3 Essential Spiritual Goals for Lasting Growth

At the start of a new year, many people create goals they hope to achieve by year’s end. But let’s be honest—by now, many of those goals have already been forgotten or abandoned. While there’s plenty to say about the value of goal-setting and the reasons we fall short, I want to shift the focus to something more eternal: your spiritual goals.

Spiritual Goals Aren’t Measured by the Calendar

Unlike career or fitness goals, spiritual growth isn’t defined by how much you accomplish in a year. The real measure is how you’ve lived when your life is complete. As Christians, our ultimate goal is eternity with Christ. That means our focus should be less on ticking boxes each year and more on whether our daily decisions are sowing into eternal life.

Recently, I’ve been reflecting deeply on what it truly means to have godly ambition. I’ve realised that the vision I carry can’t be limited to a 12-month framework. I want to tell the world—literally the entire world—about Jesus. I long to lead millions into salvation, to create resources that nurture a vibrant walk with Christ, and to inspire men, women, and children by the way I live and love. If that’s truly my goal, then I need to examine how I live today.

God has been showing me areas where I’m not aligned with the level of discipline and devotion required for that kind of impact. The truth is, my current pace of life—comfortable and familiar—won’t produce the fruit I long to see. Real spiritual transformation requires intentional sacrifice and radical prioritisation.

In all of this, one scripture keeps echoing in my heart: John 15. I’ve read it many times, but I now realise I’ve missed the point. “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” That’s Jesus speaking. And if He’s right—and He is—then I must prioritise time with Him, hearing His voice, and living in obedience. These are the three pillars that sustain any meaningful spiritual journey.

1. Listen to His Voice

In a world flooded with opinions, ideologies, and noise, hearing God’s voice is not just helpful—it’s essential. I love the dynamic between Jesus and His mother Mary. She was wise and full of faith, yet still very human. After searching anxiously for a 12-year-old Jesus, she finally finds Him in the temple. His response? “Didn’t you know I had to be in My Father’s house?”

Even those closest to us—our mentors, parents, or friends—may not always understand or affirm God’s call on our lives. That’s why we must learn to hear from God personally. Yes, He speaks through spiritual leaders and those in authority, but their voices should never replace the voice of the Holy Spirit in your own life.

Think about it: how will you discern divine direction from distraction if you can’t recognise God’s voice? The internet, schools, workplaces, and even entertainment constantly promote their own values. These voices aren’t always malicious, but they often reflect agendas that aren’t aligned with your God-given purpose. What we listen to shapes our mind, emotions, and ultimately, our spiritual destiny. Guard your ear gates and tune your spirit to God’s frequency.

2. Prioritise Time with God

There’s a popular saying: quality time over quantity of time. But when it comes to building a relationship with God, quantity often leads to quality. It’s hard to develop intimacy with God on leftover minutes and rushed prayers squeezed between errands. There’s no one-size-fits-all rule for when to spend time with God, but there is something powerful about setting aside focused, uninterrupted time each day. When we prioritise our quiet time with God, we give Him space to speak, correct, encourage, and lead.

Ask Him to guide you. Ask Him to stir a hunger in your heart. And as you commit to carving out that sacred time, you’ll find that quality begins to blossom in the midst of quantity.

3. Practice Obedience

Hearing God’s voice is one thing. Obeying it is another. Yet the fruit of a Spirit-filled life is found in doing what God has said—not just hearing it.
Isaiah 1:18-19 offers us an invitation: “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land.” God’s instructions are not burdens—they’re blueprints for abundant living. He’s not trying to restrict us; He’s guiding us toward our best and most fulfilling future.

Still, obedience often feels unnatural. We’re used to living life a certain way. Change is uncomfortable. But here’s the good news: when we say yes to God—even while trembling—He supplies the grace and courage we lack. Don’t wait until obedience feels easy. Ask God for help, and declare, “Lord, Your Word is important to me. Strengthen me to follow through.”

The Bottom Line

There are countless tools, strategies, and spiritual disciplines we’ll explore in future posts. But before anything else, God desires your ears, your heart, and your time.

Make space daily to hear His voice. Choose to obey, even when it’s hard. Spend time in His presence—not as a task, but as a lifeline. If you can commit to these three spiritual priorities, everything else will fall into place. And you’ll find yourself not just setting goals—but actually growing into the person God created you to be.

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4 Ways to Tell if you are on the Wrong Path

At times it can be difficult to discern the difference between two paths that both seem right, and even more difficult to identify which one God is leading us to pursue. We can distinguish between the many paths that lay before us if we firstly believe that there is a right way and a wrong way in life. Yes, God does work everything out together for the good of those who love him, but this promise is based on the premise that you firstly whole heartedly love the Lord and that you are walking according to his purpose. God has a destination for each of us and he requires us to walk in accordance to his purpose. We are only human and we will sometimes take the wrong turn or experience accidents that may not even be our fault on the path of destiny. God promises that he will get us to our destiny regardless of these incidents. However, if we deliberately take wrong turns we are telling God that we don’t want his help or guidance and are choosing to walk in our own way. If you do believe that God’s way is the best way and are fully committed to following the path of Jesus, then here are 5 things that you can look out for in your journey, that serve as indicators that God is telling you, you have taken the wrong turn.

1. God is warning you that you may be on the wrong path if everyone close to you is contradicting your decision.
God may be asking you to reconsider the choices in your life, if the most trusted people around you are telling you that the choices you are taking are wrong. Of course people can be wrong and can have hidden motives, but a general rule of thumb for you to live by is that if everyone around you is complaining about the same thing you should definitely consider that what they are saying may be right. This is especially true if these people have your best interest at heart, know you well enough and may also have more life experience than you.

The bible teaches us in 1 Corinthians 13:1 that “every matter must be established by the testimony of two or more witnesses”. In this scripture, Paul was writing to the Corinthian church and reminding them what was written in the law of Moses. He was quoting Deuteronomy, where it says that in order for a statement to be taken as truth in a serious matter it must be corroborated by at least two other witnesses. So, in other words the bible is telling us to be careful about the conclusions and judgments we make about any statements of fact.

An example of this would be when Samson’s parents tried to discourage him from marrying the Philistine woman he met in Timnah. Samson had every reason to listen to his parents, but he refused and eventually got his heart broken. His reason for pursuing this ungodly relationship was that “She looked good to him” (Judges 14:3, NLT)

2. God will show you that you are on the wrong path by allowing a significant disappointment to take place.
When God can’t get us to go about things in the right way he will often let us walk in the path we chose, but allow it to end in disappointment, in order to give us the opportunity to get back on the right path. This is exactly what happened to Samson.

The Bible tells us that,

“His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.”

God was still, able to makes things work out in accordance with his divine plan for the people of Israel, even though Samson had his own personal agenda. Eventually, this ended in disappointment, as Samson’s wife, betrayed his trust and was given away in marriage to Samson’s best man. Rather than trusting the good interest of his parents, who had spiritual insight into the direction of his life and destiny, he trusted his feelings and his friends and ended up in disappointment. The important thing to note here is that God was in the background orchestrating and creating an opportunity that was not just for his glory, but also ended up realigning Samson with God.

3. God maybe telling you that you are on the wrong path, if people are taking advantage of your weakness.
The Philistines frequently tried to turn on Samson by finding out what his weaknesses were and exploiting them. Samson clearly had a weaknesses for pretty Philistine women and because of this the Philistines always used beautiful women to entrap him. The enemy will always try to take advantage of our weaknesses by tempting us in that area. God on the other hand will not tempt us, but will create a way of escape for us in the midst of our temptations. For Samson it was always having the spirit of God come upon him to help him breaking out of the ropes that were used to bind him.

But the men of Judah told him, “We have come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”
“All right,” Samson said. “But promise that you won’t kill me yourselves.”
“We will only tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines,” they replied. “We won’t kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
As Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting in triumph. But the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax, and they fell from his wrists. 
Then he found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey. He picked it up and killed 1,000 Philistines with it. 

Samson was now very thirsty, and he cried out to the Lord, “You have accomplished this great victory by the strength of your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of these pagans?” 
So God caused water to gush out of a hollow in the ground at Lehi, and Samson was revived as he drank. Then he named that place “The Spring of the One Who Cried Out,” and it is still in Lehi to this day. (Judges 15: 12-15, 18-19)

The passage above shows that God will keep providing a way out for us even in the most difficult situations in order for us to fulfil our purpose and enjoy his goodness.

4. God will warn us of wrong choices, by allowing us to lose some battles, in order for us to win the war.
Samson eventually ended up getting captured, because God left him. God had given Samson many prior warning signs and chances to repent and commit to the lifestyle that would enable him to maintain the presence of God in his life. When we continue on a wrong path and ignore the promptings of God to get us back to the right track, God will temporarily leave us and wait for us to come back to him in the place where he wants us to be. God will never force us to go down a certain path, he will only prompt us and orchestrate opportunities that will lead us unto the right path and then wait for us to make our choices. Samson lost, the connection to the source of his strength and also lost his sense of vision (signified by the gouging of his eyes). God knew that the people of Israel would not be able to ultimately win against there enemies if Samson continued to follow his own will and desires. So, God permitted Samson to be captured by the Philistines, until his hair started to grow back. Although he lost many things that were irreplaceable and did not fully regain his strength, with the little strength he did have he was able to fulfil his purpose.

God wants us to do more than win battles and overthrow our enemies. Yes, he wants us to achieve great things, but he wants us to also have a good life, too. By all accounts I don’t believe that Samson lived a very good life. He experienced a lot of heart ache, betrayal and ended up having his eyes brutally plucked out. I don’t think that this was what God had in mind for him when the prophecy about his destiny was given. There was definitely the better path that he could have taken, which may have seemed difficult, restrictive and perhaps counter culture, but in the end would have been a lot easier and enjoyable compared to what he went through.

Scripture for you meditation:

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 John 2: 2, NKJV)

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5 Ways to Keep a Healthy Mind

One of the major challenges every Christian will face pretty early on in their Christian walk is attacks on the mind. Whether it is struggling with temptations or struggling with guilt of past sins, we are going to find that an important key to living a successful Christian life is in the way we mentally position ourselves for victory against these attacks. The rise in mental health related illnesses and death is evidence that a mental illness is a big part of the enemies strategy to keep people out of the fulness of God’s promise for us (John 10:10). Research estimates that 1 in 6 people experienced a common mental health problem in the past week. This means that most of us will ever so often face some form of attack on our mental health. Often when we think of a mental health challenge we think of white coats, straight jackets and anti-psychotic pills. Of course this can be the case, but mental health is far more than that. Just like being physical ill can be having either a mild cold or a severe heart disease, facing a mental health challenge can manifest on a broad spectrum of severity. Whatever the diagnosis, there are some basic things that you can do to take care of your mental health.

This post is a guide based on biblical principles, which work and have scientific congruence. As always I encourage you to seek medical advise, especially for more serious cases and to follow the advise already given to you by your doctor.

1. Catch the Sunlight
Exposure to sunlight naturally triggers the release of the serotonin hormone, which is responsible for lifting your mood and helping you feel calm and focused. Melatonin, is the sleep hormone which is triggered by darker lighting. Of course we need both of these hormones to live a healthy life, but because we have less sunlight in winter months, especially because we tend to spend more time indoors, where we are shielded from sunlight, we are more likely to experience a deep in serotonin level. A great way to combat this is to spend more time outdoors. As I mostly work from home I find that I don’t get out as much and by the time I do get out, the sun has already set. So, I have started opening up my curtains to get more sunlight into the house and I work under a bright white light.

2. Eating and Drinking for your health
At times when I get really dehydrated I get a headaches, which makes it really difficult to concentrate and if you add hunger to the mix, every activity because a little more difficult. It’s okay to abstain for a short period of time without food, but quite frankly it will lower your energy and dampen your mood. Words like “hangry” or “comfort food” are great examples of how food and water can affect once emotional health. Up to a couple years ago I used to do a long partial fast or a shorter absolute fast leading up to my birthday. I loved spending that time in prayer and meditation to seek God’s instructions and outpouring for the new year ahead. As much as I encourage anyone to implement this, my word of caution would be to apply wisdom to this spiritual activity. Don’t over do it. You are not trying to impress God with your ability to not eat, you are simply submitting yourself to a time of deeper concentration and devotion to God by separating yourself from things that can cause distraction or may be occupying a significant amount of your time. The purpose of fasting is not to damage your health, but to bring increase to you physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally (Isaiah 58:8). There are different types of fasts that you can adhere to, that may be better suited to your health. I still fast, but I fast in a better.

Also pay attention to what you eat so you get the optimal amount of health benefits each time you eat. Whilst eating an extra-cheesy-sloppy-burger with a side of fries might be very comforting and filling it certainly isn’t the best contributor to your physical and mental health and may actually be contributing to your low energy and lack of concentration. Just like Daniel and his friends, you may need to learn how to say no to certain types of foods and yes to others. I assure you, you will reap the benefits.
Apart from eating your fruit and veg, I recommend adding supplements to your daily intake in the winter time. From late March to late September it is likely that you are ingesting and naturally producing enough Vitamin D, so you may not need to take supplements during those months. However, in the colder months it is possible to develop vitamin-D deficiency as we often don’t get enough from what we eat. Taking daily supplements can help keep our v-D levels up and lower our risk of health issues that can lead to seasonal mental illnesses and depression. Again check with your doctor to makes sure that your vitamin and mineral levels are as they should be.

3. Physical Exercise to work your body
Staying physically active is a great way of allowing blood and oxygen to pump through your body and brain. The adrenaline rush coupled with the dopamine rush that comes from achieving a health goal or from participating in a competitive sport is a good natural way of keeping your mood and spirits up. But not only does the dopamine and adrenaline that comes from exercising improve your mental health but, regular exercise will help you sleep better, which is beneficial to your mental health. A major blessing of the modern age is the ability to have access to a lot of lives necessities with very little work or effort. Unfortunately, it means that we don’t get enough of exercise in natural ways. In the pre- technology and industrial world, people used to walk everywhere, most people would grow their own food themselves and herd their own cattle. The physical excretion of a labour worker meant that they would sleep deep. Additionally, they completely relied on the sun as a source of light, which meant that they would go to bed early and wake up early to start work. The post technology world means that we not only sleep less, but we also don’t sleep well. Ecclesiastes 5:12 says this;

The sleep of a labouring man is sweet,
Whether he eats little or much;
But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.

This scripture is obviously comparing the life off a rich man with the life of a poor man, but the principle can be applied to this scenario of exercise. The context of this scripture is set in an agricultural scene. Even back in the days of the scripture wealthier people did not labour in the fields instead they hired people to do the more strenuous work. Wealthier people, were transported in chariots and carried around in seats between two long poles. I am very sure that the men who walked around carrying these poles on their shoulders where very tired at the end of the day. That same practice continuous today, the only difference is that you don’t need to be so rich to afford comfort anymore.

4. Make sure you Sleep well
The scripture above shows that wealth does not mean happiness and rest, in fact it suggests that people who are richer may suffer from sleeplessness, because they constantly worry about what they have. Rich people not only have a lot of valuable possessions, but they also tend to have a lot of mouths to feed. Being rich is not just about having a lot of money in the bank. It’s also about having access to basic necessities of life that some people might not have. If your primary concern is finding the perfect hair dryer, what happens next on your favourite soap opera or your next crypto currency investment, then I’d like to suggest to you that you are not poor. It may just feel that way, because you are spending a lot of money on the latest wants. My question to you is what is keeping you up at night? Are you constantly worrying about what’s next? What’s next on your agenda, what’s next on that tv show, what’s next on your wish list, what’s next on your to do list? We are living a life were we have so much to lose, but all these things that we have to lose don’t seem to have so much value. Could this false pursuit of happiness be robbing you of rest?

5. Pray about everything
A famous scripture in the Bible tells us to not be anxious about anything, but to pray about everything. Whilst, that may sound easier said than done, I find that it is a lot harder to live in perpetual worry and anxiety. God, the one who is all knowing, all seeing and all powerful, invites us to a therapeutic and soul detoxing session, where we can talk to him about every single concern. Whatever it may be that keeps you down, that worries you and that extinguishes that inner light we all have inside, God says tell me about it. Isn’t it wonderful that we have a someone like this we can talk about things with?

Here is a few lines from one of my favourite hymns for your meditation:

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord!

“Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

S.A.D and the Winter Blues

During the Winter months it’s common to feel a little down, which is why I typically emphasise the importance of gratitude and take intentional steps to be thankful at this time of the year. I noticed a few years back that I tended to feel symptoms associated with anxiety at the start of Autumn. My first memory of this was about 6 years ago when I felt a sudden wave of panic at the thought of summer coming to an end. At the time I thought it was to do with a new academic year beginning and needing to work harder to get my certifications. I told myself that it would all be okay and the slight panic that I could feel rising subsided, but the dread remained. The cold season has never been my preference. Unlike Elsa, the cold has always bothered me. I chucked it up to personal preference and a twist of fate that I was born in Autumn instead of Spring or Summer.

It wasn’t until 2018 that I realised that there might be more to this than just the downsides to an introverted personality. I was crying every day for about a week and didn’t know why. I felt a deep sense of despair and hopelessness and I didn’t understand why. At the time, I was between jobs, moved homes and had just enrolled on a Masters program. Yes, all this was tough and tasking, but I had been through worse and didn’t have to deal with feeling unmotivated as a result. In the grand scheme of things everything was fine and I had everything that I needed. But I was still really sad. Rather than give in to the feelings, I resisted it, didn’t tell anyone what was going on, hid my tears behind forced smiles, and tried to get through it with positive confessions. “We walk by faith and not by sight”, “Faith over feelings”, “God is more real than what I am feeling”. It wasn’t working. I felt more emotionally worn out, with each confession. My constant smiling made me feel like a fraud. I was faking it, but never making it. I eventually broke out of it, and I will come back to what exactly helped me, but I want to highlight the importance of knowing what it is that you are facing.

I firmly believe that you cannot fight something that you refuse to face. Whatever it is that is troubling you be it a health issue, a bad habit, an addiction or even debt, if you don’t face it you’re never going to overcome it. This doesn’t mean we lose faith, or that we stop praying. It means that we channel our faith in a specific direction and pray specific prayers. For me facing it was knowing that this was seasonal affective disorder. Knowing this meant that I could channel my energy into taking care of myself in a suitable way, I can refrain from things that could be a trigger and open me up to relapse and I could better position myself in prayer. I know that SAD is not my portion or my inheritance in Christ, so I positioned myself accordingly. Because I knew what I was up against I could fight back in faith with the invisible weapons at my disposal. That is what the fight of Faith is; Fighting a battle that is not visible to the physical eyes, but will yield (positive or negative) results. I have learnt that invisible battles can leave very visible scars. I have had to learn to fight better and smarter.

Counter attack is my favourite way of dealing with issues like these. Winter blues and sadness in general, causes us to want to withdraw and isolate. A little down time and alone time is good and healthy, but it can lead to other things like self-piety, self-loathing, low self-esteem, increased sense of hopelessness and worthlessness, these are all friends of the enemy, which can be used to keep you away from joy, gratitude, healthy relationships and communion with people around you. Instead of giving in to the narrative of loneliness, spend time with people. Don’t go over board and plan an elaborate party, which may make it worse. Just find 1 – 3 people who you can sit with, talk to or engage in a mild activity with. Being with and talking to people is a great way to regain perspective.

One of the things that I find often happens when we feel down is that we lose clarity. We don’t have a clear picture of what we want or where we are going. This is because we are so overwhelmed by the predominant feeling of sadness, which distracts us from our objectives. A great way of counteracting this is by writing. Journaling has a way of organising our thoughts. When we write we not only think about what we want to say, but we also think about how we feel as we say it and how we want to say it. This is a good way of practicing to process our emotions. We all have emotions, but in order to learn how to control our emotions we need to process them first. I would suggest writing no more than 20 minutes daily, and encourage that you end each journal entry with a positive statement. This could be something you are grateful for, something you look forward to, or a good memory from the past.

The symptoms of depression, seasonal affective disorder and some other mental health illnesses, include physical and emotional tiredness, lack of motivation and reduced interest. Because of this people often develop feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness. A great way to combat these thoughts and feelings is to revisit previous achievements. The other morning I went back and read the devotional I completed and published last year. I was blessed by what I had written, I took my own advise and applied some of the scriptures that I had written down. The things you create through God’s creative power become a memorial for you. You realise that although you don’t feel it right now, there is a powerful deposit inside of you that can only come from God. Your life is a testimony! Go back and visit your moments of triumph, your personal victories, your achievements and your testimonies. You are definitely worth more than you have achieved, but you also need to remember that you are more than what you feel. If you journal and take notes of good days and also take pictures, I would recommend that you re-read older entries and look at those pictures again. Use them to remind yourself that better days are coming.

Whether it is SAD, depression, anxiety, end of year stress or anything else, you can overcome if you will chose to believe that you can. Get help facing it from loved ones and health professionals. Help is always available if you reach out for it.

Happy New Me!

I haven’t posted this year, and for most of last year. It’s kind of felt strange not posting. I beat myself up a bit for not taking this more seriously and for not putting in the work. When this year rolled in I felt that I needed to say something about a new year, new chapters, goals, preparation and planning with God, but January came and went then a full quarter of the year past by and now a half year and I still didn’t feel like giving the happy new year message. I just didn’t feel like any of it would be totally honest or different from previous years. And the thing is we all want the new year to be different from the previous one, especially after a year like 2020. We all desperately wanted this year to yield some much more pleasant and promising prospects and memories than we had in the previous year.
For me, I didn’t just want the date to be different I wanted things to be different. A popular quote that most of us would have heard or come across at some point is, “be the change you want to see”. What a powerful concept and something we can all attest to be true. Yet after a year we’ve just had, which seems to have spilled over into the current year, more than ever I sense the difficulty to break out and be the change. Not only is it difficult to seek change in a world that has faced a series of challenges that are beyond human control, but also to find change when all we want and all we talk about is for things to go back to normal. It’s exceptionally difficult to commit to change when we’ve all had a year where we were confronted with our demons. For the first time, many people actually sat at home and had time to really think about their careers, really think about their financial circumstances, really think about their relationships, their habits, physical and mental health and spiritual life amongst so many other things. In the course of examination and thinking, if we were honest, we would have found things that we liked and things we didn’t like. We would have patterns and habits that have always been there but sprung up to the surface after a few weeks to months of sitting at home and having nothing else to do.

Just the other day, I was watching a report on the BBC featuring normal people, working professionals, people who didn’t lose their jobs or were significantly affected by the pandemic through the death of a loved one or by contracting the virus themselves, who admitted to drinking more frequently and in larger quantities during the day. One middle aged man said that he didn’t notice how much alcohol he was consuming on a daily basis until his children pointed it out to him. He had gotten to the point where he couldn’t go through a day without drinking. It had become normal for him. He drank 2 beers and a bottle of wine every day, which worked out to be about 100 units of alcohol a week. The average maximum recommended weekly alcohol consumption is 14 Units.
His encouragement was that anyone who was drinking more, should get help, whether they were still functioning like he was or not.

I mention this not to cast judgment or to make anyone feel bad for slipping up, but to say it’s okay to look at our not so great side. Whatever your habits and practices are and have been over the pandemic months, that is your normal. You need to embrace all of it. The good, the bad and the ugly. You can’t change what you don’t accept. You can’t change a world that you are not willing to acknowledge and be part of. You must show up and participate in your change for you to be the change that you desire to see.

Some of us looked at our health and realised that we really needed to get off the couch if we were going to have lives beyond just surviving the pandemic. We realised that pandemic or not, we were lucky to even experience another day from the comforts of our living room, because truthfully, with the way we’ve been treating our bodies we haven’t earned the right. So, we decided to get on that bike, take that walk, do those crunches and run that mile. Others realised that the issues that cropped up in their marriage was as a result of not spending time together, not seeing each other for who they really were, and they are now working on being better. Others found that the damage in their relationship was to extensive to repair and they’ve began to make changes.
We have all been through something corporately and individually. We have all felt pain and sorrow, loss and addition.

I’ve been through my own discovery journey and yes, the person that I am today is not the person I hoped I would now be. But I know that the person writing these words is not the person I will still be in another 10 years. There are things that I want to change and there are things that I want to maintain. But I’m embracing me and noticing that I’ve changed, I’ve become someone else and I’ve decided that going back to become the person I was is not an option. Nothing good comes from dwelling on the past. Even if that past is full of rosy memories. It’s gone and done. I can only learn from yesterday and make tomorrow a better day. The future is a moving mark full of possibilities and new things to discover and conquer. I have an idea of where I’m going and a map in my hand to guide me, but when I get there I know that really being there will be different and feel different to what I imagined, because the map is only a picture of the real thing. But more so, I would have changed. The journey to the future would have changed me again, just the way the journey of the past changed me into who I am now. Once, twice, three times or more every year, I will tell myself, ‘Happy New Me!’, because even when times don’t seem to have changed much, I will.

Unlimited Supply

The shelves are packed out in stores almost everywhere. People panicked because they heard that boarders are closing, and supermarkets would struggle to get their supplies in due to delays in the supply chain. The fear of not having enough, the fear of running out of supplies caused people to bulk buy beyond the capacity of their home storage spaces, beyond what their pantries could hold and beyond what they would need.

I’m reminded of when God sent provision to the children of Israel in the wilderness. He sent food that had never been eaten or heard of before; food that had never existed. God’s promise was that he would provide for them what they needed daily. They were to gather only what they needed for each person in their household and use it all up on that same day. The passage of scripture in Exodus 16 beautifully depicts this dimension of God.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not” (16:4).
God was testing their ability to put their trust in him. It takes trusting God and his ability to come through for you in the wilderness, to gain the favour of God that you need to step into the promise.

Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.
God made sure that “he that gathered much had nothing left over and he that gathered little had no lack” (16:18)

But in their stubbornness, fear anxiety and doubt that God would come through for them, some saved some for the next day. This, consequently, went mouldy and became worm infested. Many haven’t thought about preservation or storage as they have gone out to shop. Back in  does days where they had no chest freezers or cooling storages, it was quite ridiculous for them to store food in the wilderness when they were handling food they had no experience with. Just like God was saying to the children of Israel back then, he is saying to us today, ‘trust me to supply for you and sustain you’.

I believe that just like the people of Israel we have a unique opportunity to stretch our faith and trust God to be a provider. For many people around the world it is a new experience to think about where we will get supplies from or how we will meet our needs. Now people are expressing worries, complaining about their situation and even fighting neighbours and strangers in the grocery stores over common household items.

We must remember the promise of God, which lets us know that they that trust in the name of the Lord shall be saved. That God is still a provider able to supply ALL our needs according to his riches in Glory. This is a time to bring out all those scriptures and verses we’ve memorised by way of continuous recital and exposure and watch God prove himself to be the person he said he was. It is a powerful thing when the word of God becomes real to us.
When circumstances beyond human control arise it is important to seek the One who controls both natural and supernatural realm. God is the one who controls the seemingly uncontrollable. He will supply, he will provide. He always has and always will, so let us exercise our faith in him for what he already said he would do.

Last month I started, saying to God under my breath, I trust you. I found that I was second guessing decisions that I had prayerfully made and experiencing uncertainty in certain areas. I was wrestles within myself concerning vocational decision I was about to make. It made logical sense, but somehow as I was getting closer to the time when the decision would play out I realised that I wasn’t feeling like things would unfold as expected. I did sense that God was requiring me to patiently wait on him to make things right. It was difficult not do anything. Phone calls I could have made, emails I could have sent, questions I could have asked to be more proactive in the matters that concern my life and survival. I had to remind myself to surrender and to let God know that I trusted him and really leave things in his hands. I felt that things where going on in my life that I was not aware of. It drove me to prayer. Constantly asking God what he was doing. Literally trying to look over God’s shoulders to see what was coming. Eventually, things unfolded and I can now see that not only was he providing for me, he was also protecting me from trouble. By trusting in God I’ve learnt that the matters of my life concern him more than they concern me.

I know it can feel like there is too much uncertainty and not enough answers right now, but here is the truth that no amount of questioning or problems should ever take away from you: God has you where he wants you and if you cooperate, no devil in hell can knock you out of his hands.

It’s a tough time for all, and especially for some, but what a privilege it is to trust a God that has unlimited supply and is unlimited in his capacity to provide to all.

 

All reference verse taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) Bible ©. All right reserved.
The Christian Journal, 2020 ©

Covid 19 and Where we Stand

There’s so much to say when it comes to corona, but I’ve had to step back and ask myself what God is saying. Really there are many things that have happened in the world since January and I have been asking and seeking God’s mind concerning where we stand as his creation and his people. On a personal level and on a Global level God has been at work shifting things, showing us some, concealing somethings in his infinite wisdom and also prompting us to deep prayer.

If there is anything I know that’s happening for sure in this season is that God is requiring deeper, longer and more earnest prayer, worship and praise from us.

What I also know with certainty is that God has called us to be a light and a voice of hope and peace, most especially at a time like this. We can allow the disruption of this pandemic to distract us and put us in a defensive zone or we can use it as a platform to be more active about our spiritual practices and more vocal about our Christian Faith. It will always be my prayer that people will not die, but live long and full lives and that when they do die they die peacefully without suffering and wake up to everlasting life in the arms of the father. Unfortunately, people die and suffer everyday, Corona or not, and it is important that regardless of how or when we die we make the very important and significant decision to  make Jesus Christ our Lord and saviour before we do.

Death is the reality of life, but more real is the Faith we have in God while we live, which promises a life spent with him in eternity. There are only two choices, life or damnation and we continuously pray that people get saved and know the love of the Lord here and more so in death.

What to Pray

The focus of our prayers should be that God’s sends salvation for our mortal bodies, especially for those who have been affected and are vulnerable to the effects of the virus. But we should also pray that more people will come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. A cure and knowledge of the cure to Corona could save many lives, but it couldn’t save a single soul. Only knowledge of Jesus Christ and acceptance of this knowledge will save your soul. Let’s not get so distracted by the pandemic that we forget the pandemic of sin brought to the world through two humans, that is still corrupting and killing not only souls but lives at an alarmingly fast rate. The effects of this pandemic is very real and I do not take it lightly at all, but more than anything it has woken me up to the reality of finite state of the human race and how fragile and delicate this life is. It is precious and fragile and we should take it very seriously and use it to build a legacy of godliness that is guaranteed to out live us no matter how long we live.

I sense that God is wanting us to pray for mercy and wisdom first for ourselves and also for the leaders of our various nations. 2 Chronicles 7: 14 comes to mind, which says that “if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways I will hear from heaven and heal their land”. Scripture shows us time and time again that the key to healing and restoration whether for our bodies, filed of work or anything associated with us, is prayer offered up in humility and genuine repentance from evil. Our generation needs this mercy more than ever before. Daniel prayed for the captivity of Israel to be turned around and their lands to be restored, He prayed earnestly for 21 days and in that time he prayed for mercy for himself and for all of Israel. His prayer for mercy on behalf of Israel worked and brought the captivity of Israel to an end. It was the will of God then and it is the will of God today that we pray. Joshua Selman said that “Prayer is the highest form of humility before God”. This is very true. When we pray we refuse to lean on our own understanding, we declare to God that we need him and that we want him. When we add repentance to our prayer we surrender control and prove that our heart and action is in line with our words. Repentance enables us to draw near to God with our hearts and not just our lips (MARK 7:6). It also enables us to align our actions and heart with his will; genuine repentance leads us to seek out the will of the father (Matthew 6:33, Luke 12:31).

We must also pray for judgment over the corona virus and the spiritual forces that are propagating the activity of this virus. The scripture informs us that we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places (Epesians 6:12 NLT). The NKJV calles the evil spirits in the heavely places – spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavely places. Spiritual beings require, physical beings to effectively operate on this world. This is why when God redeemed us from sin and death he needed to come in human form live and die like us to restore us back to God. God had to reason and negotiate with Mary, Joseph (Jesus’ Parents) and Zacharias and Elizabeth (John the baptist parents) for his redemption plan to be fulfilled. God as a spirit being is always looking for who is available to be his physical vessel on earth. He is gentle and waits for us to let him in before he can use us. He will never use us without our willingness to be used for his good purpose. The enemy is not so. He will use whoever is vulnerable and susceptible to his evil suggestions and specially delights in those who openly and actively invite him to accomplish his evil work in through them. These are the people we must place under the arrest of the power of the Holy spirit. People have been spotted actively spreading the virus through unsanitary means, even after they found out they had the virus. Deliberately not complying with the advice of health professionals, going out in public places and contaminating public spaces. These are hosts of wickedness. People who have signed themselves up to the plots of the enemy. They may think they are doing the right thing for whatever reason, but they need to be restrained by spiritual means.

I believe that these are some of the foundational prayers that we need to pray at this time. We must be vigilant and keep our spiritual armor on. Our weapons of warfare are not carnal – we don’t use fists, knives or guns to fight our most dangerous battles we fight in the spirit with the weapons of praise, worship and earnest prayers. We fight from a place of Victory because we have already won. We skip right to the celebratory praise, worship and thanksgiving part because we are people of Faith and firm hope. We sing hymns and sound out our songs of the spirit. And we continue in this spiritual attitude because we know that all things will work together for good.

January in Summary

I have spent the better part of January praying and waiting on God for what he has for me. I don’t have all the answers but, I have made a conscious choice to make sure that I am in a place where I can get the answers and directions, I need to ensure that I end up in the place where God has destined me to be. I can’t achieve the dreams God has given me by myself. I need the interference of someone who knows better and someone much stronger than me to help me get to my desired destination. My natural self is prone to discouragement and inconsistency. Without his divine assistance I will lose strength and momentum along the way. Because I know this, I have given myself over to prayer and supplication and focused more on receiving what I need to excel this year and the decades to come.

With the month rapping up I have confidence that God has my back because I have taken out time to make the necessary sacrifice that will enable me to excel this year. Of course, there is the requirement for ongoing, supplication further down the road, but for now I know that it is time to begin the journey and take that first step in Faith. Faith that God has heard your prayers and that he is with you and won’t let you take steps in the wrong direction. You can only have this assurance if you have really spent time in surrender to God in prayer.

Another thing I have been more deliberate with, which I will certainly continue to practice is reading the word and praying it back to God. The Bible in one-year plan on YouVersion has been a great resource in maintaining this. The plan gives you 4-5 chapters in the new and old testament to read daily and encourages you to write your thoughts and take away points at the end of each daily reading. It is spilt up in monthly portions so you can catch up here with February, if you would like to join. You are also able to invite others to join you with your daily reading habit and turn it into a group bible study. It’s also a great way to get your family members involved and keeps you accountable. It is a very useful and helpful tool if you are seeking to develop discipline in this area of your spiritual growth.

Finally, I’d like to encourage you to review yourself each month. How did your January go? Did you pray more like you said you would? Did you stick to your goals? Did you commit your goals into the hands of the Lord and trust him? Did you write down the words and instructions you received from him? Are they in line with the Word? Which scripture spoke to you the most this month as you read the word?

As you continue to ask yourself questions that evaluate your journey into 2020, think of what you can do better or differently in February and set yourself small targets to do things that will further develop your spiritual life. Yes, I am asking you to prioritise your spiritual goals above every other goal. This is what Daniel and his friends did. Their spiritual goal was to please God and worship him alone and to fulfil the requirements of the law of God even if that meant going against the customs, norms and legal decrees of the Land. Instead of their health, education, careers and finances declining, they flourished, prospered and excelled in all that they did. I strongly believe that if you prioritise your spiritual goals and do what is said in the scriptures you will also begin to experience flourishing in your finances, relationships, career, health and wellbeing. This is what God wants for us and what he is willing to give us.

Reflecting at Christmas

This is by far the busiest times of the year and it’s not because of all the shopping. Actually, according to Shopify, November is the busiest commercial month of the year. I think it’s all the end of year rush, last-minute work targets and personal goals we want to achieve all between now and the 31st 23:59 which gets us all worked up. And on top of all that we want to enjoy the festivities and rest. We will soon discover that we cannot rest if we don’t eliminate the stressors in our way. At this time though I would say that one of the most important and beneficial things you can do for yourself is to spend time in reflection. When I’m reflecting or journaling it is in these moments when I’m most aware of what God has been teaching me through the day or the year. We need to intentionally create moments where we have epiphanies based on what is happening. Significant changes do not happen with the turn of a calendar it happens when we allow our minds to receive and engage with what is happening in our environments. We are praying for God to change our stories in the new year or decade, but we must ask ourselves what God has been engraving on the tables of our hearts over the last year or even decade that we haven’t paid attention to.

Beyond the feelings and the goosebumps, we might get when we encounter God, there are notable changes that take place in less spectacular ways inside of us. Being a lot more reflective, has help me understand that I ought to look for the mundane. Looking for God in the silence and seemingly insignificant is how Elijah got his life back as he stood on the mountain of God at the brink of depression.

I’m thinking about my life and things I want to focus on improving and things that I should keep and be more consistent with. Reflectively, I can say that I have grown over the last year. One of the key areas I have experienced growth and change in is how I think about giving and receiving love. It’s important to regularly reflect on how we relate with people and things.

Earlier in the year I had a conversation with someone that helped bring the thought process to mind and I can say that on reflecting on my understanding of extending love and hearing what the other person had to say, I found myself thinking that maybe I didn’t quite have a full understanding of what love – the God kind of Love – is. Maybe my limited understanding of how vast God’s love is keeping me from receiving all the wonderful gifts of God’s awesome love. I’ve begun thinking of love in a different way which has led to changes in how I practice love. Nothing drastic or dramatic, but significant enough for me to desire and chase after more of God’s kind of love in my heart. It is the kind of love that chases you and woos you regardless of how you are or what you’ve done. That love, loves you just because and nothing you could do could make it grow or diminish. Can I be that way towards myself and the people in my life? Can I be more loving regardless of what if?

At this point, I can say that any work that you catch me doing is related to reflecting and checking that the plans I make for the coming year are in line with the work that He has already begun in me. After all, what good is a perfect gift if I don’t take out the time to enjoy and use it?

Christmas blessings!

What do I do when one assignment comes to an end?

A couple of months ago I wrote about embracing your call and understanding that an assignment from God, be it staying at home to raise your children or working on a job that is not quite your definition of a ‘dream job’, is the call that he has for you. Wherever God has placed you is where he wants you to be and that is your calling.

But where do we go and what do we do when an assignment ends?

It can be really disconcerting when your routine is interrupted by a change in affairs. It could be that you have been made redundant at work or you have recently graduated and are looking to get into work. Or perhaps your children are grown and have moved out. No matter what your stage in life is, change can be uncomfortable and requires you to adjust your position. If you have been focused on a particular assignment for a long time it can be a lot more shocking and strange to suddenly be doing something else.

God moves us from one assignment to the next in order to keep us from becoming stale. Sometimes it is because we have outgrown our previous position. Embedded in every assignment are learning curves and challenges that are designed to stretch us. We don’t always feel the stretching. We don’t always feel growth pains, but it doesn’t always mean that we are not growing.
There are a host of reasons why God would want to move us to the next assignment. Whatever the reason, just know that it is to bless and increase you and not to subtract from you.

The commandment of God to humanity at the very beginning was for us to “be fruitful and multiply”, to “subdue the earth” and to “have dominion”. That commandment is still true today. It is not the purpose of God for our lives to be stuck in one spot. He desires that we spread and become masters over things. With this in mind we can start to understand what we should be doing when one assignment ends.

1. Give Thanks
Your attitude should be one of thanks giving. 1 Thessalonians 5:16, tells us to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Just over a week ago I was laid off a job that I had received a few months prior by what I could have only explain to be the intervention and grace of God. I which things had been different, but In my hearts of hearts I am thankful to God for the opportunity to learn, grow and be a blessing. I rejoice because I know where my source really is.
I don’t see it as a cut in my financial supply I see it as a step to doing something new, because God is my provider. Don’t be down cast.

2. Get Closer
The second part of that scripture says, ” pray without ceasing”. We should be praying to God all day, all the time. We can do this by praying in our hearts and rehearsing scriptures as we go through our day. (I will talk more on this in a separate post.) For now though I think that we can all agree that our lives get so busy with work and routine that we don’t put so much emphasis on praying as we should be. When our routines are interrupted we look for new things we can do to keep us busy again. This is the perfect time to get back in touch with God. You have all this free time now to pray more and study the word more. Go on hour long prayer walks or worship walks. Spend time with God. In the process, you will get clearer understanding of his purpose for your life and insight into your next assignment.

It’s so powerful how God created a part of the earth each day in Genesis 1 and then paused after each day to look at what he had done and then said that it was good. God modelled the nature of putting our work and aims under review before moving on to the next thing. It’s the principle of watching and praying. If you don’t keep your eyes and mind open you will miss the instructions God has for you. I have find that God has spoken to me more about what he wants me to do and the direction to take when I was preparing myself by putting myself through training, reflecting and listening.

I hope you find your feet landing on the path God has set before you. And may you find grace and peace in every season you find yourself in.

3. Prepare
‘Prayer is the master Key! One key for every door.’ This is the truth that we have been feed since first coming to the faith. What we fail to do alongside praying is prepare for what we have prayed for. Have you taken time out to recubirate, rest and skill up for the next assignment. Between each assignment there is a moment, an opportunity for you to clean and sharpen your tools. This moment can be used to reflect on the past. What would you change or do better? Sometimes God puts us on intentional pauses because we haven’t taken out time to give ourselves a break.