CHECKMATE

CHECKMATE 

I can say I’m very good at a lot of things but with chess, I can’t even lie and say I’m good. I am every terrible. I feel like you need to know the rules and be very smart to play that game. What I know about chess is that the King is very important and he can move to different layers where other pieces cannot go to. I see life right now as a chess game. So with chess, you move, then your opponent moves as well. 

When you move, the devil moves too. I repeat, when you move, the devil moves as well. But that should t bother you. We have the King on our side but the sad thing is that the opponent also has a king on their side. But, our king is greater than their king. Our king has the power and strength to overcome all other pieces. When you move, the devil moves too. When you decide to open a business, the devil sees how that will benefit you then he moves as well. He moves and he causes you stress, anxiety, cash loss but always remember, that was not your last move. You have another piece to move. And when you move, the devil will also move. The devil doesn’t see you shine, but God does. And even when you have moved all your pieces and there is nothing left but the king, then just relax because the devil cannot overcome God. 

1 Corinthians 9:24 says “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize”. Run your race, move your piece. Don’t be scared to move only because the devil will move. Move comfortably, with your head up. And remember, if you reach the last piece, God is always there to finish the race for you. Play this game and know God will always be the winner. Do not let the moves of the devil bring you down. Do not let the move of the devil drain you. The move of the devil might hit you hard, it might take all your pieces out, but listen, you are stronger, and you have been given the power to do this according to 2 Timothy 1:7. God got you and at the end of the day when the devil cannot move anymore, we will scream checkmate. God bless you and have a lovely week. 

Prayer: Father Lord we thank you for your grace and mercy. Father we are here today, asking you for the strength to move in life. Let us move our pieces knowing that you will be at the end of the game when we feel like we have no more moves. Win every game for us and when it restarts, win again. We thank you and we give you praise. This we ask in Jesus name, amen. 

A PART OR APART?

A PART OR APART? 

I was writing a message this week and I wrote a part instead of apart then all of a sudden I paused and said: “I have never thought of these words before even though I constantly use them”. Apart is like the separation of two things and a part is  being a fraction of something. 

Are you a part of God’s kingdom or you are apart from it? Will you be classified as a fraction of God’s children? Are you a part of the people that are spreading the word? Are you a part of the people winning souls for God? Are you a part of the people that are showing kindness to strangers? Are you a part of the people that are doing everything to remain in the presence of God? Or are you apart from God? Have you gotten lost? Have you left his presence? Have you given up on him? 

You know when your friends sometimes do things and they leave you out of it, how does that make you feel? Not being a part makes you feel lonely and left out. Like why am I not a part of that? God wants you to be a part of his family. He doesn’t want to leave you out. He wants you to be involved. You need God to be in your life. You do not want to be apart from him. Because John 15:5 says “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” We cannot do anything without God. Let him be a part of you. 

Sometimes we feel like why is God calling us to do anything when there is like a thousand people out there that can do that same thing. Just to let you know, there are a thousand people but none of them is you. Romans 12:4-5, one of my favourite verses says that “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” This explains to us how we all have a specific part to play in this world, in Christ, church, in our schools. Listen, you are one of a kind. Everyone might have a nice voice but you might have this one specific pitch that no one has. Are you going to be a part of this great family or will you be apart from it? Are you flying solo or you’re flying with the team?

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me”-Revelation‬ ‭3:20‬. If someone does not want you to  join them in anything, they will not come to your house and invite you. God wants you to be a part of his family that is why he is knocking on your door today. Give him the chance and let him show you how great he is. Be a part not apart. God bless you. 

Prayer: Thank you Lord for this day. We bless your name because you are great. God, we pray that you include us in your family. Let us be part of it and not apart. Don’t let us leave but help us to remain in you. We thank you, Lord. We give you praise in Jesus name, amen.

SMALL DOESN’T MEAN WORTHLESS

SMALL DOESN’T MEAN WORTHLESS 

We thank God for bringing us into this new month. It is by his grace only that we are alive. I pray this new month is filled with love and grace and stability in Jesus name. So today, I just want to tell you that small doesn’t mean worthless. 

We always see small things as worthless. We think the bigger the better but that is not the case. You may think “with that little money you have you can’t do anything” but have you thought of the fact that billionaires started somewhere? You have an opportunity to do something with that little resources but you haven’t. Why? Because it is little. But have you thought of the fact that the owner of Gucci had a few resources once upon a time? Have you heard of this saying “little drops of water make a mighty ocean?” Not the other way round. “Little drops”...just “little drops”. Imagine a well and imagine a rainy day. The well can never be full at once. It starts off small then it becomes full. Ants as small creatures but the Bible tells us that we need to watch ants (Proverbs 6:6). We need to observe these tiny creatures. 

Ants are small but they are wise. An ant has no ruler or no boss but in the summer, they gather all their foods to save. So when the winter comes, there is plenty to eat (Proverbs 6:7-8). How can a tiny creature have this much sense? Your size doesn’t matter your strength. Your strength doesn’t matter when it comes to your ability. What matters is how you think and your determination. The parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13:31-32 and Mark 4:30-34 shows us that a mustard seed is the smallest seed, but when planted, it becomes the largest plant. You might have inadequate resources but do you know what you can be when you are planted? Have you ever thought of that? We are all mustard seeds. We need to start behaving like one. It doesn’t matter what anyone says to you. People will make you feel down or no one will support your business but only because they do not know that once you are planted, you are gradually preparing to become the biggest tree ever. 

Small doesn’t mean worthless. You are worth more than you know. Confidence is all you need. Start planting and benefit from your harvest. 

Prayer: Our Heavenly Father we thank you for today. We thank you for your grace and mercy. As we pray today, we pray that you give us strength and confidence and you help us with the mindset that not all small things are worthless. Let us use our little abilities to reach higher levels. We thank you for listening to our prayers. We pray for a bigger and greater month in Jesus name, amen.

THE ICEBERG

THE ICEBERG 

The title already highlights what I’m about to say. An iceberg. I don’t really remember the movie titanic but what I remember is the ship crushed into an iceberg. That, I can’t forget. We all know that an iceberg doesn’t fully show itself on water. You can see the ice showing but can you see what’s under it? No. That’s why the saying is always “the tip of an iceberg”. Tip of it means you see it but you don’t completely see it all. This blog will be a straight forward one. 

Just like how we can see a person but we cannot see what is inside of them. Let me branch this into nursing. As a student, I get to see surgeries take place and when I go and I see someone cut open and I see what’s inside them I’m always like “Wow”. This might sound silly but in school teachers always draw the heart and the other organs and each has its own colour. Some of the organs are green and blue so even though I knew it might hit be the case, I always wish the organs are colourful so let me say this when I see all the organs looking red I get kinda disappointed. It’s silly but “hey, a girl can wish”. Anyways, back to the main point. You always see the outside of people, you don’t get to see the inside. If someone is smiling, you don’t know if inside their hurting. You don’t see the whole picture of what’s happening with every individual. 

If God showed you how everything will go, you will say “okay I know where this is going”, let me either chill and relax or let me rush into it quickly. There is a time and season for everything. What God is showing you today isn’t just it. There is more, you just can’t see it. All that sorrow now isn’t the end. Why? Because we are living in an iceberg state. God is showing you one thing now but under the rest of the iceberg, there is better. You don’t need to see it all to believe that there is a greater thing for you. As long as you believe in Jeremiah 29:11 (“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope”), you just know that the side of the iceberg that isn’t showing has something better. Isaiah 55: 8-9 says that “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

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There is more. We just cannot see it. We cannot imagine it. It is bigger and better than what we think. God will reveal it to slower but surely. Be happen in your iceberg stage. Have that faith that “okay I’m seeing this now but this is just the tip”. There’s more I assure you. This isn’t it. Your sorrow is just a phase, joy comes in the morning. God is good and faithful. Trust in the Lord, let him take control, and you will never regret it. God bless you. 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for everything. Just as we don’t see it all, we know you see it and you have planned it all and it is good. As we are just seeing the tip, let’s not lose faith. Strengthen all of us to always remember there is more and there is better. We thank you for all you have done, we praise your name in Jesus name we pray, amen. 

DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU GOT?

I was on my way home from the hospital after taking food to a friend when I got this message: 

“Do you see what you got?’’. I believe Jesus didn’t want me to grow weary. He wanted me to be strong in faith. To shut the voice of the questioning spirit. The spirit that has come to confuse me  from seeing Jesus and what He represents. The Bible says since creation, God has given us signs to believe in Him, that He exists and that He sees and takes care for  us.

There is this spirit that makes you doubt what Jesus can do, makes you suicidal, makes you feel like God doesn’t care, that your prayers are nothing, makes you feel like you are alone, that you are a nobody. That spirit is from nowhere but hell. That spirit is only trying to take your attention from the signs, from what you got. 

 

In John 2:1-11, the bible tells a story about Jesus’s first miracle. Mary, Jesus and His disciples were invited to a wedding in Cana in Galilee. The master of the banquet’ wedding wine got finished. 

When  the wine got finished, no one there knew what to do. No one saw Jesus, but Mary, His mother.  Why, because Mary saw something in  Jesus when He  was only 12 years old. Luke 24:41-52 tells a story about Jesus not following His parents home after attending a festival of Passover in Jerusalem. Both Mary and Joseph were so worried but found their son after 3 days. Although Mary was so anxious and questioned Jesus why He did that to them, the bible says “but His mother treasured all these things in her heart’’. Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do even when Jesus replied ‘My hour has not yet come’. 

Mary saw what she’s got. She recognised and acknowledged what Jesus had done and what He could do. Jesus being so good stepped in any way and helped. 

He instructed the servants to fill the six stone jars with water and they filled it to the brim. He then told them to draw some out at to the master of the banquet who tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He told Jesus that “He has saved the best till now’’ and Jesus gave them the best wine ever. Mercy said no, I won’t give them just any wine like they had before, I will give them the best wine they could ever have. 

So, my friend, do you see what you got? Has Jesus showed you something in the past or in your present?  Mary did not miss the signs, she saw what she’s got in front of her. She treasured them in her heart. Those treasures in her heart helped her to call out to Jesus for help. She refused to doubt what Jesus could do. Mary had believed in Jesus since His childhood. 

Another man who saw the first sign of Jesus did, did not hesitate to call Him for help. John 4:46-48 “once more He visited Cana In Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to Him and begged Him to come and heal his son, who was close to death’’. 

Not only can Jesus give the best wine, He heals the sick and raise the dead, he makes life whole again. Don’t ignore the signs from creation, from the bible stories you learnt in Sunday school, from people’s testimony and from your own life. See, He gives you breathe every day. That is a BIG sign for you to recognise and acknowledge your Maker. The God who turned water into wine will turn your life around. He Will turn your mistakes to His glory. Give you beauty for ashes. Tell Him that you see the signs, that you see what you’ve got and you want your life to tell of His signs. Let Him know you treasure all the signs. Ask Him to perform His miracles in your life. To change the bad in and around you to His best. 

Don’t miss the opportunity. Just call on Him. Accept Him, give your life to Him and let Him be your God. He is so Holy. He is our present help in times of need. Amen.

Prayer

Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto Him

be glory in the church by Jesus Christ through  all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21). 

Song 

He’s able (sing along)