heart that I may Not sin Against you". When there is something good stored in our hearts, we can then compare our actions against what's been saved as our standard to determine if it's right or wrong. That way we'll always be on track.

Philippians 4:8 " whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things". The things which meet these criteria are all found in the Word of God so we need to study it, meditate on it... Let it become a part of you! Live and breathe the Word.


Now let's talk a bit about controlling your tongue! the tongue is a sensitive yet strong organ, used to prepare food for chewing and swallowing, it's primary function is taste and more importantly it forms our speech.

The Bible says life and death are in the power of the tongue - Proverbs 18:21

We need to be careful what we say. like i said before, the words you speak can make or break someone. On a more serious note, it can make the difference between you improving your life and you tearing your life down.

With your mouth, you can speak things in to existence as though they already existed. So even when the sky is dark and grey and there seems to be no way ahead of you, still speak positively! Afterall, what you're seeing is NOT what you WANT to see. (i hope. :p)

Anger is another thing that makes us spiral out of control and just say the next thing that pops into our heads. Now check yourself, If you are always so angry that nothing can contain you or you don't just know why you get so mad at times...Know it's not of God, something is definitely not right. God is love and as a christian you should display the fruits of the Spirit which include LOVE and Self Control. So if these two are missing, then you need to go on a self - exploratory journey with Jesus.

If I choose to speak positively but I think differently in my heart, is that OK?

In James 1:7 -8 it says that a double-minded man should not expect to receive anything from God.

David also says in psalm 19:14 "let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord" Not only should our words be right before God but our heart has to be int he right condition too. Remember in Genesis when Sarah laughed. she didn't actually laugh out loud, She did so in her heart but God saw it. God sees our heart so it always has to be in check!

A few closing words: Remember that the Bible is our spiritual food. We need to feed on it everyday pretty much in the same way as you would eat regular food daily. Use the Word of God as a mirror , checking your life is in line with it.

'Man shall not live by bread alone' was what Jesus said to Satan when He was tempted. This statement suggests that if we don't live by the Word, we are dying. Of course you're not going all wrinkly and running out of breath; it's not a physical death but a spiritual death.

Rightly divide the Word of God. Get it into manageable chunks that is easy for you to learn. It doesn't have to be a boring read you know, dig deeper and you'll find interesting things that you may have missed even after reading that verse a million times!

The times we are in calls for seriousness with the Bible! We need the WORD a lot more than our own experiences. The Devil knows a lot more than we do, do not be deceived into thinking otherwise!

Stay Blessed!

...The love of God is like the ocean,you can see its beginning, but not the end. :-)