Living between the Promise and the Problems?

I have many doubts while growing up. Having been born into the Faith, I struggled with doubts. Many of my doubts were in line of paradigm, pragmatism, and paradox. Where did the rubber meets the road? For instance, where is the connection between faith and society and politics? If God is God, how about these divides of poverty and inequality between the tropics and the temperate region? What about these politicians? God did you made them too? How did they turn out to be this way? Will politicians make heaven? Why should God allow His own creation to be ruled by politicians who violate his principles, yet He commanded us to submit to thesame authorities?
If I must go to school, why should i go through pain of school fees, strike actions, etc? When and how will that education count eventually? Where is my Monday mornings in alignment with my Sunday mornings? What does it mean to be truly successful? Get married, make two kids, own two cars, two houses, and live inside a two-storey house,that is located on house number two, on the corner of second Avenue? Will these bring it all together?

As I discovered, most of us have similar doubts. Yet we were not truly taught HOW our lives and Faith aligned. Where our workplace converge with our heart-place. We were not well-informed concerning where the real issues of our everyday life, merge with the reality of plethora socio-political issues of the day. So, when certain realities weigh in, many become confused, frustrated and lead unfulfilling, disenfranchised lives! In my search for the answer (and I am still searching), I found some things; eureka! Parts of my findings are: how we have been told a lie by some people who we really trusted and respected! 

My struggle to find the connecting dots between my Sunday morning routine and my mundane activities such as mowing the lawn, doing my laundry, cooking my breakfast and changing the oil in my car engine; led me into discovery of the meaning and the reason for the Grace that came to us in our lowest estate. I realized that Grace meant Great Grace! And Grace is not merely saying that unmerited favour was released without measure to humanity. It means that humanity must receive what was released by divinity. It means that Grace was released that we might no longer be enslaved by the craftiness of the devil and by the traditions of men! This Grace that was given was a Person. He was not irresponsible because He said I will do the work of Him who sent me while it is day, for night comes when no man can work. My Father work up to now and myself, I am working. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world. So, if he was not lazy, what was His work? Since, he did not disprove work, what is work?

 What I wake up in the morning, get dressed up for is the work that pay my bills. Is that what He is expecting of me? If that is it, then I am doing well; because I even go to the length of doing some humanitarian services where I volunteer some hours weekly in one good deeds or the other. If there remains a rest for the people of God, then they are resting from something. That thing is the work that you are talking about. So, the work He is expecting me to do must transcend the 9 to 5 work. So what is that work. The work God expects me to do is the work that defines me. It is the work that is unique to me. It is that which only me have been given the gifts and talents to do. So, I must find me, in order to find that work! So finding me is what led on to the search for Grace. If I understand that I did not create myself, then somewhere along the line, I will need to find the one who made me so that I can find me. If I am not lost in Him, I cannot find me. In order to find my work, I must find the one who created me, and created the work for me.

Alas! I am not novice about the Person you are talking about. I have read countless books covering such topics. So, what are you talking about? What I am talking about cannot be taught. It can only be caught. So read on.
When Grace was given, a type of work was ceased. We were released into the dimension of work that is true to our person. We were supposed to profit from that work that is true to who we are. This is where labour ceases to rule our lives.

The confusion today is that, not many…not many comedians are making money, not many preachers have churches, not many churches have congregation, not many women have children, not many business make profits, not many true leaders win election, and not many singles get married. Not many! Not many!! So, as we observe these realities, we ask why? Sadly, some generations were taught never to question anything. Do not question the leadership. Just obey and follow. And that even worsened the case for many in our day. Since, the questions posed more puzzle, we are confused the more. In our state of confusion, we take our lives in our hands and just run and run and run…in search of the answers. We work crazily to bridge the gap. We strive, struggle, hustle to mend the widening gulf. The widening gulf between what we are supposed to be and what we are seeing are traceable to what we are fed. There is a gulf between the message of Grace and work, Prosperity and Truth, Humanism and Divinity, Feminism and God, Supernatural and Principles, and Discernment and Witchcraft.

The gulf of separation between reality and the promise that was given to humanity by divinity led many into shunning the reality of God. Depending on the God you cannot see now seems unnecessary when you can depend on the things you can see such as the government, Visa card, and immigration policies and still live considerably. But we were not called to place our faith in what is visible, because the visible was created out of the invisible.
 As much as I am confused by those who work crazily without leaning on that Grace and what He came to do for humanity; I also disagree with those who preach cheap grace that lack responsibility. 

You cannot preach grace without showing people how the giver of that Grace suffered and died. That will be incomplete. And you cannot show me how He died without showing me the empty tomb from where He resurrected. And while showing me His resurrection, you cannot be clear if you don’t tell me why He rose from the dead!
And if you tell me why he rose again, without showing me how that affects my life today, you are speaking jargon! Why because, the same power that conquered the grave was released on the Pentecost for a purpose. And I do not believe it was meant to be retained in church services. If that power cannot influence all aspects of my life even on Monday mornings at my 9 to 5 job, then count me out! I don’t want to be part of religion. God did not send Jesus to start a religion but a movement! The people who joined that movement were called: Ecclesia- the called out ones.

So if they were the called out ones; from what were they called, and into what were they called? If they were called to be rich, it means they were not called into anything because the Agnostics are rich.  The guy beside my house who has yacht, cars, houses, bonds, and stocks has never been to church. Yet he is rich! So tell me something else please!
If they were called to be poor, why will the one who called them feed 5000 multitudes and at another time some 4000 people who came to listen to His message of the kingdom. And he fed those audiences by multiplying some pieces of two fishes and five loaves of bread! A poor man cannot empower people. He must be rich! Because if He was not rich, why would the scripture say that for my sake, He became poor?

 I strongly believe that prosperity without the clear indication of soul-prosperity is error. You cannot teach people about blessing without showing them that even Abraham was blessed through his relationship with God. Before the covenant, Abraham already had material wealth. So, why will God say to him that I will bless you? It means that something was not yet in place. That thing that is missing is the blessing. And if you are going to be blessed, get ready to be persecuted! For verily, verily I say unto you that many have preached prosperity to you without showing you the consequence of being blessed! Yet, prosperity is just a piece of the puzzle. It is not the entire definition of blessing. Why because scripture said: "the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and add no sorrow to it." So, if the blessing makes rich. Then, riches is not the blessing but a result of the blessing. So our search should be for the blessing of the Lord! Why because it is possible to be "rich" materially, and still be poor in all ramifications. And that is where most of the message of today needs a balance.

The Truth needs to be re-introduced even as we fight for various rights in our day. Woman rights are valid. However, as we shun the same gospel that commanded submission, we run into the danger of birthing feminism. As we now see today that the spirit of feminism is taking over the church. You will be stupid to reject female preachers because that is not how feminism is creeping in. Rather, just as Adam and Abraham missed out on something crucial when they disobeyed God in bid to be gentle men. The consequence? It was not mere invention of Ishmael but the persecution of the promise bearers! And Ishmael will  continue to hunt the promised generations forever because of one decision! We did not lose a mere garden when Adam lost Eden. The symbolism of what was lost was God's presence! So, when we lost the presence, a widening gulf emerged. Thankfully, the gap was bridged when Christ came to give us Grace without measure. So in order not to lose what Christ came to give us, we will be careful to protect the Grace through obedience. 

If we want to continually be politically correct, we will lose things that money cannot buy. We will have wider gulf of separation between what we are supposed to be and what we are seeing. That gulf will get wider as we are seeing it today. In order to bridge the gap, we must be ready for persecution. You cannot strive to do God's will and expect to be popular at the same time. It is not possible! You either choose to be the nice guy and lose things that money cannot buy. In all honesty, I do not support brutality of women. And I strongly oppose mutiny and abuse of female gender. But I will not buy into feminism and witchcrafts in other to be accepted as a gentle man. No never!

I think, the challenge for some women in our day is that in desperation to marry, they don’t stop to truly ask themselves some questions. Part of which are: can I truly submit to this man, am I really sure I love him,  can I truly trust his judgement in all ramifications, can I walk with him through thick and thin, even when I don’t fully understand him. So, they rush in wearing a wedding gown and then rush out at the same time. If only women will free themselves from the fear of what the society will say. If you don’t get married, so what?! The dread of the ticking clock of age that threatens to leave women unmarried has made many run into unnecessary problems. Since, many were not prepared; they rush out through the same door of the court system that pronounced them married.  Since, many did not weigh the cost before signing up; they live a life of perpetual pain.

As much as I hate to meddle into opposite gender`s issue because I cannot truly understand what it means to be a woman since I am not a woman. The question someone once asked me was should we have a female president next? And how will that transform our society. I will say yes! Sure, we should have a female president next! Personally, I am tired of these guys who misrepresent men in politics! I will certainly vote for any intelligent female candidate. But I will never cast my vote for a foolish female aspirant all in the name of gender equality! The fact is that it is not a matter of gender but ideals. And Truth is the ideal we must strive towards. 

In the days when we struggle between knowing people intrinsically for who they are, and not what we think they are; it is important to strive for truth! We have seen well-intentioned people struggle in this area. We have seen pastors trying to know their church-members and vice versa. We have seen politicians trying to know the people in their cabinet, parents trying to understand their children and vice versa, employers trying to understand their employees and vice versa.  Even churches are struggling in this area. We are all trying to know people we are dealing with.  Some of these frustrations have led churches into Googling up the names of their first timers and regular members. Some even go to the length of running a criminal record checks on all their members. Just to know who they are dealing with. You can’t be too safe; they said.  The truth is that when discernment is missing, we begin to walk into suspicion and eventual witchcraft. We do not know people according to the flesh. We must discern them. You can live with people and not know them. Life has taught us this! You cannot know people according to the order of flesh. That will terribly ruin your relationship with them by depending on mind-reading to know them.

How can people know these things when they are not taught you asked? Yes you are right. As we came into the 21st century, folks began borrowing psychology, principles of management, marketing, branding and business to run their churches. So those gimmicks work to some length and they fail greatly in areas that matters most. Since, we were not searching for the main thing that encapsulated every other thing. So we have branded our churches to the point where there is nothing so spiritual other than the facades of phasard. And the challenge in that is: we have drawn people in their millions, but we could not keep them. They soon walk away in search of a more branded mega-church. And the search goes on and on.

 So what is the solution? Retention capacity will come when people can see power at work in our churches. This is the antidote for empty pews. It is not in manipulating guests to stay after their first visits to our churches. You set your church AFLAME with the power of Holy Spirit and watch people you did not even invite show up in your services. They will come as surely as God is God! When Preachers begin to truly TARRY for His Presence, FAST and PRAY longer. When they STUDY the Bible harder, the people will stay! It is painful to walk into services and listen to boring messages. You are giving wrong impression that God is boring. Sir, God is not boring! You are the boring preacher. Go find another job if you cannot deliver!

The church will be a place where Agnostics want to go, where people want to stay when we start teaching the right message! We're in the day of His Power where the 21st Century Church must return to the Supernatural. Could it be that we've kept the potency of this Gospel hidden for too long that Agnostics disbelief God because we didn't display His POWER and love? The resurrection of Jesus was to give victory to His Church! If Moses, Elijah, Jesus and many others fasted for forty days and forty nights in the scripture, proving to us that revelation knowledge exists. Proving to us that RAW Miracles is possible in any generation, we cannot experience what the Apostles experienced through fluffy messages. Who told you pep-talks will chase the devil away? You cannot rebuke the devil when you operate in his system, using his methods and reveling in his works.  That is why it is important to know what you're doing in ministry. And if you are not a ministry person, learn how to identify wrong ministries and run before they mess up your life!

Having left some services with disappointment and soul-hunger, I understood why many stay at home on Sundays. Sadly, many of these well-meaning people are searching for the real thing. But they kept falling into wrong ministries. My advice to such people is to keep searching for the Truth. Do not give up. Don’t use the wrong ministries as an excuse for not serving God. The fact that there is fake means that the real exists somewhere! So, keep searching, for at the end of our search, we will arrive somewhere, knowing where we began, seeing where we have arrived and what we have attained.