Things that matter.

Ever been in a battle with your will? We all have those moments where the will to do something and the need for it are on opposite sides of the compass.

So my latest dilemma was a simple picture. To post or not to post?

Of course please post. You looked amazing anyways. It is a statement which screams yes world I am growing . Nothing wrong really with posting but I wondered why sharing that particular picture felt so important in that moment. So I didn’t .

What are the things that really matter to you? Are they suppose to matter? Why? Do they fulfill a particular purpose?  Why is that purpose important?

When my mentality shifts  like this I see how needless social media may be for some of us. I mean so far my social media doesn’t seem to profit nothing and I don’t only mean money.    

IT ONLY CONSUMES MY DATA AND TIME.

But then again, I have been lifted up by the inspirational words and bible verses my friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter share.

I have learnt from links to certain articles and I have become better. I am an “Amalia”  as a friend said always indoors but my door to learn trends and insight into this modern era has come from online experiences.

I realize that there are more important things than my facebeat( yes I slay) and red rocking dress I felt like sharing or showing off.  Have fun and share your memories with the world nothing wrong with that.

Don’t however make the social media set standards for up because the same society hailing Jesus crucified Him. Study to sow yourself approved by God not man. What are we but as fleeting as flowers.

Our identity, direction and action must be directed by the Spirit of God. Isaiah 11:1-3 tells us the levels of operating in the Spirit we need.

Flora a friend of mine always used to say “be spiritual ’ trust me then it was annoying but honestly it is necessary. We walk not according to the flesh but the Spirit.

In the words of a wise man(Rev. Andy Yawson),  you and the world do not have the same primary purpose. May our eyes be on the things that have purpose alone.

Sacrificed daily

 

Romans 12:1   I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (KJV). This verse is popular where I come from, mostly interpreted as a caution against fornication. Very true, living sacrifices however go beyond the lust of the flesh. It involves presenting every organ of your body to glorify God. From the lips of babes God ordained praise.it is tuning your mind, desire, words body language to be acceptable to God. It is not following all our emotions, hormones and desires because we can rather waiting on the direction of the Holy Spirit.

 

Romans 15:16  That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

Ministry is sacrifice. It is responding to the calling of God on your life and not looking back. It is not an easy sacrifice but anyone who leaves, mother, father siblings will be given even more of anything they gave up. Abraham was promised a son.Then he was supposed to sacrifice his only son. I wonder how Abraham was able to simple obey. He sacrificed his entire existence on a hunch which we now agree is faith. And today his descendants are too many to count. To truly give up something you must believe in what you are doing. The one who puts his back to the plough and looks back is not worthy. To follow your calling is going to draw someone to Jesus. The power of God through your ministry will produce sanctification for someone. That men may see you and give glory to God.  

 

Philippians 2:17  Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. Sacrifice with joy even if it hurts. When we understand that which is required of us we would not murmur or complain. God doesn’t always give us the full picture, he shows us only a few colors and we are to walk on that which he chose to reveal. In pain we need to learn to rejoice. Let’s build our faith through prayer and reading of the Bible that way we can be fully convinced of the will of God for our lives and freely sacrifice.

1 Peter 2:5   Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. You are an important piece in the body of God.our entirety is a to be a sacrifice. To serve in his presence to do the work of the one who has called us.

1Peter 3:16  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

 

Helmets

 I watched a Joseph Prince sermon recently. Not the whole thing but the part that spoke to me was when he said we should have helmets on our heads. Funny,imagine people walking around with helmets all the time like it rains hailstones.

Remember the last time the words someone spoke hurt you, in actual fact that is what we all need, helmets on our heads.

As a man thinketh so is he, a helmet is needed to ensure we do not corrupt our identity in Christ. We may be easily swayed by what we see and forget what we know. We must watch what we feed our minds. Whatever we feed in our minds will eventually get to our hearts. if any man be in Christ he is a new creation behold old things have passed all things have become new. The newness of mind we receive when we decide to accept Jesus needs to be preserved and we must therefore have helmets on our heads. People say a lot of things about us but it is up to us to not let anything they say affect our thoughts, we must analyse every criticism carefully praying that if there be a need for change God gives us grace to change. We must however also know who we are in Christ and be strong enough to not give up as long as the Holy Spirit hasn’t convicted us of the path we follow. The bible says we must guard our hearts with all diligence for from it flows the issues of life. To guard your heart you need to guard your mind it is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean but what comes out of him. What we feed on is what we give out so we must learn to sift the chaff from the wheat.

 

 

Misinterpretation of words is most likely the main reason people argue. We hear a bunch of words from a person and without asking for clarification jump to our own conclusion. This may or may not be wrong but if our minds dwell long enough on a person’s actions or words, it creates a place for misinterpretation and anger. The one who offends us is probably moving on with their lives but we are stuck in a loophole,replaying those moments and imagining what we could have  done or will do next time we encounter them. This is pretty new to me because I can replay out situations and then in my own mind figure out how it should have gone, what the person was meaning, whether it was right of them… the best way to avoid this is to let o immediately. You think they disrespected you? Let it go immediately. Maybe they did may be they didn’t mean it in that sense but the vast upbringing of people could let what you see as harmful as harmless. Took me a while but lately I try to not hold on to any form of hurt for even an hour. Life is too precious to waste on hurt when it isn’t even physical. Take it out of your mind and treat it as nothing and it will be. Maybe it is our sense of self-importance that puts us there anyways.

 

Thai probably the most cliché part of this piece. The TV shows, the music and the movies you watch can. E terrible to a person’s mind. I grew up watching TV as the sole source of entertainment, all these American shows and stuff so imagine my surprise when I got out there in my first year and realized it wasn’t like in the movies. I did a couple of crazy things I won’t lie and a few people didn’t even believe I am Ghanaian 😂😂😂😂. Too much TV creates a false sense if what the outside world really is. To face life you need to put away all the things you see on TV then take a careful look at the environment you are in, get to understand is traditions and observe how the people function.  What you see isn’t what you get. If you want to live a lie in the fast lane you can just follow TV shows and music videos. If you want to live in the c

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                

 

After School Reflections

1.       Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall make your path straight.
The road for me in university has had lots of up and downs. I shed tears, skin and friends and for someone who grew up believing the world is right if you do the right thing and treat people right  you can imagine my shock. People will never do for you what you do for them. You will get fed up of trying to be there  for others. You will be misunderstood A Lot because you are different. The tendency to go with the flow is pretty high. The desire to belong is within everyman and it is normal just make sure it doesn’t take you where you are not wanted or respected.  Trusting in a plan  made for you before you were conceived  is the only way to avoid messing up. God doesn’t need to show us the whole picture but when we take each day with Him and trust that all things are working for our own good when the picture is finally revealed we will understand smiling with no regrets. Praying about friendships, hurts, finances, academics and family has helped me through those four years because there was a God who listened.

2.       Pray continually

Prayer works. I used to pray every Sunday like a sorta communication time with God after church but I got lazy. I used to pray every afternoon after class but it was hard to be in a room with people after class and pretend to sleep while you actually want to pray so your prayer time might just end up in sleep. I used to pick the first Sunday of each month as time to plan the month with God. Then I tried using 6pm walks to engage in prayer. I even had a prayer timetable.  Prayer is important not just in school  but for life . Prayer may not guarantee heaven but it is leverage on earth. I can’t say I prayed enough while in school but I believe Godspeed every litte effort made to communicate with Him.Go to church, pray in groups but don’t forget personal prayer. If you are like me struggling to find a place to pray after school maybe stay behind .i am no expert but as a student you need to pray. Pray about everything, what people say how they treat you how you feel about thing. Pray continually about everything .

 

3.        Make choices

This was my saddest forte because it was my weakest. Choices, conscious ones need to be made. Along with a choice must  come an action. I tried to explain my action to people who didn’t make the choices with me . They didn’t make the choices because they weren’t looking for the result  I was looking for. Obviously I was looking odd to them. The thing with a personal choice is it is personal. Your convictions will never be as strong as the next person’s. So make a choice and stuck to it, if you have someone who will be useful in accountability areas tell them about it if not you may need new people in your life or get creative in evading questions from those who won’t let you be. Not every choice is everyone’s business some you can tell people with explanation others you suffer in silence and criticism.   

 

 

 

 

 

MOTIVES

Doesn’t it feel nice when people praise you for a job well done? It is like the honor they bestow on you for a kind act can push you to do more kind acts.

What if no one saw your kindness ,would you still be kind?

If no one praised you for a job well done, would you do things haphazardly?

1Cor 10:31 ,So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, Do It All for the glory of God.

 

So now I ask, what are your motives for your actions?

We like to be be praised, noticed and honored but we should ask ourselves do our motives honor God?

Do we make the left hand know what the right hand is doing?

Do we openly seek appreciation?

What runs through your mind when you see someone you once helped?

Why did you even help them?

See a man diligent in his work he will serve before Kings

Fame may or may not come if we work hard but what will surely come is connections to other great people.

In a generation where it is believed fame is the meaning of Success ,let’s  choose to subscribe to a quiet life of hard work.

Let us make honoring God our prime .

So today as you step out, the way you look, talk, react to things and even people should bring Honor to the one   who made us.

Let men look at us and give God the glory.

In the words of a wise man, we are all pencils in the hands of the creator.