IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU!

"I am Almighty God; walk before me and be blameless". Genesis 17: 1b,c,d
Who was God speaking to in this text?   ..............................................................
We would be right to say Abraham( or Abram, then) but errrrr........not completely!
This verse speaks, not only to Abraham, but to us also.
If we follow the story of Abraham, we'd see that God indeed blessed and multiplied this man.
A pang of envy might play across the minds of some of us (e.g me), or better still, an outright admiration for this truly blessed man. We might even find ourselves asking, 'How can I be as righteous as this man (in this 21st century o)'?
My dear friends, it's high time we stopped asking ourselves such a question! Samuel could have joined Eli's sons in disregarding the sacrificial offerings. Joseph could have yielded to Potiphar's wife's pressure.Daniel could have stopped praying when the decree was made.
So also, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could have bowed to that 'yeye' king. But y'know what? They all did the right thing instead of conforming and God, indeed, blessed them. Evil would always abound in every age and time. As true servants of God, it is up to us to either do what is right or to conform to what we see around us.
Recently, I got into a conversation with one of my friends on FB(she's also a blogger) and she asked me, D'you know you are righteous?'
In my mind, I was like 'Ah Ah! what's this girl saying?'
By the time she explained to me, it became a food for thought and so over the next few days, I have savored each morsel of this 'food for thought' (with renowned Chef Holy Spirit, of course!) and I gotta share this 'Cuisine of truth' with y'all!
We would observe throughout Abram's course in the Scriptures that this gentle and faithful patriarch, did not in anyway, regard himself as righteous.
That's in fact, where most Christians miss it today! We think that because we go for Bible Study on Tuesdays, Faith Clinic on Thursdays,and attend church on Sundays; because we are Sunday school teachers, ushers, choir members or prayer warriors; because we always dance and sing during praise-worship sessions; because we attend every programme our church organises, then we should be called 'righteous!'
Sorry to burst your bubble, that's an emphatic NO!
Attending church regularly and working in church shows dedication and faith to God (don't get me wrong) but they are NOT the basis for righteousness. They only serve as ways by which our faith in Christ is nurtured and our gratitude to God is expressed. They do NOT in any way, serve as a measure of one's righteousness and until we begin to see beyond this mentality, we would not get a true picture of what walking before GOD in righteousness means.
What then does 'walking before God in righteousness' mean?
Isiah 54 says it all! I love this chapter because it reels off beautiful promises from God- about how HIS kindness will not depart from us; about how HE will lay our stones with colourful gems and so on, but the last verse, verse 17, does not fail to state that, 
'.....................................This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,' says the Lord.
Voila!
So, dear friends, I want us to know that when we try our human best to do what is right, our righteousness is really from the Lord. Walking before HIM in righteousness means knowing we are not perfect but that, our sincere and personal relationship with HIM (not lusting after HIS favours but loving HIM for who HE is) would always move HIM to give us the grace we need to do that which is right. Even Apostle Paul said, 'But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ......................'. Gal. 6:14
These are the words of a man who had suffered all forms of persecution for Christ, a man who along with other disciples, laboured  to establish Christ's Church.( What greater service can there be?) Yet, he still boasted in his imperfection.
Dear friends, humility in your relationship with God is the best form of righteousness and
until you see it this way, you will not receive the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus(as my dear friend put it) cuz really, 'It's not about you'!    

DESTITUTES IN THE CHRISTIAN RACE 2

    I promised to share with y'all, the whole new meaning my eyes were opened to and I strongly believe I could never have deciphered this on my own so dear brethren, I wrote this but it was really authored by the Spirit!

So, in the last piece, I was opportuned to present you with what we might really look like in the spirit realm as destitutes. Now, what  does the parable of the sower have to do with destitution. A whole lot! I tell you.

In the parable of the sower, there are three categories of destitutes in the Christian race.

 THOSE WHO LACK SEED OF UNDERSTANDING- Now, this is made clear to us in Matt13:19 that they are those who hear the word but do not understand and so whatever is sown in their heart is taken away! They are like the seeds which fell by the wayside. Matt13:12 says 'For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance but whoever, does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him'

Lack of understanding, prevents these from accepting, repenting, believing and inviting Jesus into their hearts (ARBI- the 4-way rule of salvation)! And so, what happens, In Matt13:15, Jesus explains that their hearts grow dull, their eyes become hard of hearing and their eyes of closed. They, then continue to live in that cold darkness. May God have mercy!

Again, there are THOSE WHO LACK DEPTH(ROOT) OF UNDERSTANDING- These are the ones whose seed of faith are sown on stony places. They receive the word immiediately with so much joy that in no time, their seeds spring up into budding plants. How wonderful!

Alas! when the persecutions come, when the tribulations come, when trials and temptations come, like a plant which has no depth of earth or no roots, the lack of depth or root of understanding in them gives way to destitution and so it is my dear brethren, they become destitutes! Now, depth of understanding is that which makes you to persevere even in the face of adversity. A very good example is Job who never cursed God despite all he went through.

There are now THOSE WHO LACK SHOOT OF UNDERSTANDING- Ah! these ones are 'jaiye-jaiye' as Yorubas will say. They hear the word, receive it and understand it, but then when the time comes to bear fruit, thorns in form of wordly cares spring up and POW! They are gone! Yes, they are well-rooted but when the time comes for the shoot to sprout, nothing happens again giving rise to destitution.

  Hmmn.......... Job 14:7 says, For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,and that its tender shoots will not cease.

We should examine ourselves, Are we destitutes in the Christian race? In what way are we destitute? The good news is....................... There is still hope as Job 14:7 makes it clear to us. Let us therefore turn to God in prayer and ask him to restore us.

Remember, 'He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins'

And HE WILL!!

DESTITUTES IN THE CHRISTIAN RACE

   When the word, 'destitute', is mentioned, what picture comes to mind? Is it the faces whose contours are deeply lined with poverty and hunger ? Is it those haggard-looking people out there on the streets, seated by the road sidewalks with little empty bowls waiting to receive money from passers-by? or do you think of just those people who are plagued by lack- lack of clothing, of food and of shelter. Hmmn! Like Jesus once said in the Bible, 'You do well!'. If you thought of these things, you have conjured an almost perfect picture of what it means to be destitute.
   However, have we ever stopped for a split second and imagined that in the spiritual realm, we might look just like 'those people'? Have we ever considered that we might just be the destitutes in the Christian race.
How? we may ask................................
The dictionary defines the word, 'destitute', as lacking or devoid of something. As destitutes in the Christian race, we might be rich and not lacking in material things at all, we might look all fancy and tushed up on the outside but on the inside, our  little empty bowls are really there, begging for understanding of the word.  In other words, destitutes in the Christian race lack understanding of things pertaining to the spirit.
   In Matt.13:14-15, Jesus speaks of those who see but do not really see, those who hear but do not really hear nor understand! Who are these people sef?! My dear brothers and sisters, look no further - they are the 
destitutes in the Christian race! Most times, when we study a particular passage in the Bible more than once, I believe the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see the different sides to that one passage at different times. Matthew 13 is no exception; we might have come across the parable of the sower at one time or the other. I, myself, have been privileged to study it more than once and by the Spirit, I have been opened to a totally different dimension to it which I think I should share with y'all. Hmmn.. what's this new meaning sef!
Well, why don't you wait for the next part?
Afterall the Bible says,' Wait' in Psalm 27:14.
Abeg, Na 'Wait on the Lord' o! (LOL)

YOURS BLOGFULLY REDEFINED

After a looooooooooooong while, I'm back to the blog-biz! Hey, but its in no small way; I'm back in a bigger, better and GODLY way. Its been quite a while away but its been worth the while.
While this ''while'' lasted, I have learnt a whole lot about what it really means to be a Christian and so what to expect? Expect loadz of profound, soul-searching and God-inspired entries. Its called YOURS BLOGFULLY REDEFINED!