This is the first in a series of stories about women in the Holy Bible, who got a new lease on life, against all odds.
They were reviled but they all ended up in the lineage of the King of Kings - JESUS.
We are all eligible for change, progress & lifting because they do not have a religion, time or place.
What looks bad in your life today can be used to do you good tomorrow.
See the story of LEAH.
Gen 29:16-35
Vs 16-18 Leah was the elder but her younger sister was the preferred.
Vs 25 Her husband's disappointment in her was from the wedding night. She was unwanted and rejected by the man who married her.
Vs 27-30 Leah got a rival, her own sister, one week after after she got married.
Vs 31 God saw the trouble and humiliation that Leah was going through and He blessed her.
Leah's 4th child/son was the beginning of the lineage of Jesus - JUDAH!
What is profound about this is that Judah was not her 1st but her 4th in a long line of sons. Her change came when she took her eyes off man and focused on God.
You see, God hears our cries; He has heard your cry and He will bless you.
All He's waiting for is that moment when we take our eyes off man and focus on Him.
When there is no alternative to His intervention, He performs miracles for posterity.
I have long
waited for a messiah, to begin the revolution that will change the status quo.
The longer I
waited, the more desperate I became and the worse the situation.
How long O’God
will things remain like this?
When will we
begin to see the difference?
The more I
cried, the longer it seemed I will remain where I was.
Until the
light shone and I realized I could no longer sit on the sidelines waiting.
I
had to jump into the fray, play my part and believe the best.
Now I choose
to stand and speak against injustice. I will not be silent when I see a wrong
being done or said at work, home and anywhere I find myself.
I will not
keep quiet and go to my comfort zone to vent.
The change
cannot come when I cover a wrong, protect the lazy or incompetent worker, support
corruption, keep the change rather than retire it, tell a lie to cover my
tracks, and so on and so forth.
I will not be
on Radio castigating the Government while in my professional association, I am
no better.
I will not be
in public shouting about changing things in Nigeria, whilst I remain too ‘big’
to maintain cordial relations with my neighbours and thereby make conditions better in my neighbourhood..
I will not be
a deacon in church whilst I deprive thousands their daily bread via pen
robbery.
I will not be
the parent paying and supporting my children in exam malpractice.
I will not be
the one shunting the queue.
I will be
good to those I meet, helpful where help is needed and polite even to children.
I may be vilified for this, but it won’t matter whose ox is gored.
I will speak
up when and where it matters.
I may be
called ‘ase ju’, ‘mary amaka’, or even ‘ITK’, but I will remain on my watch
because the change I seek begins with me!
When I started attending the meetings of VPWM, I was not very committed
and I wasted a lot of time before God called me to order.
Since then, He’s taught me a couple of destiny defining principles
which I share here.
1.Be
yourself, especially in the Presence/House of God.
In the presence of
God, there is Liberty. [1Cor 3: 17] You can be yourself without excuses.
Remember, they were
NAKED AND NOT ASHAMED. [Gen 2:25; emphasis mine]
2.Praise
looks good on you.
Whenever you are opportune
to be where God is being praised, ensure you do it with all your might because
He inhabits the praises of His people. [Ps 22:3 KJV]
God loves it when
we praise Him and we touch His garment when we do.
3.Look
unto God and not unto man.
When you are
privileged to be part of a community of believers, seek the face and presence
of God therein and not the approval of man.
Don’t get involved
in the talk-talk or gossip that leads to offence. Rather, keep yourself, your
heart and mind open to receive from God.
Expect to meet with
God every time…and you will!
4.See
and respect the anointing even if you don’t like the person or you know their
weaknesses/past.
Do not allow
familiarity with a person blind you to the anointing.
You may know the
man or woman of God from way back but once there is an anointing on them, they
are no longer who you used to know.
While saying “Is
Saul also among the prophets?”, you may just miss your prophetic blessing.
[1Sam 10:9-11 (AMP)]
God is still using
the seemingly foolish things of this world to confound the wise.
5.God
is present in every congregation where His name is called.
When you enter any
gathering of believers, be sensitive to God’s presence because He is there in
every little thing. He’s speaking from the Ushers, Praise & Worship,
Testimonies, Message, benediction and The Grace.
He is speaking
throughout but only the one listening will hear Him. [Ex 20:24b (NKJV)]
6.Friends
can become your distraction.
Once you get into
the assembly of believers, be on your own.
Don’t allow
yourself to be distracted by those close to you.
Learn to determine
your level of friendships by how the person helps you stay on the path of
destiny.
Your friend can
make or mar your destiny, choose wisely. [Prov 13:20, Prov 27:17]
7.See
people through God’s eyes.
God does not judge
or bless the way we do.
What we use to
determine who gets promoted is not what God uses and until we begin to see
through God’s eyes, we will end up displeasing God with our actions, inactions,
speech and thoughts.
The Lord does not
see as we see. [1Sam 16:7b]
You may think you
know a person’s pedigree but you do not know their “spiritgree” nor the level
of their SQ (Spiritual Quotient) or DQ (Destiny Quotient). [1Sam 9:21; 10:1]
Playing games on cell phones can become quite addictive, and
very quickly too. It can take your time and even become a distraction.
A couple of days ago, I was thinking about it and I realized
how like those cell phone games a marriage was.
There are different types of games, like LG’s
zoozoo club, battle reverse, Nokia’s Bubblet, Beach Rally, etc. For
different games, there are different techniques and different instructions.
This is the same for marriages too. Every marriage has its own unique
set of instructions and techniques.
The background and orientation of each party is different
and so are their personalities and values.
Therefore, one should not expect a strong willed man from an
affluent background and a loving family to act in the same way as a strong
willed man from a lower-income background and a broken home.
Each of us comes into marriage with our unique characteristics, likes
and dislikes.
To excel in marriage, we would therefore, need to study and
understand the unique characteristics of one another as partners.
When you want to play a cell phone game, the first thing you do is …
read the instructions.
We may not understand it fully but at least, we get an idea of how to
proceed. We may make mistakes along the way but we can always seek help and
navigate back to the right lane.
This is the novice stage where mistakes abound and high
scores could be rare.
In marriage, we also have this stage where we rub each other
the wrong way more often.
Studying our uniqueness in marriage means that we not only can
understand ourselves better, but that we can also deal with the challenges
whenever we encounter them.
In my experience, you do not become an expert or start excelling in a
game immediately you start playing it. As you continue playing regularly, you
find yourself getting better and better. The more you play, the more you enjoy
playing and the higher your scores.
If you give up, you will never improve your game or get good at it.
The more you play, the more you discover better ways of
playing and improving your scores.
In marriage, the more willing you are to work at it, the faster
you improve on your relationship building/problem solving techniques and the better
your marriage relationship gets.
If you give up your game too early, you will never get the hang of it.
And too early means different time spans for different people; it depends on
the personalities and orientations/backgrounds of each individual.
In fact, giving up means you will never know how good you would have
been in the game.
The longer you play, the better you play and the better you
play, the better your results get.
To stay in the game for as long as it will take for you to
do well in it takes determination and a form of willpower, but without it,
there can be no success.
As in the game, the harder and more determined you are to work
at your marriage with the attendant positive results, the more you will enjoy
your marriage relationship.
Your victories may be little and not even often enough, but
hang in there, whether in the game or in your marriage and soon enough, you
will become an expert!
ex·pert(kspûrt)
n.
1. A person with a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain subject.
2.
a. The highest grade that can be achieved in marksmanship.
b. A person who has achieved this grade.
adj.(kspûrt, k-spûrt)
Having, involving, or demonstrating great skill, dexterity, or knowledge as the result of experience or training.
Silence is golden
k
spûrt
)
k-spûrt