When New Meets Old

Have you ever read the part of the bible in which Jesus used the parable of the wineskin...

He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’” Luke 5: 36- 39

What did you think about this? The same old example we know right? Giving our lives to Christ means letting go of the old... Yeah yeah, I was also thinking in that direction. I honestly never took the parable further than that. Getting that explanation was enough for me to move by, until now...

Do you know this parable is related to practically every act which occurred in the Bible? Well, there are many examples, fromJesus surrendering to die on the cross, Noah building the ark, Nehemiah rebuilding the wall, the widow and the prophet with the overflowing jar of oil. Are you wondering how these have got anything to do with new wine and old skin?? Give me a few minutes and let me explain... 

Really, it seems like these people in the example were simply acting on faith right? Doing what God or a man of God had told them to do at each point. It didn't seem like any of them at any point had to replace their old skin or garment with new ones right?? 

Well, it didn't seem that way, but like me if you understand what changing old for new involves, you would totally get it. In the reality and practicality of things, the process of changing old to new requires an action. It requires taking a step, or going through a process to get new wineskin. It also means the new wineskin, has to be prepared before the new wine is poured. 

This means that, God expects us to make a move, before He does any thing. God provides the content, we provide the container. Unless the container is ready, the content cannot be poured in. Hmmm, I don't know if you get the depth of this, but I'll try explaining further.  

In our daily, Christian lives, God often instructs us to do certain things. Or the other way round, we ask God for certain things. We  cry pray to God, to give us things (promote us, give us a spouse) and the likes, i.e we ask for content. But do we acknowledge the fact that, to receive what we ask for, is to receive something new, and that new thing, requires a new container?  You see where I am going? Yeah, deep things... 

Well, in each of the example I mentioned earlier, each individual had to give something, to receive. The widow had to give vessels, Noah his time and strength. Jesus His life. Nehemiah his job and time. Not only did they have to give things, but they had to give it empty. After-all God can't fill an already full jar, can He? 

Point I am driving at is, for everything we ask from God, we also have something to give; an empty container, and not just one, but as many as we can. In reality, this can be our mindset, maybe God says leave a job to get another. It could be prayer to get a new anointing. It could be us leaving a relationship, or it could be us asking for one. But for us to receive we need to give something, and the quantity we give, determines the quantity we receive. The oil didn't stop, until the containers the widow got were all filled.  The amount of blessings you receive from God will come in the measure you give to Him.

I'll also like to state, that giving to God can sometimes mean letting go of things. Letting go of pain and hurt, to let Him fill us with joy and gladness. i.e giving Him our pains and reproach (which is in reality emptying ourselves or the containers) and letting Him fill us up. We should also know that in giving or emptying, we must give according to the will and calling of God.

14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14

The widow, Noah and Jesus all provided vessels because God gave them the directive. We can't just sow seeds in greed because we feel we deserve and must help God so He helps us. In doing things, we need to do it with a Godly mindset, so the devil doesn't take advantage and fill us rather.

Three questions I'll like to leave with you, to give you perspective into the personal things God have told you...

1. What new thing is God asking of you, or are you asking from Him? 
2. What are the empty containers he is asking for or what containers do you need to empty before receiving from Him ? (Is he asking you to let go of your pride and surrender to him?) 
3. How many containers are you willing to provide for him to fill ? 

In honestly answering these questions, I think we will all be on a pathway to glory, being better people and Christians. I hope you were blessed by this post. Share with your friends and bless them with the word. Have a glorious weekend. 

The Make Up Artist

Let me start with this question, what do you think of the picture?? 

Scary? Horrific? Enlightening? 

A few days ago, I put this tremendously funny picture as my display picture. Within the few minutes  I did this, I had people sending me messages and asking me questions.

The makeup on the face of this model, was very badly done. When  I say badly, I mean extremely bad.

As I sat and minded my business, I got another alert on my phone, and a friend started asking these questions... What was she thinking?? Did she look at the mirror??  And she allowed a picture of hers to be taken? Why did she allow her face to be used as a canvas for painting? 

As I  started to speak, the first thing that came out of my mouth was, "it was her free will". She definitely saw a mirror, and heard people's comments. But seemed entirely comfortable with it, and didn't mind. 

The Holy Spirit immediately ministered into my spirit, as I started to speak. He explained to me, the same way the model put her face down to be decorated, and seemed ignorant of how horrific she looked, is the same way we Christian act sometimes. She, like us, have people/the Holy Spirit  giving us warning as to the things we are doing, yet choose to ignore. In what way you may ask. We give the devil the opportunity to step into our lives and do to us has he pleases. Often, we get advice from various people in our lives, get signs, warnings (which we ignore) because we believe our way, which is not God's way is the best.

When I personally took time to think, and wonder why she allowed that to be done to her, I felt she might have had some valid reasons. She didn't have enough money for a good make up artist, she thought her make up design was the best and suited her "perfectly"(for lack of knowledge my people perish). She thought her friend or whoever did the make up was actually doing her a favour more than a disfavour. 

While those answers suit her case adequately, for we Christians, it goes in another direction. We tend to think or say things like," I am too young to commit myself to God and become one of those people they call pastor", "I want to have my way over God's" ( I did this a lot), "It is my mind talking and not God", even your  mind can be right. 

We often rally around various excuses to the things we do, and end up letting the devil make a fool of us. Christ came for our redemption, He paid the price for us, so why sit back and let the devil shame us. I personally won't want to go out looking like that, and thus I'm willing to let God lead all the way. 

For the lady, she wasn't thinking of what the world thought, she was only thinking of what she wanted. Sometimes it is the same for us, other times it's the other way round.  But truth of the matter is, the things we do, reflect on us, inside out. When we let the devil (the make up artist) mess with us, it is at our own detriment. 

We sit down as these models did, and allow the devil to decorate our lives as he pleases, and make ourselves look like fools to the world. In which case, we grow/tend/begin to believe the lie of the devil and accept it as our reality and  accept we look good in the state we are in.  

I believe its time for us to let  a change come in, for us to let go of our pride, our own opinions, and simply let God lead us and guide us. This will prevent us from not only looking bad to the world, but also save us for eternity. In truth, without the counsel and wisdom of God, any foolish thing will appeal to us. Wicked desires and harmful intents that will hurt others and ourselves seem like the best or prefect things that should happen to us and we pride ourselves in those when we ignore God's wisdom. So dear friend, please check yourself, and let God lead you.

I hope you were blessed by this, feel free to share with someone you think needs this or simply everyone you know :). Also, I am glad to read your comments and stories too, so don't hesitate to share. Stay blessed and have a lovely week ahead.

A Fresh Perspective

I remember this statement too vividly, and it has followed me everywhere I go after I heard and understood it. It was one of those words preached in a sermon, that stuck certain chords. Chords which implied: I needed more insights, I had some questions and uncertainties and most importantly I needed God to personally make me understand. I may not explicitly remember the title of the sermon at church that day, but I do clearly recall the theme we were speaking about. Our focus was on building our relationship with God, and like is the intended preaching style of each person, our preacher used her life and relationship with God as the example for the sermon. As she went on explaining what a relationship with God entailed, she spoke a lot on a statement God told her once. She said God told her: "I don't care about your comfort, I care about my purpose. " She went on with her explanation, on how the ultimate purpose we had was to fulfil God's purpose. You know that point in a sermon, when the preacher is preaching and you are screaming and agreeing? Yep, that's exactly how I felt at that point. I was screaming the "yes Lord", "its all about your purpose" and every other statement or jargons you can think of in that direction.

But certain things I tell you, don't sink in until later.

I got into my room, and  reread the statement and questions started popping out from all corners. "You don't care about my comfort ke?" "Haba God na, why?" "What do you mean?" "Is this a joke?" I went back and forth, wondering what that was all about. Yes, God created us, yes we should do His will, but how will I do His will and not be comfortable? I felt it was going to be a cheat. At least let's have a give and take. If I choose to do your will over mine, give your child something (me negotiating again). That was the battle in my mind for a while, and I had to tell God to teach me to fully surrender. Surrender to the point that even when His purpose wasn't comfortable, I'll still smile and go with it. You think that was tough, it was tougher learning, especially learning to let go of my pride, but that's a story for another day.

As weeks went by, I learnt various lessons and got more understanding on walking in God's purpose. Taking insight from the story of Jesus, and how He surrendered His life on the cross. That was God's purpose for Him, and boy it was uncomfortable. That was one crazily tough example that God used to explain to me, but in learning to imitate Christ, He is the best example. The more I learnt, the more I understood. I was seeing things from a new perspective and learning to give way to God's purpose. It was a tough but educative adventure, but as God is, He has a lot of surprises. He gave me an additional line to insert into the initial statement, which transformed me.  What he told me,  "I don't care about your comfort, I care about my purpose, for your comfort is embedded in my purpose."

Now this new statement was like breeze to me, it made more sense. But then in the actuality and reality of things, it doesn't seem that way. How was there comfort in Jesus dying on the cross? How is there comfort in being persecuted? My human mind might have said, I guess we'll never know. But I thank God for the Holy Spirit. He made me understand, that it had to do with seeing things from a Godly perspective. He made me understand that though we didn't see Jesus being comfortable while at the cross, He had great comfort in knowing that He was the remission of sin for millions, including you and I. Same goes for most other situations, while we may not see the comfort in His purpose physically all the time, there is always a beautiful, heavenly and spiritual comfort we get.

It is a new year, and that time we have a list of resolutions, I don't think I have any of those. But one thing I'll like to run with for the year, is to walk in my God given purpose all through, not just this year, but till the end of my life. I'll wish we all do the same, but as I went through the process of learning, I'll like you to let God convince you personally.

Happy new year, and have a prosperous new year.

Lead me Lord, to follow you diligently like a little child