FINDING GOD EVERYWHERE 1.0

One of the most difficult things to do is to praise God in the middle of our struggles. It is quite difficult for us to look beyond our problems and look at Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. [Hebrews 12:2] It is hard to focus on God and His almightiness when we are in so much pain.

It seems to us like God is asleep or He has forgotten us or He’s playing a poker game with our lives. It’s like we are walking alone in the storm of life. Cataclysm crashing down on us, we are tossed here and there by the winds of tribulations and struggles. It’s chaotic! Our minds are trying to hold on to hope but despair and frustrations has an even bigger hold on us! Everything is “messed up”. Life suddenly sucks! Then, we are supposed to praise God in that situation?

Absolutely! Yes, praise God every single day in evey single situation! What’s the key? How do we do that? Finding God everywhere! We need to learn to look at our problems critically and find God. Look at all the corners, crevice and angles and find God there. We need to learn that even in storms of life, God is right there! With us! He’s that little birdie, that dove leading us in the storm, ensuring we don’t miss a step, that we don’t give up. This is made possible through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit in us whom He sent to help us.

How can we find God everywhere? The only way to find God is to seek Him through the lens He has given us- His word. W need to look at our problems through the word of God. When thoughts of our problems hit us and frustration and despair sets in, we attack it with the word of God. We attack our trials with the amazing promises He has for us in His words. We slam our problems on the Rock Of Ages! Baam!

The more we focus on God, His awesome personality and His amazing promises for us, His joy and peace props up and makes a stay in our hearts. So we can be calm even in the middle of the storm just like Jesus who was asleep, on a boat, out on the sea during a raging storm. [Mark 4:35-39] Our peace and joy comes from God made possible by the understanding we derive from His words that God is all powerful and He is able to rebuke the storms of our lives, fight and win our battles and turn the negative situation of our lives around into something AMAZING!

When life comes battering us with all kinds of troubles and situations, we have absolutely nothing to fear. Our God is the Maker Of the universe! He owns time and seasons and nothing is impossible for Him to do! So in trouble, we smile, laugh, are joyful and we PRAISE God! We hold on to His promises and find demonstrations of His love in every single thing that comes our way during the stormy times of our lives. Find God everywhere!

P.S- God is not lost! We just need to see Him through the right lens – His word! And we need to PRAISE Him always! He’s right there, beside US! He’s always there to help us! Let’s open our eyes and find Him! Seek God!

Stay tuned for the next post!

Stay blessed! Happy Weekend! Xo. ❤

GOD OF EVERY DETAIL

God is very interested in every detail of our lives; from that minute thing to that biggest feature of ours. He is very interested in everything about us. From our favourite hairstyle/ haircut to our favourite colours, from our favourite genre of music be it head banging rock to relaxing classical music, from our preference of skinny jeans over wide leg trousers {in my case lol}, from our friends to our family and even frenimies, basically everything about us. He created us in His own image with so much colour, personality and uniqueness so He is very interested in seeing how we manifest Him in US! How we manifest who He created us to be. So yes, God is very interested in every single detail of our lives.

But God understands that although we are His creature, sin pulls us away from Him and distractions keep us away from Him, so He is always waiting for us to invite Him into our lives so He can help us be who He created us to be.

NOTE: We cannot be who God made us to be without God!

So He is always waiting for us to accept His hand and gesture of love. That love makes Him very interested in our lives. Everything about us holds interest to Him. Just like the way a computer creator knows how he/she sourced for materials to make his/her computer. That creator will know every single thing that his creation comprises of, likewise God too. It’s really funny and sometimes daunting to think that God, the maker of the universe will be interested in us to something as little as our favourite pair of shoes. But He is. He has always been in love with us since we were in our mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13-16) The littlest thing about us thrills Him. He brags about us to the heavenly hosts and even rubs our progress in the face of the enemy. (Job 1:6-8)

It is sad that we have relegated God to only a certain aspect of our lives, religion. We have kept God in the back seat of our lives. So most times we go through stuffs alone when God is right there waiting for us to just call on Him. Accept Him into our lives, INTO every part of our lives. He died for us. Every part of us! Everything that makes us, US! Everything that makes us who we are! God instructed the Israelites (as seen in the book of Deuteronomy) not because He’s a power control freak but because He is truly interested in our lives. It’s no longer a religion but a way of life. God becomes our way of life. Jesus is the WAY, the truth and life. (John 14:6)

God is interested in every detail of our life because He wants us to carry Him in every aspect of our lives. He dwells in us by His spirit, the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28, 1John4:4). The Holy Spirit dwells in us as a gift from Him to us. (John 14:16,26, 15:26, 16:7) The Holy Spirit dwells in us all, as many of us who yield to God’s love. So when we walk, He walks too. When we talk, He talks too. Everything we do begins to radiate Him- God! The all powerful God!

So, even in the littlest detail of our lives, we radiate God. We radiate His holiness, love, compassion and peace. We need to bear His fruits, the fruits of the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23) We become His epistle to the world. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3) We become God’s light (Matthew 5:14-16) We shine because He shines through us and radiate His light to the world always.

Dear beloved, we need to involve God in every detail of our lives, we maintain His standards in every detail. EVERYTHING! Remember He cares about everything! He is very interested in YOU! He wants YOU! ALL OF YOU! Every aspect of you. He is waiting for you to come to Him today. Remember that our lives cannot be according to God’s plan and purpose if we don’t have a personal relationship with Him. We cannot be happy and fulfilled except we live out God’s great plan for us. (Jeremiah 29:11) So we need Him for US! Jesus loves us! Greater love hath no man than this that a man should lay down His life on the cross for His friends. (John 15:13) No one loves us like Jesus does and no one cares about us truly like He does. (1 Peter 5:7) So yes, God is madly in love with us and cares about us! Every detail of our lives! Let us include God in all we do.

SUICIDE OR CHRIST-SIDE?

The feeling of worthlessness washes up on you. It becomes a friend, a constant nagging friend who is always there to remind you that you can never measure up, that you aren’t worth a dime and then it all seems hopeless and you find yourself giving up.

At times, you cry for help yet you can’t cry with an open mouth. You cry behind your large smile. You wait for someone to notice, to hold your hands and save you from drowning – save you from yourself, basically hear your cry for help and come running. But no one hears.

It’s all over and you’re tired of living such a worthless life. You’re tired of fighting this battle, of living this vicious never ending circle of life. You’ve given up. No more forcing laughter and faking smiles. The end has come for you. The next step is to say goodbye to the world. You’re ready to end your life. It’s over for you.

But it’s not. Your life isn’t over. Not because I say so or because someone finally heard your cry and helped you but because there’s someone who has been there since the very beginning of your life. Someone who is willing to help you get through that difficult phase or hardship.

That someone willingly left His throne to come to earth and die so your eternity might be secured. So you and I can be saved! That someone doesn’t want you to give up yet. Yes, it’s hard! Yes, it’s seems like there’s no escape but there is. That special someone gave His precious life for your life (John 15:13) which makes your life very special and precious to Him, which makes you and your happiness His utmost priority. His number one! You’re all He thinks about. All He wants to do is bear your burdens, griefs and sorrows. (Isaiah 53:4a)

So dearest, will you throw the love of such a person away? Will you still throw away that very precious life of yours? Will you let that challenge of yours make His sacrifice a waste? Will you let the price He paid for you be lost?

Beloved, you were bought at a price, saved at a price and that price was His life and He willingly gave it away. That precious person who deems you most precious is called JESUS CHRIST.

He doesn’t want you to give in to the enemy’s plans of you ending your life and not fulfilling the lovely plans and purpose God has for you. (Jeremiah 29:11) He doesn’t want to lose you. He wants to hold you and never ever let go. He’s knocking at the door of your heart. He’s asking that you come to Him, that you come into His great embrace. He’s waiting patiently for you. He’s always there for you.

PLEASE beloved, do not give in to those feelings of worthlessness but instead come to Jesus today. He has already paid the price for your salvation and healing. Suicide is not the option, Jesus is the option. Come to Jesus today! He died for you which makes your life super special. Don’t throw away your life, come to Jesus today!!

Author’s Note:

Just a year ago, I was depressed and suicidal. I basically wanted to end my life but I found Jesus who is a present help in time of trouble. (Psalm 46:1) He helped me and here I am today, alive and filled with the JOY of the Holy Spirit! God is able! God is FAITHFUL!

To anyone who feels like giving up, no it’s not over. Come to Jesus. He wants to help you. He cares about you. (See 1 Peter 5:7) He wants to bear your burden. Jesus wants to give you rest! His REST! (See Matthew 11:28) That rest is not found in suicide but in having a personal relationship with Jesus. Basically Christ side over suicide! Come to Jesus today!!

LOVE YOURSELF 2.0 : An Expression Of God’s Delight.

God is love (1 John 4:8b,16) and He demonstrates His love to us (His beloved) always. God loves in a way that He gives all He can to His beloved. See John 3:16

It goes further in 1 John 4:9-10 to explicitly explain how God demonstrated His love by sending His only begotten son to die as an atonement for our sins. His love for us is established not that we loved God but that God loved us first.

Due to this great love that God has for us, He has great thoughts towards us that materialise as plans. In other words God loves us and has amazing plans for us. (Jeremiah 29:11a)

God’s plans for us are numerous and wonderful and realistically, we can never know them all (Isaiah 55:8-9) but some of them are:

1. To obtain dominion. Genesis 1:26

This is the very first plan that God has for us. He wishes that we have dominion over the works of His hands. Psalm 8:4-8 tells us how mindful is about us, how He has crowned us with glory and honour and how He has given us DOMINION.

2. To give us strength for excellence.

The book of Isaiah 40:31 tells us about God’s plan for us once we wait on Him. God is basically telling us that the moment we wait entirely upon Him and Him alone and when we trust Him entirely, He will give us strength for excellence. He wants us to soar and be excellent in all our endeavours.

3. God’s plan is to answer our requests. Yes, God plans to heed our call for help if only we call upon Him with all our hearts. KEY WORD: ALL OUR HEARTS. Jeremiah 29:12 Matthew 7:7-8

4. God plans to supply all our needs. Once we seek God and call upon Him with all our hearts, He will answer our requests and supply ALL our NEEDS. See Philippians 4:19.

KEY WORD: OUR NEEDS! Yes, God will answer our requests but supply our NEEDS in other words only those things we truly need. There are SOME of our wants that are not necessary or may cause us to sin or that we are basically not READY for, so God the Omniscient One (All Knowing God) in His infinite mercy will help us by either preparing us properly or simply with-holding our errant requests. We need to know that God wants absolutely the BEST for us. Only the best is what God gives us once our lives are aligned with His. Remember He LOVES US! You only give the best to those who you love even though sometimes your beloved may not understand it. (See Matthew 7:9-11)

5. To attain son-ship. Yes, God calls you His’! God plans that everyone regardless of their age, societal status, class, gender, race, beliefs etc will come to the knowledge that WE are HIS! Remember John 3:16, for God so loved the WORLD! He loves all EIGHT BILLION OF US! So, God wants us all to attain son-ship! See Galatians 4:1-7.

6. God plans that we all get the power and gift of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14-17 clearly shows us the link between son-ship and God’s spirit (Holy Spirit) which He has given to us. We have His spirit so we can tap into the promises and gifts that stems from the Holy Spirit. See Galatians 1:6, Joel 2:28-29 and Acts 1&2. The Holy Spirit enables us to do the works of our saviour Jesus (Jesus’ works can be seen in Acts 10:38) and even greater works than Him as seen in John 14:12.

7. God plans to fellowship with us. Since the same spirit of Jesus dwells in us, we enjoy a deeper and stronger connection with God. The only way to properly fellowship with God is to LOVE HIM with all our hearts. Yes, reciprocate the Father’s love. See Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

8. God plans to lead us to an expected end. Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that right from our mother’s womb God has seen us, formed us and made plans and provisions for our lives. It goes further in Jeremiah 29:11b that His plans are to lead us to an expected end. An expected end is a place of fulfilling the purpose of our creation.

In the first part of this series we learnt that God has a specific purpose for our lives which is in line with the gifts and talents that He has given to us, so we need not fret or worry because all we need to do is align our hearts with God always and then He will lead us to that expected end of ours.

In conclusion, the creator (God) who specially took time to make us (His creature) as seen in Genesis 1:27 and Psalm 139:14 is very interested in expressing His delights in us. This delight is expressed in the plans listed above. We can not fully tap into the promises of the creator if we still dwell in sin. (See 1 John 5:18) Let us all come to the understanding that God loves us so much and wants to express His delight in us (His beloved) by having and executing amazing plans for us. Those plans will make us happy and fulfilled at the end of the day. We can not walk properly in God’s good plans if we still dwell in sin. Let us make sure that our heart always aligns with God only then can we truly be an EXPRESSION OF HIS DELIGHT.

Author’s Note:

Hi there, I hope you were blessed by the article above and I pray that you truly become an expression of God’s delight. That concludes our Love Yourself series. I will definitely miss this series. I have learnt so much from this series. Writing it has been eye opening and fun! But also difficult but God is faithful as always and He was there all through the past three months plus that I struggled with writing this series.

Not to bore you with my sob story, I hope you realise and understand how special you are to God which is enough reason for you to LOVE YOURSELF and appreciate God for YOURSELF. Dear reader, I pray that you never GET to a place of self disgust and hatred and if you have or are in such a place, I pray that you overcome and come out to a better place. God loves you so MUCH. I hope you never forget God’s love for you! Stay tuned for more! Until next time! Adios! Stay blessed!

WORSHIP – Our WAR SHIP!

Often times, when problems come our way, we find ourselves complaining, questioning God, regretting stuff, moping in self pity and just being unhappy. At times we even lose faith, run back to our past lives. We basically, just become sad and allow the problem or ugly circumstance overwhelm us.

We forget that God’s mercies endures forever. (See Psalm 136) Some other translations of Psalm 136 read, “His love is eternal. ” (HCSB) Another translation reads, “His love endures forever. ” (NIV) The Amplified Version reads, “His mercy and loving- kindness endure forever. ” That Bible text gives us so many, many reasons why we should be grateful to God. Which leads to the next fact that THANKSGIVING is the only delicacy God accepts. (Psalm 50:7-14) In other words we should always give THANKS.

The fact is, God is love and He loves us very, very much, so He does things in ways that favour us. So when problem come our way and we let the problems overwhelm us, we show that we believe the problem is greater than God and that is wrong and unwise. We rubbish His love when we let the problems become the bone of contention in our lives and we cause a delay to the other goodies our maker has in store for us.

But here’s what to do when problem comes, WORSHIP! Worship is a form of Thanksgiving which is a delicacy God loves and accepts always. King David was privileged to know this, and that is why he was called a man after God’s own heart.

A perfect example can be found in Judges 6:1-21. The Israelites were facing a problem so God instructed them to PRAISE Him. Through their praise, God did something miraculous and their problem, the wall of Jericho collapsed! They conquered the city and were victorious. It all happened when they gave God all the PRAISE.

When problem come our way and we let it have the best of us, we give in to the plans of the enemy who delights in our sorrow and withdrawal from God. But when we WORSHIP God, we throw dust in the enemy’s eye and show him that our uttermost faith lies in Jehovah. That puts the enemy to shame and shuts him up. That gives way to God to MOVE MIGHTILY for us hence we end up VICTORIOUS.

In other words WORSHIP to God is our WAR SHIP that we use against our problems. So WORSHIP God with all your heart today and watch Him smash those problems. You need to understand that no one can WORSHIP God for you, so stop mopping in that pity party and begin to WORSHIP the King of Kings whose love is eternal. WORSHIP God TODAY!!

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

Hi there! So good to see you or rather it’s good to know that you are reading this. God is about to do something miraculous in your life so it would be wise that you WORSHIP Him. He alone deserves all the worship and praise after all He loves you so much He sent His son to die for You. Ah! I didn’t want to do that here but sorry.

I hope you were blessed by this post. I’m sorry it took a while. You can look forward to the concluding part of our Love Yourself series which I am so 😭 sad to let go but on a brighter note, we would be moving on to an interesting topic after Love Yourself so you can look forward to IT! 💃💃

I hope you come back to read more next time. Stay Blessed!!

P.S Don’t forget to leave a comment.🤗🤗

Lohluh.

LOVE YOURSELF 1.5 – Ugly Hands. (Another’s testimony)

I stared at my hands. My fingers were so thin, my fingernails were shapeless and unrefined. My hands were very veiny and my wrists were super skinny. I hated my hands. They disgusted me. Several times, I look at other people’s hands and marvel at how lovely their hands are. The hands became what I always noticed first whenever I met someone new.

When I want to shake other people and I catch a glimpse of my hands, I feel revolted. So whenever it was time for an handshake, I usually avoid looking at my hands. I adorned my wrists with a lot of bracelets to take attention off my wrist and cover them. So people won’t notice the bones sticking out.

I used to brush it all off and say that I didn’t care and it didn’t matter but when I meet people for the first time, they usually always notice my hideous hands and look at it weirdly. While some are really nice to hide their looks, others aren’t. Therefore, when I meet people I look for a way to hide my hands while striking a confident pose.

I used to think hand lotion would help out, but it didn’t. Besides it’s genetic. My hands mirror that of my Mother’s just that her hands has a few more wrinkles than mine. On my Mum, those hands don’t look out of place because she’s well above middle age. But on me, it looks so weird. I am a young adult stuck with the hands of a fifty something year old woman.

I remember this day, a friend of mine jokingly said that she was grateful she didn’t possess “Old Woman” hands like I did. I laughed at that joke but it hurt like crazy. I remember being in the bathroom, crying and trying to yank my hands off.

I remember times when I just lay in bed and cried and wanted nothing else but a new pretty hand. It affected my self esteem. I saw myself as inferior to others. I saw myself as incomplete. I was the only one who inherited those hands from my mum. My siblings had such lovely hands. Why me? Why did I have to be one to inherit such hands?

After I got saved, I was joyful about the fact that God loves me and sent His son to die for me and He also gave me His Holy Spirit. But for some reason thoughts of those hands still kept popping up. Moments would come and I would glance at them and sigh in sorrow.

Then a day came, I was worshipping God at a gathering of believers and I was lost in the fullness of His love. Then I lifted my hands and wanted to drop them when I remembered how ugly they were. But I stopped because I heard the Lover Of My Soul tell me softly that my hands were beautiful. He always looked forward to moments when I lifted my hands in worship and adoration to Him. He said He had designed them specifically and specially for His glory. He had been waiting for me to come to Him to tell Him how bothered I was by those hands. So he could tell me what He had planned for those hands.

He led me to Psalm 63:4; He always wanted me to lift up my hands in praise to Him. In fervent supplication, He wanted my hands lifted. He wanted my hands lifted in holiness always. Whenever I felt an hunger and thirst for Him in my soul, He liked it when I lifted my hands. It showed Him that I was in total surrender to Him.

Then He told me whenever I prayed, I could with lifted hands. (1 Timothy 2:8) Then He showed me Mark 16:18, that my hands were made for greatness, to wrought wonders and signs in His name. He said my hands had touched Him. (1 John 1:1)

He told me why my hands were beautiful. He said they were beautiful because He made them beautiful the moment His hands were nailed to the cross. His hands were nailed to the cross to make them beautiful. His hands were injured and they bleed for mine to be called BEAUTIFUL.

In other words, He had paid the price for my hands to be called beautiful. So I wept with joy and regret that I didn’t notice His sacrifice earlier. My hands weren’t ugly, they were beautiful because God calls them BEAUTIFUL!!

Author’s Note:

God calls you BEAUTIFUL!!

Love always,

Lohluh.

IT’S OKAY, GOD’S NOT DONE WITH YOUR STORY. (A personal testimony)

Hi there, it’s me again. I wanted to wait until next week Saturday for another blog post but I couldn’t and I just want to share something with everyone.

This past month, I have been working towards a particular project God asked to go ahead with and it felt like it was working. He did tell me He was going to take care of everything. I was ecstatic when the project took off in a GREAT way! I was on cloud nine!! But then in between something happened and the project wasn’t going well. I felt so bad and it affected my relationship with Jesus. I didn’t really want to pray or read His word. I just wanted to mop in my pity party and disappointment.

Then come May 31, I received an email concerning that project and I saw that God was planning on making that project I saw as a couple of months a longer time where I can achieve a good number of things that I normally can’t achieve. While I was dreaming of a bungalow, God was planning a skyscraper for me. He had after all promised that He was going to take care of everything. I felt so bad for forgetting His promises and running away from His presence.

When we don’t get our way, we feel like that might be the end and we turn our backs to God. We revel in our pity party. But God as always in His infinite mercy has something grander than our imaginations planned for us. It takes me back to Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you -[this is] the Lord’s declaration -plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ” (HCSB)

It goes further in the next verse and says, “You will call to Me and come to Me, and I will listen to you.” (HCSB) We serve a God that is always available for us to run to. He’s not done with us. He’s focusing on the best plans for our lives.

Jeremiah 29:13 really hit me. I mean it struck a chord in my heart. “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ” Dearly beloved, let’s seek God earnestly. Even when it all seems lost, when it seems like it’s all over, it isn’t so seek God earnestly and you will find Him. He’s not done with you and I!

P.S Song recommendation – God’s Not Done With You by Tauren Wells.

Love Always,

Lohluh.