Tag: series

JUST DIE (MY LETTER TO THE STRUGGLER)

Leave a comment

Dear Struggler,

This is going to be a long letter but I beseech you to read every word of this. I am trusting God to use it and help you.

Easter is one remarkable season to Christian faithfuls as it commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Over the years, preachers and writers alike have done phenomenal jobs telling and retelling the story that can be referred to as a very important biblical folklore. This story took on a somewhat wider reaching dimension when it was told using motion pictures. One of those movies was “The Passion of The Christ”, which you must have watched.

Moving forward, I particularly at some point was a little concerned with the way this story was told over the years and its intended effect. At one time, this story becomes so compelling that it calls for sober reflections. At another time, it is told in a way that it scares people away from its true essence. I guess it must have covered you with goose pimples when it was told. Howbeit, this is the greatest story ever told.

I will not bore you with details because I assume you are conversant with this story; from the betrayal, to the arrest, to the denial, to the trial, to the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection. You really did not need to have been born again to be able to tell that story. So I will not dwell here, I will move this thing forward.

Like you, I thought I was used to the story and all of its significance. But God set to show me a part of this love story that swept my feet off the ground. I never really paid attention to this part, but God took me there. It is found in Matt. 27:54 and I will quote from the New King James Version:

Now when the centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the son of God.

I will come back to that text but, let me take you a little back in time to a board meeting Jesus had with His disciples in- Matt 16:13-19. By this time Jesus had done a lot of miracles at different times and places. He had taught the people things that were not conventional with the way the teachers of the law taught them. As a matter of fact, by this time, He had not told anyone yet who he really was. However, he knew (possibly by instinct) that people were saying a lot of things about Him. Here He was, trying to know who people are saying that He was.

This situation may not be a stranger to you. You do your best to keep abreast with the personality you put out with every rise in popularity. As you carry out your assignment and carry yourself as a Christian, somewhere in your mind you hope that people are seeing you for who you really are. You take out time to check on what people around you are saying about you. I am not saying it is a bad idea, even Jesus found Himself in that place where He wanted to know what people are saying about Him.

Well, Jesus’ survey showed that people where seeing him, not for who he really is but in the light of what they see him do. They saw Him as a prophet because they were used to prophets performing all manner of signs and wonders. They did not see Him as The Son of God. As a matter of fact, He was addressed as The Son of God on two occasions prior to this board meeting: The demons that possessed the Man at Gergesenes and the disciples when they saw Him walk on water. Outside the disciples, no other person saw Jesus as The Son of God (Even John, the Baptist, doubted the son-ship of Jesus at some point). When He declared it before the high priest, He was tagged as a blasphemer (Matt. 26:63-65). While on the cross, people mocked Him with it. His declaration of the truth that He was The Son of God was not enough to make the people other than His disciples believe it.

Let me take you back to the text. As I dwelt on this part of the greatest love story ever told, I could not help but ask:

WHY DID PEOPLE WAIT FOR JESUS TO DIE BEFORE ACKNOWLEDGING HIM AS THE SON OF GOD?

Is it not interesting that the Centurion and the other people around declared Jesus The Son of God just after He gave up the ghost?

I simply wrote this long letter to submit to you that your place in God can only be relevant to humanity if you can JUST DIE to yourself and be alive in God. That way, you neither need argue with people about who you are nor do a survey to know if people really get it that you are a Child of God. Jesus had to die to His flesh, when He gave up the ghost on the cross, for men who are without to come to know him as The Son of God that He is. I do not doubt that you have been born again, but yet people cannot identify you as such. JUST DIE to your flesh and be alive in Christ (Rom. 8:13-14, Col. 3:1-6).

As I drop my pen, I want to ask that you pass this letter to other people when you are done reading it. Understand that you are not the only one struggling right now, there are billions of people that needs this letter.

Thanks and God bless you.

Your friend,

Ibeh Uche Sam

©TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES
http://www.transformingwordseries.wordpress.com

THE REFINER’S FIRE…

Leave a comment

Because he knows the road on which I travel, when he had tested me, I’ll come out like gold

Job 23:10 (ISV)

Everything I have been talking about in this series revolve around the above scripture. Each time gold or any precious metal is mentioned, it takes me back to what it has to go through from when it is mined to when it is refined. I really wish I can get a real interview, I really do have a couple of questions for them. I believe if that was possible, they will tell me that the path to being valued so highly is not a palatable one. What we see in museums and jewellery stores are refined articles. They went through the refiner’s fire, and trust me, it was not a walk in the park.

The Hebrew word for REFINE is tsäraph which also means to test. So if God wants to test you, He takes you through the fire. This He does, not to burn you up, but to purify you and make you valuable and great. It is going to be uncomfortable and hot. You will lose some of the fleshly values you have given yourself, it will be a hot and tough process to go through, but it promises to make you better.

God has not said the path to greatness will be an easy one, but He is faithful enough to be with you through the fire. He has that pedigree and if He did it for one, He can do it for another. Trust in God and you will be just fine. There is greatness on the inside of you that is waiting for expression, just endure the heat of the fire and it will manifest when your test is over.

When you pass through the waters, I’ll be with you; and through the rivers, they won’t sweep over you, when you walk through fire you won’t be scorched, and the flame won’t set you ablaze

Isa. 43:2 (ISV)

#THE PROCESS

Please share with others and let it bless them as it blessed you

Stay blessed.          

©TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES
(Transforming the World through the Word)
http://www.transformingwordseries.wordpress.com

DESTINY-ATION 4

Leave a comment

image

THE JOURNEY

So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him
Genesis 12:4

So I know you want to fulfil destiny. I hear all the amazing things God has told you, the promises, the plans, the strategies and yet I’m wondering

“Why on earth are you sitting on all of this, acting like you’ve got no place to go? I mean few minutes ago, one would think you had no clue what the word destiny even meant”.

Now how on earth do we end up here?
Sure too many reasonable and unreasonable reasons would pop up but hey I’m not interested in that, there’s not enough time to discuss that. Get up and get going!
Abram heard the call and I tell you, he didn’t wait till months later or till he saved up enough capital for this travelling business; He just up and went.

“Wait up now dude, are you saying we should not prepare?”

Ummm. YES. Seriously, I know it sounds kinda unreasonable but better put I’m saying the moment you get instructions you should start acting on them. I tell you if Abram had spent a day between God’s speaking and take-off, any passer-by would only have to see Abram to know he was about to travel.

Look like where you’re going

I’ll tell you what delays people into ever achieving their dreams: EXCUSES (and I tell you this from first-hand experience). Now many people would associate excuses with laziness but in reality, excuses are basically anything reasonable and unreasonable, commendable and otherwise that stops you from getting results.
So basically if you’re ever going to look for an excuse you’re going to find one. Always. If you’re still wondering what your sustenance would be I’ll tell you Abram’s, he went based on the word from the Lord. So it’s simple…

GO ON THE WORD…it never fails.

And please, please, please, start NOW, not tomorrow, not next week, not when you have a partner, NOW…NOW…NOW! Seriously, right this moment, NOW! Don’t wait another second, start the journey to your destiny. The journey of a thousand miles they say starts with a step. Make that step today.

Read on… its totally gonna be worth it!

DESTINY-ATION 3

Leave a comment

Get you out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, unto a land I will show you

God. (Genesis 12:1)

Abram’s instruction was to leave not just his home but his country as well, his family. Not so cool, right?
However, before you do anything rash, this was Abram’s instructions not yours but nonetheless we can learn something from it still and note this:

The call always propels you out of your comfort zone.

If your ‘call’ keeps you in the norm, along the lines of what you know and consider familiar or what you feel is feasible, then listen again.

Now notice something peculiar; Abram’s call did not specify his destiny-ation per se, it only made one thing clear, he would have to rely totally on Gods geographical mastery and faithfulness to see this through. So God says go , my friend just go. You don’t have any idea as to where you are going but go. No idea how long it might take, still go. God says,
“Trust me, that is good enough”.

To my folks who are not so sure about where exactly you’re heading to in this ‘destiny’ thing, well things are not as bad as you paint them in fact God is excited to lead you just the way you are. So the answer to your question on how to discover destiny is quite simple:

Trust God. Follow God

Beautiful, ain’t it?
But hey that’s just the call, we ain’t got there yet. Stay put, read on and yeah before I forget the promises that follow this call are always spectacular, something too big to comprehend, too massive to believe but I tell you it is possible. You’ve got God on this one with you.

Seriously read on!

DESTINY-ATION 2

2 Comments

Now this is the point where you might want to get a Bible and read through Genesis 12&13. (I’ll be making a lot of reference to that)

THE CALL

You know that nagging feeling you’ve got in your chest, that certainty that you have what it takes to be great, impactful, that thing that makes you look to the mountain tops and see nothing but possibility; you just know there’s something more and yeah, you can’t shut down that feeling so quit trying because you my friend has heard the call.
“What now?” you say…

I tell you it’s your innate identity calling forth for manifestation. This call leaves you yearning for heights you’ve not yet reached. It promises you the world at your fingertips. When you got it you got it. You can deny it but please don’t numb it, don’t ignore it, now is the time to listen carefully. Suffice me to say that if you go ahead to do something about this without God being involved you might find yourself in a good old shipwreck and oh how great your frustration would be. So please do yourself a favour,

GET GOD INVOLVED

If you have not given your life to Jesus Christ’s care, you desperately need to now. I tell you it was the best decision I ever made and I’m undoubtedly sure that it would be yours too.
(If you have no one who you can talk to immediately, just say the salvation prayer at the top right pane of this page in faith and then you can send us a mail to our official address: christapoet@gmail.com for further questions, prayer or counselling)

So now that you’ve got God in, what you want to do is listen, instructions are on their way.

Stay tuned…

DESTINY-ATION

Leave a comment

Watch your thoughts; they become words
Watch your words; they become actions
Watch your actions; they become habits
Watch your habits; they become character
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny
Frank Outlaw

As many times as the word destiny is used, it is quite a shock the number of people who are left clueless at the question of their destiny. Now this ain’t a quick fix so I don’t want you to read this looking for a definite answer to that one question as it applies to you, rather I hope by reading you’ll find yourself  map, because in my opinion as humble as it is I believe you’re in search of not just your destiny but a destination; hence the coinage Destiny-ation.

Now for folks who like my dictionary feel I’m talking about fate and its inevitability: you may not get me. Be aware that I speak of purpose, I speak of a predetermined course that holds the key to your fulfilment as a human being; it is as easy to miss as it is to obtain. Better put, I’d say it is the reason you were created. Many don’t believe in this but history has proved over time that those who don’t have often come to realize at their sunset days that they were dismally wrong.
So yes, we all got a destiny; something we ought to do, someone we ought to be in the nearest future. It is our purpose, it is the reason we breathe, in it lies our fulfilment. The question however that bugs more than a few is how to discover it, to know it, so that one can focus and achieve that one thing that makes all the difference.

In this short series, we look to understand and wield the truth of destiny.

To be continued.

WORD POWER part 1

Leave a comment

Everything you see today, every manifestation of man’s ingenuity and stupidity alike, from our simplest display of humanity to the very depths of inhumane salvage acts that is set on the stage of reality, an underlying truth remains unseen and it might as well be the very foundation for all the visual images that make up the gallery we today call life.
Now, the poet in me wants to keep this all a mystery probably give you one or two hints so you could sit and think till you had your “eureka” moment but I’ll save you the trouble and hit this nail right on the head(not really though, more like after a few more words!). Most times than often we find out that the most important persons, the most important places to be or even our everyday decisions in our various different lives are in fact the most ignored. It kinda reminds me of the structure of a tree and a man-made house.
You see, although both may be absolutely different, a good reason being their source and state of existence they however share one similarity hence the importance of this illustration. For every beautiful tree or cleverly designed building you pass by, you unconsciously appreciate what your eyes see whether audibly or not but we also are fully aware that the beauty we behold does not stand as the most important of the building or tree.
Beneath the ground, out of sight to almost all is a firmly laid structure built with careful precision and emphasis on agility and durability to form the foundation (for buildings) or roots (for trees). It is this structure that is laid first, takes more time and is in fact the most important of all parts because it is responsible for setting a stage for the display of all the benefit you stand to gain from a building or tree.
Now, to drive home my point, I can say this, “All that you see today were first thoughts that were successfully transcribed to words”. I know as you read this, you obviously think this is such a “bogus” statement but I sincerely hope your curiosity gets the better of you, so you can read on!
Now, I have a whole bucket of facts to defend this somewhat “bogus” claim but what better place to start than the beginning of the earth itself. Due to the fact I do not subscribe to the evolution theory of the origin of life, I would refer to the theory provided by the bible (which in my opinion holds more water than any). It was clearly recorded that after the creation of the earth it was dark and empty (Genesis 1:2). In the next verse, one would expect in the face of such a challenge, God would have proceeded to do something about it but funny enough He just proceeded to speak quite a simple phrase really and VWALAH! The strongest physical power force on earth till date appeared (by this I mean the Sun).
The rest of the chapter accounts to how most of everything natural around us today were created just by the words from God. This certainly certifies my claim to an extent but before I drop this point, lets take a look at verse 26 of that same chapter and we see God making a sorta different statement than He had been accustomed to. Previously, He had stuck to the “Let there be” prefix (that is if you are using the King James Version of the bible). So He’s like “Let there be this” “Let there be that” till verse 26 He says “Let us make man …” Hold up!, a thought was first pronounced as a word first before we were ever created. Hey I’m no neurosurgery genius neither can I claim to know what’s on anyone’s mind but I know for a fact that my claim is true and words, they do have power! The proven fact that every single thing that exists first existed as a word speaks proof to this. See y’all soon!

-Ezeonyeka Godswill
#PENSPEAK2014 #REVELATIONS2014