When the Message Transforms the Messenger

Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD hath avenged him of his enemies.  And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day: but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead. (2Samuel 18: 19, 20)

I want us to look at a messenger and what impact a message can have on him.

This young man was so eager to take a message to the king that he did not care enough to know the implications of the same message.

It is interesting that he pleaded to still run with a message he did not have (v 22)

Yet I am sure he was so confident that he had a real message to take or else he wouldn’t have pleaded so.

Yet do you realize that at the end of the day he had no message to deliver though he overtook the actual messenger who was sent?

Could his zeal to help have messed up with the message that he was taking? Could the implications of the message have messed up his memory when he ought to have delivered it?

What does this have to do with zeal?

Young people commit their all to what they believe. They do not think beyond the cause they stand for.

That is what defines youth.

I responded to Christ’s call in my teenage.

There is something I heard older people saying as they talked about the zeal we had.

The closest translation I can make is that the salvation of a young person is akin to a fire from stubble.

By this they meant that we will burn very brightly but for a very short time.

This of course implied that we will take a short time to burn out or be extinguished.

Sadly, that happens for very many young people. Very few continue in that zeal beyond a short season. In fact, very few who connect in school continue beyond the school fence. I remember one classmate I met in the city puffing shortly after we cleared school and he almost fainted on seeing me.

Yet despite the fact that there is some truth in that ancient saying about the salvation of the youth, one fact is always ignored; the fact of God.

Stubble in the hands of God can burn forever. That explains why some of us are still burning with zeal for Christ and His word in our old age.

What does this have to do with our title?

I believe that the absence of clarity in the message could be the reason many fall back. In other words someone without a clear message could easily get confused if they get another message, even a contrary one.

This explains why a minister can proudly abandon the faith with no remorse. It also explains how a person who has ministered for long finally go open on being homosexual and think that as a feather on their cap instead of the abomination God’s word calls it. To imagine that he thinks hiding an abomination is a worse evil than owning it.

Like the young man in our story, they started running before getting the message. They therefore get confused midway. Remember as a child being sent to the shop then you start running even before you hear what you were being sent to buy?

And this explains for the most part the music industry, especially what is called Gospel, as the vast majority of them are just as Ahimaaz. Again their fruit is evident. There is no continuity and many times the messages in the songs give them away. Plus of course the kinds of life they lead.

A clear message is sustainable. Remember this?

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)

It makes you free by transforming you first. You understand it and allow it to shape your whole life. Then you slowly start becoming like it. And because its source is the creator of the universe it frees you to enjoy the same universe He created within the boundaries of that truth that has freed you.

Look at this analogy.

A policeman can go anywhere, especially if he is armed. But he doesn’t just go anywhere. That gun has rules and regulations that must be observed. Even in his own person he does not just go. That is the reason they are strenuously and thoroughly trained.

That is what God’s word does to the one who reads and accepts to be led by it.

The Ahimaazes of ‘Gospel Music’ and preaching and other ministry will just run because they have the energy and freedom to do so. And so they get burnt up and out in the process.

Many assume that they are so anointed that their bodily fleshy cravings were killed by the anointing. Only to discover when it is too late that they are still human beings, worse, youth with ‘boiling’ blood looking for whatever outlet to explode.

A girl confessed to me that she does not know how she became pregnant. And I do not doubt her.  And there are many like her. Chances are that she was blinded by her anointing to the point that she overlooked some critical things especially with boys. Like Ahimaaz, she ran without getting a clear message.

Reading the Bible is critical. The process of discipleship makes the Bible even easier to understand as one compares what they learnt with others.

And that is what gives young zeal longevity.

A Biblical example is in order here.

Saul was very humble before he was made king. He was humble his early days as king. Then gradually power got to his head and he became entitled. So much that he felt God had to speak to him to the point that he visited a medium yet he had attempted to rid Israel of the same. He easily became the centre of the universe with everybody becoming his servant, even God.

Contrast that with David.

As last born (probably tenth born or later as we only know of two sisters and in his army were nephews who were probably older than him), he had no choice but be humble.

Anyway, he was humble.

But then he is anointed as king and he still continues being humble.

He starts playing music to the king and he is still humble.

He kills the giant and he is still humble. Imagine the king had to scheme to convince him to marry his daughter as a snare.

The king becomes his enemy and he is still humble. Imagine he cannot kill that enemy even when God places him under his feet, twice!

He finally becomes king and is still humble. And that is clearly seen through his always looking for counsel from God.

Two clear incidences of that humility are when God plagues Israel and when the ark moves to Jerusalem.

Why was he that way?

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:11)

That is the only antidote to entitlement and pride that are produced by fame or the pretense of the same. And it will not matter whether it is God or people who have taken you there.

How committed are you to God’s word?

Whose Standard 2

I want us to look at things we have always taken fore granted.

Why do preachers copy one another? Why are there are so many motivational preachers and teachers on pulpits? Why is preaching similar yet there has are so many divisions elsewhere?

Has it ever crossed your mind that probably nothing we do has any sanction from heaven?

Why do I say so?

The whoremonger prophet and the honest one have similar messages, many times to the monosyllable. Yet they each claim to have heard. Where is their individual bias or something like that?

Do you wonder what musicians from totally opposed doctrinal positions have in common that they are comfortable performing in the same bashes? How do you find a Christian entertainer who is barely dressed having a deep conversation with a brother whose faith demands girls be completely covered?

Why is all ‘worship’ similar whichever doctrinal position you follow? Why do all the worship motions appear as copied from the same place?

Why are there so few original songs in our churches that what we call original is actually a twist of one or the other tired instrumental or lyrical twist of existing songs?

Why is it becoming important that a bishop or archbishop come to lay hands on people whose call did not require him? Even worse, how does the same bishop come to lay hands on a minister they have no idea of his genesis as he was never anywhere in the formation of that minister and ministry?

What is all this folly about spiritual fathers and mothers? Where do they get their justification? Why does the said papa require more respect than actual parents?

How do we have children as opinion shapers yet the only thing they possess is fame? How can we have children as marriage counselors just because they have a studio voice?

Why is it that people are interested in your ministry due to your fame as opposed to your walk with God?

Do you realize that God’s ways are not popular? Remember Jesus talking about the way to heaven as opposed to the one leading to damnation.

Which one do you think invites and enjoys social media likes?

Which one do you want to be on?

God bless you

Whose Standard?

I have been reflecting on two things; righteousness and wickedness and skimming popular understanding from the Biblical one.

What do you thing wickedness is according to the Bible? What about righteousness?

Does it surprise you that sin and evil are not the determinants when we look at the Bible?

And we will start at some Biblical examples.

Look at Cain. Was he wicked because he killed or did he kill because he was wicked?

Let us also look at Esau. Was he a thief or adulterer or even a murderer? Wasn’t he an honest and hardworking son that his father loved to even forget prophecy?

Wasn’t Jacob the conman, from his name to his character? Why dies the Bible term Cain wicked then?

According to the Bible, what determines whether one is righteous or wicked is the course of his heart.

Simply speaking, the righteous have their lives governed by God and their pursuit of Him. The wicked are self made and self making men. Their lives revolve around themselves and their interests. They are the points of reference and the determinants of the way their lives turn out.

Another aspect of wickedness is those whose lives are run through popular acclaim. In other words they depend on others to determine what is good or bad. Fashion determines for the most part how their life is run. And by fashion I am not just talking about dressing.

Who determines your pursuits? What makes you do what you do?

How fresh is your revelation?

You see, God is always doing a new thing. Yesterday’s miracle is already expired. Doing what God told you yesterday may therefore be outside his revelation today. Repeating yesterday’s command today may be relying on stale revelation.

Though God does not change, we should never forget that He is the creator and especially that He creates from nothing. It means that yesterday’s raw materials are totally useless today as God is never short of materials for anything. His level of creativity is beyond anything we can comprehend.

Two things are constant; God and His word. Everything else, even His doings, is subject to change.

Do you remember what disqualified Moses from the Promised Land? Didn’t he repeat a miracle he had performed earlier? And it was God who had issued the earlier command.

Doing things just because they have always been done that way could therefore very easily open you to judgment like happened to Moses.

Ever heard a song that was so fresh that your heart glowed any time you heard it? Then you heard someone else copying it expertly but then feel nothing.

Ever heard a sermon move you so powerfully that your whole life changed? Then you heard the same person preaching it more or less as well as when you first heard it and it tastes to your spirit as gravel in your mouth.

That is what I am pointing at. God moves to something else once His word and revelation has accomplished what He had sent it for. We are therefore laboring in vain when we replicate the freshness of those revelations. The cloud moved.

That is why a generation after revival is a very dangerous one for the move of God as they seek to recreate things that had run their course.

God will use someone to work miracles for a season for His own purpose and the person gets stuck there and refuses to move to any other command. When the miracles dry, as they sometimes may do, they somehow must recreate them whatever means they will use.

God will use someone in music to draw people to Himself and the same person goes on strike when a different order comes from heaven.

Do you now understand where this passage comes from?

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7: 21- 23)

Where are you in this?

                                                                                     

Carrier or Treasure? 2

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1Corinthians 10: 11 – 13)

That Elijah had like passions as we have is plainly stated in the Bible. That he was able to tackle immense odds is also in the Bible.

Is there anything we can then learn to help us minister aright and without failing in our generation? What can we do to minister as effectively as he did?

The first thing we need to learn is that we are flesh, feeble flesh. By this I mean that we have NOTHING in ourselves qualifying us for greater (or any) usefulness except our utter reliance on God’s grace and power.

The second is that that grace and power is depended on our response to the revelation from the source of the same. We do not use our power, experience or wisdom to run the affairs of that grace. It is therefore our obedience that determines our effectiveness and impact in ministry.

It is our alignment to the power that works in us that will determine whether we thrive or shrivel.

How do we take care of these earthen vessels that are our bodies as we minister in the power and anointing resident in us?

Have you seen the way nations guard and protect their instruments of power? I remember not long ago when a leader who was not the head of state being rudely shoved off when he attempted to touch, only touch, the world cup when it was making the rounds.

Imagine the treasure God has invested in us is incomparably, in fact, way beyond the value of these emblems and symbols.  They are perishable, even temporary treasures.

Does it not then mean that we should guard these earthen vessels that are our bodies with even greater effort? And the reason is that those are made and so can be remade. Though carrying very high imparted value that depends on the one placing the value on them, they really are material. A flag is simply a piece of cloth whose value is dependent on the nation or state it represents. Even currency falls in that category. Its value is dependent on the one making it legal tender. No wonder we talk about devaluation.

What then does our body represent? Who places value on our earthen vessels?

Answers to these questions determine to a large extent how we manage those earthen vessels.

Many people think that the bodies are theirs to do with as they will. They will therefore determine the regimen their bodies will go through independent of anybody or anything else.

Yet we know that God really is the OWNER of these bodies He has given us.

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. (1Corinthians 3: 16, 17)

We are therefore answerable to God for the way we manage these earthen vessels that are our bodies.

I know many think they know what I am aiming at.  But smile a little because that is not where I am headed. Why?

For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. (1Tmothy 4:8)

It is very easy to focus on the vessel and neglect the treasure. What the Bible teaches is that we should allow the treasure to determine how we take care of that vessel as it is the one being ferried anyway. You see, a vessel ferrying liquids is different from the one ferrying solids just like one ferrying water would be different from the one ferrying mercury even though both are liquids.

Solomon is the best example of one who for improving the state of the vessel lost the treasure. Let me explain.

The first command to a king was to copy the scriptures so that he would read them every day of his life as that was the surest way to ensure balance between the treasure (God and His revelation) and the vessel (Solomon and Israel).

For that oversight he overshot all the targets God had set on his kingdom. He also became irrelevant to the treasure as he did almost everything God had warned a king against.

We should not for our pursuit of a perfect body overlook spiritual consequences inherent in some of the activities meant to give us those bodies.

It is unwise to attend yoga classes to improve ones health because it is first a spiritual exercise run by contrary spirits.

I have mentioned aerobic and salsa classes in another post, some even being run in church. This is where barely dressed adults sweat their bodies to manage their weight. Knowing this vessel, I am not surprised that some of those who come very innocently end up getting into adultery and fornication.

These vessels have eyes; Eyes that see more than they are supposed to see.

And it is not much different with swimming for the same reason.

Let the treasure determine the kind of regimen we subject these vessels to, from food to exercise to occupation.

In short let the Bible be your only source of instruction in the way you manage your body. And be the one who is reading the Bible. Let me give us a verse

Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. (1Timothy 4:3)

They will point you to particular verse(s) to argue their point. Please consistently read the complete Bible again and again to have the correct balance.

Do not become like Solomon who started well but ended badly and rejected because he overlooked the scriptures. And of course we know he ended up in regret (vanity of vanities, grasping the wind).

With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalms 119: 10, 11)

God’s word is the insurance we should place on those earthen vessels to keep them from breaking