BEING ALONE MAY NOT BE ALL BAD

We all dread loneliness. It is devastating and nothing seems to kill faster. For the sakes of not being alone, a youth can be drawn into the midst of gangs and cults just to find company. We do all sorts of crazy things because we cannot afford to be lonely. I hate to be lonely myself; God Himself probably understands what it means to be alone, that’s why there is the Trinity – the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one. This is also the reason why He made Eve for Adam so that this man will not live alone in his world. His words even said …”two is better than one...” Therefore, if you hate to be alone, it is not absurd but you must know that being alone is not evil at all times.

Many men down in the books of history have discovered their greatest strengths, life’s purpose, performed great feats because they dared to lock themselves down in solitude. The human brain (or body) is made for companionship but the problem is that the people we hang out with mostly do not help us go in the direction we ought to. It is a simple test. Think about this, how many of your friends actually add something tangible to your life? Many of them will only help you add some more junk to the ones you already had in the trunk. So your trunk becomes more of a junk trunk as the days go by. In such cases, if you had to be locked away by God into a desert or a place where you are all alone, better be happy; you are just about to discover some great things about yourself.

John the Beloved was able to see the visions of the end of time while he was locked away in the Island of Patmos. In stillness, solitude and quietness shall be thy strength. You cannot stay quiet and still when you are all about, hanging out with friends; there is a time to be alone with God. There is a time you must ask questions and get answers. There must be a time you must never settle for the company of men over the company of the most High God who has answers to every question you have.

Be still! Being alone is not so bad: if you are alone with God. You can be sure of great discoveries about yourself. You will realize strength. Being alone with God is similar to waiting on the Lord and the Bible says those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength, mount up with wings like eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint. In that quiet place where you think no one cares about you, where you think your life is a mess and is devoid of good things; that is where you will find strength. That is where you will discover great things that will make men stand up for you eventually.

So if your heart is broken by those you love and you suddenly find out you are alone, I recommend you take some time to be still; that might be God calling for your attention. Be still and know that I am God!

WALKING WITH GOD

Enoch walked with God and he was not; for God took him. This is one mysterious Bible verse that causes a whole lot of puzzle to many. How can someone just walk with God to the extent that he was taken out of the earth without knowing death? Now, that is something really admirable and I guess we all hope to walk with God to that level but it seems more like an impossibility considering the tension and evil in our days. Another person who walked with God and did not know death was Elijah who was taken up into heaven by chariots of fire.

Walking with God is not impossible, neither is it something easy for man. It is an active choice that must be taken and it does require a whole lot of grace. I often sit down myself to consider the “walk of faith” and I can’t but tremble at how hard it looks to me. You know there are times we seem to know just about everything only to find out you have not known anything about the ways of God. There are times I mess up and I’ve had to check my ways; I usually come up with one fault or the other, hoping to correct them so that I do not repeat the same mistake. I usually feel I know exactly what the problem is. However, I funnily find myself in the same trouble again despite all that I seem to know and this makes me cry out “Who shall deliver me from this flesh?”

We are mostly like Paul who wants to do the right thing but found out the wrong thing is what we are doing. The flesh is weak but the Spirit is truly willing. When we consider the limitations to the human flesh, it will actually not be insane to say it is impossible to walk with God. However, you would be wrong if you believe walking with God is impossible because it is not. The only thing you need to do is forget about yourself and focus on the one you are walking with while trusting in the Spirit to lead you. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh!

Do you have kids? Then you must be able to watch them and relate our walk with our heavenly father with the way these little ones behave. When you are holding the hands of your little kid and walking along together, he or she will probably walk anyhow, carry the legs anyhow, and do anything that is loved even if it is not right. All this is done because your kid knows that “daddy or mummy is holding me and nothing evil will happen to me!” Consciousness is often cancelled; these kids just catch their fun anyhow.

If we must walk with God, we must also learn to forget ourselves and do just this: “looking unto the Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith…and casting all your cares upon Him for He cares for you” Keep your eye on God and let him do the holding. When you are weak, trust him to carry you just like you will carry your kid when he or she is weak while walking with you. Trust him to keep you from walking through the wrong paths, trust him to just bring you home. For faithful is He who has started a good work in you, he is able to complete it. He is also able to save you unto the uttermost!

So what do we say? Walking with God requires an absolute faith; if you do not have faith in the person you are walking with, you will not be able to walk with him. While there is the possibility of getting distracted by people who seem to be living in heaven and have attained great heights in God; do the diligence to focus on Christ alone for he is able to bring you and me to the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Do not outrun God! Grace be unto you from God the father and our Lord Jesus.

WHEN YOU ARE CONFUSED

There are gloomy days; ones that are very dark. Days that you can hardly see a glimpse of light; with everywhere filled with palpable darkness, so much that you can’t touch anything like hope. Confusion is here and there as well, there is nothing certain and the possibility of making through this kind of night seems very small. Where do we turn when the dark days are here? Who has the key to our lives? Who is the hope of our tomorrow? Who has the answer to our questions?

When you are confused, when you are completely frustrated and when all hope seems to be lost, you cannot turn elsewhere except unto God. You see, life in itself is complex and full of questions that can only be answered by the one who made the worlds by himself. Fellow men will try to provide answers but they will fail. Their answers will either lead you deeper into the pits of confusions and add more questions or completely lead you in the wrong direction which you will soon realize. They do not have answers to every question and you can tell in their eyes that they too have unanswered questions.

When you are confused, lay your confusions at the Lord’s feet. Let him show you the way, let him guide your paths; let him show you the sleek turnings and place your feet on the solid ground. He has the answers, he has the keys to the doors, he holds every secret thing in his custody; even the darkness is nothing before him. There is really nothing hidden to our dear Father. It is only a pity that we underestimate him by turning to other sources for answers. Many have turned to voodoo, witchcraft, shrines, sorcerers and other mediums in their quest for answers but they can only go deeper into the pits of trouble.

When you are confused dear friend, turn nowhere else, and look to no one except the lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel, the one who has the keys of David, the maker of heaven and earth. He is mighty strong and capable and he has answers to every of your question. You may be confused today but once you meet with him, your confusions will be over.

May the Lord keep you, may he behold you with his mercy, may he shine his light upon you and make your life worth living. May he deliver you from every pit and may he lift up the light of his countenance upon you. Amen.