THE GOOD SHEPHERD

A good friend of mine was in dire need of money to feed his children. He had to visit his children that day and give them some financial support. He didn’t have anything on him. He was downhearted, how will my children eat? He thought to himself. He knelt down and begun singing a song of praise. The song was about Jesus being the good shepherd. Then the Holy Spirit whispered to him. Do you think the good shepherd will not look after his sheep? Within minutes he heard the message tone on his phone. It was a text message of an old friend who had sent him money. He couldn’t believe his eyes. In times of hardship, when we sing praises instead of complaining, God comes through for us. Jesus is really the good shepherd. Let us cling to him and He will take care of his sheep.

I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep and am known by my own. (John 10:14)

L'EAU DE PARFUM ; THE FAVOUR OF GOD

I was in the kitchen, cooking my favourite meal when the home phone rung. I grabbed the napkin close by the sink and cleaned my hand. I then picked up the phone. Hello, I answered, the voice on the other end said;  is this Mrs. Johnson? I replied in the affirmative. Ok Mrs. Johnson, she continued, we are calling you in connection with a job you applied two years ago. Are you still interested? I said yes. Could you please come for an interview tomorrow? I said ok. What time? 8. 00 a.m. she concluded. When I hanged up, my heart sank. I haven’t worked in two years. I prayed so much for this job, which I even gave up. Why didn’t they call me earlier, this is a wrong time to call me for a job. I am 5 months pregnant! I stopped cooking, picked some books and started preparing for the interview anyway. Afterwards, I went into my closet and found a dress that could hide my bump; I matched it with a pretty coat. I was really showing and I realized no dress was hiding my bump. Ok, I said, when I go to the interview, if she realizes I am pregnant that’s ok. Who could hide a 5 months pregnancy anyway? I went to the office premises very early and waited for the interview to start. I was eventually called and my interview begun. During the interview, the interviewer started looking at my bump, I felt so uncomfortable. When my interview ended, I knew I wasn’t getting the job, obviously, she has found out that I was pregnant. Two weeks after, I had a call whilst shopping at my favourite grocery shop that I had the job. I was confused: why did I get the job? Didn’t they see that I was pregnant? I started having mixed feelings. It didn’t feel so good. So I set out the next day to work, my first day. I got there very early again and waited for an orientation. A lady walked to me and said we are sorry, there is a training programme and we will like you to take part. That was how I was thrown into the job. Officially, I had started work. I worked for about two weeks, when the director asked me if I was pregnant. She said she never knew I was pregnant. I was so shocked. The God that we serve is so great. If he wants to do something for you, He will do it no matter the circumstances. Sometimes our inner self is our stumbling block or our greatest obstacle. Based on our experiences and the conditions that we are in, we feel the answer to our prayer should go this way or that way. God is sovereign!  1 Corinthians 2:11 says “ for who knows a person’s thought except their own spirit within them, in the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the spirit of God.”

I WAS A MURDERER

A young man was on his way to visit a sick brother. He sat in a bus quietly wondering what was making his brother’s sickness get worse. His mind was full of many disturbing thoughts. Unexpectedly, he heard the spirit telling him to preach about forgiveness. He looked around and found some young girls giggling in the bus. He thought to himself, if I start preaching, those girls are going to make fun of me. So he decided not to do it. The spirit kept prompting him, and then he finally said to himself: this is certainly not the time. An appropriate time will come for this message. The Holy Spirit was therefore ignored. In the middle of the journey, the bus stopped and a lady got down furiously and he automatically knew the message was to that lady. He felt so bad after, but the opportunity was gone. Two weeks after, he was going to visit a friend when he saw an obituary of the lady who got off the bus with so much anger. He wept! He kept on asking people around if they knew the lady  on the obituary. One middle aged woman told him of how the young lady had stabbed his irresponsible husband and the husband had stabbed him in return and she died. Why he asked curiously? The lady caught the husband red-handed having a sexual affair with another woman. When did this happen he inquired further?  The woman replied; two weeks ago, sadly the deceased knew nothing about forgiveness she added. The young man bowed his head in shame. He realized that because he did not obey the spirit to preach forgiveness, a beautiful soul has been lost. Spread the word; "Forgiveness is love! love is God!"

THE BUMPY RIDE

A woman asked her husband to buy her a second hand car. The husband said to her Anne, I will buy you the car but be patient. Anne became very disobedient to her husband because of her husband’s inability to buy her a car. She grew distant from her husband. A car was tearing their marriage apart. The nagging and the insults worsened. Home has turned into hell for the husband. The relationship was deteriorating. The husband was gradually been pushed out. After a while, the wife came home one day and saw a beautiful car parked in the yard of their house. It was a very beautiful and an expensive brand new car. Wow! She exclaimed. What important visitor do we have here? She went close to the Car and found a note in the windscreen. She opened the note and she started crying. She cried her eyes out.

The note read” Honey, I have finally been able to buy you the car. I was waiting for the right time to give you this car. I was able to find out one thing; you cherished the car more than me.  You do not value the relationship but you value only the things you want to have. Have your car and enjoy your new relationship! See my lawyer, until then, enjoy the ride!” Are we interested in having a relationship with God or we are interested in prayer because of the products we expect to get? If we are patient and we build this relationship, we even get products we are not asking for. In these days, we want the product more than the relationship. Ask yourself: If you get the product will you continue to cherish that relationship?  God wants us to have the relationship so that we trust him enough to only give us the best of things in life. Let’s begin to cherish that relationship whether we have by products or not, so that we become God’s friend. Prayer is the ultimate way to commune with God so that He will be your companion in life.

“Now unto Him, who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you ask or think according to the power that works in us.” Ephesians 3:20

VICTORIA'S SECRET

John was wrongly accused of embezzling some funds in the Insurance Company where he worked. He has worked there all his adult years and rose to the position of an Assistant Manager. His wife, Victoria was a stay at home mom with five kids when John was laid off. For John being   employed again was unsuccessful owing to the bad record. Surprisingly, Victoria couldn’t find a job too. They sold almost all their properties to make ends meet. For three years, they depended on friends and family for their upkeep. Their friends and family were also getting tired of supporting them. The lovely home Victoria and her husband shared has turned into something else with constant fighting and nagging. I met Victoria through a friend and immediately our friendship begun. I told her about making God her “All dependency”. I said to her one afternoon that the secret to receiving miracles from God is to abide in Him. Gradually Victoria shifted her focus from friends and family that could help her out of her situation and focused on God entirely. It wasn’t easy, I told her abiding in God is frustrating but God is there with you. Out of the blue there would be donations and gifts to her that she knew nothing about. After a while, she called me one evening to tell me how her husband has been reinstated back into the job and has even been compensated for being wrongfully accused. I cried that day, I was so happy. Victoria’s secret to her miracle was to abide in the Lord.

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27

A SIP BECOMES A GULP

Psalm 37:5 “Commit your way to the Lord, trust Him and he will do this.”

I once worked as an intern in one of the social security firms in the country. A law student who was visually impaired was seeking for student loan to pay off her tuition. She was such a lovely young girl who always beamed with smiles anytime she came to the office. I happened to be the customer care representative working on her documents; we therefore developed an enviable relationship. Anytime we finished working on her documents, I took her to the roadside and put her in a taxi and she went home. This I did for a long time. She therefore developed that trust and anytime she passed by the office, I escorted her to the roadside/ bus stop. Even when I wasn’t in the office owing to official errands, she waited for me to return and I escorted her to the roadside as usual. I had become her only trusted escort. Although, she had never seen me, she believed I will take her safely to her destination. She was exercising Faith in me. It started as a one-time thing and it gradually developed into this big trust. That is the faith that God wants us to have. He knows it is difficult to trust Him fully, but little by little as we put our trust in him we overcome our fears, so that we can fully have faith in Him. God wants us to trust Him and have Faith in all things for WE ARE SAFE IN HIS ARMS.

A MOTHER'S LOVE

As a hen gathers her chickens under her feathers.

So is a mother’s love

A mother’s love gives warmth and protection.

Mothers are uniquely created to love

Such great is that love that;

They are entrusted with God’s gift.

We are grateful for Mothers!

We share inexplicable bonds with them.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers out there!

Kudos and well done!

TURN ON THE LIGHT

As I walked home from church last night, I found someone sobbing in the dark. Who could be sobbing at this time of the night? I was afraid but I wanted to find out why she was crying. So I drew near her with caution. I got close and I realized that it was a woman in her late 30’s. Why are you crying I asked? She did not answer. I repeated the question again and she told me how her husband had thrown her out that night. Since she was a stay at home mom she doesn’t know what to do or where to go. I asked about her children. Then she told me her kids were with a friend nearby. I stayed in a huge apartment and had one room vacant. So I told her I will give her and her two kids a place to stay. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. I held her hand, comforted her and we went for her two kids. We took her luggage and left to my house. That was the story of how I completely took a whole stranger in. To cut a long story short, this stranger connected me to a dream job that I have always thought about. Sometimes, it pays to get out of your comfort zone and help someone. It will create an inconvenience for you but it will go a long way to help you.

1 John 4:20 “Whoever claims to love God, yet hates a brother or a sister is a liar, For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen”.

GEECH! I FELL INTO A POT HOLE.

A pastor friend of mine, who was separated from his wife of 15 years suddenly, had the desire for a young widow. He knew it wasn’t right but his desire was so intense that he didn’t heed to any advice. He fell for this young widow and the inevitable happened: The lady got pregnant for him. That was when he begun to realize where his desire has led him to. He became so guilty of this sin that it was drawing him farther away from God. He couldn’t worship God anymore. The more he tried, the guiltier he became. He couldn’t feel God’s presence. It seemed as if the Holy Spirit was on vacation.

 The lady started giving him attitude, nothing he did could please the woman. He felt helpless and said quietly to himself, let me rescind to my fate for I brought it upon myself. After visiting the young widow one hot afternoon, he boarded a bus at the local bus station to go back home. As he sat in the bus he couldn’t help crying. He was so overwhelmed. He needed God; he couldn’t get out of this hole alone. As he kept on thinking, He fell into a deep sleep.  The scripture 1 Corinthians 10:13 appeared in a vision, that no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. A message to all those who are tempted, God says there is a way out, just cling to him.

MISSED CALL

A young man prayed and prayed for a job. He never believed that God will do it. So he went about soliciting for help although he had prayed. One day, he went out as usual soliciting for help and the home phone rung. It was a company wanting to employ his services. He wasn’t there. They gave a message to the wife, to tell him about them wanting to employ his services. His wife called and called only to hear his phone ringing underneath the rug in the hall. He was so much in a hurry that, he had left his phone. Now how to reach him had become a dilemma, for there was a deadline for him to report to the headquarters of the company. The deadline was 2 pm in the afternoon. Unfortunately, all efforts to reach him proved futile. In the evening, he came home so tired and told his wife how he had misplaced his phone. His wife sighed and said you missed a very important call, your phone was underneath this rug, then his wife, took the phone and gave it to him and told him about the call. The young man didn’t know what to do. He had missed God’s call by not relying on the grace but on his works.

Romans 11:6 say “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work”.

THE CLEANER IS COMING

We are in a very worse situation, nothing seems to work. We feel destroyed. We are ashamed of ourselves. Where we have gotten to in life, we feel there is no achievement.  We suddenly ask ourselves, what is my purpose on earth? At 50 plus, I should have been this or that. Life is meaningless. One man I knew was in his early 50’s, and had 3 young children, he felt helpless. He was working but his salary was meager compared to his responsibilities. He couldn’t foot his bills and fending for his family was a big issue. In short, he was struggling. He felt he was in a very big mess. And he was? But no mess is greater than the Master cleaner. Who cleans to perfection and leaves no trace of dirt even if you use a magnifying glass. He tried to clean the mess himself and he wasn’t successful, Call the Master Cleaner, I said. He said I can’t afford it? I said this Master Cleaner cleans for free. He just needs your heart. Are you really serious he asked? Yes he does.  What am I waiting for? He gave his life to Jesus and he received rest which was unimaginable.

Have you created a mess of yourselves and filled with so much dirt? All cleaning agents are not working. You have tried all soaps but the stain is still there.  You cannot do it yourself; the only person who can clean that mess is Jesus. He is the Master cleaner. He cleans without any trace of dirt and leaves you so sparkling clean.  Jesus always takes the dejected, the tattered, the destroyed and He makes it whole. You will be living a fulfilling life and have the peace of God.