What Next?

I have not blogged in a very long while. I have watched months fly past without turning the dream of writing consistently into action. If it were possible for thoughts to transcribe into words without a determined action on my part, I would have automated my writing. But that is not possible, at least not yet.

2017 has been a busy year beyond my imagination. I have juggled many balls in the air. I managed to keep some afloat. I dropped quite a few. Blogging, unfortunately, is one of the balls that I dropped against my best intentions, despite having three platforms that provides me with the opportunities to blog and share to inspire hope and enrich lives.

Having acknowledged my shortcomings and trusting you to forgive me for not connecting with you as promised, let me count my blessings in 2017 and be grateful for the many balls I have been able to keep afloat by the grace of God.

The Book, Grace In The Storms, is going to places beyond my imagination. I know that at least 1000 printed copies are out there. I am super grateful to God for His faithfulness, and for the lives, He is using the Book to touch. The feedback received has truly touched my heart and humbled me.

We held several Grace In The Storms Events and had many opportunities to share the story in Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and Nigeria. These were avenues to share the testimony of God’s sustaining grace and to present the Book to a wider audience. I am simply awed at what God is doing with the story He has scripted of my life and the many doors He is using the story to open to me.

My instruction was to go and share the story at every place He will open the doors to me. He had not ceased to amaze me with the way He is fulfilling His part of the bargain. The Feet of Grace is taking me to places my natural feet could not have taken me.

The Feet of Grace Foundation has almost fully engaged my attention and occupied my time. We set out to make the ONE DREAM of living life without limits come true for TEN AMPUTEES in 2017. It has not been a mean feat. There have been several times that I had to pause, and I wondered how this would come to pass; “how would it be?” The support did not come from the places that I had envisaged and expected. Support and help came through many unexpected channels I could never have dreamt of.

My heart rejoices with praise as I am overwhelmed at the goodness of God. He simply pushed me to keep my focus on Him. He keeps reminding me that when He gives an assignment, He makes provision for it. The Annual Charity Walk took place in more locations in 2017 to include Kenya and Uganda in addition to the earlier locations we had in Nigeria, United Kingdom, United States and Switzerland. So far, support has been provided to procure prosthetic limbs for Seven amputees in 2017. Seven almost done, three to go. Together we can make this one dream come true for all the ten amputees.

In addition to the above, I now have a Live Video session of Inspiring Hope on My Facebook Page every Friday evening. I share messages of Grace and Hope to inspire others in their journeys especially those facing adversities and life-challenges.

The work has been intense. The grace has been generous.

But amid these, one question keeps gnawing my spirit—What Next?

What next as a wife after 25 years of marriage?
My husband and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary last April with praise and thanksgiving to God, and with many testimonies. It can only get better. Where do I need to make improvements? What can I do better to keep my marriage fresh, vibrant and exciting for both my husband and me? How are we doing with pursuing and fulfilling the purpose for which God brought us together as husband and wife? I don’t want my marriage to settle into the rut of routines. I do not want us to settle on the sofa of staleness. I am taking time to reflect our shared interests and common goal and vision for our marriage.

What next as a mother of two adult sons who no longer need me to parent them daily?
My first son is now an Engineering graduate, carving out his life and making life decisions. My second son is a junior in the university. Both are living between 6700km to 9450km from home. Parenting them is redefined. My role is becoming more of a counselor and adviser on a faraway stage, and a prayer warrior behind the scenes. As much as I want to be a part of their daily life, they seem to be getting on just fine without me mothering them.

What next as an entrepreneur?
My desire to be a contributing partner to my family finances has not waned despite the years of inability to earn a regular income on health grounds. The vats of needs are huge. The desire to be an inexhaustible conduit of God’s blessing is compelling. What I see in the pipeline cannot meet the needs. I am again and again learning to trust God for His provision. He brought us this far. He has been our sufficiency. I am asking God and myself, what can I do differently to generate the much-needed income. How can I be a more faithful steward of the resources available to me? How can I best position and manage my business so that it can generate consistent income? How do I carve out the time to production in my already crowded agenda? Which of my skills can I monetize to generate income? The questions seem endless.

What next as a Writer?
The books longing to be written and the manuscripts waiting to be completed have refused to let go of their hold on my heart. I cannot miss the unusual ways God is reminding me that I have several uncompleted writing assignments. Wishing will not write the Books. They will only get written when I make time to sit and write. My starting point is writing this blog with renewed commitment.

What next as an Inspirational Speaker?
Knowing where God wants me to be at each point in time is an imperative. I cannot afford to miss the opportunity that God opens to me neither can I afford to go where He has not sent me.

What next as God’s handmaiden positioned at this place and at this time for an only-me-can-fulfill purpose in God’s Kingdom agenda?

Truly, I am in the “What Next?” phase of life. Knowing and understanding the will of God for my life at this phase is critical. Clarifying my God-given vision and the steps needed to accomplish is an imperative I cannot afford to overlook.

I am taking time to seek God’s face. I am listening for His instructions. I am willing to submit to His leading, to trust Him and to obey Him. At the beginning of 2017, my watchword was “Listen, Trust and Obey.” It is obvious that God is not done with teaching me to listen for His instructions, to trust in His ability to take me to where He wants me to be, and to simply obey Him.

Perhaps, you are also in that phase where you strongly desire to know which direction God wants you to go. Then, you are in the right place to pull the plug on yourself and retreat into God’s presence. Silence the noise of the world around you, tune your ears to listen and hear God’s voice. Wait in His presence for instructions. You are in the waiting room—the place where God is preparing you for your next season.

That is where I am now—clarifying God’s calling on my life and His purpose and directions for my next season. I am confident that there is grace available for this phase—the grace that keeps me through the tests needed to refine and prepare me for the next season. I am tapping into the super-abundant grace. I encourage you to do so. That grace enables you to do what you cannot do in your human capacity. It is grace that will keep you sitting still to listen when your instinct is to engage and get even busier.

Receive today, the grace to retreat to recalibrate, renew, refocus and refresh in preparation for your next season.

Pause, Listen, Balance, And Stay Focused.

Once upon a time, my agenda was snow-white. The occasional specks of ink on my agenda were mainly activities relating to keeping me alive—hospital appointments, physiotherapy and home care. That is now history of past events. It is no longer breaking news that Irene’s plate is always fully loaded these days. Hence my absence from the blogosphere over the past three weeks.

The run-up to the Hit The Street For Their Feet Charity Walk on April 25^th was hectic. It left me breathless. I have not had time to catch my breath since then. All the donations coming from across three continents had to be acknowledged and receipted irrespective of the amount because each of them made a difference and added value taking us to our set goal. I am so grateful to God that I have much to acknowledge. The administrative part of the Charity is still ongoing.

It was in the midst of that that I realized that I had only thirty days (now seventeen) left to the wedding of the dear daughter of Zion who God used to support me during the year post my amputation. She cared for me and attended to my needs during those early days while I learnt to regain my autonomy and to get accustomed to my new definition of normal as an amputee. She has been a blessing to me. I had committed to help translate her dream to reality and time was fast running out. I was in overdrive now.

Alongside came the preparations for the Annual Conference, which took place in my church last weekend. While we were getting ready, I had to go for a surgery to correct what the doctors termed “a rare form of adhesion” which got my tracheotomy scar stuck to my trachea. It was a day surgery. I was back in my kitchen barely 3 hours after the surgery. But it was a restless and rather painful night afterward and has required a twice a week trip to the hospital to keep an eye on it.

In the midst of all these, my accountability partners and very concerned friends were keeping a tab on me. They wanted to know where I was, regarding my pending assignments—completion of my book and getting the Feet Of Grace website running to name a few. And the pressure mounted.

That was when I had to pause. I needed to take a deep breath. I was feeling overwhelmed and overcharged. I have a passionate aversion to idleness with a relentless drive for purpose, perfection and making a difference. It appears that this combination has pushed me to the other side of the spectrum.

The outlook for the next four months seems even more charged with several planned travels, ministry project and pending Ministry training assignments. It was the time for me to pause and listen.

I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens, empowers and infuses me with strength from His limitless stores. But I am not called to do everything.

Having a clear guidance and direction from God as to what He wants me to do, when, where and how He wants me to do the things He has called me to do has become an imperative. I must pause and listen. If I am not quiet, I cannot hear Him speaking to me. It is only when I am getting instructions from Him that I can balance all the many balls that I have to juggle in the air. It is only by His grace that I can do the things He has called me to do. I need to pause, listen and balance.

I know God also has a deep aversion to idleness. Several passages in the Bible points in that direction.

"And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day long?'” – Matthew 20:6

“"The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat." – 2Thess. 3:10

“You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,” – 1Thess 4:11

I also know that God does not want me to burn out or run on my own steam, I cannot be useful to Him that way. Therefore, I must insert precious times of rest into the equation.

Several key points shone brightly like a lighthouse on a dark night as I processed all the above.  I will share some of them with you.

1.       I have to learn to say NO:

If I am going to stay focused on the goal and accomplish the tasks God laid on my heart for this year, I have to give myself the permission to say No. First to myself and then to others. A young man challenged me recently to master the art of No in an excellent article he posted on his blog - The Art of No. It is not just about saying No but how to manage a No response. What do I mean by saying no to myself? I mean I cannot do everything that comes to my mind even if it sounds great and will benefit someone.

2.        I need to prioritize:

Some tasks are important, but they are not urgent. Some things that God calls us to do are urgent and important because someone is waiting at the other side to receive of it. I cannot afford to be lackadaisical about the things that are important in God’s kingdom agenda. The fact that He has not issued a deadline the way my bosses at work would do does not mean that I can do my God-ordained assignments at my convenience.

3.       Ultimately, my accountability is to God:

God has called me to be a good steward of the resources He has assigned to me to manage. These include the talents, gifts and abilities with which He endowed me. As a steward of God’s resources, there will come a time I much give an account of what I have done with these resources. As well as how I have fared with the responsibilities and tasks He assigned to me. Doing His will and fulfilling His call upon my life requires my utmost attention and dedication.

God’s all-sufficient grace is available and richly abounding to each of us so that we having all sufficiency in all things and at all times may abound to every good work. I want to abound in good works. My earnest desire is to impact lives for good, make a difference and leave a lasting legacy. I must, therefore, run the race set before me tapping into the rich grace available to me and with my gaze focused on the ultimate goal.

Over the coming months, I will do my best to keep this space we share together to enrich and encourage one another active while I strive to maintain a balance in my responsibilities and commitments. There will be guest posts here, and I hope to see the blog relocate to the Feet Of Grace website as soon as it is up. In the interim, I ask you to uphold me in prayers; that I may have strength to do what I am called can do, courage to accept those that I cannot do and the wisdom to know the difference. Pray also that God will send me help fitted for this assignment.

I pray that each of you will flourish in the place where God has assigned you.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed with so many things to do? Share and let's encourage one another.

A Compelling Purpose.

"The compelling purpose of God lies behind everything in life, and that God is divinely shaping us into oneness with that purpose."- Oswald Chambers.

There is an irrefutable, well-reasoned, overwhelming plausible, powerful, potent and irresistible purpose of God behind every event of our lives. There are no chance events in the life of a Believer. Whatever God permits or allows in our lives has a compelling purpose. God’s words and actions are never purposeless.

"The things that happen do not happen by chance—they happen entirely by the decree of God. God is sovereignly working out His own purposes.

God’s will, purpose and plan for His children, does not exclude pain and suffering, even for those He love so much. Jesus is His Beloved Son in Whom He was well pleased. But part of His pleasure is ensuring that His eternal purpose is fulfilled, and that included allowing His Beloved Son to be crushed, beaten and humiliated. It was so that the Kingdom agenda may prosper through Jesus’ pain, suffering and death. How else would you and I have been adopted into God’s family? How else would we have experienced salvation and deliverance? How else would we have had the hope of eternal life with Him in His glory?

 The compelling purpose of God behind Jesus’ suffering was so that the price for sin is paid in full by being the final sacrifice for sin. Because Jesus submitted to God’s sovereign will and purpose, He provided for every human access into the very presence of God. This is the reason you and I have a hope in glory.

Therefore, a Christian is someone who trusts in the knowledge and the wisdom of God to accomplish His compelling purpose for his life in every situation, and not in his abilities. Even when he does not understand it or grasp the significance of the situation or the purpose for it. Christians are those who know that God directs their footsteps and delights in every detail of their life no matter what season of life they may be in or how dark that season may be.

“Each day is held in the hands of a caring Father. Every moment, it is kept by a loving God.” – Roy Lessin

The tagline on my email and my favourite quote is “Kept by the Hands of God, day by day, come what may.” This is informed by the knowledge that my life is kept in the hands of God. It is an assurance that if God holds my life in His hands, nothing can happen to me without His prior knowledge. If God does allow an event in my life, it is for a well-reasoned and overwhelming plausible reason and to fulfil a purpose in His Kingdom agenda.

It, therefore, behoves us as Christians to find purpose in our pain, afflictions and adversity. When we do, we will see blessings in areas where humanly speaking we should be bitter. Being fully persuaded that in all things God is working for our good. Every act of God is suffused with grace.

There are no exceptions to the ALL things. When God says ALL things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His good purpose, He certainly means ALL things. This is applicable to everyone who loves God and to everyone who is called according to His good purpose.

I love God, with all my heart. I know God has called me for His purpose. I know my calling is to fulfil God's Kingdom agenda. So I can go to the bank on the validity of this promise knowing that God Whose word and promises are infallible is faithful to do just as He has promised.

Therefore, there is a compelling good purpose of God behind my twenty years of living with a chronic respiratory disease and a debilitating neuro-muscular disease. There's a powerful and potent purpose of God behind the amputation of my legs and every other challenging situation I have had to go through.

My pains and afflictions are not purposeless. Now, I see only in part. I am yet to grasp the full significance of all of the events of my life. But, I can definitely testify that God is not only working it together for my good, He is also using the story He is writing of my life to touch lives for good.

You see, my dear friends, God’s thoughts and ways are supremely higher than our thoughts and ways. His thoughts are composed of His eternal purpose, which we cannot fully comprehend on this side of the divide. That is why we cannot presume to know all that God is doing in us in our diverse seasons. Faith compels us to trust in His omniscience, knowing that He has complete and unlimited knowledge and awareness of all things

Many times we want to shield ourselves from some of the things God brings around us. But we need to understand that it is God who engineers our circumstances. Since Jesus’ life dwells in us, every attack on us by the enemy is an attack on the life of Jesus in us. That’s what the devil seek to do. Jesus Christ’s honour is at stake in our bodily lives. Therefore, we need to remain faithful to the Son of God in everything that attacks His life in us.

The compelling purpose of God determines that we walk in a certain path God in His infinite wisdom has assigned to us. Sometimes that path may pass through Gethsemane. In there, grace compels us to, in absolute submission to God like Jesus say, "Not my will but thy will be done." The path may take us through fierce storms where the billows rage and the waves unfurl its fury at us. There also, grace compels us to look to Jesus, sleeping peacefully in the midst of the storm and find peace resting in Him. The path may take us through the fiery furnace of trials and affliction. Grace compels to look to Jesus, Who is our Companion in the troubled and challenging times, and assures us He will never abandon us or leave us alone.

In every season, each of us is in a unique time in life, in a unique place with unique talents and gifts to play our assigned part in God’s story. I believe that God has put me in a unique position in life to fulfil my unique role in God’s story. This unique role will require me to be shaped and fitted for the role. The storms, afflictions, pains and trials I pass through prepare me for that unique role in God’s eternal purpose. This is the compelling purpose for my life at every moment and season of my life.

God has a unique place for you in His story and as part of His eternal purpose. This is the compelling reason for every season of your life. When you submit to His will in each season, soon you will see how the seasons align to lead you to fulfilling your God-ordained destiny. Be assured that the grace of God is available to sustain you through the seasons of your life. Don’t give up in the season even when you don’t understand what it is all about. Rest and trust in God’s omniscience.

Feet Of Grace 2015 Charity Walk_Hit The Street For Their Feet:

Over the past three weeks, I have had to spend many days and several hours with my prosthetist. My prosthesis, the Feet of Grace, made just last year had become very tight and painful to walk in. I have gained back some of the 30kg I lost during the last 10years of my affliction. This experience was a shocking reminder of the situation of amputees in developing countries who have no access to prosthetists and for whom the cost of prosthetic limbs is prohibitive.

The prosthetists, our partners in Nigeria, the Irede Foundation is working with, are located in Enugu. This means that the amputees have to travel to Enugu twice. First time to have the measurements and moulding of stumps done. The prosthetic limbs are then fabricated and customized to fit the amputee. The second time is for fitting and learning how to walk with their new limbs, which requires a two-week stay in a city where they don’t know anybody. Caring for the amputee and one family member who is required to travel with them is included in the cost.

It was at this time; it dawned on me again how blessed I am. The cost of changing just the cup of my Feet of Grace is more that the cost of providing prosthetic limbs to two amputees. I live in Geneva, one of the most expensive cities in the world. God has my back, and He has been taking care of how my Feet of Grace is paid for. Secondly, it takes me 30-40 minutes to get to my prosthetist. I am blessed with a loving husband and great friends who take me for these often very long visits and stay with me without complaining. Lastly, I have a physiotherapist working with me on a weekly basis, helping me to become accustomed to walking with my Feet of Grace on all terrains, climbing slopes and staircases. That’s why I can contemplate a 5k Charity Walk in less than two years after amputation.

Chidi and Olivet do not have such privileges or opportunities. Without your support, they cannot regain their autonomy. But you and I have been positioned at this unique time to help these amputees to fulfil their unique roles in God’s story. Indeed, we have been blessed to bless. They are counting on our support.

Happy Easter from my family to yours. May the resurrection power be at work in your life through this season and beyond.

Know Your God_Part Two

In the first part of Know Your God posted last week, I shared why it is important to know God especially at the brink of the unknown and when we face trials and persecutions. I will continue on this subject in this blog post.

According to J.I. Packer, the author of Knowing God;

“The highest science, the loftiest speculation and the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, nature, work, doings and existence of the great God whom he calls Father.”

Therefore, the most fulfilling depth of understanding and height of knowledge that man can ever aim to attain is to know God.

Who is this great God that we need to know and have a personal revelation of?

We know from the scriptures that all the changes and events in our world today have been plainly and perfectly foreseen by God. Nothing catches God unawares. Nothing comes to Him as a surprise, not at the global level, or at the national level or personal level. He is the God of all knowing, Who knows the end from the beginning.

All power belongs to God (Ps 62:11). God is truly powerful. His power is amazing and beyond description. Who can understand the thunder of God's power? Who can count the evidences of His power?

“So inconceivable, so immense, so uncontrollable is the power of Deity (the Godhead) that the fearful convulsions which He works in nature conceal more than they reveal of His infinite might!”

– Arthur. W. Pink (The Power of God in “The Attributes of God”)

Even that which is displayed of His might to the visible creation is beyond what we can comprehend. There is infinitely more power logged in the nature than can be expressed by all His works. His splendour was like the sunrise; rays flashed from His hand, where His power was hidden (Habakkuk 3:4).

“He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind; He makes the winds His messengers, Flaming fire His ministers.…” - Psalm 104:3.

If the wind that is the most impetuous of all the elements, having the ability to move forcefully and with almost inconceivable rapidity and can be tossed into utmost rage, is under God’s feet and beneath His perfect control. Then I am fully persuaded that there is no situation now or in the future that is beyond the power and control of God. Power is the name of God, that is, The Almighty. God and power are inseparable. God’s essence is ALMIGHTY so that it is not limited in regards to action.

“He is Himself the great central source and Originator of all power 

(C. H. Spurgeon).”

“God and power are so inseparable that they are reciprocated. As His essence is immense, not to be confined in place; as it is eternal, not to be measured in time; so it is almighty, not to be limited in regard of action (S. Charnock).”

This is the great and mighty God who wants to reveal Himself to us and who desires for us to know Him intimately. He is also the God that says “Fear not, for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God… (Is 41:10). He is consistently and continually with us. We are never alone.

He is also the God, Who out of nothing, made all things by His Word alone. Man needs tools and materials to work and create something, but God began creating with His Word. Not a single jot of His Word spoken concerning you will ever fall to the ground, but what He has designed, what He has declared, shall infallibly come to pass. WHAT AN AWESOME GOD! This great God is worthy of our implicit confidence and trust.

“But seeing that He is clothed with omnipotence, no prayer is too hard for Him to answer, no need too great for Him to supply, no passion too strong for Him to subdue; no temptation too powerful for Him to deliver from, no misery too deep for Him to relieve,” – Arthur. W. Pink

What does it mean to know God truly?

The only way we can truly know God is first to believe that God exists (Hebrews 11:6) and that He only is God, and there is no other (Deuteronomy 4:35).  We must also come to Him through Jesus Christ Who is the only way to God and a personal knowledge of God. There are no multiple ways to come to the true knowledge of God except through Jesus Christ.

Secondly we must acknowledge that God speaks to man, and the Bible is His word. It is in the Bible that God reveals Himself, His promises, and His will. The more we study the Bible for ourselves, the more of God is revealed to us and the more of Him we know. Know Your God means that you study the scriptures so that you can be certain of the truth and know beyond the shadow of doubt the reliability of everything you were taught. This is what Luke wrote to Theophilus in Luke 1:4.

Knowing God requires a commitment to being willing to accept and to obey His instructions, which we read from His Word. It is insufficient for us to study the Bible, but we must be willing to put what we read into action.

“If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land”

 – Isaiah 1:19

To come into the true knowledge of God, we must be prepared to dwell in His presence. But first we need to come to the realization that God is ever-present, and He is everywhere. This means that we are never alone. He is with us everywhere we are and in every situation we are. When we are praying, we are speaking right into the ears of God.

You can only get to know someone better and intimately when you spend time with the person. You get to know someone deeper and more intimately as you dwell in each other's presence, sharing your heart, your dreams, your hopes and aspirations. We can only do this when we talk with one another, and we give attention to listening to one another. Just as all relationships need to be kept vital and fresh, so is our relationship with God. It requires conscious and active effort. We know God intimately and personally when we carve out the time to dwell in His presence through prayer, studying His word, fellowshipping with Him in praise, worship and adoration. When we truly worship and praise Him, we are dwelling in His presence

The more we know of God, the more we will discover and see His glory on display in our everyday lives. The more we dwell in His presence, the more we will know that God speaks to us. As we dwell in God's presence, He speaks, expresses and reveals Himself to us. It is there that we hear the secrets He wants to make known to us. As you plunge yourself into the deepest sea of knowing God, you will come out refreshed and invigorated.

We are being transformed into the image of God as we contemplate the Lord’s glory when we dwell in His presence. God chose us in advance to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. God wants us to become more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. Our lives gradually become brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives, and we become like Him.

Insight comes into our lives comes from knowing the Holy God. If we are to become like God in character and if we, by our life of service, are to reveal Him to the world then we need to know Him aright. We must know Him as He reveals Himself.

A knowledge of God is the foundation of all true education and all true service. It is the only real safeguard against temptation. It is this alone that can make us like God in character.

To disregard the study of God is to sentence ourselves to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds us. This is a sure way to waste our lives and lose our soul.

In the days we are living today, Know Your God is not a request.

 It is an instruction.

I sincerely believe that none of us can truly live the life God has called us to live, and fulfil our God-ordained destiny and purpose without knowing God intimately and having a personal revelation of Him. That is why I strongly recommend that we earnestly seek after God and make concerted effort to dwell in His presence without noisy distraction of the world.

Watch out for the concluding part of Know Your God in the next blog post.

Know Your God_Part 1

Although 2015 is now two weeks old, it is with great joy that I wish you a happy and prosperous year filled with God’s rich and abounding blessings for you and your precious ones.

There are still three hundred and fifty days left of 2015, and we are still standing at the brink of the unknown. The year is pretty much unknown to us because we do not know what lies ahead of us. However, knowing the One Who has already known the end from the beginning and Who has seen December 31^st, 2015 right from January 1^st, will be critically important for how we live our lives in 2015. It will determine how we will fulfil God’s purposes for our lives.

Let’s examine the lives of two persons recorded in the Bible who stood at the brink of the unknown and the uncertain. We will benefit from the study of their lives and how they respond at such a time when they did not know what laid ahead of them.

The first example is Abraham:

He knew God and was fully persuaded of the truth of God's word. In Genesis 12, we learnt that God instructed him to leave his country, his family and his father’s home to a land that He will show him. So Abram departed as the Lord had directed him (vs. 4). Abraham heard the voice of God. He recognised the voice God. He received God’s instructions. He acted promptly. He did not question God. He did not know what was ahead. He simply obeyed by leaving. He walked into the unknown and the uncertain solely on God’s instructions. He did as he was told because he had a knowledge of the One Who told him.

“By faith Abraham, when he was called, he obeyed and went forth to a place which he was destined to receive as an inheritance, although he did not know … where he was to go.” (AMP).

“By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left, he had no idea where he was going…. “(MSG)- Hebrews 11: 8-10

Another person, who took a step into the unknown on the basis of her knowledge of God, is Ruth:

She came from an idol worshiping culture. She got married into a household where they knew and served God. She was barren, and as if that was not bad enough, she became a childless widow within a household where they served God. She was a witness to the fierce storms that devastated Naomi’s whole life without any apparent intervention by God (Ruth 1).

“…No, my daughters; it is far more bitter for me than for you that the hand of God is gone out against me.” (AMP).

“Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord Himself has raised His fist against me.” (NLT). - Ruth 1: 13b

Yet Ruth chose God even when she didn’t know what laid ahead of her in Bethlehem. Her response to Naomi’s persistent plea for her to go back to her people was “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live; I will live. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.”

I strongly believe that she had come to know something about God that was strong, personal and true enough to override Naomi’s assessment of God as the One who had dealt her a bad hand. What kind of person would choose a God who her mentor in the faith declared has dealt badly with her but the person who has come to know that God differently and experienced Him in a way beyond what her current circumstances dictates.

She chose the true God to be her God and follow her mother-in-law into the unknown on the strength of what she had come to learn about God. Ruth showed me that we need to have a personal revelation of God to remain focussed on God when someone we look up to in the faith appear to give up on God or disappoints us.

There is something peculiar about people who know their God. This was illustrated in Daniel 11.

“And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.”

 - Daniel 11: 32b – 33a (KJV)

Antiochus IV Epiphanes nicknamed “the madman” vented his fury against the Israelites and the Holy Covenant, and he abolished daily sacrifices. He desecrated the temple in Jerusalem. His army killed many people in Jerusalem, took many women and children as slaves and plundered the land. He forbade the Jews to practice their religion. He persuaded them through flattery to worship false gods.

 

In the midst of all the turmoil, a handful remained faithful to God. This small remnant who knew their God refused to engage in the abominable practices. The Amplified Bible noted that they proved themselves strong and stood firm and did exploit for God. They instructed many more in the way of the Lord despite the fact that they were persecuted and martyred for the faith.

"But the testing will refine, cleanse and purify those who remain strong and true to the faith, that is, those who know their God."

It is important to note here that not only do those who know their God stand strong at the brink of the unknown, they also stand strong when faced with trials, persecutions, difficulties, and challenging situation. These people knew God as the true God and they acknowledge Him as such. They not only profess Him but they also served and worshiped Him. They held fast to the faith in the midst of opposition, deception and disappointments. They endured against all threatening.

In the midst of the chaos and problems in the world around us, God has obligated Himself to us by promising that 2015 shall be our year of divine establishment. We have the assurance that God will establish us in His counsel and in the fullness of His purpose for our lives. We will need to know this God Who made such great promises to us intimately.

Dear Friends, we need to have a personal revelation of God when we face the unknown. We need an intimate relationship with the Almighty God if we are going to have a victorious walk in 2015. Who is this great God that we need to know and have a personal revelation of? What does it mean to truly know Him? What are the benefits of having a growing knowledge of God? We will examine these questions in the next post.

May the grace of God abound to you richly as you walk with the Lord in this New Year.

This blogpost is adapted from the Sermon I preached in Church on Sunday, January 11th, 2015.

Make The Most Of Time

It was 10:45am. I was in the kitchen hurriedly preparing a late breakfast. The phone rang.

“Hello, C’est Alain, malheureusement……..”

Everything else he had to say didn’t matter. I was elated. “Thank You, Lord,” I muttered under my breath. It was my physiotherapist calling to apologise that he could not make our 11:00am appointment for my Physio walk. Quite honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was go for the 2km walk planned for the day. It was wet, dull and cold outside. And my tummy and lower back were conniving to cause me distress.

I carried my plate of toasted brown bread and cheese sandwich and my cup of pomegranate tea to the dining table, and sat down to eat. I didn't have to rush my food into an already protesting tummy. Another thanks offering went heavenwards.

“So what are you going to spend the one-hour Physiotherapy time doing?” I am sure I had the Holy Spirit whisper to my heart.

I groaned—wasn't thinking about. But I had record keeping, work on the book manuscript, do some beading, call up a sister I needed to talk to, order supplies, and more on my to-do list. The pile of books just received and those pending to be read caught my eyes from the corner of my dining table. Then, I knew what I was going to spend the hour doing—read one of my waiting-to-be-read books. I pulled “True Confessions” out of the pile, studied the sunlit cover with the title embossed in black, opened it and began to read.

I learnt of Bola ‘Salt’ Essien-Nelson, the Author, through our mutual Sista, Bidemi Mark-Mordi. A link from her Facebook page took me to her blog: The Salt Chronicles in 2013. I was intrigued with ‘Salt’ as she calls herself. That is what she aspires to be—Salt of the earth, adding flavour to lives. I found the Salt Yellow Pages very informative. That’s what Salt does; she promotes others. I wanted my autographed copy of the “True Confessions” and longed to meet her in person.

In July, 2014 at the ROTH conference, I got the chance to meet her at last. It was the briefest meeting ever considering the fact that we had both looked forward to the opportunity of finally meeting at the conference. She came to my seat and gave me a huge hug. That hug spoke volumes. She wrote later that she felt if she hugged me long enough, some anointing will be transferred by osmosis! That’s Salt for you. But for me that hug made up for the time we could not share before, during and after the conference. Things didn't just go according to our plans. God’s plans prevailed.

 I spent the next couple of hours, adding my rest time following physiotherapy, reading the Dedication, Thank You, Foreword, Introduction and seven Salt Fables. Then surfed through to the end. This book is not going to be read in a hurry. It is the kind that you take sip, turn around in your mouth, and savour the flavour before swallowing. Published by Verbatim Communications, it bore the evidence of their characteristic good quality job. The pages were vanilla in colour, reminding me of vanilla cream cakes. The black lettering readily jump off the pages—friendly to the eyes.

The Salt Fables was as easy to read as reading Bedtime stories or folklore. Written in a simple language, I felt as if I was reading out to my children. Yet it was full of flavoured nuggets that will make you pause and ponder.

My take-away so far from True Confessions:

-          I wore a Teal-coloured bracelet with Never Give Up inscribed on it every day for three and half years. So the message from Once Upon a Barracuda and a Glass Wall resonated with me.

-          The Ping-Pong match in the name of loving that husbands and wives often play with each other was the message of Once Upon A Circle of Love. “When you fall in love, you cease to wait to be loved. You love instead….Genuine love given freely comes back.”

-          Ewa, Iyanu and Oge, though renowned and accomplished turned out to be empty in the things that matter. I chose to be Imole, the Light that radiate solutions. Because simply put; Beauty, Genus and Knowledge are not enough in themselves if the Light of the glory of God is not radiating through me. That’s the nugget I gleaned from Once Upon A Woman.

-          Effective communication results in vibrant and health relationship between husbands and wives. I ended Once Upon A Discussion praying, “Dear Lord, please reveal anything that would hinder my husband and I from communicating effectively. Do give us the grace to remove such barriers in Jesus name. Amen”

-          Is God your grocery shop or the friend you like to spend time with every morning and all day long? Find out in Once Upon A Friend.

-          Your now and your future is bigger than your past when Jesus comes into your life and give you a turn around. If you don’t believe me, check out the Award-Winning harlot sharing her testimony with the former notorious corrupt Zaki who dined with Jesus, and the hard-hearted murderer who became one of the greatest Apostles, whose letters are still touching lives for good till today.

-          I felt like tearing out Once Upon a Twenty-Seven Year Old Virgin, photocopying and sharing it with all my aburos in the Lord. I will do no such disservice to Salt. Rather I will make sure each of them get a copy this book, and encourage them to read it.

Insightful and enriching, it was great fun and relaxing reading True Confessions with the deep truths it conveyed. I strongly recommend the book. Both kindle and paperback editions are available on Amazon.

It was two hours well spent. Well spent because it contributed towards a specific goal. Though, I did have my physical therapy to strengthen my muscles and build my endurance that day, and obviously did not reach my daily goal for number of steps walked but I had a soul therapy, as I was encouraged to do some soul searching.  Subsequently, I exercised my spiritual muscles in prayers.

“Making the most of your time, because the days are evil” 

– Ephesians 5:16 (NASB)

The English Standard Version of this verse encourages us to make the best use of time. I have been pondering a lot recently on the use of my time. I pondered on how the things I spend my time doing contribute towards fulfilling God’s purpose for my life and to taking me in the direction of fulfilling my dreams and desires. It became even more important as I learn day after day that we must live each day ready for the coming of the Lord and to be prepared to fly away empty.

The import of this for me is that I have to be wise in the use of time. You can only make hay when the sun is shining. We have been called to make the most or the best use of every opportunity God has given us to impact lives for good, to make a difference in our spheres of influence and to fulfil our God-ordained purpose.

Believe me when I say, an apple does not fall far from the tree. It was a 20-year old young man who inspired me to start measuring my time in goals and to make time work for me. In his blog post, Time Mastery, Akan Nelson opined that by doing this we think of the long-term in the use of time, and we are enabled to weed out activities that don’t contribute to our long-term goals.

Living each day ready translates to making the most of our time and every opportunity God gives us to make a difference. Today’s blog post has a two-fold mission:

1.       To call our attention to be intentional and purposeful in the use of our time

2.       To spotlight my Sista’s inspiring work, which I promise will truly bless, enrich and inspire you.

Dear Friends, I encourage you to make your time work for you and take you towards living a purposeful life. This way, you will fly away empty having used all the gifts, potentials and skills God endowed you with, and you would have used them for His glory and honour.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you and yours.

We Call, He Answers, And He Reveals

“Call unto Me, I will answer, and show you great and hidden things that you do not know.” (ESV).

“...I’ll tell you marvellous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.” (MSG). – Jeremiah 33:3.

It has been several weeks since I planned to write this blog post but I did not get a release in my heart to do so. It was held back. And I did not have any inclination to write on another topic over the last couple of weeks. The Lord illuminated some truths in my heart on Wednesday morning, which gave me the impetus and much needed release to write this post.

I will share with you in this post my understanding of the scripture quoted above from Jeremiah 33:3 and how I have applied it to some seemly knotty and intractable issues in my life and in the lives of several persons in my sphere of influence who I have been standing in the gap for. I will also share some of the truths God illuminated in my heart as I asked for the revelation of the hidden things. These include how deep-seated anger and offenses cause scars, calluses and hardness in our hearts, and how these can impair the vitality of our relationship with God and with significant people in our lives.

The Call: “Cry to Me”

“Call Upon me” is not a plea. It is not a request. It is an instruction.

These were the words of Pastor Mayokun Oreofe, a dear Sista I met at the ROTH 2014 Conference in Lagos last July. These words caught fire in my spirit and have been resonating in my heart since then.

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble (distress);” (Ps. 50:15)

“Is there anyone in trouble? Let them pray.” (James 5:13)

“In my distress, I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.” (Ps. 18:6)

In August 2012, I wrote Unravelled. It was about intractable situations we sometimes face in life. Situations that are as complex as the Gordian knot—inextricable, challenging, complicated, convoluted and multi-faceted. Some are a tangled mess, defying understanding or solution. According to Charles Spurgeon (1908), it is God alone Who can untie the Gordian knots we try to unravel in our lives.

That is why we are instructed in the Bible that when we are faced with seemly intractable challenging situation, our only and best option is cry to God in fervent prayer.

My life’s story gave me several opportunities to acquire some experience in crying out to God. There have been instances when I had to open my mouth and cry out with a loud voice to the Lord of my salvation; “O God, help me,” I screamed at the top of my voice in my closet. “Father, intervene in this situation,” as I intercede over a burden concerning someone in my sphere of influence.

“Is there anything too difficult for You to do?”

“Can a heart be so hard that You cannot touch and soften?”

“Is there a situation too far gone that You cannot resolve and restore?”

It is at such times that I thank God for the thick walls of my house. No one but God could hear me crying out. And there have been instances when I have cried out to God in my heart yet not a sound came out of my lips. I had tracheotomy tube in my throat connected to the machine that was helping me to breath. I had no voice. I could not make any sound, yet in agony I cried out in my heart. I clenched my fist as tight as I could in that state of sheer weakness and exhaustion. I closed my eyes, and my heart wept before God. My soundless cry went before Him, into His ears.

Calling upon God is not a passive asking or a by-the-way making of request. It is akin to crying out to Him with a loud voice even if soundless. It is active. It requires effort. It requires consistency and diligence.

The Answer: “I will answer…”

“...I shall rescue (deliver) you, and you will honour Me. (Ps. 50:15)

“From His temple, He heard my voice; my cry came to before Him, into His ears.” (Ps 18:6)

“The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.” (Ps. 145:18)

The Bible assures us that God is gracious to hear us when we cry out to Him for help. Because our cry brings us into His presence—granting us a private audience with Him (Ps18:6, MSG). As soon as He hears, He will answer us (Is. 58:9). We are also assured that His ears are ever open to our cry. He will listen to us. He will rescue. He will deliver. He will save. This is the guaranteed assurance that we have. When we come close to God, He comes close to us (James 4:8). He is near to those who call upon Him in truth.

When we call on God with the intensity that is described by crying out, God’s response is also intense. The Bible noted that in response to David’s cry of distress, God responded with anger and indignation. To the extent that the earth quaked and rocked like aspen leaves, and the foundations of the mountains trembled. God bowed the heavens and came down. He thundered from heaven and flashed like lightning against the cause of David’s distress to rout them. Then, He reached out from on high and drew David out of his troubles and delivered him from his strong enemies. This is the intensity of God’s response when we cry out to Him. He answers with thunder from heaven.

This gives me great confidence that God most assuredly responds to our cry for help and in His own time and in His own way, He brings us an answer.

The Revelation: “…and show you hidden things which you do not know.”

The instruction is to Call Unto God. The guaranteed assurance is that He Will Answer. The promise is that He will reveal hidden and secret things. My understanding of this is that when we heed God’s instruction and we cry out to Him in prayer and supplication, He will answer. Not only will He answer, He will reveal those things which are fenced in and hidden from our sight that will lead us to the answer He has guaranteed us.

“… From now on, I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you” (Isaiah 48.6).

We also know from Deuteronomy 29:29 that the secret things belong to the Lord but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may follow His word. God promised to take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are ours.

I knew with all my heart that I needed to know these hidden, fenced and secret things that will lead me to see the manifestation of the promised answer to my cry to God on behalf of my family, friends, church and nation. So I stood on the authority of this promise, and beseech God to reveal to me what we need to know. It is only in the place of prayer that secret and hidden things are revealed—in the place where we call upon the name of the Lord.

These are remarkable secrets we do not know about things to come. The Bible says that they are mysterious, incomprehensible and difficult to understand by the human mind in itself. They are things we do not know about. They are marvellous and wondrous things that we could not have figured out on our own. That is why they need to be revealed. Because they make huge impact on our lives.

God sees the complex situations we find ourselves in today just as He saw the misery of His people in Egypt as recorded in the Book of Exodus. He hears our cry today just as He heard the people of Israel crying because of their slave drivers. And as He declared then, so even now He is concerned about our situation. God see, God hears and God acts on our behalf. It gives me such great joy that we have a High Priest that is moved by our feeling of infirmity, by our distress and by our afflictions. One of the ways God acts on our behalf is to reveal those things we need to know.

In response to my cry, God in His faithfulness did reveal some of these hidden things and illuminated His truth brilliantly in my heart. I will share with you in the concluding post coming next what I have learnt about how scars, calluses and hardness in our hearts impairs the vitality of our relationship with God and thus hinder the answers to our prayers.

Take That Step, No Matter How Small

“I will not go to my grave with my dreams. I will either accomplish them or pass them on as a legacy for others to complete. Either way, my dreams will not die unaccomplished.”

My dear Sista and friend wrote the equation below in a message shared with me and other Sista:

Dreams + execution = Destiny in motion.

The words hit me like a thunderbolt. It was at a time that I was pondering on all my many dreams and wondering how I was going to accomplish them. So I modified the equation and kept it in view as a constant reminder of what I need to do to live my dreams.

Dreams + Action (even if baby steps) = Destiny in motion.

Dreams – Action  = Daydreaming / Wishful thinking (a waste of valuable time).

Identifying the actions to take and how to manage all of them within the time available in each day, however, is not and has not been an easy task. In fact, this is the real task. Believe me, you don’t want to know how many times and how much valuable time I have spent in conflict with myself trying to figure out how to keep myself on track and focused on all the things that I know I need to do.

I resolved to keep taking one step after another, no matter how small, on each of my tasks and assignments towards accomplishing my dream. I kept myself reminded that someone is waiting at the other end to be a recipient of what God has asked me to do. I cannot afford to fail God and I cannot afford to fail that child of God waiting for me.

It is a constant and daily prayer, asking God for guidance and wisdom to know what to do, when to do it and how to do it. And also grace to limit and avoid distractions.

Another Milestone Reached Touching Lives:

On Tuesday, September 16^th at around 7:30pm, my resolve received a monumental boost. I was hollering Hallelujah, praise be to God…..!!! I had opened the dashboard of my blog to check the statistics and apparently twenty minutes earlier, the number of page-views on the blog got to 20,000!

I love counting numbers, because numbers established milestones for me. With every milestone reached, I feel a sense of accomplishment. But more importantly, it is a reference point for me to stop, look back to see how far I have come, AND to give praise to the Almighty God Who brought me thus far. Honestly, every reason and opportunity to give praise and thanks to God is well worth it.

My heart is full of gratitude to God for this milestone for a number of reasons. Let me share some with you:

-          When I started this blog less than three years ago, I had no clue where God is taking it to. It was simply a step of faith. I am overwhelmed, amazed and astonished at what God had done with the blog in thirty-four months.

-          Sharing the story of my life so publicly was not an easy decision. I knew once I put it out there, I could not retrieve. I could not have shared our lives this way without the support of my husband and our sons. They believed with me that God wants to use our story to touch lives for good and to inspire hope in the lives of those who read it.

-          Through the blog, God has given me a platform to share the message of His amazing love and sustaining grace with so many people that I could never have reached in person. I am blown out to note the places where visitors come from. From Norway to New Zealand and over 100 countries in-between. From big countries like USA, Canada, Russia, China, Nigeria to Islands in the middle of the Oceans,

-    I am particularly grateful for the many people who have been inspired to hold on and not give up on hope through this blog and for the many new friends I have made on the platform.

I am so full of appreciation to God that this blog is touching lives for good. My heart is overwhelmed when I read the comments. Sometimes what I struggled the most to write is what God has used to touch someone at their point of need. Then, I turn my face towards heaven and say. “Thank You, Lord, for helping me to release that piece.” I am so grateful for every single one of you who visit the blog and interacted with it. You give me a reason to keep taking each step forward every day.

Beyond Writing A Blog:

Two weeks ago, in a land far away at 7:38am, someone got on the blog and read at least ten blog post within a short space of time. By the end of the day, this precious child of God had sixty-seven page views, perhaps more than one of them but it was all from one country—Ukraine, and at the same time. I look through the blog posts read and wondered what this precious child of God was going through at the time he/she came to the blog.

Until recently, I could not have located Ukraine on the map. But I heard of their crisis in the past over the gas from Russia. Checking further, I found that Ukraine is one of the top ten countries from where I get the most visitors since I started the blog. And now in the midst of the current crisis in that country, someone there found something to read on the blog, which I am trusting God to use to minister to him/her.

I stopped and gave thanks to God for the situation that He took me through and the grace He gave me in it, which inspired each article that is posted on the blog. Then it occurred to me, that there are many Christians out there not only in Ukraine but in many other countries such as Iraq, Sudan, Northern part of Nigeria, who need encouragement during this difficult and challenging times they are in. I stopped again and obeyed the nudging of the Holy Spirit to pray for them.

It is written in Acts 1:18:

“but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

It is an honour and a privilege to be a witness for Jesus in all these countries from where visitors come to the blog. This is the Great Commission to which we have all been called.

“And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come” 

– Matthew 24:14 (NLT)

The pivot of my dreams—the foundation upon which they are anchored—is to fulfil my God-ordained destiny. Central to that is to accomplish God’s calling and mandate for my life—being a witness for Jesus and taking the Good News to all nations is primordial in this. Every single one of my dreams has to be anchored on this goal—to turn lives towards God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

This must be the driving force for me and for you, my dear friends—for us to keep taking steps each day, no matter how small, towards accomplishing those tasks and assignments God has given us. And taking those actions that will lead us towards fulfilling our dreams.

Someone out there is waiting for what God has placed in you—the talents, skills and gifts—and the dreams you have conceived by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Don’t let the dreams and talents go to the grave with you. I encourage you to work on them and use them to touch lives for good and to turn hearts towards God.

I, Irene Olumese, resolve today that I will not go to my grave with my dreams. I will either accomplish them by the grace of God or pass them on as a legacy for others to complete. Either way, my dreams will not die unaccomplished.

What about you?

Compelling Motivation

When I concluded my blog post last week; Stay Focused, I realized that we will need something to keep us focused especially when it gets really hard and we are faced with obstacles. The more I meditated on this, the more I realized that what we need is a compelling motivation. As I researched and prepare this blog post, I began to understand that there is more to compelling motivation than its application to staying focused.

During my days in the university campus, I attended a number of Marriage Seminars, especially as a postgraduate student. At one of such annual seminars, the speaker stated that, it is essential for us to know why we were convinced that the person we desire to marry is God’s will for us. She noted that such convictions will become very important later on in the marriage. So she encouraged all the singles at the event to examine their hearts, wait in the presence of God, and be convinced that they are in the will of God before proceeding in their relationships.

I also have asked this question of many intending couples, I have by the grace of God, had the opportunity to talk with during pre-marriage counselling sessions.

Why do you think this person is God’s will for you?

What are your convictions from God about the individual you want to be married to?

Why him or why her?

The truth of the matter is that these convictions will become the compelling motivation that will keep you going when the marriage is hit by the dark seasons of “for poorer, for worse and in sickness.”

I know this from experience. My marriage has experienced all the seasons we pledged in our wedding vows: “for better for worse, for richer for poorer, and in sickness and health…” Knowing without any iota of doubt in my heart that God brought my husband and I together for a purpose, kept us through the difficult and challenging seasons. I love, respect and appreciate him more today, through all we have experienced together as couple, than on the day I first found I’m in love with him 24 years ago. That love has grown and matured, having been tested by fire.

This principle of having a deep personal conviction based on the knowledge of God’s will and faith in His leading, wisdom and guidance, is applicable to everything we do in all the spheres of our lives. My friend and Sista, Bidemi Mark-Mordi in her recent blog post, Is Your Wheel Balanced?, referred to these spheres of our lives as “the seven spokes of a wheel: spiritual, family, financial, physical, mental, personal and career.”

Every aspects of our lives must be governed by the same principle:

http://www.languagepossible.com/2011/12/what-motivates-you/

Why are you doing what you are doing in each area?

Why are you pursuing a particular goal, dream or vision?

What are you seeking to achieve at the end of it all?

Bottom-line:

What is the why behind what you are doing or what you want to do? Your convictions. Your driving force.

http://hoopboost.blogspot.ch/2012/02/how-hungry-are-you.html

Motives are what lie behind an action and they determine whether the act is righteous or sinful, good or bad. It is the moral reason for doing what we do. It is possible to do the right things for the wrong reasons.

These moral reasons must be compelling because they must be able to capture and hold our attention in a strong, powerful and irresistible way. So compelling motivations refers to the strong and irresistible moral reasons for doing what you do. They lie deep in the heart and in the foundation of every Christian life. Without a compelling motivation, you will not be able to endure to the end,

What are your motives?

Could it be: Passion, Possession, Position or Popularity?

If these are the motives compelling your decisions and actions, first they will not sustain you when the going gets rough. Secondly, they will push you into the rat race and further away from the will of God to the place where the end is used to justify the means. That is not the place you want to be as a Christian. It is a place where integrity is sacrificed at the altar of gain, where long term pleasure is sacrificed for immediate gratification and where the focus is on now instead of eternity.

A compelling motivation,

Takes hold and manifests,

To possess as if obsessed,

Without question to where one is destined.

Lawrence S. Pertillar

  

Compelling Motivation to live a godly life:

For those of us who are called by the name of God—Christians, what should be our compelling motivation?

God has done so much for us, He has been so gracious to us, and has loved us with such great love that we must therefore give loving, grateful answer to that goodness by living a faithful and fruitful life. Therefore, gratitude to God is a very strong reason to live a godly life. A truly grateful heart will long to demonstrate its thankfulness by pleasing the One Who has been kind and generous to him. A Christian lives a godly life because by doing so, he is showing gratitude and thankfulness to the God, his Saviour.

Another compelling motivation for living godly life is the fear of God’s judgment. That is, the fear of the immediate and future consequences of disobeying God. Closely related to this, is the reward for living faithful and righteous life in this life and in the one which is to come. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2Cor 5:10). We also know that each of us will give account of himself before God, our Father (Romans 14:12). A consideration of this should prompt us to faithfulness in our walk and relationship with God. It is a very strong moral reason to desire to live a holy and godly life before God and men.

“There is no more compelling motivation to worthwhile endeavors than the knowledge that we are children of God, that God expects us to do something with our lives and that He will give us help when help is sought.”

– Gordon B. Henkley

Compelling Motivation to stay focused and committed:

The desire to do what God has called you to do will keep shining as light in the darkness of difficulties, opposition and obstacles, you may face in the process of doing what you know God has called you to do.

Therefore, your conviction is based on the fact that you know that God has called you into that particular relationship, or to a ministry, or an assignment or to fulfil a purpose. You know that the vision and dream in your heart is God-given and oriented towards accomplishing something in God’s grand plan. Given this conviction, you can keep doing what you know God has called you to do, even when you are faced with resistance or opposition or you cannot see the immediate impact of what you are doing.

I know I am called to write. I cannot but write. Despite the many obstacles I have faced in the process of writing and the time and resources it requires, I simply cannot stop writing. I am learning each day to depend on Him for the grace and the willingness to write the words He gives me to write. I am learning to trust Him to take care of those who read these words and use them to touch their lives for good and to make a difference in their lives. I am also learning to rely on Him to take care of my needs as I obediently pursue the task assigned to me even when it is very hard. I am convinced that He is able to take my writing to the highest level He has in mind for me.

Do you know what God has called you to do? What has been the compelling motivation keeping you on the track and focused on the goal? Share with us and let us encourage one another.

I will continue this blog post next week as I expound on compelling motivations to keep us committed in our relationships and to keep abounding in good works. Until then, may the Lord grant you an ever-increasing revelation of the knowledge of His will to give you strong irresistible moral reasons to stay faithful to Him and His calling upon your life.