The True Test

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. – 2 Corinthians 13:5

When asked to define knowledge, someone said, “Knowledge is not what you can remember but what you cannot forget.” Another person responded, “Knowledge is what you can remember after you have forgotten what you have been taught.” These may sound paradoxical, but they ring true. That a student answers questions in a class does not mean he has a good knowledge of the subject. The teacher uses a test or an examination to judge him.

In the same vein, the true test of faith is not when everything around you is all roses and no thorns, but rather when challenges of life are starring you in the eyes and literally telling you ‘God’s word may not be true.’ Moreover, that God gave a word does not mean it will come to fulfilment unchallenged. He said He had made Abraham the father of many nations but Abraham still had to believe so he might become the father of many nations, which God had already made him (Romans 4:17-18).

Being Christians is not proved by how much of scriptures we can quote – which, of course, is not bad in itself – but how much we love other believers (John 13:35); how we accept those of different doctrines from ours and love our unbelieving neighbours.

Your readiness to give is not truly tested when you have $1,000 and you can offer $50 to someone in need. Of course, you have done well; but when all you have is $5 and you are willing to split that into two in order to give someone in need is when the depth of your love can be measured.

Adversities remain the true test of our inner strength. That is why ‘if you faint in the days of adversity, your strength is small’ (Proverbs 24:10)! So, let’s not go about with the theories of faith, character, knowledge, patience, etc. We earn God’s approval and the respect of others when we put them into practice. To do the right thing will always be tasking, but the reward is more than sure.

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

How Do You Respond to Discouragement?

This is a story that teaches us some lessons about how to deal with discouragement at moments in our lives.

A man got dressed in the evening and set out on his way to God’s house. On his way to Church, the man fell and his clothes got dirty. He got up, brushed himself up and headed home.

At home, he changed his clothes and was again on his way to Church. Again, he fell at the same spot! He, again, got up, brushed off the dirt and headed home. At home, he once again changed his clothes and walked out heading to God’s house.

On his way, he met a man holding a lamp. He asked to know his identity and the man replied, “I saw you fall twice on your way, so I brought a lamp so I can light your way.”

The first man thanked him profusely and the two went on their way to the Church. Once at the Church, the first man asked the man with the lamp to come in, but he refused. He asked him a couple more times and, again, the answer was negative. The first man then asked him why he did not wish to come in and pray.

The man replied, “I am Satan.” The man was shocked at this reply.

Satan went on to explain,”I saw you on your way to the Church and it was I who made you fall. When you went home, cleaned yourself and went back on your way to the Church, God forgave all of your sins.

I made you fall a second time, and even that did not discourage you; rather, you went back on your way to Church. Because of that, God forgave all the sins of the people of your household.

I was afraid if I made you fall one more time, then God will forgive the sins of your nation, so I have to make sure you get to the Church safely.”

Do not put off the good you intended to do as you never know how much reward you might receive from the hardships you encounter while trying to achieve that good. Your righteousness can save your family and a whole nation.

– Author Unknown

Meditation: For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. – Hebrews 12:3

You will succeed because Jesus loves You!

5 Relationships That Could Make or Break You (2)

In this second instalment on our meditation on relationships that could make or break any individual, we will be considering friendship.

Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul. – Proverbs 27:9 (MSG)

Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you…I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all – Mark 2:3-5, 11-12

The second type of relationship with potential to affect any individual for good or for evil is friendship. Just like marriage, the kind of friends you keep, to an extent, determines how you fare in life. Friendship is one of the best indicators of your smartness; it is also a factor in how you are perceived by people. A popular maxim says, “Show me your friend and I will tell you the kind of person you are.” If you have quality friends, they will influence you positively; but if your friends are of the run-of-the-mill stock, they will rub off on you for not too noble ends.

In this fast-paced age, the word “friendship” is fast becoming synonymous with the term, “network:” that is the number of persons you maintain informal relationships with and whose friendship could bring you benefits ranging from jobs, business opportunities, and so on.

The passage above teaches us an important value of friendship: selflessness. The friends of this paralytic man seized the initiative of carrying him to the solution to his problem – Jesus, not minding the inconveniences of his weight and the distance they had to travel to do so. When they got there and couldn’t enter the house Jesus was, they did not give up and promise to bring him some other time. Rather, they forced their way to the solution – the presence of Jesus – by climbing through the roof.

Interestingly, the Bible recalls that Jesus appreciated their efforts – “He saw their faith” – and that was all He needed to stop what He was doing to attend to the man.

The question to ask yourself always, which should be your litmus test for measuring who your real friends are is, ‘Where are my friends taking me? Are they taking me to Jesus (the solution) or drawing me away from Him (the solution)?’ Your honest answer to these questions would help you ascertain which friendship you should cultivate and which you should severe.

The Bible says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” (Proverbs 27:17).Therefore, any friendship that is not helping you to become better or whom you are not helping to be better should be reviewed for relevance.

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

5 Relationships That Could Make or Break You (1)

Relationships are extremely important because they are the package holding whatever life may present to us at every turn. For the next few days, we will be meditating on five relationships that are pivotal to human success or failure. Our focus today is on marriage.

But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. – 1 Kings 21:25

The first type of relationship with great potential to make or break anyone is marriage, particularly the choice of spouse that you say, “I do” to. Marital relationship is crucial to your balance and overall performance as an individual. You are as successful to the degree of cooperation you receive from your spouse. Based on his/her constitution, your spouse largely influences the thrust of your pursuits; when they are keen, you are also keen. But when they are not, you tend to doubt the workability of your ideas, and that may slow you down.

Marriage is a fundamental aspect of life. It is also a catalyst that colours and determines the thrust of your bearing in other areas of life – professional, social, academic, spiritual, emotional, etc. You are as settled in all these to the extent that your home is settled. The portrait of your home is in direct relation to the personality of your spouse – cantankerous, reticent, ambitious, laid back, driven, carefree, focused, disciplined, scattered, spiritual, social, ethical, morally lax, sociable, introverted, thorough, superficial, and other value systems that your spouse espouses and to what extent.

From the passage above, we can see that even if Ahab wasn’t so bent on evil, the influence of his wife who “stirred him up” left him with little room to do otherwise. The Bible is replete with several examples of spousal factors in the determination of how one fares in life, so is our contemporary world. Solomon’s wives turned his heart away from the LORD and positioned him for divine retribution (1 Kings 11:4-9); Samson was ruined because of the kind of woman he married. Korah, Achan, and Ananias brought sudden death upon their wives and households because of their wrong choices. Abigail saved her husband and household from certain death (1 Samuel 25); Zipporah rescued Moses from being killed by God (Exodus 4:24-26). And Mary might not have been chosen to mother Jesus if she wasn’t married to a descendant of Judah, particularly from David’s lineage. These are all pointers to the sensitivity of the choice of person you decide to spend the rest of your life with in marriage.

Marriage is something that should be approached with lots of fervent prayers for divine direction, as it is a destiny issue. Your spouse is your first destiny partner, and s/he can either fast-track, slow down or even stagnate you. That is on the light side; at the extreme, many people have had their lives cut short directly by their spouse or indirectly through their spouse’s choices or misdeeds.

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

How to Remain Current and Take Sure Steps (2)

“For I am the Lord. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed; for in your days… I will say the word and perform it,” says the Lord God.
– Ezekiel 12:25

Even as we need information from different sources to make informed decisions and take guided steps, the information we work by may not be foolproof as to prevent us from making mistakes or running into a hitch along the way. Many people have sincerely taken steps based on experts’ advice or natural course, but which resulted in grievous consequences. That tells us that even the best-resourced information does not absolutely guarantee success.

There is, however, a resource that is time-tested to always provide you accurate information on any matter of life. It is called the Holy Bible; it contains the words, counsel, instructions, commandments, charges, opinions and thoughts of God. The Bible is an old resource, yet it is ever current and accurate in its direction about past or present issue as well as future developments. It is current because the information you will cull from a passage today may not be what you will get tomorrow from the same passage. It is ever dynamic in the insights it offers and it is relevant in all situations. It is the best tool available to us for research before taking a decision on matters of life.

Therefore, even when economic forecasts or experts from other fields are predicting gloom and recess, but the word of God says there is going to be abundance, it is in your interest to align your decision and action with the word of God. If the experts or circumstances are pointing that there is no hope, but God says there are possibilities, you will be sinning to ignore God’s counsel for the verdict of His creatures. This is because heaven and earth may pass away, as the experts predict, but the word of God will never pass away or fall to the ground until it has accomplished the situation for which it was released.

So, if you want to be current in the fundamental matters of life as to ensure that your actions are on point, you need to make reading the Bible and talking to God your second nature. the word of God will always prevail over physical evidence or what the experts say, and it will prove the most accurate and up-to-date information you can get. When circumstances and experts’ advice are conflicting with what God says, your position should be “Let God be true and every man a liar.”

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

The Race

Defeat! He lay there silently, a tear dropped from his eye,”

There’s no sense running anymore – three strikes and I’m out – why try?”

The will to rise has disappeared, all hope had fled away,

so far behind, so error prone, closer all the way.

“I’ve lost, so what’s the use”, he thought “I’ll live with my disgrace.”

But then he thought about his dad who soon he’d have to face.

Get up, and echo sounded low, get up and take your place.

You were not meant for failure here, so get up and win the race.

With Borrowed will, “Get up!” It said, “You haven’t lost at all,

for winning is not more than this, to rise each time you fall.”

So he rose to win once more, and with new commitment

he resolved to win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.

So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,

still he gave it all he had, and ran as though to win.

Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.

Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner as he crossed.

First place, head high and proud and happy, no falling, no disgrace.

But when the fallen youngster crossed the line, last place,

the crowd gave him the greater cheer for finishing the race.

And even though he came in last, with head bow low, unproud.

You would have thought he won the race, to listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well”.

To me, you won, his father said, you rose each time you fell.

And now when things seem dark and hard and difficult to face,

the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.

For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.

And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.

“Quit! Give up you’re beaten,” they will shout in my face.

But another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”

Meditation: For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity. – Proverbs 24:16

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Why God Gave Us Friends

– Author Unknown

GOD knew that everyone needs
companionship and cheer,
He knew that people need someone
whose thoughts are always near.

He knew they need someone kind
to lend a helping hand.
Someone to gladly take the time
to care and understand.

GOD knew that we all need someone
to share each happy day,
to be a source of courage
when troubles come our way.

Someone to be true to us,
whether near or far apart.
Someone whose love we’ll always
hold and treasure in our hearts.

That’s Why GOD Gave Us Friends.

Meditation: A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. – Proverbs 17:17

You will succeed in Jesus Name!