THE ULTIMATE NAVIGATOR

Oftentimes we wake up and believe that we are the best navigators of our lives. Going on a journey that you are not familiar with requires getting a sat nav or using google maps or Waze to assist in directing you. You rely on these so badly that any attempt of power failure destabilizes you.  

This Instrument becomes the key component in leading you to your destination on that journey. It literally becomes your life guide and anchor. As wonderful and beautiful as this instrument is, there is a place it cannot direct you to. That place is You. Your Maker is the most powerful and legitimate navigator you will ever need in life. He formed you and has the manuscript of your life. The A to Z of your journey on earth. He is the sat nav of your life.

It is irrelevant to plan your life without Him because it would be headed for ruin and you would never be fully fulfilled. In every season and point in your life, He knows which direction is best for you. Your Maker cannot be manoeuvred or manipulated. He is not caught unaware by your misbehaviour. His expectation from you is your surrender and engagement with Him.  

As you continue this journey of life with Him, allow Him to be the Ultimate Navigator! Completely lean on Him, build a lasting relationship with Him and trust Him to direct your life. Life is fragile and short and can only be lived well when we allow the Ultimate Navigator to lead us. A ship depends on the captain to sail, it can never lead itself. 

Stop assuming you have all it takes to lead your life by yourself without the help of your Maker. You need Him because you cannot control the wind that blows on your path. The Ultimate Navigator is the master skilled driver. He never crashes or stops by any force. No barrier can hold Him down. He rules and reigns over the affairs of life. He created all that exists and He is timeless. He never runs out of resources that would lead you to your destination. He has everything needed for the journey. 

Our God is a Limitless God! Why don’t you take the passenger’s seat of your life and allow Him to drive! He’s the best and most reliable driver you would ever require in life.

GRATITUDE

Walking through life at times has been lonely. Constantly wondering how I would survive worried me and seeking help seemed hopeless. Consequently, waking up every morning and not knowing what I would face, brought tension and anxiety that discouraged me from making progress. Yet, in all of this, I never paid attention to who I really was, and why I was here. I never sat down to think about my existence, until I realised that I had hit a major roadblock. This roadblock was ingratitude. 

As a result of this Ingratitude to life, I saw nothing good in me, recounted all my woes daily, felt inadequate and less unique than others. I paid so much attention to lies in my head and never took out time to appreciate the beauty in me. I allowed the opinions of others to overwhelm me and surrendered myself to being a Whiner. This robbed me of moving past my limitations and kept me incapacitated for decades, wishing that a day would come when it would all fly away and everything would be okay. 

Eventually, a day came when I was asked what I was grateful for and I replied nothing, then I was asked,  ‘do you like your fingers?’ and I answered ‘Yes’, and I was told to be grateful for that. I wondered what being grateful for my fingers had to do with gratitude. Well, it brought me to a place where I could see how beautiful and well created I was and to learn to appreciate that. I decided to take a step further and be grateful for my eyes, nose and other parts of my body.  

Practising gratitude changed my life as it brought healing, a perspective shift, wholeness and a healthy focus to my life. I saw a picture that was bigger than me and that I am wonderful, unique, fearless and beautiful. My body began to blossom and become fruitful daily. Gratitude took away the toxicity inside of me and filled it with Hope, Love, Joy and Peace. 

It became a fire extinguisher that shut down the negativity internally and externally.  As I watered my life daily with gratitude I grew and expanded in my sphere. Gratitude pushed me to victory,  matured me and brought me to a place of authenticity. No longer was I robbed of who I am. 

Choose Gratitude and walk away from Ingratitude. Make Gratitude your lifestyle.  

PASSOVER A TIME TO BE FREE

We are in a beautiful season called “Passover”. It is a time of the Year, where I take out time to study the book of Exodus. That book brings me back to a place of detoxification in my body, spirit and mind.  It reminds me of the essence of True Freedom- I begin to look within and see places that I have been in bondage and begin to allow the Power of Jesus’ Blood to set me free.

Passover is a feast that reminds me of how the children of Israel were delivered from oppression in Egypt and most importantly it was also a time Jesus died and rose from the grave. This feast is so significant in the sense, that it shows how much we are loved by God.

I am reminded of how Israel has been in severe bondage and oppression. It was so hard on them, that the only choice they had was to cry to God. I remember going through oppression, and how I wept internally everyday, wondering “when am I going to be Free?”

It was the most difficult time of my life, my true identity was thwarted. I was abused emotionally and physically by people I looked up to. I began to have suicidal thoughts and felt not worthy of living. Today, it is history, because I had to reach out to My Only Anchor and He stretched out His Hands, delivered me and gave me victory.

We have different things that have kept us in bondage, but we can experience Freedom today by going back to where it all started. The cry of the Israelites got God’s attention and He came down for them. Are you ready to get God to come down for you in this season?

He is the same, yesterday today and forever, so He will do it for you. All you need is just weep, cry out. Psalm 34:7 says: The Righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

I believe you can experience the same victory. Not only were they delivered, He brought them out up to a land that was flowing with milk; a place of abundance.  The price of Freedom for God’s people is incomprehensible. The cost of our freedom is worth God’s while. It’s Time to be Free.

VICTORY IS HERE!

For many people, Life has become uninteresting in the recent days; mostly because of the chaos and growing sense of uncertainty that is hovering around the word. It has so much weight that joy has ceased in the atmosphere

But 1 John3:8b says:

The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works the devil [has done].

This clearly tells me, that God saw what life would turn out to be in this time and sent His Son with the mandate to destroy the enemy and his cohorts ahead of time. Meditating on this Word shifted me to a place of living in the Victory that has been won. I am constantly reminded through the Word of God about the victory that we have in Christ.

Whose report will you believe today, the Word of the Lord or the News around you? Everyone has a battle they are facing now, but I encourage you to embrace this Truth and declare it. No life challenges are new to God, and He has made all things available for us to triumph over them.

The word undois understood as overrule, reverse, and untie what has been done. What is it that needs to be reversed or untied in your life?No matter what it is, I challenge you this day to begin to do that by opening your mouth and speak forth into it. Cease to murmur or complain. Hit the enemy with the Truth you have, as your weapon and declare that your Victory is here.

Mrs. Uchenna Samuel is a counsellor trained in the Prophetic Ministry, by Father’s Heart Ministry Missouri, and Global Sphere, Corinth, Texas USA. With a burning heart to see individuals and nations free, she set up the Warriors School and Warriors Arise commissions. She can be reached directly at info@uchennasamuel.com.

THE FORTYONE YEARS

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul after thee, O God.’ Psalm 42.

How I sit in deep admiration and total appreciation of His goodness in my life these forty-one years!I have often wondered how I made it through. It has been days of weeping and laughing. It has been lonely and fruitful. My life has been at a hard place for a long time, wondering when it will be over.

I learnt how to worship God and stick to him like glue. I learnt how to lock myself in my room and cry, weep, talk, be quiet before Him. He is my backbone, my rock, my anchor, my defence, my keeper, my lover, my teacher, my all in all.

He never ceases to amaze me. He fills my whole being with His Presence. Anything or anyone outside of Him cannot get to the depth of me. I fly when I am with Him. He is My Healer. Ever healing my wounds and restoring what is lost.

My inner-most being ever longs for my Maker, who alone has brought me out of deep, murky waters. He has shown me mercy like no one could and lifted my head dropping from shame and pains. He has clothed me with His righteousness, dusted my forehead and place His shine upon my downcast vesture.

You changed my rags, constantly waiting around the corner for my home-coming, turned my poverty away-gave me a song, put a dance in my feet. Precious God, Holy Father! ‘My soul thirsts for God, yes for the living God: when shall I come and appear before Him?There is no God like you, no, not one! How You love me!

I lift up my tambourine, my voice-all of me in humble declaration that You alone are worthy oh God to receive honour, glory and praise! You that chart the destiny of the destitute and rejects of men, and make ‘something’ out of ‘nothing’ who is a god like our God?

Merciful Father! Ancient of days, the all-knowing, all-sufficient God! You rule in the affairs of men. How I Celebrate Your faithfulness. Your wisdom is unsearchable. Your grandeur cannot be compared with the wealthiest of men. Yet you are my Father!

Oh! How much I love you Daddy. He is never tired of having me, always opening His arms wide for me. My cheerleader, always cheering me on and giving me His hand to accompany me. My life is all yours and will never exist without you. Even when family and friends turned their backs and said I am not good and hopeless, then You said to me, ‘no not you, but you are beautiful and the best’.

The very nature of Me is in you, daughter and you glow in My light; Stand tall and know that I am here and will never leave you nor forsake you. Your word has kept me and will continue till you call me home. I love you. I am glad I was forsaken and despised by man so that you will have all of me.

REJECTION

Rejection is a sinking feeling of not being accepted approved of and in some extreme cases, berated and abused by no design of the victim. It gives a deep-seated feeling of being unworthy and constantly faced by unhealthy competition and comparisons.

However, it has been observed that it is not usually the fault of the one who is being rejected. Rejection is often informed by the un-informed or under-informed and a jaded view of the one who is rejecting another. Also, this action is usually backed up by jealousy, envy, distrust and lack of confidence from the former to the later, so as to attack their self-confidence and derail the victims from their purpose and destiny.

Our text in John chapter 6 vs.21-71 shed light on the subject; vs. 42 illustrates how Jesus’ ministry was talked down at by neighbours who felt they ‘knew’ Him. They rejected the Son of God just like Israel rejected God would later go on to pay dearly for it.

Rejection is not a pleasant experience. Being rejected by your loved ones and people you consider closest to you is like thrusting the sword through ones bowels. Jesus was rejected by the His own people. At some point, they wanted to throw Him off the cliff because they could not stand Him.

Most of the time people reject you because they cannot stand you. They think they know much about you- how you were born, your upbringing or growing up, your family history, your ‘highs’ and your ‘lows’, therefore they do not deem you fit for certain positions or ‘manifestations’ of superior thinking or gifting.

You become an automatic candidate for rejection when you begin to shift from the norm and common things in your environment. The point when you realize you must not settle for less and begin to exhibit some form of self-awareness and identity recognition, steers the wheel of the ocean of wherever you are coming from.

When Jesus revealed His identity as ‘Bread of heaven’, His flesh to be eaten and blood drank, and being the divine agent of God on earth for the complete redemption plan, some of them were ‘offended’ and went back from following Him, (John 6 vs. 60-71). He further asked the twelve, if they were willing to stick with Him, for He knew (as God) what the days ahead held in its belly.

Until you read your mission/vision statements, you will never be able to decipher those who have the capacity to sticks with you! Isn’t it amazing that the people were only content with the ‘Miracles’ than the ‘One’ who performed them? They were quick to reject the Son of God when he reeled out His purpose.

We all get to that point on our voyage to purpose and destiny where we are afraid to walk alone. When the other disciples turned back from following because the saying was hard, Jesus turned to the twelve and asked…’will you also go away? Vs. 67. Although He was divine, yet He was human. The agony of being left alone by His own very disciples stared Him in the face.

Peter’s response though commendable could still not quench the flame of being rejected and ultimately betrayed by one of His own that dined and supped with Him. Rejection can come from any source. Little wonder that David recorded…’when my father and mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up’.

You need to know that you can’t choose how people respond to or treat you, but you can choose your own responses. Jesus never lost focus of His mission. He stayed on course, so much so that when the people in His community conspired to throw Him off the cliff, remember, He just kind of breezed pass them. You don’t have to give-up on yourself because God has not given up on you. You are actually His showpiece of grace and power. Constantly state your mission and vision loud to yourself and know the One that sent you. You’ve got God’s approval on your life.

Anyone who walks away from you was not meant to be a part of you. They might have lingered for some time or been around long enough on your schedule and list of ‘Family and Friends’, but they were never a part of what you did. They were just sceptics, seeking for an occasion to sell you cheap to the enemy; they had no value for your time and the things you stand for and uphold. It was just a matter of time- they were still going to leave anyway…But God always have a bigger plan! He is the bigger picture God. He calls the shots. The photo-shoot is just beginning. Get dressed; you will be gladly pleased at the end results.

MY INHERITANCE

How do you feel walking whole heartedly with God, while waiting to possess your inheritance? Did you have to wait like Caleb, for forty five years for the fulfilment of it. It’s interesting How God works. When the twelve spies were sent by Moses to spy the land, it was said that Joshua and Caleb brought back positive news, the rest were negative.

Moses declared a word over Caleb that the Land on which your feet had walked will be for your inheritance and that of your children forever. Just as Moses’ proclamation, promises, words, declarations did not happen instantly. Caleb went through many processes for it to manifest.

The beauty of our testimony you will agree, is not always what the congregation or the public see, it is the ‘Things that lie in-between’ the period we receive the word and its full manifestation. The period can be termed, ‘The Cooking Period’.

The period where you deny yourself  food, drink and sleep in the middle of the night when others are sleep…and you know that this type goeth not out except by prayer and fasting; Those periods when you do not care if you are grammatically or politically correct; Those moments when your acrylic finger-fitting or fixing don’t matter to you; When you let your well-kneaded hair loose mixed with the tears and sweat, and say God, ‘I am your handmaid, defend your name for my sake, heal my deranged or wayward child even husband or wife; The midnights when you hold unto God for dear life or are in the gap for a dear one just handed ‘a critical doctors’ report or on life-support-when you know  deep down your guts that if God does not show up, you’d bury your head in shame, and the heathen will ask you, ‘Where is now that your God?’ My dear that is the waiting time, hidden from the publics’ eye. That is the real testimony.

The time of the word and manifestation was a time he had to learn how to wait on the promise. He was grateful for where he was and was also anticipating the manifestation of the promise- waiting on God in worship of Who He is and not your situation and confessing His word in spite of what your physical senses tell you. How much do you  wait on His promise, or do you easily run out of patience, and feel well let me work it out my own way?

Caleb did not gather an army to take over the land immediately. He was carefully studying about the place and taking notes of the government that ruled the place. He knew that at the right time he would possess it but also must be fully equipped to engage in the battle of ownership. He had to think of how to overthrow and dislodge the powers ruling over the land and establish the government of God. The Land was occupied by heathens and so it was not going to be an overnight victory without any war.

What battles for your inheritance are you willing to engage in and dislodge the present occupier? What are you doing as you wait for it to manifest? Study the place, find out the history and carefully seek the Lord on how to possess it and wait for the right time. At eighty-five years, his strength was as though he was forty (young). It goes to show that he was a person of His Presence. In God’s Presence, you receive strength and strategies to conquer your mountains.

He knew he had not lost the strength and capacity to go to war. When it was time he requested for His inheritance and got it. You do not need to toil to get what is rightfully yours, wait for your time and it will be given to you.

Remember to ask. Caleb asked, and that provoked God to fulfil His word and cause His servant Joshua to bless Him. Ask and it shall be given, Knock and it shall be opened….

GOD’S NOT LATE

Many times we use the word ‘Late’, to describe a thing/situation that occurred not at the appropriate time. There were times I felt that my expectations were late in coming forth and so would want to give up. It is a common trait with the human nature. We live in a world where we want it as fast and quick as possible, but I have learnt that from creation, God had a process which had an appropriate time for everything.

One day Sarah got news from the angel of the Lord, about having a baby. She laughed about it because to her that news is long overdue and was coming at an inappropriate time- it was late and could not happen, having tried her best possible. She had looked at herself and believed that the time for the manifestation of the promise was long past. To the human mind that is true. She had seen that her internal organs and physiology could not house a child, thus being pregnant, talk-less of bearing a child was a dream long forgotten.

She was well advanced in age and now a baby? Where will she start in nursing and weaning one? Where is the strength for that? These are all the thoughts that might have run through her mind. She felt ridiculed by such word from the Lord and laughed about it. How many times have you received a word from the Lord and you laughed about it and brushed it aside? It does happen, because we think from a place of the natural mind, which is limited.

The prophecy became a reality, at the appointed time. The intention and purposes of God came into manifestation at His own timing. I believe that during the process of waiting for the promise, there was a window in the heart, which got opened for her, to dream again about having a baby of her own.

She made a huge mistake while waiting, in trying to fix things for God. However, her mistake did not stop the promise of God from coming forth. All of her experience during that time lag of the manifestation was a process to get her to see the purpose of God for her life and get her equipped for it.

We could look at it and say, but God why the wait for twenty five years?  Well to Him that is just like less than a day! He knew the best time for Sarah and Abraham and had both of them positioned for it. I believe that if they were alive today; they would say to me, “Wait for the promise no matter how long it takes, because in His own time He makes all things beautiful”. 

Isaac came forth and indeed was a blessing to them. Sarah? She had everything, psychologically, physically and physiologically to nurse the child of promise. God is dynamic in all His ways, and has His own timing which is nothing like ours, so let us get our hearts aligned to His timing and rejoice over the outcome of it all.   He is not a man that He should lie.

…FROM INSIDE-OUT….

Have you ever wondered why, women tend to spend lots of time on their external looks. Some say, because they are vain by nature, so say it reflects who you are. I see it from a place of how beauty is important.  Going back to creation, God is beautiful and all His works are splendid. He is beauty and everything He fashioned and designed on earth was to express His creativity. When He formed man, He placed His unique nature on Him, which means no one was born to be ugly but to reveal His beauty. In Psalm 139:14, it says “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

The process women go through to look beautiful externally, can be likened to how Our Father desires to see us embrace His works in our lives and live it out daily. We get so consumed with lots of mundane things that we forget, the Indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit in us and what it is meant to produce in our daily lives

We are called to move from one level of Glory to another. This Glory is the abiding Presence of God which we are expected to carry within us and reveal it everywhere we go. It was like in the days of Jesus. He did not announce Himself, what He was on the inside revealed who He was. I believe it is important we get our internal thoroughly cleaned and purged of every dirt, so that we can manifest His Beauty and Power on earth.

I can imagine what our lives will look like when we are beautiful inside-out.  I am sure the transformation that would take place in our community and nations would be awesome. Do not limit yourself to look good for what people can see, get into that hidden part and begin to scrub the dirt out with brush, the brush which is God’s Word.  As you consistently do that you will begin to see the beauty being restored back and you will like the fruit it produces.

We live in a world where all that matters is to hide the internal, and push out the external, but I have seen that over time if not addressed and dealt with, it will completely mess up the external and ruin your Identity.

There were ten virgins who were expecting the Bridegroom. They needed to make some preparations, while they waited for his arrival. Five were well prepared and had extra oil for their lamps, but the other five prepared but did not have extra oil for their lamps. Could it be that they were so occupied and carried away with their external  look on that day for the bridegroom, and forgot about having an extra oil, in case things do not turn out as  planned?

The Bridegroom came in late and they could not see him, due to the oil in the lamp was finished and their lights gone dim, unlike the other five, who had gone through an inward and outward pruning/process and knew it goes beyond what the external looks like. They were proactive and positioned themselves for the worst.

Now the five foolish virgins had to go out to buy extra oil, which they should have thought of before embarking on the journey. They would not have missed the groom if they had carefully gone beyond preparing externally.  Their internal should have been positioned for unforeseen circumstances. I believe that the process they took in preparing themselves was one that they might have been carried away with just wanting to show off to the groom, but the groom was expecting something more than the external beauty.

He did not want to be impressed by just the beauty; He was looking for fruits and wisdom in them. How much do you spend on your externals, at the expense of your internal? Do you not know that your body is the Temple of the Lord, and you are to keep it fresh and healthy?

It should be constantly checked on and see that it does not entertain any form of impurities. It is through cultivating a healthy heart that our beauty radiates the One in whom we believe. It’s time to take our beauty to a new level. Let it shine from the inside-out.

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS

Have you ever been in situations where the only option you got is to win, get problem solved, and the goods delivered?

No situation/battle in life is the same, thus the need for different strategy. Brace yourself for the days ahead and do not throw pity-parties, because everything you ever believed is about to be brought under test. You are about to confront your biggest fears!

Many times we get caught up in a situation that we lose war strategies. Recently I have been studying the book of Esther. I came to know that for every battle there is a strategy that is required.

God is such a Great General, that He expects us His army to be dynamic in how we go for battle. Who would have taught from the beginning that Esther would be the Deliverer for her people. Her primary purpose was to replace someone who has been dethroned, but there is One who sees the end from the beginning. She was groomed and went through a process for this battle she would face in the future. All of her training was for this battle. I imagined how she would have reacted when the news of her people set to be destroyed was brought to her.

Everything Esther had been equipped for was going to be tried in this battle. What has your journey in life equipped you for, do you think it is for nothing? No. I am here to remind you that “You are here for such a time as this”, do not undermine your process. It is time to set your face like a flint and fight that battle, knowing that you have been equipped and favoured to execute it.

Esther, was like you and I, coming from a background where she was an orphan, but did not allow that to define or limit her, rather she embraced The One God sent to her life, to take care of her. We get stuck when we loose key people in our lives which should not be so.  God has a Mordecai for you.

Her ability to embrace Mordecai became the pillar for her to succeed in life.  She knew her back was covered as long as he was alive. His role in her life is so pivotal that even when she couldn’t know what to do with the evil report from Mordecai, she was challenged by Him and she rose up to it and to die for that cause. She realized that now, I am here for this battle and it has to be won.

Amazingly, she came up with the strategy and instructed her people to implement it and God gave them victory. What cause are you willing to die for and what strategy would you implement to overturn the plan of the enemy?

Everytime we experience victory, we are raising signpost for our God, who never fails in any battle.

EMBRACE YOUR PAIN

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Have you ever found it not too easy doing your cry in the rain? Have you been through mountain-top situations where you hallowed for help until you got exhausted with no help in sight? Ever been at a crossroad and you couldn’t ‘take it as a man? ‘Pain is not sweet.

The journey of life has a lot of ups and downs, and it does not need your permission before you are given your own dose of it. How can difficult situations have lessons in them! Do not tell me, it is ok dear, I know what you are going through…you don’t know until you have been through it.

Ruth was a Moabite woman married to one of the sons of Naomi, an Israelite- a Hebrew, a seed of Abraham. Having been married, after awhile she lost her husband. This was a tragedy. She was at his bedside at the hospital, holding unto hope and a breakthrough, because she had heard about the great wonders of the God of the Hebrews, ‘My husband will not die, he will live’…she must have confessed. Yet he died, making her a widow at young age.

Where will she go from here? She left her people, joined to a man, and then she lost him. Many times, we embark on a journey with hope and assurance of a good end, and along the way a shift occurs. Do we say, God is unfair, or do we give up living?

Have you ever trekked that long laborious road of experience when your faith in God was tested and it felt like gall, where all that you ever believed was brought to the slaughter-it is either God or the devil? ‘Curse God and die’, that type of a situation that Job found himself- lost everything you hold dear and close to your heart in one day and the very ones who are your intimate, close, confidants say those cold words to you!

Tragedy Street is not an enviable place to live in. The rush of pain, blame and rejection that parade that lane is only left to the imagination. What would Ruth do, or what should she have done? Married off, married away perhaps with no child to show for it, she could not return home to her people. She was driven by the commitment of marriage-the fraternity of the holy matrimony, the sacredness of everlasting love, the pledge of fidelity to the one with whom she had become one in body, soul and the spirit.

This not so cute story of pain and tragedy reaches a boiling point and Ruth makes a resolve that will forever be reiterated, ‘Entreat me not to leave you’, she said to her mother in-law, Naomi, who had earlier indicated that she had nothing more, nothing extra to offer. ‘Your God will be my God, your people, my people’. Her pain created an everlasting reward and compensation that only God could give.

As much we have been given wonderful promises in the Word of God, and also we have hope to have a glorious end, we should never seize to embrace the joy that comes in our trials. The trials and difficult times we go through, is allowed to bring us to a place of maturity and growth. It is not to destroy us, or keep us in a place of despair. It is the platform for us to accelerate.

How do you handle your trials? Do you quit or grumble, complain and murmur? Do you feel life is unfair to you? Ruth had her losses, she embraced to forge ahead by establishing a relationship with her mother-in-law on a deeper level, and she went beyond mourning her husband to being a source of strength and anchor to her. She looked beyond her pains, and saw a future ahead.

The shift in her mind-set is something every one of us should learn to embrace. No matter what life throws at you, look at the opportunity in your pain and tragedy. There is no way she would have gone on a journey with her mother in-law if her husband was alive. His death took her on a whole new journey of discovery, which at the end turned her mourning into dancing.

The trials are birthing a greater opportunity for you, and  aligning you to a place of victory and restoration. Do not end your life’s dreams, because of the trials you are facing. It’s time to explore new opportunities and to break out.

AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER?

Genesis 4 tells an interesting story of two brothers. These two brothers one day brought an offering to the Lord.  They had been trained and exposed to the God of their parents. Now they had become adults and knew what it was to have a relationship with God. Each of them had their personal walk with God, but this day it was to be shown in the Presence of the Lord.

They brought an offering before the Lord, none of them came empty handed, yet the Lord knew their hearts towards Him, beyond their offerings.  Each of those offerings cost them, because it was the sweat of their labour. They did not rob to offer to God. But He, who knows all, embraced one fully and the other He did not embrace.

At this point, I asked the Lord, ‘why didn’t You accept Cain’s offering? He replied and said, ‘it’s not about bringing what you have as an offering, but offering to me your first portion and best of what you have. You just can’t present anything to me which stands as a residue and not the best of what you have. If you truly love Me, then I have to be your number one priority. It must be an offering that is pleasing in My sight. It has to cost you. I am not a dumping- ground, where you can just come and present whatever you like’.

Giving of our substance to God is an act of worship that should spring from an attitude of gratitude. He is not hungry, neither is He thirsty; All that He desires from us is to reverence Him in all that we do. We can’t buy Him with our gifts and niceties. We can only present to Him a worthy offering of deep gratitude and appreciation of His unending, undying, unequivocal love to frail humanity.

He sees your gestures. He knows every step that you make. He knows ‘why’ you give and ‘how’ you give. One of the brothers seems to have understood the awesomeness of God, and in reverence adoration and wonder of His work, he chose to offer to the God who looks beyond our faults and sees our need. It is not in the struggling and sweats of our hands and face…He requires a humble heart that is totally dependent on Him.

Cain became engrossed in rage and he could no longer bear his brother being around and decided to kill him. How often do you look at your brother and sister whom the Lord has favored and kill them by your thoughts and words instead of seeking the Lord, to know how they received their gifting and also, allow the Lord to take you through that process. Don’t be quick to walk in rage, and look for opportunities to seek for others’ downfall.

Cain waited for an opportunity for both of them to be at the field where, there was no one and he killed his brother. It was a strategic place. I am sure he had been plotting in his heart, how he would carry out his plan. His brother was clueless to what was going on in his brother’s heart and thought their meeting in the field was to yield positive results.

He never fought his brother, or slandered him. He got killed for his choice to please God with his offering. This tells me, that the enemy can stir up the hearts of your brothers and sisters who are meant to be your keepers, to become your enemy. He can cause them to have a 360 degree turn in their relationships with you, without giving you a prior notice. Cain displayed that to his brother.

Ask yourself this day, ‘Lord am I a pleasing sacrifice to you and is my sacrifice pleasing to you? Heavenly Father show me I pray Thee my heart towards my brothers and sisters’. Don’t assume that you do not need this… ‘The heart man is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things… who can know it. In evaluations as this, you will begin to see things that need to be worked on.

Abel gave back to the God who redeemed man from the fall! He represents that generation of people who KNOW their God by revelatory knowledge not by lip-service. He gave the sacrifice that cost him something…his life.

Cain, on the other hand was ‘marked’ a vagabond for life, probably died in solitary confinement because he allowed the seed of hatred and bitterness to take root and bear fruit in his life. Hatred is poisonous, unlike love, you can tell how and where it will- shattered dreams, wasted life and strong regrets with sometimes, irreversible consequences.

Finally the greatest gift you can ever have is to see your heart filled with God’s love and out of that river you extend it to your brothers and sisters. Cain was not flowing in God’s love, even if he brought an offering to God, and God knew and saw the end before it happened. Be your brother’s keeper by loving and celebrating them daily.