Thinking Temptation

11:46pm

In this, it’s only God. There is no other way. Even the option, “I can handle it”, is nowhere near a possible solution. As an idea it’s far flung from me already; so far that I can no longer hear its counsel. It just doesn’t work. Never did, never will. It only puffed me up into thinking I am the “Main Man” in charge.

11: 50am

And I’d say, it pretty well settled on my senses, touched my mind, deep, deep inside, that self-control was, on my own, futile. It’s only God, only Him that can save me.

12:26am

For when it felt sweet to do, when all that mattered was the moment’s pleasure, I was almost always completely stripped of whatever willpower I had. Yup, before temptation came with all her charm and allure, I thought I was invincible, but soon enough I realized I wasn’t. Not even close. 

3:06am

While I thirst for growth and seek to be better, strong and firm; and while I long to live a life progressively pleasing to my God and Maker, I always did find myself in this vortex that draws me again and again to an ill center – a familiar place of woe, a vomit, a bloody addiction that tempts me at every turn, mocking my redemption and my faith.

6:31am

God will help me through it. I believe. And I will overcome. But this time I fight and stand with God. His Word in my heart, my dependence on His strength, and trust in His promises, I know I will overcome.

 

SET APART [What Does It Matter]

Yup, standing alone different and distinctively apart in this world could be most awkward and lonesome, but surely, what does it matter when you stand for the glory of your Maker and Father, for the One who's plans and designs and purposes for you are true and sure. By whom your Light, Jesus, has come, beckoning you to arise, shine, that the world may know you are His own, that you are the one the nations must come to "and the kings to the brightness of your dawn". Yes, what does it matter?

You are to be holy to Me because I, The Lord, Am holy, and I have set you apart from the Nations to be my own. - Leviticus 20:26

Photo Courtesy of NOTW (Not of This World)

The Kabiesi's Complaint: We Too Are Spirits

May the truth of our inner selves show us some tolerance. For either of ignorance or forgetfulness we've acted with apathy in regard to our origin and identity. We've acted as though we are nothing of the spirit.

Frantically we go about speaking out our fear of *Abiku. We accuse her of being alien. We say she' s a foreigner with no bearing in our midst. For what! All because she's labeled Abiku, the spirit child?

Yes, she's spirit with all her oddities. But what else could she be other than what we are. You villagers, hold your peace and leave the little one alone. If you think her strange, you too are strange. For like her, you are spirits born of a spirit God.

"Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..." - Gen 1:26a

*Abiku, "predestined to death", is a Yoruba word used to mean the spirit of children who die before reaching puberty (precisely before the age of 12), and also a class of evil spirits who cause children to die. In my own view, it is a superstition that has cause a lot of psychological pain to familiars because of the stigma associated with the spirit child. (Reference and Source from WWW.SACRED-TEXTS.COM

This Is Just A Misunderstanding

“A baboon laughs at the buttocks of another baboon.” – Kenyan Proverb

This place, a section of Kaduna’s prison, is where they keep me along with the ones they call the “civil lunatics”. In my own opinion, the state prison service couldn't have come up with a more admirable name for mad criminals.

Admirable too is the way Prison warder Jubril introduces the inmates whenever the politicians were visiting for inspection. With a prideful smile, capped with bushy whiskers, he would say, “You are very, very much welcome to The Prisons of the Civil Lunatics”. As though, with proper scrutiny, one couldn’t tell too quickly that the prison was not the same thing as the place for the gifted students of Kakuri Immaculate College. It wasn't a place to be proud of but a place for sick, crazy people, of which by God I do not belong.

My cellmate, Felix, feels the same way too, feels he doesn’t belong here. But the difference between us is that he is really mad. Yet in all his jabbering, he makes a good case – a case he's made to everyone by now. “I need help!” you'd hear him say coherently, and then in between he'd go on and on with a peculiar language that the rest of us still find hard to understand. But usually, the conclusion of his talk would bring, with some measure of clarity, the point of his argument, “I'm really not mad, this is just a misunderstanding”.

*Photo Courtesy of the BBC

Jealosi

From the beginning, it was quite clear where I was heading with my life. Like my mother, everyone thought I was sweet. I was the most lovable kid in Church, or so our Pastor would say. I guess he said so in a way to woo my widowed mother; but nonetheless, I think he was right, for my lovability abounded for all to see. For though I was the youngest choir member, and though learning the drums proved forever difficult, I was always the one who would come first to church to set up for rehearsals. I was that committed, I was that much of a Church Boy.

Happily, I was showered with much attention for being the last and only son. And for that, I was the envy of my three elder sisters. Particularly, Comfort, the eldest, would knock my head at any given chance, as if to remind me of my place. But mother would always come to the rescue, lessening the sting of my sister's abuse. She'd explain that my sister was suffering from a disease called jealosi. She reminded me that I was the one with a bright future and it was only natural for others to be green with envy. She said I had greatness inside of me, waiting to come out. “Just keep living your life to the glory of the good Lord”, she'd often say. I believed her, and I was truly inspired.

 As a result, I talked a great deal about how I wanted to become a chemical engineer and a doctor all at the same time. Chemical Engineering was going to be my passport into one of the oil companies in Nigeria – where the salaries were fat. As for becoming a doctor, I just wanted to be like Ben Carson, the world famous neurosurgeon who was black and successful. How I was going to achieve both feats was not my problem. I was just simply young and vibrant, and of course, mama's boy.

The Sanctified Soldier

It’s been a while since I’ve had a blown–off–the–face–of–God’s–earth experience with a song. This track, “Conqueror”, did it for me. Rock mixed with deep lyrical rap! Are you kidding me? You’d love it, especially if you’re particularly big on asserting WHO YOU ARE in Christ. So give it up for Pastor J, The Sanctified Soldier:

INFO:   

Artiste: PASTOR JIMMY ODUKOYA aka PASTOR J

Genre: GOSPEL ROCK

Director: SESAN

                                                                                                                                                               

*Video Courtesy of Youtube.

Unveiled

The Word of God is not just the Truth and Will and Wisdom of God, but the mirror of our identity. It is the mirror that reflects who we are as individuals and as a people. And nothing else, in the whole wide world, can give us the complete meaning and definition of ourselves. For being all that we need for life and godliness, the Word is ultimately applicable to how, in full self-awareness, we take on the world. So, in “knowing thyself” the Word is most definitely our best bet. 

However, only in continued fixation on the realities of the Word, can we draw to the full realization of who we are – like realizing the powers and graces that we possess by inheritance as Kings and Queens.

Yes, we are of royalty, of a magnitude that far exceeds earthly crowns and sceptres. We are a light and a blessing of glorious influence to the world. We are God’s battle axe – a force of nature with limitless and incomparable power. And even most importantly, we are God’s instrument and expression of love.

That’s who we are. And of course, that’s just naming a few. Thus, *Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at  his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently in the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.

*Scriptural Verse: James 1:23-25 (NIV)