WHO BEGAN THE WORK?

As a son of God, most times I wonder and ask myself why God would answer the prayer of some folks on a particular matter and not answer that of other folks on the same matter. Now I was asking this questions in other to understand the mind of God on this matter. You see, when you are in a relationship with someone, you make efforts to know more about the person and some things when you enquire and delve deep into the person, the things you discover will either draw you closer to the person or repel you. In my case, the more I enquire of and know more of God, the deeper I am drawn into Him.

So He pointed me to a passage of scripture that I want to share with you:

Philippians 1:6 (NKJV)

Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

And He asked me a question;

Daddy:            Who paid for your education?

Me:                 My dad.

Daddy:           Was there any time during the period of your studies that you lacked something?

Me:                 Yes.

Daddy:            What did you do then?

Me:                 I would either call home or send someone to my house to notify them of what I need and when I need it.

Daddy:           Would your dad respond?

Me:                 Yes, I would always get a response.

Daddy:           Was the response always positive?

Me:                Yes except if what I was requesting for was frivolous and he didn’t have money at the time to throw around then he will bounce my request and just send small pocket money.

Daddy:            So why did your dad always respond?

Me:                  Because he sent me to school.
 

At this point, my eyes lit up and I finally got it. It was my father’s responsibility to pay my tuition and buy me provisions and give me pocket money and ensure that I was comfortable because he was the one who registered me in school in the first instance. He had the option of letting me stay at home or learn a trade or something (lol) but he chose to send me to school. So my burdens and needs while there were solely his responsibility. And I was confident that he will always come through.

Thinking about it now, there is a huge probability that he might not have had money on some of the days that I sent someone to the house, however, because of his responsibility towards me, he would by any means possible make provisions for the things I required.

And God began to tell me that same thing applies with Him. If He began the work, He will watch over it to ensure that it is completed. And He said to me that what happens most times is that people will go and start something and then come to present it to Him in prayers after they had started out without recourse to what His opinion is on the matter. And even when He tells some that their project is not of Him, they are either too proud or stubborn to stop at that point, repent, count their loss and move on to His will for them.

That relationship you are in right now, that job, that business, the course you are currently doing, that project you are working on, who began the work?

And please, do not be in a hurry to answer this question, as your answer might mean that you may need to make a major life changing decision.

Next time, before you take that matter to God in prayer, I want you to first sit and ask yourself this question: WHO BEGAN THIS WORK, GOD or ME?
Selah!

WHAT ARE YOU GIVING JESUS?

Earlier today I was reading a post on social media and a woman was sharing how she was taking a ride with her children and she decided to listen to a sermon. And at the end of the sermon, her daughter decided to give her life to Christ. After the girl had given her life to Christ, she turned to her younger brother and ask him; ‘I have given my life to Christ, what are you giving to Jesus?’

The lady was struck by the question and it really got her thinking as it did me. What am I giving Jesus? I took out some time to answer that question for myself and my thoughts around it were quite informative and instructive.

What are you giving Jesus?

Some people are giving Jesus 1hr 30mins on Sundays and 1hr on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday depending on which day of the week your local assembly meets and service dares not exceed that 2hr mark.

Some people give Jesus 30secs when they wake up, 5secs before a meal and 3secs just before they go to bed.

Some people are giving Jesus a shopping list in the form of prayer points with conditions and timelines for delivery as if they are the boss to my Lord.

Some others are giving Him their wish list hoping that someone will miraculously “dash” them one or all the items on their wish list when they have not paid any attention to the leading of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.

Some claim to have given their lives to Chris but in the actual sense, there is a sharing formula involved. On some days Christ has their lives and some other days they take it back from Him.

So I pose the question to you, if you claim to have given your life to Christ, what exactly did you give Him? Did you give Him all of your life or some of it?

Selah!!!

YOU ARE NOT CONDEMNED

One major way the devil tries to and have succeeded in most cases to disarm the children of God is by making them live I condemnation. Condemnation is a major cause of depression, low self-esteem, low self-worth, low productivity, unfaithfulness, the list goes on.

Some people stated receiving their doses of condemnation from the homes they grew up in. some parents call their children all sorts of names and you hear comments like; ‘useless child’, ‘idiot’, ‘bastard’, ‘you won’t amount to much’, and such limiting condemning comments go with these children most of their lives.

As if the condemnation from home wasn’t enough, some of these children grow up to be adults and are unfortunate to also work with bosses who do not know the first thing about how to talk to people so the condemnation continues. Some people go to work and the mere sight of their boss makes their hearts skip because it is almost certain that no good words can proceed out of them.

When you meet such people, they are always second guessing themselves even when they are doing excellently well. They have low self-esteem and are always seeking approval from people and would die for just a compliment. They hardly maintain eye contact, keep to themselves and in extreme cases are very erratic.

However, I have good news for you. If you are a child of God, you are not condemned:

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

God does not condemn you, He actually loves you so much that He gave His only Son Jesus Christ up to die just for your sake. That’s how special you are to Him.

Those words from your parents, teachers, friends, boss, husband, wife, etc have no hold on you. Because you are now in Christ Jesus, there is therefore NOW no condemnation for you. You are God’s elect, the apple of His eyes, you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, a son by adoption with every right to cry out ABBA Father! God is working wonders in you and through you. You are blessed beyond a curse, a rare gem amongst men, you are God’s treasure, uniquely crafted for His pleasure.

My God has not condemned you, so do not condemn yourself. I challenge you today to affirm who you are in Christ over and over again. Take back the control over your life. Do not let anyone talk you down, do not allow those condemning thoughts rear their ugly heads within you again, when they arise, shut them down by declaring the words of God over you. That does not mean that you should walk around being all corky and all, No. but I need you to take the stance of one who knows their worth in Christ.

Let there be a spring in your steps, square your shoulders, lift up your head and face the world, look people in the eye with a smile in your eyes. No matter what people say, it really doesn’t matter, what matters is what God has said concerning you and that is the fact that YOU ARE NOT CONDEMNED.

God Bless you.

The Father's Love

My dad was all you could ask for in a father and so much more. He ensured that growing up was not a horrible experience. From the best of schools to the good clothes and circle of friends, we had a good life.

Yesterday, I was reflecting on a few things and made some very amazing discoveries that shocked me. With all the love I know that my father obviously had for us, sometime just after I got into secondary school, things got very bad for him financially. And this meant that requests that hitherto would have received a nod without any questions asked, now received a scowl and an angry face when they were made.

Thinking about it yesterday, I could feel those emotions like it was just happening to me now. And I remember that my requests became fewer and fewer until it became almost non-existent. I began fending for myself and not asking for much from the home front. Even when I asked, it was with the open mind that I might not receive it, so I generally made adjustments for alternatives. I became independent.

I’m thinking about it now and it’s just dawning on me that this might have even contributed to my decision to relocate to Lagos when I did.

Dads are influential like that.

I am sure he didn’t mean to push me away, I know now that he loved me with his life. I guess he just didn’t know how not to be able to do all the thing he could easily do in the past. And the negative emotions caused by this inability was cascaded to us all.

Fast forward a few years down the line; I have some father figures in my life right now to whom I am eternally grateful because these men saw a young boy with nothing and took him up by their wings. I keep saying it that my story will not be complete without the mention of Pastor Femi Obaweya, Mr. Lanre Olusola and General Mike Ndubisi (RTD). They are my living heroes. Their lives have impacted me in a way I cannot even express here.

However, I seldom go to them as I ought to and I just figured out why. Like my relationship with my biological father, I am not sure what the response to my request will be, so I rather figure out a solution by myself than ask them or anyone else for help. You may call it pride, but I just found out that it was a deep seated flaw emanating from my past.

As I stayed more reflecting on my life, God asked me; “Obinnaya, is that not how you have approached Me? You come to Me knowing that I can do ALL things but not sure if I am willing to do it for you”. He said to me; “I am your FATHER and My love for you is never ending. I will give you every good gift for you if only you will ask Me”. God is my Father, His fatherhood is nothing like what I experienced with my biological father. He began to show me sides of Him that no man can even measure up to and it was blissFULL. Wow!!!

So I began to repent and ask God for forgiveness and for the grace to see Him as He really is. I know I have just begun the journey down a path to a new lease of life and I am looking forward to the great things that will happen to me on this journey.

I know everyone had their own experiences with their dad’s growing up, I want you to know that our dads were just being the best version of fathers they could be based on the level of information they were exposed to on fatherhood. And unfortunately, most of us have been relating to our Father in heaven the same way we related to our earthly father. I want you to pause and re-evaluate your relationship with God.

God really loves you beyond the love any earthly father is capable of. I also will not deceive myself that some people did not have horrible experiences with their dads, I know such people do exist. However, I wish to introduce you to a Father whose love is from everlasting to everlasting, nothing you have ever experienced compares to the kind of love He has to give and is very willing to heal all your wounds and create a new fatherhood experience for you if only you will give Him the chance to.

Reach out to God today, He is very willing to shower you with His unending love.

To every father and father to be out there, let the light of God shine through you to your children. I honour you and the great work you have been selected by God to do.

To my fathers who have charted the course I am following today, words will fail me to appreciate you as I ought to, but my God will bless you greatly for me. I LOVE YOU all from my heart.

Happy Father’s Day.

IamOluwaObinna

What Are We Really Doing?

Yesterday, I walked out of a meeting when someone I have some level of respect for made a very unsettling comment. I was very angry and I have to confess that the sun rose up on my anger. Howbeit, I am a lot calmer now and have had time to process the whole drama (as that’s the best way to describe what I was subjected to).

Now more than ever before, there is a burning desire in my heart to not only pray for the body of Christ, but to also pray for the leaders in the body of Christ. I think our focus has moved away from the major thing which is Christ and His commission to us to make disciples all over the earth to the mundane things.

If it were not to be so, how then can you explain a leader saying to the hearing of so many other leaders and I quote “leave the vision, we all know it is about the money”?

I almost passed out when I heard that. So all the epistle about doubling the number of members, all the charge was about the money???

I thought we were supposed to be leading the lost to Christ, I thought we were supposed to be impacting our world with the “Good News of Christ”. I thought the vision was the main thing that I should be running with. Alas, I was heavily mistaken.

As always, my partner in Christ was with me and we both looked at each other when the comment was made and by default stood up and left.

I think I am at a place in my walk with God where I do not have room and time to waste on things that do not conform to what He says in His word. One of the speakers yesterday shared a passage from the book of Isaiah and the passage took a new shape for me post the events of yesterday. Isaiah 43:18-19

¹⁸ “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. ¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

God is doing a new thing and we must be careful to stay in the light of what He is doing in the now. Remember how we were admonished to watch and pray and to guard our heart with all due diligence? We must be careful to ensure that we are still in line with God’s main plan for our lives. I read somewhere that the most important thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

I look all around me and I see people who have drifted far away from the main thing. The pursuit now is more for things, accolades and positions as against Relationship.

I am writing to leaders today; what is your relationship status with God like?

Remember that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. When you speak, I know what is in your heart. I know what I heard yesterday and it gives me a clear picture of what lies in the heart of many.

I made some decisions yesterday. I will keep praying for my leaders and observe from a distance, but I will keep following Christ. Looking up to Jesus and Jesus alone the author and finisher of my faith.

THE DEMON CALLED DENOMINATION

Imagine this;

I am having a conversation with a random person and we were discussing life issues and allied matters. I was sharing my thoughts from a spiritual perspective as it applies to life (these days, I really don’t care if you are Muslim or Jewish, so long as you are human, I talk Jesus with you. You either accept it or leave it, lol).

So as we continued in our discussion, the guy says ‘hmmm, deep stuff!’ while nodding his head profusely. Towards the end of the conversation, he asks a question that I am sure most of you reading this post have asked someone at one point or the other; ‘where do you worship?’

I paused and without thinking about it, responded CELE.

Yes I lied, deal with it. Lol

You should have seen the look of utter disappointment and shock on his face, like how can this much wisdom and grace come out of the lips of a cele guy. I allowed him to wallow in his shock for a few seconds and then asked;

Me: Is anything the matter?

He looked at me like; ‘can’t you see the problem?’

I maintained a bland look like; ‘I don’t understand what you are trying to say with your expressions’.

Guy: You can’t really be serious, you must be joking. Haba, you don’t sound like a cele person.

Me: How do cele people sound?

Guy: I don’t know, I just know that you don’t sound like a cele person.

I smile and walk away leaving the guy utterly confused and I’m sure with loads of questions running through his head.

Think about it, how many times have you asked the same question to someone or heard someone ask you or anyone else that question?

While rounding off my workout this morning, a song kept playing in my spirit and I cannot remember the last time I heard that song anywhere; “Though we are many, we are one body, we are one body in Christ”.

I am almost sure that God is disappointed with what we call the body of Christ today. Scratch that, what we have today is the body parts of Christ and not the body of Christ. The devil has pitched us against ourselves and the church is in competition with herself as against working together as one body in achieving the ultimate goal of reconciliation to the initial plans of God.

I am almost ashamed to be associated with the setup we have currently, it is very embarrassing.

In 1Corinthians 1:10-13, Apostle Paul was addressing this same thing when people were claiming that they were for Apollos some were for Paul others were for Cephas while some others were for Christ.

My question is, is Christ divided?

People go; my church this, our church that. My pastor this our pastor that, what happened to Christ in all of this?

The devil has taken something that was supposed to make us stronger and used it to pitch us against ourselves. Now instead of working together to function as one body, various denominations are in a competition as to which shrine sorry auditorium is more elegant than the other. We are competing as to who has the largest number of followers (as if that determines the quality of transformation that is going on in the individual lives).

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for us reaching the whole world with the gospel of Christ via every means possible. I am just against us making it look like we are in a battle to best each other as against us working together to achieve a single purpose.

I am just tired of the nonsense I see around me. The other day, I received an email that made me almost want to throw up in disgust, some people obviously have lost sight and focus of what we are actually doing or supposed to be doing in the “Body of Christ”. That mail was an insult to my God and what Christ taught while here on earth. I am yet to respond to the mail, but I will just because I have been asked to not because I really want to.

Little wonder it is difficult for people to genuinely come to God as there is no much difference between what they seen in the “body of Christ” and what they see in the business world around them.

A house that is divided amongst its self CANNOT stand.

I make bold to say that Jesus Christ is not coming anytime soon as what we currently have is nothing close to the “BRIDE/BODY” He promised to return to.

That last line may sound controversial, I am not willing to discuss it, let The Holy Spirit expand it for you. You can also read 1 Corinthians 1:1-31 and ask The Holy Spirit to open your eyes to that scripture.

My name is Onyekwere Obinnaya and I am a son of God. I do not belong to any denomination; I belong to the body of Christ.

God Bless You.

Selah!

TAKING THE WRONG TURN

I was driving and just ahead the road looked blocked. There I was in front of the traffic light wondering if I should stay on the highway or take the back road that I usually would take occasionally. Just at the point I was about to move, I heard a very tiny voice say “stay on the highway”, but I was already making the turn and to make matters worse, there were law enforcement agents standing there by the turn, so I just went in.

I went into that back road and spent about 10 mins on the same spot, not making any progress. I looked at my back from the rearview mirror and I could see that those turning into the highway were moving, though at a very slow pace, they were making progress.

After another 5 mins on the same spot, I finally decided to turn back and return to the highway I had turned off from. Funny thing was; all the guys on the queue with me were not making any progress either and none of them seemed to be bothered. So I made the turn and headed back. As I turned, I noticed that two or three other cars made the turn with me while all the other cars stayed put.

In less than 5 mins, I was on the highway and the traffic was free flowing and I began to wonder why I turned off in the first instance.

I paused and thought about it; is that not the same thing that most of us do in life? We are on the right path to life and victory and at the slightest road block or unexpected difficulty; we begin to seek the short cut out of the trouble we are facing. There are always things to make us feel that the short cut is actually the way out alas we take the turn just to find out that just beyond the seemingly easier path is a difficulty worse than the one we thought we were facing. And the way life works, we would find other people on the same path with us, stuck in similar situations {law of recognition} not knowing if they should stay in the rut or swallow their pride and return back to the path they veered off from.

I seek to encourage someone reading this post, maybe you have made a wrong turn and gone on a path you shouldn’t have, retrace your steps today. God is waiting for you on the highway to lead you to an expected end if only you will turn back to the highway. Don’t look at the people around you that are in the same rut you are currently in, most of them don’t have an idea what to do, while some of them are waiting for you to make the turn and lead the way for them to follow.

Mind you, I know that it is not an easy decision to eat the humble pie and turn back to a path that you have turned away from. The circumstances around your turning off might not even have been that palatable, however, I beseech you to make that turn now. Do not wait for tomorrow as it might be too late.

As I got back on the highway, I realized that most of the cars that were behind me were long gone, I kept moving on just grateful to be making some good progress and not being stuck in the same place. When you get back to the highway, you might notice that the people who couldn’t even measure up to you in time past have since moved ahead and become well placed. In some instances, they might even be the ones dishing out the orders to you, take it all in good faith and keep moving forward. Be grateful for the opportunity to be back, it is only a matter of time and you will pick up speed because when you are on the right path, there is that joy that comes with you knowing that you are making good progress.

There is an expected end that awaits you, and I am so looking forward to seeing you across the finish line.

Shalom!

@IamOluwaObinna and I am committed to your Peak Performance

WHEN GOD FAILS TO SHOW UP

For the very first time in as long as almost my working life at the time, I had just started including my performance at work as part of things I pray for. Traditionally, I am more about the supernatural and getting to know more of God and draw closer to Him and all that spirikoko stuff, but I just felt a need to begin to pray about work, so I began to pray.

Now because I know that scripture says that faith without work is dead, I exerted myself at my work, going to lengths outside my comfort zone to ensure that the team didn’t fall behind. Fast forward a few months down the line, I had just received my annual reward letter, and with what I saw, I had no intentions of going back to the office the next day.

I was quiet all day musing over what could have possibly gone wrong. Did I not pray well enough? Did I not work hard enough despite the manpower shortage in the team? Was my output that crappy? Dozens of questions were running through my mind, but I just wasn’t settled enough to answer them so I subconsciously left the query until I get to my power spot where I could query God for failing to show up.

You know the devil has a funny way of doing things, all around me, people were being promoted and there was joy and celebration amongst almost everyone else. It seemed like it was only the extremely excited ones that were coming my way, so I would smile and celebrate with them, but though I was genuinely happy for them, I was very disappointed with God.

Personally, I know that I had never prior to that time worked as hard as I did in that year and my letter was in no way a reflection of the year that had gone by. So after work, I packed up my things, cleared my desk and was going to send in my letter in the morning.

As I was preparing to leave, my boss calls me to come and discuss the letter, and as we sat there talking, I just knew that there was more to the letter I had just received, so it was way easier to forgive. I was still going to turn in my letter in the morning, but I was not holding any grudge with anyone and it was an unusual peace and quiet.

Leaving the office, I was angry that I couldn’t be angrier about the entire situation, so I turned to the one person that I know how to relate with and poured the anger at Him. Lord how could this be my rating and you didn’t even have the courtesy of giving me a heads up or showing me. To even add insult to the injury, this came at a time when I had just started praying about work. I moaned and complained and cried and screamed almost hurling insults at God for being an unfaithful friend.

Have you ever been in that place where you feel like God is not fair? You just feel that He failed to answer you and He is busy answering everyone else. You have prayed, fasted, gone to prayer mountains and camps, sown seeds, taken your bath with anointing oil and scrubbed every inch of your body with anointed handkerchiefs #justjoking, but you catch my drift; yet God refuses to answer you. It just isn’t a very nice place to be in.

But as frustrating as the circumstances were, I still had this unusual calm and quiet. My wife was pregnant at the time, so I couldn’t share what I was going through with her (she actually will be hearing this for the first time with you as she reads this post as this is the first time ever I am sharing that experience). After she had gone to bed, I came out to the sitting room still very frustrated and angry at God. How can He be this wicked and inconsiderate?

So you resign, what would that solve He asked?

I don’t know, I responded, but at least I will take my efforts to a place where it would be appreciated.

Don’t you teach people that you don’t make life decisions based on your emotions? He continued

Lord why are You asking me useless questions, who said I am making emotional decisions here?

Are you not?  He asked

There are times when I feel God is just a tad bit insensitive and I felt like lashing out at Him, but I had a restraint to just think about what He had just asked. So in a bid to gain clarity, I asked; so Lord tell me what just happened.

Son, why do you love Me?

I love You because you first loved me, I responded.

 Why do you work?  He asked

 I work because I have to, if you don’t work, you don’t eat (I was trying to be spiritual with God lol).

So with or without your rating, you still have to work right?

Yes Lord.

Does your rating change who I am?

No Lord, it doesn’t.

Would your rating change your love for Me?

No Lord, it won’t, it can’t.

At this point, I got the lesson.

You know when we pray about a matter, subconsciously we expect that from that point onwards, everything will become a smooth sail and there should be no issues at all. Often at the first sight of trouble, we rescind and adjudge God as not being faithful forgetting that He is God both in the good times and the bad times. Your circumstances don’t change who He is and the foundational fact that He loves you. He loves you so much that 2000 years before you were even born, He sent His only Son to die for sins that you were yet to commit.

When God doesn't bless us as we want, it doesn't mean He isn't blessing us as He wants. (Quote by Unknown Author)

My ratings did not change, but I learnt that my position with God was way more important than anything that was going on around me. There will be days filled with happiness and some days with sadness. There will be days of gladness and days of sorrow. There will be days of plenty and days of lack. But in all these varying circumstances, there is only one constant and that is the fact that there is a God who remains the same yesterday, today and forever and ever. He does not change, He does not sleep nor slumber and guess what, He is watching over you to perform His word concerning you.

So the next time the devil tries to taunt you that God will not show up on your behalf, laugh at him and tell him that God already showed up over 2000 years ago way before you were even born.

Shalom!

@IamOluwaObinna and I am committed to you Peak Performance.