WHEN GOD FORGIVES

Peter was in a state of shock. The one he embraced as Messiah, was being treated like a common criminal. His all powerful Saviour and Friend was being humbled by mere mortals and He was not even lifting a finger to save himself.

Peter was confused and sat before the fire trying to sieve through the avalanche of thoughts and doubts coursing through his mind. Was Jesus really who He said He was? Was this the end of a 3 year journey of discovering great new possibilities? What next? What if…?

Suddenly the threat of being joined with Jesus as a co-accused became very real. A young maid accused him of being an accomplice to Jesus. Without thinking Peter blurted out, “Me? I don’t know that man. Never seen him before! May I be d…..d if I have as much as spoken to him even once. …”

Peter denied Jesus not once, but 3 times within the space of an evening.

And then the cock crowed and he remembered…. how earlier in the evening, he had pledged his unwavering eternal allegiance to Jesus. He had promised to die rather than deny his dear buddy.

As the feelings of shame spread through his body, Jesus turned and looked at him. He knew!! Now Peter would gladly have died. He had denied his friend at His greatest hour of need. His gut wrenching pain increased and he wept bitterly.

Within the next 24hours Jesus was dead without an opportunity for Peter to apologise and seek forgiveness. It is easy to imagine Peter going home that day and spending the night asking God for Mercy.

Such a great sin but God saw a truly repentant heart and God forgave him.

How do I know?

Hear the words spoken to Mary in Mark 16: 6-7, after Jesus rose from the dead,

“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is risen! ….But go tell His disciples - AND PETER – that He is going before you into Galilee…

Why single out Peter? Probably because Peter needed to know that in spite of what he had done. He was still loved. And so God sent him a word to let him know he was forgiven.

God will always honour true repentance!! It makes sense to take advantage of God's grace and mercy

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Irresistible

There are a few things God cannot resist.

One of them is True Repentance.
Ps 51:17 says, " The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken spirit and a contrite heart - these oh God you will not despise.

God hates sin. But He softens and forgives where He sees true repentance. Let's look at some examples

King Ahab
In 1 Kings chapter 21, King Ahab stumbled on the vineyard of Citizen Naboth. Just one look and he wanted it … badly. Naboth said no; the vineyard had been in the family for generations and he was going to pass it on to his son after him. Thoughts of the vineyard he couldn’t have, made Ahab sick; very sick.

His wife Jezebel would have none of that insubordination to the king’s wishes. So she hired some assasins and got Citizen Naboth killed pronto! The news got to King Ahab who immediately recovered from his illness and wasted no time in taking over the vineyard – the fulfillment of his dreams.

God was angry! He sent Elijah to Ahab with a message – he would face calamity and would die!

When Ahab heard the judgment, he tore his clothes, fasted and mourned. Hear what God said in response…

I Kings 21: 29, “See how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the calamity in his days….

Next …

King David
In 2 Samuel 11- David looked where he shouldn’t look;… at a beautiful married woman taking a bath. The obvious followed – Adultery and then the woman got pregnant. David’s response was to get her husband positioned in the war front. The poor man was killed before he got wise about their unholy secret. The woman mourned her husband for a few months before she moved in with King David.

To me the whole set up looks unforgivable!! Or what do you think? But then…

When confronted with his sin David said, I Sam 12: 13 – “I have sinned against the Lord…”

God looked into his heart and sent a message to him, “The Lord also has put away your sin.. you shall not die…However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child who is borne to you shall surely die.”

It’s clear from the scriptures that God will forgive the unforgivable when there is true repentance.

What then is TRUE REPENTANCE?

It is not feeling bad because you’ve been caught.
It is not a guilty conscience that lingers but for a moment.
It is not saying sorry just to save face
It is not regret today… and going back to the same old issue tomorrow

Rather…
It is making a u-turn and deciding in your heart that it will never happen again…
It is knowing that God hates what you have done and because you love God and don’t want to annoy Him, you will not allow it happen again…
It is knowing that only God can help you live holy and trusting Him to do just that.

Once God sees true repentance He will forgive and you can know peace again.

Do you need forgiveness and peace. It makes sense to accept what God has offered... on His terms

Don’t want this entry to be too long. So I will leave the story of Peter’s repentance to the next blog entry.

Another day Another Miracle

Every day is a miracle. We do not often see this because we have gone through so many days and so tend not to pay attention to the miracle of:
breathing, sleeping and waking, eating without chocking, going to the toilet freely, and returning home safely after each day.

But God is actively working on our behalf.

Psalm 91: 11-12 'For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone

Yesterday evening, God brought the fact of His divine protection, home to me again. My husband came home about 7p.m. in the evening and sat down. I greeted him casually, and why not? He had just dropped me at home three hours earlier before returning to church.

With a pensive tone he said - I experienced something today that I have never experienced in my whole life. That got my attention... What happened? I asked. He told us the story

He was driving from our church within the Mainland hotel complex and had a Pastor friend - Pastor Otunde, beside him. The Pastor's children were sitting behind. He drove through oyingbo towards Adekunle to drop Pst Otunde at home. At the second main intersection, notorious for being blocked by danfo drivers, they saw people running towards their direction, including the danfo drivers who abandonned their buses. Their first thought was armed robbers, and so Pastor Otunde opened the door and gave a characteristic order that you hear in cases like that - Run!!!

However, in that split second where he had placed one foot on the ground, my husband saw a trailer facing the one way traffic and bearing down on him with an obvious problem of brake failure. The road at that point sloped downwards and the trailer was clearly gathering speed. He took a decision and swerved to the left. Pastor Otunde was thrown out of the car and as he hit the ground he was rolled to the right. The trailed passed between the car and Pastor Otunde, missing them both by a hair's breadth before speeding by and chasing other pedestrians and drivers off the road. A stunned Pastor Otunde got up and the first question he asked my husband was - What just happened now? As i lay on the ground i saw the tires of the trailer roll just beside my face!

Apart from a few bruises he was okay. He kept saying, Thank you Lord for this miracle. Not even my glasses were broken.

I woke up early this morning and kept thinking of what could have happened if God had not intervened. All I could do was sing songs of praises. It could have been a different story. Join me to say.... halleluyah!!

Make God continue to look out for us, In Jesus Name. Amen.

Have a blessed week

Unholy Attractions

It happens. Just thank God if in your heart of hearts it has never happened to you as a Christian. But many Christians have experienced those unruly thoughts and strange desires that are improperly directed towards someone that shouldn’t be?

A Christian Married man …. Another woman
A Christian Married Woman …. Another man
A young Christian Man ….. A friend’s fiancé
A counselor ….. A Counselee of the opposite gender
Etc…

Deadly options, unrighteous thoughts, recipes for disaster; but may God have mercy, they happen. Some great men of God have even fallen flat on their faces because of these unbridled desires. So it is dangerous to sweep it under the carpet with a holy smile and pretend it is not real.

What do we do? First is to realize that every sin starts in the realm of the thoughts. That is why Jesus said, if a person has lustful thoughts he has committed adultery already. The beginning of the solution is to identify those thoughts as sin, not even a weakness, sin! Confess them to God as such.

Then change your location. Most of these desires are fed by sight and association. Tone down the friendship, stop visiting the house, hand the person over to another counselor. The bible says if your right hand will cause you to sin, then it is better you cut it off. I heard the personal testimony of a married brother who actually changed his job because he was attracted to a woman in his office. They worked together everyday and even though he loved his wife, he couldn’t understand those feelings, so he took a wise decision and moved to another company.

Talk to someone about it. Seek out someone that can be trusted and is also spiritually mature enough to counsel and pray through with you. That person may actually be your spouse. But be careful and allow God to lead you to someone who can carry this burden with you. Sometimes these desires thrive in an atmosphere of secrecy. Imagine if everyone including your Pastor could see your thoughts; they will probably be different. So expose this and see God give you victory.

Cut off anything that feeds these desires – Soap Operas, any movie that has a hint of blue, erotic novels, pornography. These must go so that they do not belittle the value of the precious blood of Jesus that was shed for us.

The Holy Spirit is your helper. Let him help you deal with the desires and to help you take practical steps to make sure that they do not recur.

It is well and keep on living for Jesus alone.

Absolutes Are Better

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. I Corinthians 10:23

Many years ago I took a decision to stay away from alcoholic drinks. That means whatever the case I will not drink. I didn’t take that decision because I felt it is a sin to drink alcohol. Obviously it is a sin to get drunk (tipsy is drunk!) or fall under the influence of alcohol; it is wrong to prioritize social drinking to the detriment of taking care of the family.

But then what happens if I take a little glass of wine at a corporate dinner – that’s where I often get faced with making a choice. I don’t think it would be wrong to drink a little, but I still say NO!

Why? Because I have long learnt that ABSOLUTES ARE BETTER.

In any situation where the flesh or mind can develop a strong craving that does not glorify God, then it is better to abstain; even where a little is okay.

Very few plan to get drunk at the first sip of wine; or to become lifetime drunkards at the first mouthful of beer….

Many never plan sex at the first passionate kiss outside wedlock;

When passing on the juicy details of friends affairs; it’s hardly clear that one day your friend will get to know where the rumor started from.

I used to have problems with soap opera’s. Once I started watching, it consumed my whole attention. I dedicated the one hour of the soap to the soap alone. That translated to postponing or canceling any other appointment – official or spiritual to make sure I don’t miss any episode. The day I realized the influence on my life was too strong, I decided to stop watching them.

In life we cannot make choices based on what is right or wrong alone, but also on what is expedient and what adds value to life. Whatever doesn’t add value is best avoided.

Here is a site with interesting christian quotes. I hope you find it useful
http://www.christianquotes.org/index.php

STEPPING INTO GOD'S REALM

Acts 17: 27-28
..so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.; for in Him we live and move and have our being.

We often invite God to come into our lives. But isn’t He here already. Isn’t that why we call him the Omnipresent one– present everywhere at the same time. So why do we not see more of His power, direction and influence in the issues that concern us?

I think it is not really about God stepping into our realm. He is here already; it’s more about us stepping into His realm.

An analogy.
Radio stations beam into our homes 24 hours a day. You may have a radio in your room but if you don’t switch it on and then tune it to a particular station, you can’t be a part of what is being beamed.

God is near. So near, because His presence consistently gives us breath each second and He keeps us alive. But there is so much more we hardly tap into. If we don't take the time to tune into Him, we can pass through this whole life time unaware of the fact His hand is extended in friendship.

All we need to get more of God is to step into his invisible realm. Beyond our regular time of prayer and reading the bible – (Sometimes we do not give more than 15minutes in a day to this), it would also require us taking time to be constantly conscious of his presence. We would need to set aside some time of quiet, where we take note of his presence and allow an intimacy to grow. Informal communication with Him at your desk in the office, in the bathroom, while you are driving, will all add up. Offering up words of affection, thanksgiving and praise for all He has done, will make Him more real.

Do all this and don’t be surprised when you see more of God’s manifestation in your life. Healings, direction, deliverance, assignments, special wisdom, solutions are just a few of the benefits of stepping in. TRY IT!!

God Moves in Mysterious ways

Never ever limit God by your own wisdom or your idea of possibilities. This story told by the G.O of The Redeemed Christian church of God is funny and insightful.

Pastor Adeboye has known poverty and his stories are not complete until he mentions the fact that he wore his first pair of shoes when he was a teenager. Meanwhile, this story is about a day in which he was hungry and wanted to eat something nice for a change.

He decides to pray, “Lord, I am hungry and I have no good food to eat. I am tired of soaking Gari…Pls give me good food today.” He hung the prayer on the hook of faith.

Sometime in that village afternoon, a young girl walks into his home with a basket????

She greets him. “My mother asks me to bring this food to you sir.”

He wonders aloud. “Who is your mother?”

“Mama Lagbaja.” She responds.

He is still perplexed. “Young girl, I do not know any Mama Lagbaja, you must be at the wrong place.”

“No sir. My mother asked me to bring the food here.” He argued with her for a while but when she insists, he backs off. It wasn’t unusual in the village for people to send food round when celebrating one great event of the other. “Put the food on the table and thank your mother for me, very well.”

Immediately she left, he remembered his prayer earlier in the day. “Thank you Lord,” he whispered. He drew the table close and examined the food. It was his favourite – Pounded yam with steaming hot Egusi soup and Bush meat. “God you are too good,” he murmured again. Within a short while he had savoured every morsel of the meal. He leaned back and soon he was fast asleep.

A knock on the door woke him. It was the same girl. She must have come back to collect the plates. But why the frown on her face….

“I made a mistake." the girl lamented. " The food was for someone else. My mother said I should come and collect it back.”

“Ah, my dear, that is a costly mistake. The food is no longer available. Please apologize to your mother…..

God works in mysterious ways! So don't limit Him!