In honor of Martin Luther King Jnr.

         I was reading up on MLK jnr and I came across the song that was played on his funeral by Mahlia Jackson. As I listened and watched his picture slides, I was thinking about God and how he does things we can’t comprehend. I couldn’t help but wonder why God did not allow MLK’s wife to stay to see the fulfillment of her husband’s “I have a dream” speech. But  God has his reasons and I am going to chunk this question up with other questions I plan on asking him when I get to heaven.

        I listened to MLK’s speeches and I could only whisper “God bless him”. His modulation, the tone of delivery and his actions were powerful….God what a wonder you are. I love his last words; its similar to the last words of Paul “I have fought the good fight….”. I wonder if he knew that would be his last speech. I wonder what we would do if we knew today was all we had in this world. If you  knew today would be your last day, what would you do differently?

Genesis 3 – disobedience

        Once upon a time, there lived a king called the almighty God, who created things and had everything. He had a couple (Adam and Eve) whom he allowed to live in his kingdom because he was a nice king. He called these couple one day and told them they can have access to everything in his kingdom that they wanted, but they should not touch a tree in the middle of his kingdom because if they touched or ate from it, they will die. This king loved these couple so much, they were his friends and he gave them everything they wanted.

       One day, while Adam was away at work,and Eve was idle at home, a serpent came to chat her up. It convinced Eve to touch the tree in the middle of the kingdom, and to eat from the fruit of the tree. Eve plucked the fruit and ate, she loved it and she took more to give to her husband. When Adam came back from work, Eve presnted the fruits and Adam ate. Of course Adam knew the fruit was different and that it came from the tree in the middle of the garden, but either he was too hungry or he was too glad to be waited on by his wife.

        They disobeyed God and they had to face the consequences. A lot of people have questioned the “love” of God by putting the tree in the middle of the garden where he knew they would see it. To those peopl, I would love to ask them some questions? When you were a kid growing up, you were told not to touch a hot stove or fire. If you touch a hot stove and get burned, does that mean your parents didnt love you because they put a stove in the house? If you have a squatter in your home and you allow the squatter do whatever they wanted in the home; you gave them access to your house phone but told them not to make international calls on your land line. If they went ahead to make calls with your land line incurring a bill as long as my hand with yur phone carrier, does that mean you were a cruel person for putting the phone in the house?

             Adam and Eve disobeyed and they had to face the consequences, in the same manner, there’s always a consequence for every step/decision we take in life

 

How to pray

God this is what I want, but above all, I want your will concerning this issue to be done in Jesus name, Amen.

Wife search 4

24(Z)For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh:- the man doesn’t stay back with his family (things that would entangle), he leaves them. In most cultures it is well acceptable for a woman to leave her parents house for her husband’s home. But reading that the man shall leave too? It all shows that they both leave and go build their own.

They leave, to go become one with each other without the complications or distractions of families/friends/neighbors/every other person. When you are trying to bring two beautiful things together, you have to be very careful, else, things tend to go both ways; You have to know when it is right to come together, when the coming together is in sync and at equilibrium with self so as not to overdo anything. To achieve this, you need to be attentive and detail oriented, to be attentive, you need to devote time to what you are doing. Devoting time means leaving other things and looking unto what God has given you. As suitable help mates, you ought to be able to look beyond the things around you that could entangle, confuse or destroy the union God has set for you. Every one of us one time in our life seeks attention whether we want to believe or not, and as suitable help mates, you ought to give attention to the other partner. You ought to show interest and show devotion, by making an emotional investment. All these can be achieved at the best quality, only when you stop pitching other things against your spouse, and start looking firmly to him/her as part of you, as bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh, as two beans in a pod, as two people from the same source, receiving the same nutrient together.

25(AA)And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed:- most people take this line literally. Yeah, of course it means they were both butt naked like little kids playing outside and were not ashamed of that. It’s normal for you to show some sort of reaction (apprehension, shame or confusion) when you are naked and someone walks in on you or sees you naked. For some people, their first reaction is to try to cover themselves up, while others may resort to hiding. But this is not so with two suitable help mates; when you are with your suitable mate, you should be able to get naked physically without feeling ashamed (ugly, rejected, confused, shame, apprehension). You ought to have a sense of trust and confidence in your state of nakedness, for you are there with the person you were meant to be with. They were not ashamed because they were not doing anything that needed to be ashamed of. They were threading on the right path as ordained by God; when you do right you need not be ashamed of anything. In addition, being naked means they were very open to one another, no secrets, just bare for the other to see and at the end of the day, neither was ashamed of what he/she found out. Adam did not notice a blemish in Eve and broadcast it, nah, he was grateful and unashamed of what he had, and the same for Eve too; he didn’t notice that Adam was too fat or that his pot belly is not to her taste. Being naked without being ashamed means, that you both should appreciate yourself, so much so, that you are not ashamed of yourselves—when you find a suitable help mate, you ought to be naked without being ashamed, you ought to be willing to accept the person for what he/she is, and you ought to be able to walk freely with the person as someone who is one with you, for that is the right thing to do. Being naked without being ashamed does not mean trying to hide the person or hide from the person, so that your friends won’t know that you are acquainted with such a person. No, it means accepting what you have.

As you ponder over these words, may God add his blessings to his spoken words.

Wife search 3

23The man said, “(Y) this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”:- Appreciation! There is nothing as sweet as being appreciated. The man appreciated his gift— he was grateful to God. He acknowledged what the woman was—bone of his bones, which is, being one with him. Therefore, he realized he cannot do something to hurt her since he knew he would be hurting himself. When you beat a part of your body, you whole body hurts from it, and not just that part you beat. He gave her a name- a pet name, a name given by him for her. God called her Eve, Adam called her Woman (his pet name, endearment for her). He knew what the presence of Eve meant to him, and he acknowledged everything about her.

You ever wonder why he ate the fruit from Eve without protesting. He knew they were already one. He was ready to accept and protect her. You ever wondered why Adam did not send Eve packing or kicked her out after God sent them out of the Garden of Eden; after all, it was Eve that made him to sin. I mean, we could argue he would have every right to divorce her for making him lose the beautiful thing he had in the garden and causing him to toil night and day, but did he do that? No! Why? Because he realized Eve was a bone of his bones, a flesh of his flesh, an integral part of him, and sending her away would be making him incomplete once again, and no one ever wants to be incomplete. Therefore, when you find a suitable help mate, you ought to be willing to stay with the person in spite of anything, this is why the clause “in sickness and in health, in riches and in poor, till death do us part” is incorporated into the marriage utterance, but most people recite this without knowing the full impact. I would love to include here that such utterances are vows in the sight of God and if you cannot keep your vow to God, then don’t enter one, for it is written “Do not be quick with your mouth or hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. 4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God” Ecc 5: 2, 4-7)

Genesis 2 – Wife search

        Sometimes we read the bible and memorize them, yet one day and out of the blue a meaning to the scripture hits us in the eyes. Early this morning, I came across Genesis 2: 18b (The Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him”). This got me thinking about helpers/help mates. From this passage, we understand that there can be a helper who is not suitable. We shall look into suitable and unsuitable helper. Who is a suitable helper? What makes him/her suitable? Who is an unsuitable helper? What makes him/her unsuitable?

        This passage went further to narrate that God searched for a suitable mate for Adam among his other creations, but could not find one. Then, he had to find one in Adam. How did he do that? Adam was put to sleep; the flesh in him was put to death, and GOD had to work in him and with him to get his mate. What’s the significance of this? When you are asleep, you are not aware of things happening around you most of the time, so we can also liken it to being dead. Sleep here implies being dead to things around you that used to matter, being dead to the cares of this world; Being dead to the worldly pleasures. Usually, I use the term maturity for this level of growth. This is the level where you wake up and you realize that some of the youthful exuberance/acts that used to matter to you don’t matter no more. This is the point where a friend calls you up and says “hey, we are hitting this joint/club tonight” and you find an excuse not to go, not because you are trying to be self righteous, but because it no longer range high in your priorities.

            Now, you couldn’t care any less whether you hang out at a joint or not. I have couple of friends that attain this height without even knowing this is what is going on with them—they just realize they don’t get the same adrenaline rush from doing the same old things they used to do. When I first came across this passage in the bible and was trying to make meaning out of it, I tried putting the information I had side by side, and I understood why some of them didn’t know what was happening. Most of them would say, “there are things that you over grow and this is one of them”. “These are things I have done before and they don’t trip me no more”. “I have some priorities now, and this does not range high” or plain old “I don’t know what’s happening to me”. The truth is—it is a new level of maturity, and when you attain it, be grateful because not everyone has come of age in that department.

             It wasn’t said whether the rib was returned after it was taken, No, it was taken and the flesh was sealed back. And the rib was used to create a new being, a spouse, a mini me, a clone of the original, ok, not clone per se, another gender then. His mate was found in him and taken from him; when you remove something that belongs to you from its original position, say a part of your body is removed or even a possession of yours occupying a space is taken away, you don’t feel complete until that thing is returned. Therefore, I shall state here that Adam was not fully complete when one of his ribs was taken from him, however, this rib was returned to him in the form of EVE, and then, he was complete. In other words, when you find the suitable helper, you ought to feel complete. You ought to feel like something that was missing from you since, has been returned. This is why it is said that good partners (suitable mates) complete, they don’t compete. Since the helper is got from the same source, there must be some similarities to signify compatibility, that is, since it was the same rib of his. It’s like a pregnant mother and her baby connected by the placenta; the same gene flows through them, the same source of nutrient.

Genesis 1

          In the beginning, God created one earth and more than one heaven (2 Cor. 12:2, Job 38:4 attests to more than one heaven). He created everything found in these places including living and non living things, thrones, dominions, rulers/authorities for his pleasure. There’s an excitement that comes with creating/making things. A seamstress who sews a cloth is excited when he/she sees the final outcome. An artist who puts a pencil or paint to paper and ends up with a drawing/picture is excited when the sketch turns into something. This goes for proud fathers/mothers when they see their babies for the first time or at any time. There’s an excitement that comes with making things, and I bet God was that excited when he was creating the earth and heavens.

        The earth was shapeless and filled with water after God created it, if you had seen it then, you probably would have laughed and wondered what in the world he was doing. Its like being in an art class, and you are told to mold something out of clay. You get the clay and before you start, you have to flatten the clay into a shapeless form. If you continue with this shapeless form, you could end up with a unique cup, however, you also have a choice of leaving the class without molding anything, hence leaving you with a shapeless clay form. God could have left the earth to be shapeless and empty, but he did not stop there.

            Another interesting thing that happened here was that something God created was shapeless, empty and covered in darkness. (You could question yourself and ask why God would create something like that), however the next sentence outlines that the spirit of God was hovering over the surface. Sometimes in life, you may feel so broken and empty but something still keeps you going on. If you are a believer, it may be the spirit of God that is hovering over you. You may see yourself falling deep into darkness or sin but the spirit still hovers over you, this is why David prayed in Ps 51, God, do not take your spirit away from me.

           God created light and made a boundary between light and darkness (Job 26:10). There’s a line between light and darkness, which is why the bible made it known to us that there is no fellowship between light and darkness. God created lights in the sky to provide light on earth, to demarcate day from night and to serve as sign for festivals, for days and for years. In days when we did not have calendars, the moons and other lights in the sky were used as a sign to know what month or season we were in. Some cultures still use thdse signs today. When a full moon appears in such cultures, it signifies some sort of festival or season. You could be without a calendar today and still know how many days have passed just by witnessing the sun rise and sun set–this is the handwork of God.

             In five days, God spoke and those things which were not came to be showing the power in spoken words, especially for those who believe in God. For Christ said that to those who believe, everything is possible (Mk. 9:23), he also said in John 14:12-20 that those who believe in him will be able to do more works (miracles) than he did when he was on earth. In the miracles of Jesus, he said the words, and the sick were healed. Peter told the crippled at the gate “silver nor gold have I none, but what I have I will give you, in the name of Jesus, rise” and the man was able to walk–Power in the spoken words. If you believe, start exercising this promise of God to his children, call things that are not into existence, remind God of the promise of Jesus in Jn 14 and call that which is not, into existence. Ps. 34 said taste and see that the Lord is good, you have to taste to be able to make this conclusion.

             Watever God created, he gave a name, he defined them; what is the name you call yourself? what is the name people call you? what is the name you call things you have created. If you don’t define yourself, people will define you, and sometimes that is the last thing you want to happen ‘cos they would be way off the marker.

           God made an expanse that separated the water on earth, he called this expanse “sky”, hence beyond the sky, there’s still a portion filled with water. Furthermore, God made the earth produce vegetations; seed bearing plants, fruit bearing trees–they all produced according to their kinds, in other words, an orange tree produced an orange and not a grape. God created living creatures in the sea, birds that fly, livestocks, wildlife, creatures that crawl. The unique thing about this was that God showed that he was an organized person and also he showed that he was not a stagnant God, he is in the business of production. He created the trees/plants and the trees/plants were supposed to create more of themselves, in other words, they were supposed to multiply. If this concept was not in place today, perhaps, it would have been only you or only me in this world today–how boring/lonely that would be. God blessed them before giving them the mandate to go and multiply. If you are a couple looking for the fruit of the womb, use this promise to pray. Remind God of his mandate that you should go in and multiply, and see if he will not bless you with children.

              The hallmark of this chapter is that God decided to make human beings and instead of speaking them into existence, he decided to form them, thereby elevating their status on earth. He made man in his own image. An image is similar to the original and that is what we are taught here. This is why David mentioned in Ps. 139 that we are remarkably and wonderfully made. God blessed all his creations and gave man dominion over everything he created on earth. He created man that he may rule over other things he created on earth; are you being ruled by the creatures on earth or are you ruling them. Ps 91 gave us another promise of God which is that when we believe in God and are under his covering, we can tread on snakes, scorpions, lions and they will not harm us–we are supposed to rule them and not the other way round. Joshua exhibited his rulership authority when he commanded the sun to stand still; remember the sun and other things in the expanse of the sky were created by God and God already gave man dominion/rulership over these things. Jesus exhibited this rulership when he commanded the storm to be still. What are you still waiting for before you start excising your authority in God.
         Finally, God exhibited his caring nature by providing food for his creations, he did not let them starve, he told them what to eat in the tail end of this chapter.

Summary:
God did not create the earth and everything in it in one day, it took patience. He did not abandon the creation after the first day when he saw that the earth was formless, rather he decided to make things better. It’s like moving into a new house/apartment and seeing that the room is empty. You dont pack out of the house because of that, rather you seek to buy furnitures to fill the room up. Do you have patience? it is a virtue. This is not the time to abandon the task which God has deposited into your hands, ask him to give you patience to endure and to finish the work you have started. When your creation is right, it will be pleasing to you and to God. In addition, God appreciated the things he created; he appreciated the fact that they were good. How many times do we pause to appreciate ourselves or things we have accomplished in life. If you have not done that today, take a moment to do it now. Think of your accomplishments/creations, and appreciate that they are good.

My lovefest with God

          I don’t know everything I need/want to know about God, but one thing I know is that I love God. He is a wonderful person, a nice person, a great person—did I mention he is nice? He is humble enough to answer me when I call on him. I have tried friends, they have failed me many times, I have tried family and even though they love me, they can’t always be there for me. I have tried God and even in the midst of it all, he is always there for me.

         Today, things are not all rosy, things have not always been rosy, but one thing I know is that having a little knowledge of who God is, is the best thing that ever happened to me. Everyday, I try to learn more, knowledge they say is power, but knowledge about God for me is the master key to many doors. If I know everything about God, I would be the richest and luckiest person on earth, but even with the little I know, I am grateful that I know him.

           I like God which is why I try not to indulge in religious arguments, I respect him enough not to wanna get into it, not because of anything but because I don’t wanna embarrass him. I don’t know everything I ought to know about God, and because of that I seek to know more. Engaging in futile arguments about religion or God has caused lots of havoc which is contrary to what it should be. Arguments and debates are not my forte, so if you want an argument about God, you are barking the wrong tree, but if you want a report or story on my walk/relationship with God, then you are talking to the right person.

My atheist friend

          I grew up with the notion that almost every kid went to church. I grew up and realized it wasn’t so. I was fortunate to get a friend who neither went to church as a kid nor as an adult; unlike my family, his parents made it a free and fair election were you get to do what you like as regards to your faith/belief. He claims he decided to seek God in college and was devoted for a while, had lots of questions about God and life but couldn’t get the answers he needed, so he concluded there was no God. I used to think we met when he was towards the end of his question marathon, so I got to hear him talk down on God and things about God.

          I was dumbfounded and shocked the first time I heard the hurtful and malice filled words coming from him. The only thing I knew to do was to go to bed trembling —I didn’t know it had eaten to his marrow. I asked for help from people regarding this friend of mine, but nothing seemed to work. I prayed almost every day for him and his salvation. Sometimes when I expect a development to have occurred based on my prayers, it would seem like he has deteriorated the more. I got angry, I got pushy, I got sad, but at the end of the day, I realized its not to him that runneth but to him that showeth mercy.

              There is only one God, and he is the one that calls those he wants; he is the one able to change the hearts of stone to heart of men; he is the one who determines when it is time to come to him; he is the one who called Saul on his way to Damascus; he is the one who changed the route for Jonah. He is the one who directs and knows all things. He has planned it and at this point, he has given my friend a heart of stone, but I do pray he would have mercy upon him and give him a heart of man, a heart of repentance. Give him the eyes to see and the ears to hear beyond the physical. My friend’s ultimate, especially when it comes to God is science; he believes science alone can explain everything in the universe, believes science is the key, but I do pray that one day he will come to a greater understanding of who God is. And above all, I hope he comes to that understanding not on a sick bed or when it is too late for him to make any changes in life.