Pride goes before a fall

Every leader’s goal is to focus on Christ to make an impact in people’s life to the glory of God in order to magnify him. However, these days, most leaders' aim is to chase after social status and recognition from people.  For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things (Philippians 3:18-19).

Furthermore, most leads compare their ministry to others and it breeds unhealthy competition forgetting that everyone has a distinct gift that God has deposited in him or her. For instance, Ministry A is organizing a church program and church attendance is low. He or she begins to compare his or her ministry to Ministry B. He or she then forces his or her church members to do things that they normally will not do to outperform the other Ministry. Christianity is never forcing people to do things out of their own will but rather freedom of worship in Christ Jesus. It is a wrong misconception that people have that the larger your congregation or building, the greater your ministry. Your ministry is greater when you have humbled yourself under God’s hands to serve others and he has used you to impact lives. Christ is our role model, we are supposed to imitate Christ and follow in his exemplary life.

BE YE THANKFUL

When the ten lepers were healed, it was only one leper a Samaritan who came back to thank Jesus. Jesus asked him were not all ten healed, where was the other nine? (Luke 17:11-19). Jesus wants us to thank him at all times irrespective of our circumstances. Most times we think that God is supposed to do things for us, so he does not need any appreciation from us. It is in the will of God to thank Him in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18). When we thank him, he is pleased with us and we are in His will. When we do things according to His will, He always comes through for us.

Get Rich?

Money is a gift that is given to certain people to help others in need, for each one has its own gift. When we make money our goal, instead of making Christ our goal we fall into so many temptations . Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (1 Timothy 6:9-11). If riches were a prerequisite for salvation, the rich man would have gone to heaven. (Luke 16). He was rich, but did not realize his money was a gift from God that has to be shared with the poor to attain eternal life. What can I do to inherit eternal life, a rich man asked Jesus? Go and sell all what you have and give to the poor, then you will have treasure in heaven (Matthew 19). No one can serve two masters, either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24).

The widow who gave the coins gave the greatest according to Jesus. Jesus was not so pleased at the huge sums of money that others were giving. To Jesus the woman gave the greatest, because the woman gave out all she had and she gave from my heart. Therefore, Christianity is all about your heart and how you sacrifice your need for someone else’s need. Furthermore, it is the Christ in you that is the hope of glory. Christ is love so it is the love in your heart that is the hope of glory. Even when you have love in your heart, it is not going to be all rosy. You share in Christ’s sufferings as well as share in his glory. (Romans 8:17)

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I HAVE GIVEN MY LIFE TO CHRIST

This is a popular saying by Christians and we hear it each day. When someone is asked? Are you a Christian? The person replies Oh yes! And most of the time adds, I was born into a Christian home, I never miss church, and I am even in the church choir and so on. Wait a minute, is this what qualifies one as a Christian? Certainly not!

That statement “I have given my life to Christ is a very huge statement” which means you are walking in the footsteps of Christ and he is in charge of your whole life. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we intend to submit to Christ’s ruling in our lives that is submitting to the Holy Spirit. You live according to the spirit not according to the flesh. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:6-8). When we are comfortable in the body that is engaging in the flesh .The Apostle Paul mentioned the acts of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-20. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Therefore, the more the flesh is crucified, the closer we get to God, for the flesh kills but the spirit gives life.

Christianity is not about you, but it is about living selflessly by putting other people’s needs before yours. The greatest commandment that Jesus gave was love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40)

How can you say you love God when you do not love your brother or sister? You bear grudges against people; you don’t want to be friends with your neighbor who reported you to child services for not treating your child well and among others. If we love only those who have been good to us, then we have not done anything. (Luke 6:32-36). Jesus emphasized in Luke 6:35-36 that “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”. Therefore we need to let go and let God in our lives.

THE DILEMMA

A mother was nearing pension and she had nothing to show for all the number of years in service, then she managed to rent a house to use as a preschool. However, her daughter was struggling. She and her husband had hit a low point in their lives. Taking care of the home had become so difficult, like a whirlwind, the landlady was evicting them from where they lived. Here the mother wanted to use her house for a business entity to survive and there was her daughter needing the house to shelter her family. She was adamant at first, not wanting to give the house but eventually she let it out. She did not think of her pension plan anymore but she was thinking of the need of her daughter. She put her daughter’s needs above hers and her daughter lived there with her family. After a while, someone she never fathomed help from bought her a house even bigger than what she gave out. She lost it all for the sake of Christ, she wasn’t even thinking about gaining. However, she was able to find her life after losing it all to fulfill a need of someone. The story of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told, lays emphasis on helping people in need, irrespective of the assumptions, values and belief we may hold. The Jews were not on good terms with the Samaritans, but this man, “deviated” from the norm to fulfill a need.

Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay its head. (Matthew 8:20-21). Jesus stressed on the need for selflessness in order to follow him and that is the essence of Christianity.

In Matthew 10:39 Jesus said whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

TOPSY TURVY

Ohemaa lived in an affluent neighbourhood, she had it all. She was a writer and a student, when she dropped her kids off at a very prestigious school every morning, she will quickly go to school and at her leisure time, she will write her books. This was her routine and everything was going on well. On the other hand, her husband worked in a reputable organization where he headed the marketing division. Like a whirlwind, everything started falling apart, her husband lost his job, they could no longer afford that school for their kids, they could not pay their rent and they were served with an eviction notice.  All of a sudden their lives changed, they had no place to go to. Ohemaa prayed to God for a solution to their predicament. God answered her prayer. Her mum offered her a cottage on a farm house where they could live in until they get their acts organized. She has never lived in such a house, it was way too small and archaic. Besides, she has lived in a city all her life, how could she cope with life in the suburbs. She started seeking her own solutions but it was to no avail. She definitely had no choice and she said to herself, may be that is where God wanted me to live.  Although adamant from the beginning, she began to trust the process of letting God reign. She went there with her family; her husband found another job and hope was revived. Since the neighbourhood was deprived, she set up a not for profit organization to affect lives. She started by donating items to people living in extreme poverty and it metamorphosed into a very big organization with about 20, 000 workers across the globe. God redirected her path into her destiny. Initially, she felt it was a demotion but it was a promotion.

Humble yourselves and God will lift you up in due time.