What pleases you?

Today I realized that there are many pleasures under the sun. Some good and some not so good. People choose what pleases them and run after it, longing for more and more of that very thing.

I have found that I delight in God and love being in His presence through songs of worship and praise whether alone in my room or with fellow God lovers at church. Nothing makes my heart jump for joy more, than to see the Father at work in the lives of young men and women who desire to have the love, joy, peace, blessings and the many other pleasures that the Father freely gives to all who desire them. These pleasures, I have come to understand, are desired by all who live under the sun. For those who are in the Father, no one and nothing satisfy this need than the Father Himself. For others, who do not come to the Father, they look for it elsewhere. Some look for it in alcohol, some in tobacco, drugs and still some in fornication (adultery). Some people try to supplement the real pleasure that is found in the Father with the afore mention, yet nothing can ever supplement that which ONLY God can offer in completeness. All attempts to do so is but a temporal solution (if I may call it that) that in most cases leads to hurt and disappointments in the future.

The Father desires nothing else more than to satisfy us with ALL good things. He created us and knows our desires and longings and He patiently waits to satisfy them when (if) we come to Him. His word declares that no good gift will He with hold from those that love Him. He wants to please you, satisfying your every need. Stop trying supplements (they do not work), try the real deal and you will never go back.

Why run?

Few days back, I was thinking to myself...why do people run away from God when living in sin rather than to Him?

What would you say if you saw a sick person running away from a doctor with a cure? Or a hungry person running away from food? Sad truth is, this is what some Christians do. God being the loving Father that He is stands with open arms to receive the sinner, forgive them and cleanse them from their sins, yet some choose to run the opposite direction.

This bothered me for a while, and I decided to seek for a better understanding. This is what I came across. There is one thing that the enemy (the devil) does not want, and that is for people to know the truth about God and to come to Him. He will do anything for people to stay away and when it comes to sin, guilt is one of his greatest weapons. I would think that guilt would push one to seek for forgiveness but rather the enemy adds self condemnation to that guilt such that we feel unworthy to approach the throne of grace where mercy resides.

We need to understand that God is merciful. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Yes He absolutely hates (detests) the sin we commit, yet He loves the one who committed the sin. Because of this love, He stands opened armed to receive us and cleanse us from the sin and give us the strength to walk in obedience to His word. Staying away from Him drives us deeper into sin. Eventually for some, their conscience is seared and the sin is no longer something they consider as sin, but rather as part of their lives. Remember, God does not force anyone. If you choose to remain in your sin, He will let you be, and continue standing waiting. The longer you remain in the sin, the further you go away from His opened arms, the harder it is for you to come back to Him.

Where ever you are at, stop! Turn to God, because you can not do this on your own. Push aside all the lies the enemy has told you and all the self condemnation. He loves you more than you can ever imagine. He has forgiven you, and cleansed you, just come and accept His forgiveness. Your strength to live the life He has called you to is found in Him. He has placed it inside you, come find out the key to unlocking the "how".

Do you know the King?

Heard something profound today, that it is possible to live in a kingdom and not know the king of the kingdom. Sadly this is how many Christians relate to God. How many can assuredly say that they know God, the King of the Kingdom.

God called Abraham His friend...Don't know about you but that is deep stuff. What this means is that Abraham knew God as close friends would know each other today. What is a friend then perhaps? Google said: "A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts." My question again then, how many Christians can assuredly say that they know God?

Christianity is not a religion but a call to a relationship with the creator of the universe. To know the King of the Kingdom as He knows you. Scripture tells us that the King knew us whiles we were still clots of blood in our mother's womb, yet after so many years of being in the Kingdom, how many can boldly say, "I know God."

Is it not about time that we His children desired to know the King of the Kingdom that we belong to. How do you do this? Well, just like any other relationship, spending time with the person is the key ingredient in getting to know them. Try spending some time with the King. If you don't have time, try make time for Him. You will be amazed at what He will reveal to you about Himself. Scriptures says, if we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him. Give it a try.

Things that make or break a relationship

We are all relational beings as humans, some more than others, but every one to some level is a relational being. For this reason its important for us to understand the kind of things that will build a relationship and those that will break it down. Here are just a few:

Breakers and Makers

1. Selfishness:
A man of God once said, "... you never really know how selfish you are
until you get married. Try having children afterwards, then you will
fully understand how selfish you are." The truth is, we are naturally
selfish and our selfishness will come out in the situations we face
each day until we deal with it head on. The "it's all about me" mentality
is a concept that most of us are all too familiar with.

Selflessness:
Speaks of putting the other before yourself. Other peoples needs before
your own. Wont be easy but with daily practice, it will become like
walking, effortless.

2. Pride:
Who knows this better than men? Pride however does not only affect
men but even females can be proud too. Everyone wants to be
"the main man", the one on top. No one likes loosing the argument or
doing the dirty lowly chore. It is so hard for us to let others "win".

Humility:
Nothing beats humility in my eyes. The beauty that adorns humble
people gives me the chills, yet we can all have this beauty. The Lord
Jesus demonstrated this when He washed the feet of His disciples.
We all could do with a bit of humility in our lives.

3. Insecurity:
A big one for mostly females. Being insecure makes one irrational
at times. Insecurity has its roots in past experiences and if not dealt
with could literal drag down a relationship. Find your security in
Christ, be fully assured of who you are and what you are to your
Father in heaven. I'm not saying go ahead and trust all people now,
but what I am saying is that trust God. Trusting God brings a huge
sense of security in EVERY area of your life.

Love:
Live a life of love. Perfect Love drives away all fear, says the word
of the living God. The book of 1 Corinthians whiles describing the
attributes of "love" mentions that it ALWAYS trusts. With trust
comes security.

4. Resentment:
Small things about people can irritate us. Like the guy who always
rushes for the food and takes the biggest pieces. Or the girl who
showers for hours and finishes all the hot water before others can bath.
These things, though little, can cause you to be resentful towards
that person. What ever it might be, you could be resenting people and
you don't even know you are. It affects the way you treat them alot.

Forgiveness:
Learning to confront the person as soon as possible, it is important.
Sometimes they might not even know that you are being resentful
because of that particular thing. But resentment can eat up a
relationship, might even go as far as becoming bitterness. With that
being said, one must accompany the confrontation with forgiveness.
Knowing that there might be others who are also resentful towards
you for certain things that you do yet are not aware of.

As you please?

Ever wondered why you tend to do more of the things that you do not want to do, and less of the things that you want to? Ever tried to stop doing them? Well the truth is you CANT on your own. By nature you were created to desire the things that satisfy the body. Most of these are not pleasing to God and for some only when performed out of context (God's defined context). Yet when we catch the revelation of who the Son of God is, we are introduced to a new paradigm, where it is no longer us living, but Christ living in and through us. When we ALLOW Him to do this, that is when we will inevitably do less of the things we do not want to do and more of the things we do want to do.

The weakness of a man is in his lack of knowledge. With knowledge comes weapons to overcome EVERY obstacle that comes your way. Seek to know more.

A new breeze

Many people are afraid of change, yet many are not living the life that God intended for them. Some are gripped with fear to step out and change and circumstances in which they find themselves. Yet how can the Creator change the environment in which you live, except you allow him to.

Allowing Him involves an act of faith on your side. Stepping into new things requires faith. Remember this is new unfamiliar territory that you will be entering. Trusting God to guide you through such places requires faith, and when you manage to trust God in that way, you can be rest assured that He will surely come through.

Hope for the hopeless

There are somethings that people can never understand, the very things that they seek answers to but can't find, it is such things they eventually attribute to a higher power.

Look around you, every thing screams of the existence of one higher than human kind, who they choose to call this higher power is what differs from person to person. Yet no matter what people choose to call Him, He still remains the "I AM"

Our Creator

Ever wondered...

Why the world is upside down?
Or why people keep searching for something but they never seem to find it?

Well...have they ever thought to go to the source of all things for answers?