At times it comes to you as advice, encouragement, or friendly gesture but YOU JUST DON’T SEE IT AS THAT.
“I know exactly what you going through, I was once there but beat it up and stand on your feet”. These could be some of the words you get from your loved ones.
To be honest I do not know what I'm writing about but I feel the urge to let go of what’s inside, the words will eventually take the shape of the title just like water takes the shape of a glass, bottle or bucket.
Someone once gave me this example; that the BIBLE is more like a container, so when you study the word of God you should seek for the true meaning behind what is written there. She continued and said “when I ask you to bring me water you take a glass and pour water in it, then you will give me a glass so I can drink the water that I asked for, but what I really wanted is what is inside the glass and NOT the glass.
At that time I was fascinated by the kind of example she gave and totally dismissed the reason why she gave me such example, six years later am reminded of the real reason why this example came forth.
:: Side Tracker ::
Have you ever felt like things are not going the way you want them to, people do not understand you the way they should, the world may expect a lot from you, there are these endless responsibilities you can stand up to and so on…?
Maybe this is how some of you have been feeling:
· My pastor tries too much to help me, but I could use one more teaching then I can stand on my feet
· My family expects this super intelligent me to rise deep within me then business ideas will sprout
· My friends think I am a hard worker therefore getting a job and maintaining it should be easy for me
· My colleagues at work expect me to go an extra mile for our team project while they work on their individual reports
· My siblings think because I love children then it’s a passport to being their baby sitter
· My lecturers think it’s easy to prepare for exams, while working on these assignment presentations and final year project
· My supervisor wants me to do all the job,prepare interview questions and call interviewees
· My life is not going according to plan and if it were not because of these people I would be doing great on my own
Please allow me to say this to you, (with all due respect) STOP WHINING AND START WINNING, you can make a choice right now and decide enough of complaining about all that going wrong in/ around your life and start taking the right steps towards excelling.
Going back to the example above
I found myself in an awkward position some days back, I took some time out to understand the flow of some things in my life and I was debating over the fact that I do all these scriptural exercises of; praying and fasting, praying at mid night hours,reading the Bible, waking up early to decree and declare good things into my day …the list is endless and I know you know it all, but I have no good result show forth. The result of this analysis was that I whine a lot about things not being right and nothing ever goes according to plan (I can’t remember how I ended up reading the Bible) but I was reading the first chapter of Proverbs,the entire book of Proverbs in the Bible talks more on wisdom and that seem to be King Solomon’s focus.
After reading the whole of chapter one, my attention was drawn to verses 20-33. Here I have been constantly asking God to give me wisdom to walk in His will and to also achieve all of my plans. I have been asking for that glass of water (Wisdom) and He gave me the Holy Spirit to teach me how to apply what I'm asking for.
Picture it like this:
Water -->Wisdom
Glass --> Holy Spirit
John 14:26 (NKJV) But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
These were Jesus’ words when He was about to ascend to heaven, telling His disciples who will come after Him and to do what exactly. Based on my little understanding and revelation; if a glass already reveals the colour of water from a far distance and it also determines what shape the water will take then it’s a simple reflect of how the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit should reveal to us the kind of people God has created us to be, then show us paths to take in order to shape up into who God wants us to be.
But there I was whining about how this and that isn't right, am I trying to say this is who God created me to be,let alone wants me to be??? That’s NOT my God; further more that’s not how the Holy Spirit operates. Am I telling people this is how they should see me from afar distance, as a whiner ….?
I had to make a decision of stopping whining and start winning by taking some time to study these verses. In another Bible they are titled as ‘results of rejecting wisdom’.
Proverbs 1:20- 33 (NIV)
20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; 21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out,in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: 22 "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? 23 If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. 24 But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, 25 since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, 26 I in turn will laugh at your disaster;I will mock when calamity overtakes you--27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble over whelm you. 28 "Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. 29 Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, 30 since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, 31 they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. 32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; 33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."
I got scared for my life and how I have been living it, I realized that despite whining and these ‘scriptural exercises’ I have not been paying attention to what the Holy Spirit wants me to learn and understand. I was busy complaining whereas I haven’t been obeying the voice of God. John 16:13 (NKJV) says 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
When the Holy Spirit was seeking for my attention, crying out loud so I can learn about wisdom and how to apply it in my life, I never bothered to listen instead I wanted to be comfortable with the way I was doing things. Little did I know that my ignorance, attitude and behaviour are the reason why I keep whining, hence I might experience what is verse 26-32.
Make a decision of starting to win.
Thankful and Grateful
Maybe you wondering how you going to start winning, and my advice is start by being grateful of what you have right now, be it your job, family, pastor, grandparents, church, children, car,bed/mattress, house whatever it is be thankful for it because someone else out there needs them. You can be thankful but it seems not to be enough, go an extra mile and be grateful (purpose in your heart/mind that you will do something that involves taking action besides opening your mouth to say thank you Lord or thank you pastor for a good message). *Let it cost you
· Buy your spouse a gift to show how grateful you are that s/he cares for you
· Give your pastor an offering for a good message preached
· Cook your parents a good meal or take them out
· Purpose in your heart that every morning you will remind your children of how much you love them
#David expressed how much he thanked God but wanted to show God how grateful he was Psalm 116:12-14
Encourage someone every day
Make it point that every day you encourage someone out there, you may not know what exactly it is they are going through but small words like ‘you look good, your dress is beautiful, that is a nice tie, God loves you, I like the way you walk’ and giving them a smile. Such words have great power in them because you are boasting their confidence.
· After the service locate one usher in church and thank them for a job well done
· Spend some time teaching a colleague in an area they could use help in
· Buy your wife/sister/mother a cook book
· Ask a stranger if you can pray for them
Just let not a day go by without that small but massive kind of act, because not only does it puts a smile on that person’s day or puts a cherry on top of your day but above all it pleases God.
Take time to study the word of God and listen to the Holy Spirit
You might be like me, and you want certain changes in your life and the truth is, that is only achievable if you spend much of your time not just reading but studying the word and listening to what the Spirit says, moreover acting on what the Spirit of God says. Verse 31 of our main scripture reading says (paraphrasing) if you listen to me then will I guide you and you shall not worry about anything because your steps are ordered by me.
· Have a specified time set aside for studying the word of God
· Join your church’s cell groups
· Attend midweek services to build your faith up
· Arrange with your family or friends to have time where you share scriptures and pray together
These are the few ideas that will help you start winning, changing the route that your life was in before and excelling in what your desire. Let us be wise to allow the Holy Spirit to show us how we ought to live according to God ways not our ways, if we can do this then our lives will shape up nicely.
I hope this brings a spark of enlightenment to you as much as it did to me
By
Kesego Ramoleko
(Thank you Holy Spirit)
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