IF I WERE ONLY ME

IF I WERE ONLY ME

Recently, I encountered a perfect stranger at the mall.  He walked up and enthusiastically greeted me as if we were lifelong friends.  My first thought was “What is he selling?”  Nevertheless, because his candor and intellect intrigued me, and since I had no pressing engagements, we conversed for quite some time.  This young man, likely late-twenties in age,  rattled on and on, sharing personal insights and opinions on politics and religion, family and friends, failures and successes, a full menu of life experiences.

One memorable remark caught my attention.  He casually referred to himself as “Chameleon Man.”  When I asked why, he responded “I have the uncanny ability to change myself completely, to totally adapt to any situation.  In fact, I can BE anybody…so I AM everybody!”

I paused to reflect and then countered, “That’s an interesting point of view.  However, since you change so significantly and so often, do YOU ever get lost in the sauce – carried away by your own extensive repertoire of emotional disguises?”  He laughed loudly.  “That’s clever!” he replied with much more volume that the environment warranted.  “Come to think of it,” he continued, “yes, there are times when I’m not sure WHO I am.”  We talked a while longer; I prayed with him and invited him to church.

During my drive home, I contemplated our wide-ranging discourse and came to the realization that there are multiplied millions who could honestly self-identify as “Chameleon Man,” or “Woman” as the case may be.  Indeed, most of us try a bit too hard to fit in neatly with the masses.  Let’s be clear.  I’m not advocating for anyone to adopt a rebellious or contentious spirit.  But it’s apparent that so many do not embrace our God-created distinctives due to some vague notion or need for conformity and the societal pressure to FIT IN.

This mindset is synonymous with FEAR.  It deprives us of uniqueness, erodes self-esteem and produces a herd-mentality, i.e. what I call “GROUP THINK.”

GOD FORMED YOU FOR HIS PLEASURE AND THEN THREW AWAY THE MOLD.  There’s nobody else exactly like you.  Consider this.  Fashion dictates conformity to this season’s colors, fabrics and styles.  YOU are infinitely more than that, so stay out of the superficial lane when it comes down to identifying and actualizing your God-ordained reasons for being alive and present on the planet.

Hey YOU…show up!  Human life, from Heaven’s perspective, is a chameleon-free zone!

Why?  Firstly, God requires and is glorified by YOU.  Secondly, sitting on your rocker in the twilight of your years, you never want to languish in regret, looking back and thinking “IF I WERE ONLY ME”…

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!

THE FEAR PRISON

THE FEAR PRISON

Now hear this!  “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (II Timothy 1:7)

When you truly ‘see’ the world around you with open eyes of discernment, you observe that so many of the people whom you encounter daily are loaded down with the weighty and agonizing burden of FEAR.  The scriptures inform us that “fear involves torment.” (I John 4:18, NKJV)  To wit, the majority of people around us are literally tormented by satanic attack of fear.  Their self-talk includes negative statements such as:  ‘I’m not good enough.’  ‘I will fail.’  ‘Nobody likes me.’  ‘They won’t accept or appreciate me.’

Truthfully, we limit and judge ourselves on a higher and harsher level than how other people actually feel about who we are, what we do and what we can become.  It’s a vicious cycle that perpetuates self-doubt and ends in defeat.

So stop imprisoning your life and your potential in a self-constructed chamber of fear!  STOP!

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!

THE WARRIOR WITHIN

THE WARRIOR WITHIN

In the face of opposition or difficult circumstances, we may be tempted by the enemy of our soul to doubt the goodness, greatness and sovereignty of God.  During moments like these, we would do well to reflect upon one of the most powerful directives in the Holy Writ: “Fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (I Timothy 6:12, NKJV)

Kiplimo Chemirmir, a Kenyan warrior, is convinced that there is an awesome and untapped power that resides within.  Prayerfully consider his courageous words:

Tough people dare when others doubt.  Believe in yourself for the walls around you do not define the will within you.  See everything that you face in life as a test; face it because your heart wants what’s beyond it.  Embrace your results and never give less than what you expect, and always remember in your own ways - you are powerful, you can do it, and you are a champion.

In my tribe we believe that beneath our skin stands a warrior.  Our ultimate belief is that there’s a shield and spear that is grasped by the warrior within us, which must always hang in the walls our hearts.  We can only use them to protect ourselves and never hurt anyone in any way at all; to fight bravely but only for peace and victory that builds our lives from poverty and all that weakens us.

We must hunt for our goals and never cry when we are wounded by failure or disappointments.  To be brave and never forget to be wise with our strength because your greatest enemy is yourself, so make sure that the choices you make in life will make you dig your own grave.

Never use that spear to beat or hurt yourself, nor use the shield to hide from your battles.  Use it for its purpose and for what is right.  Always fight a good fight when life brings you challenges, for sometimes life is a beast that must be tamed.  And, if this beast bring troubles that are mightier than your strength, remember a wise warrior listens keenly to those who advise him, but he never lets anyone decide for him.

You are the maker of your own destiny.  Fighting is in your spirit, valor is in your heart, endurance is in your blood – and this is why you must always believe in yourself, for deep within you stands a warrior who cannot be defeated.

You were born to be a warrior and this you will always will be; this is your birthright, you must not deny it.  So do not fail yourself because of fear nor what’s standing before you; the victorious fighter within will define you.

So fight back.  Strive for a better life, strive for peace, strive to become all you can be and never settle, for in life we are growing and always moving forward.  All is possible if you do not run away but in believe tenaciously in yourself.

In our tribe, I have become a warrior who is destined to be an elder.  A boy must go through a gruesome rite of passage; for me, it will take a book to write them all down, but the last day was the highlight of it.

I was fourteen years old when my time came.  The last week of the gruesome month of December was when I had to face a lion to complete the passage.  I remember that day like it was one second ago, standing breathless with my spear, a dagger on my hip, a quiver with twenty tranquilizing arrows hanging tightly on my back.

My bow fell somewhere while stalking the lion.  The lion turned back roaring and staring at me with fiery eyes that pierce the soul of its prey.  Even lightning and thunder could never made my heart stop like in that moment.  But being there was not about courage; it was about destiny.

What made me stand strong and ready to charge is who I was, told by my elders and a powerful voice inside me.  I grew up being taught to believe in the warrior within.  It is hope, courage, strength and all that shapes a man to bring out his best, to rely on who he truly is, to triumph no matter the circumstances.

On that glorious day, the way the lion stared at me, I saw him as he saw me.  I could see a slice of fear on his face, which made me even braver.  I was only a young boy at that moment but I did not feel like I was a boy, or young, or weak or anything less.  I felt the spirit of the warrior breathing within, declaring “Today I will conquer the lion and I will roar through all the rest of my days.”

To this day defeat or failure never hurts because if I let them control me, I will be betraying the warrior’s path that I grew up following.  My friend when you are alive, just like the lion, you must never stop hunting.  But just like the warrior, you must never stop conquering and believing in the God who resides within.

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!

THE THREE "F's" OF LIFE

THE THREE “F’s” OF LIFE

I recently read an interesting article by Michael A. Adeniyi.  I thought it would be nice to share it with you, so it is reprinted in its entirety below.  Enjoy!

Faith and fear are significant measures that determine the future.  

Faith and fear are actually infectious because they both spread like epidemics, so you must be very careful about the things you listen to and the people with whom you choose to associate.  Many people have allowed the faithless words of others to drive them into despair by which they end up being a future failure.

What is FAITH?  

F - future
A - actions
I -   intended and expected
T - to
H - happen

What is FEAR?

F - fake
E - experience
A - appearing
R - real

Thus, a person with fear is actually a coward because “a coward dies ten times before their death.”

Here is a true story that confirms this fact.  A man started running down the street of his town screaming, “The dam has broken.”  Women shopping in the supermarket heard the scream and they dropped their grocery baskets and joined him.  Men in the barbershop and offices heard the mob and joined them, as did the police and the firemen.  Soon the street was filled with people screaming, “The dam has broken!”  One old man ran as fast and far has he could and then sat down on the curb for a moment and thought, “I've lived here all my life.  What dam?”

The truth and fact was quite simple.  There was no dam.  There was no danger.

A short while later the citizens came shuffling back into town, collectively embarrassed by their irrational response to fear.  Some suffered physically from the stampede; some even died.  Thankfully, most survived.  Lesson learned: reject fear and choose faith to create a better present and future.

What is the FUTURE?

F - focused
U - utility/utilized
T - timing
U - used in
R - realizing
E – expectations

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (II Timothy 1:7)

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!

GOD'S WORD ON LOVE

GOD’S WORD ON LOVE

Today, let’s allow THE WORD to speak – clearly and concisely – to us:

Matthew 22:34-40 (NKJV)

³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 

³⁵ Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  

³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. 

³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  

⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

John 13:34-35 (NKJV)

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 

³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I Corinthians 13 (NKJV)

¹ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 

² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 

³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.

⁴ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 

⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 

⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 

⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 

⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 

¹⁰ But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 

¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

¹³ And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Amen?  AMEN!!!

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!

THE WONDROUS MYSTERY OF JOHN 3:16

THE WONDROUS MYSTERY OF JOHN 3:16

In the windy city of Chicago on a cold wintry night, a huge blizzard was on the way.  A little boy was trying his best to sell newspapers on a street corner where people quickly raced by due to the severe cold.  The little boy was freezing and wasn’t selling many papers at all.  He walked up to a policeman and said, “Sir, you wouldn’t happen to know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep, would you?  I sleep in a box in the alley and it will be awfully cold tonight.  It sure would be nice to sleep in a warm place during the storm.”

The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, “You go down the street to that big white house and knock on the door.  When they open the door, you just say John 3:16 and they will let you in.”

The little boy mustered up courage and did it.  He walked up the steps, knocked on the door, and an aging lady answered.  The child looked up and the woman, and just as he was told, he said “John 3:16.”  The old lady simply smiled and welcomed him.  “Come on in, son.”

She took him in and sat him down in a rocker in front of a great big old fireplace, then walked away.  He sat there for a while and thought to himself, “John 3:16...I don’t understand it, but it sure makes a cold boy warm.”

Later the lady came back and asked invitingly, “Child, are you hungry?”  He said, “Well, just a little.  I haven’t eaten in a couple of days and I could stand a bit of food.”  The lady took him into her kitchen and sat him down to a table filled with delicious food.  He ate and ate until he couldn’t eat any more.  Then he thought to himself, “John 3:16...I don’t understand it, but it sure makes a hungry boy full.”

She took him upstairs to a bathroom and a huge bathtub filled with warm water.  And as he sat there soaking, he thought to himself, “John 3:16...I don't understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy clean.  I haven’t had a real bath my whole life.  The only bath I ever had is when I stand in front of that big fire hydrant as they flush out.”

The lady came in to get him.  She escorted him to the guest bedroom, where she tucked him into a soft feather bed, kissed him goodnight and turned out the lights.  As he laid there in the darkness, looking out the window at the snow pouring down outside, he thought to himself, “John 3:16...I don’t understand it, but it sure makes a tired boy feel rested.”

The next morning, the woman came back and took him down to that same kitchen table, filled with food.  After the little boy ate, she led him to that same rocker in front of the fireplace, took out a Bible, sat near him and asked, “Do you understand John 3:16?”

The little boy answered honestly, “No, Ma’am, I don’t.  The first time I ever heard it was last night when the policeman told me to use it when I knocked on your door.”

The woman opened her Bible to John 3:16, and she began to tell the little boy about Jesus Christ.  And right there, in front of that old fireplace, he gave his heart and his life to Jesus.  Afterwards, he sat there alone and he thought, “John 3:16…I don't fully understand it, but it sure makes a lost boy feel safe.”

You know, after a lifetime of reading and studying the scriptures, I must be totally transparent and admit that I don’t completely understand it either.  How could one ever fathom how GOD would be willing to send HIS SON to die in our place, or how THE SON would ever agree to offer such a sacrificial gift?  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16…I don’t fully understand it either, but it sure makes life worth living.

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!

PURSUE YOUR UNIQUE DREAM

PURSUE YOUR UNIQUE DREAM

FAITH is a profoundly personal and powerful commodity.  As such, it should always be grounded in God’s Word, i.e. it must be based upon what THE CREATOR has purposefully spoken and seeded within, not on the outside limiting opinions of others.  After all, only THE MANUFACTURER is in position to reveal the ultimate purpose of what He has created.  So throughout our lives, despite adverse circumstances or setbacks, we must have inner knowledge and supreme confidence that whatever GOD has spoken over us will ultimately come to pass.  To assure that a heavenly vision would be reflected on and remembered, God instructed the prophet Habakkuk to “write the vision, and make it plain…that he may run that reads it.” (Habakkuk 2:2)  To wit, it is of strategic importance to record your dream and to share it (only) with faith-filled dreamers.

Kingdom Principle Number One: YOUR LIFE-VISION IS FOR AN APPOINTED TIME. The fulfillment of your dream will manifest at the intersection of CHRONOS (man’s time) and KAIROS (God’s time).  According to David, a blessed wo/man “brings forth fruit in HIS/HER SEASON.” (Psalm 1:3)  Please do not allow impatience or frustration to abort either the vision or the actualization of Heaven’s earthly prospects for you.

Kingdom Principle Number Two: YOUR LIFE-VISION MUST BE AN ACCURATE REFLECTION OF GOD’S WORD.  Whatever the Holy Spirit has communicated during your private time of prayer and devotions must be carefully confirmed and authenticated in the Word.  If there are any contradictions at all, you must revisit and reconfigure your dream.  If it is of GOD, it will surely stand the tests of time and trouble.  If not…well you already know.

Kingdom Principle Number Three: YOUR LIFE-VISION WILL SURELY COME TO PASS.  Although it is somewhat cliché, it is unquestionable truth: ‘DELAYED DOES NOT MEAN DENIED.’  Jesus Christ advised, “In your patience, possess ye your souls.” (Luke 21:19)  God’s admonition to Habakkuk is confirmation of the same: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” (Habakkuk 2:3)

So never be afraid or hesitant to become DREAMERS…DOERS…PIONEERS…and TRAILBLAZERS.  Why?  Since God is the epitome of creativity, He forges and fosters distinctive plans and pathways for all His children.  Therefore, nothing in the Kingdom of God should ever become a ‘cookie-cutter approach.’  In fact, winner-believers are as unique as snowflakes; no two of us carry exactly the same marks or mission.  Although we all must submit to ONE LORD, subscribe to ONE FAITH, and drink of ONE BAPTISM (Ephesians 4:5), GOD has sown an endless array of variety into His world – and into us.  Bottom-line: THE LORD OF LIFE wants to use you and me in imaginative and particular ways.  So we are obliged to keep on dreaming – to keep on reaching – even when others cannot perceive or receive the magnitude of our life-visions.

The infinite diversity of our dreams reminds me of THE MOTH WHO FELL IN LOVE WITH A STAR.  All his friends and relatives mocked him.  Every day, they told him he was being totally unrealistic, and urged him to focus his efforts on some local, possible, attainable goal: a street lamp, a porch light, a candle, a lantern, or even a chandelier.  But this moth was truly in love with his star, and he steadfastly refused to give up.  Unfortunately, his pals, parents and siblings soon burned themselves out swarming around local and readily accessible lights, ending their days as charred bits of ash on sidewalks, porches, tables and floors.  But our moth enjoyed a lengthy, happy and healthy life in endless pursuit of his distant star.  Perhaps he never achieved his objective, but in some sense, the journey is just as important as the destination.  Truth is, those small goals can be more detrimental and risky than more expansive ones.  SO GO FOR IT!  Never listen to the negative voices (either without or within) that affirm any doubt, delay or denial of whatever GOD HAS EVER SPOKEN.

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!