Are you a living sacrifice, or have you gone AWOL?

Sometime in February, I had a chat with a Pastor friend of mine, and what started out as me doing him a favor turned out to be the fulfillment of the perfect plan of God for him to mentor me. Apparently he had received this word as far back as 2009 but at the time we spoke (2014) the time was right. Don’t you just love God and the way He absolutely plans things?

Anyway, by the end of the evening (and we must have talked for a little under four hours), I was the proud owner of a beautiful Message Bible, and Rick Warren’s ‘The Purpose Driven Life’. Whoop!

I dug up a book by my Father in the Lord, Pastor Obi Goodheart Ekwueme which just has little pearls of wisdom for each day and so my devotion literally revolves around these two and a devotionals on my phone on the YouVersion App. This particular one is a 40-day Bible reading plan, created by Hillsongs (my home church), whoop!

So! I started on all three, and brethren (testimony mode), it’s been great! Some days I’ve been so excited with the new knowledge I glean that I call my Momma to preach it to her! PS – my Momma has prayed all three of us into loving the Lord, and am I grateful for that or what!

A few days ago, the topic for the day in ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ was all about surrendering to God, worshipping Him in ways that are acceptable to Him, and becoming intimate with Him. Yeah? Now that I think of it, that’s been the theme over the last four days or so.

Anyway, this particular morning the topic revolved around loving God being a process rather than a one-time action. It said it was a marathon (never-ending), not a sprint. The same way friendships and relationships get stronger and grow fonder courtesy constant interaction, the same way our relationships with God will grow only by constant communication. You don’t love your family and then not talk to them in weeks or months ( I can safely say I speak to at least one member of my family). Seven if you add my 23month old Boo Boo! How much more God?

It also talked about offering ourselves up as a ‘living sacrifice’, again alluding to the need for constant fellowship with God. And this is the part that amused me. It said the reason why we need to constantly rededicate ourselves up to God is because a living sacrifice can “crawl away from the altar”. Lol!

When you think of it though, we are alive aren’t we? Think of crawling babies; I know for sure that they never remain where you keep them (my nephew is a living, breathing, testimony to that)

And so everyday is a fresh opportunity to say to the Lord, “I’m willing to be used by you today, talk to me, I love you and want to please you with my day”. It doesn’t mean you should be on your knees for the 24 hours in your day, it just means you shouldn’t sing “Onward Christian soldiers” on a Sunday, and then go AWOL on a Monday! Lol, that’s another thing that amused me from the devotional.

I’m going through a phase in my life right now and these words have helped me stay strong and rooted in God; I hope they bring encouragement and joy to your heart today. Amen!

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Trusting in God alone: My day @ St Jude’s Church, Wolverhampton…

This is the first Anglican church I’ve been to in like two years, last one I was in was St Paul’s Crofton in Orpington.

Well, I was in Wolverhampton and so Booski and I attended this service. To be honest after we got in and sat down, I wasn’t even sure the service had started because the person (would later find out he was the vicar) took to the podium and started with some light-hearted banter! Asked what people had been up to in the past week, told us of traveling and reading the SatNav wrong and so ending up veeeery far from where he was supposed to be, was funny!

Then the service proper started and immediately the choir started a rendition of ‘Christ Alone’ (my favorite song from Hillsongs Church), I knew I was thoroughly going to enjoy the service! And I did!

After we’d sung that song (and a couple others), the vicar invited people to come out and tell tales of God‘s favour, how they had either received or channeled God’s favour in the past week. Someone told of some help they’d received in their volunteering role, another person talked about God helping him have patience with his 91-year-old mom, and another person (I hear he was the former priest) talked about God using a lady in the parish to show him favour. Brought tears to my eyes because he was pretty emotional when he was speaking…

Not even going to lie, I nearly dozed off during the Bible reading, it was so long! But then the message started and all the sleep vanished (praise the Lord)!

Sermon time! I’m reproducing my notes, ok?

*I keep saying that we christians complicate Christ and Christianity so much that we make it impossible for anyone to join in. Then we hold countless prayer vigils and fasts because the “harvest is plenty but the labourers are few”. No, the labourers are not few, the labourers are trampling on the harvest instead of gathering it/them up!

*We elevate Ministers of the gospel to positions where we had hitherto placed God (past tense because God never shares His spot in our hearts with anyone or anything) and so when they make mistakes (because they are flesh and therefore fallible) we become disappointed.

*We should avoid the ‘public declarations without private substance’ club as true sons and daughters of the Lord. Are we doing what we say are? Or we are totally different people in our hidden places?

Romans 7:14-25

*Every believer is a work -in-progress, constantly aiming for perfection. And so even though we expect life to be full of unequivocal certainties, life is full of ambiguities: it is for the most part, unsure. That’s why we must trust God, who knows the end from the beginning!

*The Bible pulls no punches in its portrayal of human beings, it is we human beings who idolize certain characters in there as being without sin. It is that characteristic we then transfer to our pastors, priests, etc. David (man after God’s heart) made a mistake, Noah got drunk, Ruth ‘deceived’ Boaz into marrying her, Moses had a temper, Gideon was a chicken (lol), all these great men were fallible.

Whatever you do, 100% trust and faith in God is absolutely necessary. NOT in man or in possessions, but in God. Him alone!

Highlight of the service for me was attending with my Booski! Another major highlight was singing one of my favorite songs ever, ‘Christ Alone’ from my church in London (Hillsongs). I’m still searching high and low for a video (or audio) for it, but you’ll be the first to know soon as I have it!

Enjoy the weekend, and make sure you fellowship with the brethren tomorrow!

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YOU’RE ME…..

Image via Wikipedia

Hello!!! How’s your week going? Good? Not so good? Either way, I’m sure like me, we all can’t wait for Friday!!! Sometimes (not every time o), I wish there was a way to bypass work!! #DearFutureEmployer please ignore that, I’m very hardworking!!

Ok, ‘You’re me’ was originally written for a buddy; one of the many I offered to do on Twitter on a certain day. Others have been ‘Bruce and Me‘, ‘What’s New’, ‘What is it about Glee‘, and a couple others that I won’t put up just yet! Follow @chiomachuka so you don’t miss out on the next offer for a free blog post or article!

 

You’re Me…….

I had this pair of jeans bought in Israel and given to me by best friend back in the day; those times when ‘going abroad’ seemed to be akin to seeing God. Not only did the jeans fit perfectly, accentuating my 13 year old ‘curves’, they had a pink butterfly embroidered to the waistline behind and so didn’t need a belt. The smaller the blouse I wore, the more prominent the butterfly would be, much to my Momma‘s annoyance.

Another thing that annoyed her was the fact that I would wear those jeans every day. During the holiday I received them, I remember one particular week when I wore them every day. Yes, everyday! On Monday I wore them to stay at home, took them off at night to change into my pyjamas. Tuesday evening we went for Bible study, and I paired the jeans with a pink top (to match the butterfly). Wednesday was the neighbours’ daughter’s birthday and my star jeans rocked at the party, especially when I bent low to shuffle to ‘Return of the Mack‘. Thursday morning I spilled tea on the jeans during breakfast (yes I was wearing them again) so I begged our nanny to wash them for me immediately for a fee. Momma will never understand why I did all the dishes for lunch and dinner that day; only the nanny, God, and I know.

Friday was a big day. Friends from school (twins) had a big party and I had filled up my good deeds basket so Momma said I could go. Outfit of choice? My jeans, a spaghetti top, and clogs. I was hotter than fire! One good thing was our neighbour’s daughter attended a different school so no one who saw me at her party was coming to this one.

I wore the jeans on Saturday to the market with our nanny but when I tried to pair it with a traditional top for church on Sunday, Momma had had enough. When I got back home on my next holiday, no seemed to know where the jeans were. I cried so hard, you’d think I’d lost a parent or a sibling.

That’s what you are to me babe; that’s exactly what you are to me. You complement me, hide my flaws, and show off my strengths. I feel confident whenever I’m with you; there’s almost nothing I can’t achieve with you encouraging me, giving me the push I need to excel.

We were definitely made for each other; why else would we fit each other so snugly? Why else would you know my thoughts, see my fears, and heal my hurts? Won’t even start on how you make me laugh, and the safety I find in you. Babe you know that peas in a pod gist? That’s definitely us, whether we fully grasp it now or not.

I care about you, I pray for you, I want to be with you every hour I’m awake, and when we’re not together I’m counting down till you’re here.

Robert A. Heinlein said, “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own”. He would be right only that you’re not ‘another person’ to me, you’re me. And though I’m not sure of a lot of things yet, I just wrote this to tell you this that I’m sure of, you’re my pair of jeans.

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