"Smile, Jesus loves you", "Relax, God is in control"
Ever seen stickers like these? Yeah they've been around for a while now. For those who admit to being human with periodic faith lapses, seeing such statements help.Who would not want to be 'remembered' of God's goodness, his greatness, his mighty might? "Who?" You ask.
Sister faith for one! Sister Faith will tell you - if you're astute enough to get underneath all that thick, seemingly impenetrable cloak of Christianity that God isn't as kind or as powerful as he makes out to be... Those of you who know Sister Faith are about to get a Holy Ghost fit of righteous anger...Sister Faith?! Is it the same one, who heads the choir, evangelism team and teaches in the School of Ministry? Get real! She's been a 'believer' since she was 12 and a faithful one too. When her peers were partying and learning to kiss, she was in church studying the Word and learning to sing.
And what, oh what about her prayer life? P-H-E-N-O-M-E-N-A-L! When Sister faith prays, the ground shakes and no one, I mean not one single person would fail to notice that someone was "getting her prayer on" Why, just the other day it was confirmed that she was to receive an award as the person with the highest number of awards received from the inception of the church. Yep! Sister faith is definitely "with it". Sooooo where or what is the problem? Everything seems fine and dandy - not quite... You see, our sister has secretly been indulging in some bitterness but to see all she does "for the Lord"; you'd never know it. Her grouse is not with you and me (though it's beginning to seem that way); it's not even with the so-called friends who have let her down before and whose betrayal taught her a thing or two about life. No. Her 'angst' if you please is with the one who is supposed to make her life heaven but seems to have lost His grip on it - GOD. No, not the gods of the Amalekites or the Jebusites, nor even mammon, the god of mulah. I mean Yahweh. The living God. Though she'd rather die than admit it out loud, she feels that He's not as 'good' as he claims to be. If so how on earth is someone like her still single at 33?! What was He thinking letting her emotions, her emotions be played with time and again only for her to end up not marrying the guy, despite all she's done in his house and for him and his people! Didn't the Bible talk about believers being rewarded for faithfulness and obedience? And somewhere else it talked about none wanting her mate and of one's bread and water being blessed - it even spoke of removing sickness all as a result of obedience (and boy does she obey!) To be honest, God got the food and water part and wasn't doing badly on the sickness removal bit either but the one thing she always wanted her entire adolescent and adult years was to be a wife and a mother. Forget all the hype, she believed she was born to be the loving young wife of a nice Christian man and dotting mother of some perfect kids with a nice quite Christian lifestyle. The sole reason she kept herself pure and connected to the Church was so she could 'attain' him 'and that RIGHT early' (forgive the pun). Now, fifteen years and half a dozen prospective 'Mr. Rights' later, she was still there "wanting" her mate....) Could it be (and "I say this, not the Lord" - apologies to Brother Paul) that Sister faith and God must have different agendas for her life? Could it be - and I say this with all the apprehension that come from the repercussions of slandering a canonized saint- that she missed God somewhere along the line and doesn't even know it? Could it be (yep, this is an era of 'could it be's) that God would rather Sister Faith walk with Him like Abraham instead of work for Him like the prodigal son's brother? Does she do what she does for people to see and for God to record against the corresponding reward for when demanded? What of prayer? What does she call prayer? Is it only "dangerous prayers" and "ask of me" prayers that flow unceasingly from her mouth? Perhaps someone should tell our sister to go easy on 'spiritual' warfare and take up on worshipping God - could it be (oh no, not again!) that she's the one who needs to "fall down and die" instead of her myriad 'enemies' bent on truncating her life and ministry?
Someone ought to tell Sister faith and quickly too that God, unfortunately for a lot of us, is not moved by works of righteousness - He'd rather we do that which he created us for - fellowship with him. Heard a story once about two men standing outside a revival crusade. They weren't just standing there, on the outside, away from all the 'action' and 'anointing' being demonstrated by the 'set man' (as he was introduced by the associate pastor), for their health; they were barred from entering because they were not of that denomination and it was supposed to be an 'in-house' revival.... Shrugging, their shoulders and turning from the door, they decided to get acquainted:
'Oh by the way, the name's Joe'
said the one stretching out his hand.
"Pleased to meet you",
said the other,
"the name's JESUS!"The lesson? Don’t get too busy with the 'things of God' that you fail to notice God. So Sister faith, dear Sister faith, start afresh with God. Repent and let Him know you love Him. Give Him more attention than you give the devil and demons, let your work for him be borne out of your love for him. Put him first - remember 'though he slay me, yet will I trust him'.God will only give 'Mr Right' to you when He's convinced by your love and devotion to him (God) that you are indeed 'Miss Right'. Afterall, you can't give what you don't have. The truth of the matter is, he's crazy about you and wishes the feeling were mutual. And because of his deep love, he won’t get you into anything you're not prepared for. A genuine love and respect for God means a genuine love and respect for Mr. Right. Why? Simple - He is a just God.
Ever seen stickers like these? Yeah they've been around for a while now. For those who admit to being human with periodic faith lapses, seeing such statements help.Who would not want to be 'remembered' of God's goodness, his greatness, his mighty might? "Who?" You ask.
Sister faith for one! Sister Faith will tell you - if you're astute enough to get underneath all that thick, seemingly impenetrable cloak of Christianity that God isn't as kind or as powerful as he makes out to be... Those of you who know Sister Faith are about to get a Holy Ghost fit of righteous anger...Sister Faith?! Is it the same one, who heads the choir, evangelism team and teaches in the School of Ministry? Get real! She's been a 'believer' since she was 12 and a faithful one too. When her peers were partying and learning to kiss, she was in church studying the Word and learning to sing.
And what, oh what about her prayer life? P-H-E-N-O-M-E-N-A-L! When Sister faith prays, the ground shakes and no one, I mean not one single person would fail to notice that someone was "getting her prayer on" Why, just the other day it was confirmed that she was to receive an award as the person with the highest number of awards received from the inception of the church. Yep! Sister faith is definitely "with it". Sooooo where or what is the problem? Everything seems fine and dandy - not quite... You see, our sister has secretly been indulging in some bitterness but to see all she does "for the Lord"; you'd never know it. Her grouse is not with you and me (though it's beginning to seem that way); it's not even with the so-called friends who have let her down before and whose betrayal taught her a thing or two about life. No. Her 'angst' if you please is with the one who is supposed to make her life heaven but seems to have lost His grip on it - GOD. No, not the gods of the Amalekites or the Jebusites, nor even mammon, the god of mulah. I mean Yahweh. The living God. Though she'd rather die than admit it out loud, she feels that He's not as 'good' as he claims to be. If so how on earth is someone like her still single at 33?! What was He thinking letting her emotions, her emotions be played with time and again only for her to end up not marrying the guy, despite all she's done in his house and for him and his people! Didn't the Bible talk about believers being rewarded for faithfulness and obedience? And somewhere else it talked about none wanting her mate and of one's bread and water being blessed - it even spoke of removing sickness all as a result of obedience (and boy does she obey!) To be honest, God got the food and water part and wasn't doing badly on the sickness removal bit either but the one thing she always wanted her entire adolescent and adult years was to be a wife and a mother. Forget all the hype, she believed she was born to be the loving young wife of a nice Christian man and dotting mother of some perfect kids with a nice quite Christian lifestyle. The sole reason she kept herself pure and connected to the Church was so she could 'attain' him 'and that RIGHT early' (forgive the pun). Now, fifteen years and half a dozen prospective 'Mr. Rights' later, she was still there "wanting" her mate....) Could it be (and "I say this, not the Lord" - apologies to Brother Paul) that Sister faith and God must have different agendas for her life? Could it be - and I say this with all the apprehension that come from the repercussions of slandering a canonized saint- that she missed God somewhere along the line and doesn't even know it? Could it be (yep, this is an era of 'could it be's) that God would rather Sister Faith walk with Him like Abraham instead of work for Him like the prodigal son's brother? Does she do what she does for people to see and for God to record against the corresponding reward for when demanded? What of prayer? What does she call prayer? Is it only "dangerous prayers" and "ask of me" prayers that flow unceasingly from her mouth? Perhaps someone should tell our sister to go easy on 'spiritual' warfare and take up on worshipping God - could it be (oh no, not again!) that she's the one who needs to "fall down and die" instead of her myriad 'enemies' bent on truncating her life and ministry?
Someone ought to tell Sister faith and quickly too that God, unfortunately for a lot of us, is not moved by works of righteousness - He'd rather we do that which he created us for - fellowship with him. Heard a story once about two men standing outside a revival crusade. They weren't just standing there, on the outside, away from all the 'action' and 'anointing' being demonstrated by the 'set man' (as he was introduced by the associate pastor), for their health; they were barred from entering because they were not of that denomination and it was supposed to be an 'in-house' revival.... Shrugging, their shoulders and turning from the door, they decided to get acquainted:
'Oh by the way, the name's Joe'
said the one stretching out his hand.
"Pleased to meet you",
said the other,
"the name's JESUS!"The lesson? Don’t get too busy with the 'things of God' that you fail to notice God. So Sister faith, dear Sister faith, start afresh with God. Repent and let Him know you love Him. Give Him more attention than you give the devil and demons, let your work for him be borne out of your love for him. Put him first - remember 'though he slay me, yet will I trust him'.God will only give 'Mr Right' to you when He's convinced by your love and devotion to him (God) that you are indeed 'Miss Right'. Afterall, you can't give what you don't have. The truth of the matter is, he's crazy about you and wishes the feeling were mutual. And because of his deep love, he won’t get you into anything you're not prepared for. A genuine love and respect for God means a genuine love and respect for Mr. Right. Why? Simple - He is a just God.