CAN GOD BE STARVED ?

One of the so cherished thought pattern in the christian worship, is that which believes that we starve God when we don’t worship, or worship properly.
As good as that sounds, it is a great tale of falsehood sanctified by the devil to keep us worshiping for the wrong reasons without knowing it.

I know where all this stuff came from, we try to see worship as cooking God some delicacy as we would our earthly father and when we don’t GOD GOES HUNGRY.
One thing we must understand, is that in our attempt to interpret spiritual realities with physical realities we sometimes loose the spiritual essence and tangibility, and all we are left with is a form of worship without the power thereof.

This faulty mentality about God being starved when we don’t worship has raised worshipers who think they are doing God some favor when they worship and they unconsciously worship for the wrong reasons and wind up loosing the very benefits of worship.

In as much as worship is all about God and for God, we must also understand that worship affects the life of the worshiper more than it does affect the one who is worshiped,we stand to benefit more from worship than God has to.

Amazingly God doesn’t need your worship to make him feel good or feel Godly. No! He is God all by himself and needs nobody else.

Therefore to become effectual worshipers, we must start off first by seeing worship as a privilege to access all that God is and not a debt or favor we owe him.
Worship is not a debt, its a rare privilege given to sons to love their father,when we understand this, worship takes a whole new look.

God is not worship sick, he is not hungry and seeking out profusely for someone to feed him some spoons of worship just to keep him alive.
We must understand this is GOD and not some small g.o.d who receives libations and kola nuts every morning and if none comes, it ends up making its worshipers its food and then strikes the community. That’s not our God.
Our God is not hungry and will never be. He said ” IF I WERE HUNGRY, I WONT BOTHER YOU, THE CATTLE ON A THOUSAND HILLS ARE MINE”
What a God! God is more interested in feeding you than you are in feeding him. He is a responsible father.
God can not be starved! If it were possible then he would have long died of starvation and probably gone extinct.

I urge you therefore that you Worship God for the right reasons.
An UN-renewed mind can never offer correct worship and so if you still think your worship feeds God and that God will starve because of you,no this that your mind isn’t yet renewed, get in on Gods word and begin to worship aright in truth and spirit.

God Bless You.

JUST GET UP -Part 5

NOTE #5

GOD STILL LOVES YOU.

Now we safely arrive at the last and fifth note, five is the number of grace and as far as God’s grace is concerned, God loves you no matter what.

Your inconsistencies might be pulling you back ward and far away from God, causing you to simply lay low thinking you don’t love him enough and you are trying all you can to prove to Him (God) how much you love him, but hear me friend; God loves you more than enough and that makes up for all your inadequacies, flaws and short comings.

“This is how we know love; not that we love him but that he loves us” 7

You see, this is Gods own Scriptural definition of love; not our love for him but his love for us. Relax in God’s love and his love will swallow all your shortcomings and weakness.

The biggest lie I was ever told as a believer is that God will never use me until I am very serious, faithful, and all good without spot or wrinkle. All this are nice stuff but friends that isn’t really true.

Here is the truth;
God can and will use you with your inconsistence yes, yes He will and when he begins to use you, he begins to change you.

The very fact that you are inconsistent and half baked is your qualification to be used of him. Guess what, “He uses the base and foolish, things of this word to confound the wise”. 8

Hey friend, Christ in you is all that matters! As you walk with God he will cause that Christ in his glory be revealed in you. Guess what also, if God wasn’t going to use you he won’t make you his temple. That’s a guarantee.
Do you remember Peter, James and John “ the first Pope and others” they went up the mountain with the master to pray all night but they slept all night while the master prayed, but the same ones who slept, later on went about performing great signs and wonders recorded in scripture. That same John who slept still received great secrets from heaven.

“Peter the Pope” who denied the master was handed over the church while Jesus ascended.
The lord did not say; “You Peter, You slept in the place of prayer, you even denied me, Peter three times, peter…” no he didn’t say all that, rather he looked at this seemingly backsliding fellow and said to him
“Feed my sheep” 9

Notice that Christ Jesus didn’t say all these when Peter healed the man at the beautiful gate (of course he wasn’t there at that time) no! He said it when peter was yet nobody.

Can I tell you? God still loves you and much more he’s ready to commit great things to your care, your weaknesses and failure won’t stop him no matter what, if you’re still down with depression, Just Get up and move on because God still loves you.

JUST GET UP – Part 4

NOTE #4

JESUS SLEPT

Thank you still for making it to this fourth note.

In the previous note, I channeled this writing to those friends who deliberately have taken sleep for a hobby but in this note I would be talking mainly to those who I see this writing as originally designed for, even though all am going to say applies to us all.

Now, I write to those brethren in the faith who look forward to hitting the mark in the varying areas of their lives and callings, they have set up their plans and time-tables and have also been following them meticulously but Alas! Today they missed out on their precious routine and discipline because they overslept.
It is to them I write also saying; JUST GET UP.

I know you’ve been waking up all the nights, following your time-table day after day and night after night but today you woke up late to see all your plans crushed and now you want to kill yourself, no! JUST GET UP.

-God is not in support of excess sleep –

Please dear, let no devil fool you by making you think God is mad at you because you over slept, no, He is not, but that does not mean He is in support of more sleep.

-You are still mortal no matter your spiritual achievements-

Now this is important, you must understand that you will never get it all right and perfect every time, sometimes people might get to see you as lazy or irresponsible, but that’s not who you are, such things happen just to let you know that you are still mortal no matter your spiritual achievements.When those times come, don’t get frustrated, just get up and keep at it.

I tell you of a truth, more things can make you over sleep, oh! Did I forget to say that those times when I overslept were times when I had over worked myself the previous day and ended up eating late? You see, these are things you must watch and stop trying to sentence yourself to life in depression.

-Jesus not only wept, he slept –

Hey! Can I whisper in your hearing (please tell no one)? Jesus Slept! Sounds funny but that is truth, He slept sound! Some folk have said, He did not, that he was resting and they quote “God neither sleeps nor slumbers” 6
You see, that’s not correct indeed, God can afford to stay awake all ages, but not Jesus, he was full man and full God, so he had to sleep and this time on the boat, he slept so sound he didn’t know the ship was in trouble, until they woke him, and guess what, if Peter ‘the sanguine’ hadn’t pulled on him, He would have slept until He was satisfied. Why, because he was tired after trekking about and preaching, and am sure he went back to sleep after calming the storm.

Friend, take courage in the very fact that Jesus slept, He not only wept, He Slept!

As we tie it up on this particular note, I’ve got some advice for you which I found helpful.

Here is one of them, whenever you wake up at such times as this when you look so beaten and depressed, please do not immediately flip your bible to the old testament (there is nothing wrong with the old testament, I read it), otherwise seeing scriptures like this:

‘‘My people are far from me and my wrath is kindled against them, therefore will cut them off” (paraphrasing).

Can get you more depressed. You need to know that was God speaking to the people of the old covenant, you’ll never find such statements in the new testament; which began from the time of the cross till date, we are of the new testament or covenant and God speaks peace to us not threats or angry proclamations like we find in the old testament.

Secondly, please do not just wake up and flip the bible to anywhere expecting God to speak, it happens, but in rare cases.

I remember the story of a certain man who once woke up to have devotion and said to himself:
“Anywhere I open to in this bible is what God is saying to me”.
So he opened and the first thing he saw was:

“And Judas hung himself”

He quickly closed it and opened another, this time the scripture said:

“Go and do likewise”

That day his devotion turned into frustration.

Now here is my point, when you see this depressing moments come, get to the New Testament scriptures, particularly the Pauline epistle like Romans, Colossians, Ephesians and the rest.
From this scripture you begin to reassure yourself of who you are in Christ, how that you are at peace with God and that God no longer counts you worthy based on how meticulously you follow your prayer time-table but counts you righteous because of what Christ has done on the cross and as you do so, joy will be let loose in your spirit and your day is made!

JUST GET UP -Part 3

NOTE #3

LETTER TO THE SLEEPER

Alright thanks for coming this far with me on these series of notes. Now, in the previous note, I tried to share two similar yet different stories that opened me up to lessons which I now share with you in this notes.

As I begin this third note, I wish to make it clear that I haven’t been writing to folks who have deliberately made sleep their hobby, because for them the gospel is simple clear and direct and this is it:

“If you keep sleeping for the fun of sleep and lazing on bed, poverty is your reward”

That is the gospel, you really do not have to like it, and you just have to agree with it or leave it.
Well someone is saying;

“I said it! He is mixing grace and law”

Sorry friend, this isn’t mixture. It is pure grace and truth. The scripture clearly states:

“A little sleep, a little slumber so shall poverty come on you like an ‘anointing’ ” (Paraphrasing) 4

Take this from me, there has never been a structure anywhere in the world erected in memory of a sleeper and no matter how passionate you are about sleeping you won’t break that record.

Remember I am now talking to the man who takes sleep for a hobby and yet sees nothing wrong about it.

-Grace is freedom not looseness-

We must understand that the gospel of grace is the gospel of FREEDOM not LOOSENESS.
Were are free not loose and even in our freedom we are only free within the borders, confines and limits of God’s word. You see some folks already think; “this guy writing this must be a sleeper”

Well there is only one thing I can say to such people, and it is that, no one will write the kind of things we write lying on the bed all day, it’s grossly impossible.

Now I think it’s important to make this clear, When I said God took me to that scripture (i.e. after I had overslept) which says; “He giveth his beloved sleep”. Listen, that wasn’t a confirmation for more sleep, no, he wasn’t encouraging me to sleep on! Because I tell you, if I had slept on may be the next scripture God would have shown me is; “Awake o Sleeper” 5

That might sound funny but all God was trying to tell me was simply this:

“Sleep is scriptural and not of the devil, I (God) made it, therefore whenever it happens ‘over’ JUST GET UP, don’t feel bad, just be yourself and continue’’
Am sure you get the point now.

As I tie up this third note, I’d like to say, if you are one who is so taken over by sleep, don’t feel bad about it. All you need do now is, realize that is not the part of greatness and simply JUST GET UP.

A very good brother and friend once told me of a guy of his who will ‘Sooo’ sleep that when he eventually gets up he will shout out loud;

“Sleep, Ooo sleep, you will not kill me before my time”.

You see that’s funny but real, you might have to say the same to sleep and then just GET UP and watch your life change and step up for the better.

JUST GET UP – Part 2

NOTE #2

HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED SLEEP

In the first note, I told the little story of how I once overslept and how self pity and condemnation kept me on the bed longer than normal.

-God is never angry with you because you overslept –

Well that incident repeated itself another time but this time something happened, but before I go on, I’d like to say clearly; “God is never angry with you simply because you over slept”
Having taking note of that, I begin my story for this second note:

Now it happened that at a certain time (this is different from the first I spoke of) I planned yet again to wake up to pray and study but men! I so slept it took some one to bring me back to earth realm.
This time I woke up and I felt like lay myself down on a stretcher and give him 39 roman strokes of the whip but that won’t change anything.

While I yet hated myself for being such a lazy, unserious Christian, who claims he loves God, I ‘carelessly’ reached out to my bible and dropped it open before me causally and behold, the first scripture God brought my way was:
“He giveth His beloved sleep” 3

Wow! Immediately, the weak-angry with myself -me busted out in tongues and guess what, unlike the other time when I rolled on the bed from 7 – 11 am, this time after ‘kabashing’(this is a slang commonly used to qualify intense pray) for hours, I stepped out and guess what I had a blessed day.

What happened? I just got God’s word come to me directly in this time of depression and ministered assurance to me letting me know I was not condemned.

You too can have a blessed day even if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and like a very good friend would say; “If you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, simply JUST GET UP and turn the bed the other way and that puts you on the rights side.”

This is how you can turn the bed, Just get up, knowing you are not condemned and that there is a better and flawless you (who is a always awake) lying within you and soonest with consistent work and training, that ‘you’ would show up active in your physical life.

I’d like to quote Precious Emmanuel who said;
“This is the reality Christians need to hear, we grow in Christ not struggle to heaven and the amazing thing is that God is patient enough to see us grow”

Trust me this is a statement of truth, God is patient with you until you grow into the fullness of maturity in Christ Jesus.

JUST GET UP SERIES

NOTE #1

GOD OF THE NIGHT, GOD OF THE DAY

Sometime ago I had planned the previous day that I would wake up in the middle of the night to pray but as I slept the next time I woke up was 7am in the morning of the next day.
Wow! My spirit was down, I felt so guilty and looked at myself as an unqualified Christian, and I literally condemned myself, until there was nothing left of me to condemn.
But you see, this feeling of guilt and condemnation didn’t make me any better, it actually made matters worse. I felt so unworthy to approach God that morning. I ended up having no devotion and worst of all in my guilty – feeling – bad state; I stayed on that bed and rolled till it was 11am.
What happened? I had given myself over to depression thinking I would punish myself by it and then God would accept me, but no, that was self righteousness and as far as God is concerned, it’s filthy rag.
Here is my point, most times we think that when we feel terrible at our flaws it makes God impressed with us, but the truth is that it doesn’t.
What actually makes him pleased and impressed is when you get up and receive his forgiveness, knowing with all assurance that you are not condemned.

-The complexity of Christianity is found in its religiosity –

Ever since, I have learnt quite a number of things, one of which is don’t let religion keep you from coming to God. I think I should say this; the complexity of Christianity is found in its religiosity. Religion is complicated, but Christianity is straight forward and simple.
It is good to pray at night, I love it but who said that’s only when God hears you clearly? If anyone thinks it must be at night, then I will love scriptural back ups and proofs that insists God hears us only at night. It’s funny how we’ve cooked up some funny ideologies which in turn have become our bondage. Friends, God has got good hearing systems and he hears you anytime, “He who made the ears will he not also hear?” 2 of course he will!
This is my point again, guilt and self pity will engineer condemnation and that will automatically open the door for the enemy to speak to you about how angry God is at the moment with you and that would keep you down forever. So my friend, just get up.

-God of the night time is still God of the day time –

If you miss out on your scheduled prayer time at night, then simply pray in the afternoon or as soon as you get up. Mind you, the apostles Peter and John were on their way to the temple to pray in the afternoon when they met the man at the beautiful gate (Acts 3:1), so it means afternoon prayer is scriptural, hence, you can feel free from the guilt of missing night prayers and join the apostles in the afternoon as they go to the temple, you also locate a corner and connect to heaven, very simple!
Hear me, the God of the Night times, is still God of the Day Time, he isn’t less busy at night and busier in the day, no! He is ever attentive and free at all times to your call. Be free from guilt, just Get up and approach the king, He’s waiting.