Even in the storm>>>

I have learned so far, that as certain as the sun will rise in the morning, and the stars come out to play at night, so are hardships and trials a part of life.

A lot of things happen that threaten to shake our faith, if it is flimsy and based on things that fade away.

Some of us put our faith in money - and then when we are broke we feel like it is the end of the world.

Some of put all our hope in our relationships - and then when they fall apart, or people betray us or we lose the ones we love we end up feeling lost and hopeless

Some of us put our faith in success, defining ourselves by our achievements - and then in the unfortunate event that we do not reach the goals that we have set for ourselves, we feel like life is not worth living.

The truth is that money will dry up, relationships may end and we are only as successful as our last achievement. Everything is fleeting, it all passes.

But the word of God is so clear on the fact that if we put our trust in the one who was there yesterday, who is there today and who will be there tomorrow, we will never ever lose out.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord

and whose hope is the Lord

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters

which spreads out its root by the river

and will not fear when heat comes

but its leaf will be green

and will not be anxious in the year of drought,

nor will cease from yielding fruit"

Jeremiah 17:7-8

The above scripture clearly states, that a man or woman who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in Him shall remain standing no matter the time or season, nothing will shake their faith and they will remain rooted,  no matter what goes wrong in their lives.

When we trust in the Lord, there's a certain peace that comes over us. For we know that everything rests in His hands and His abilities. And we rest on the promise that: He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above ALL that we can ask or imagine according to the power that is in us (Phillipians 3:20).

So no matter what you may be going through, rest in the knowledge that God is still in control. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Maybe you have never experienced the peace that I speak about, and that's okay. It is available and free to all of us.

So don't be ashamed to stand before God and pray: Dear Lord, thank you for coming into my life. Thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ, to die for my sins. Take over my life right now as I give it all to you and put ALL my trust in you. From here onwards, take over. Thank you that I am now a new creation in You, who trusts in You, Amen!!!"

"You will keep him in perfect peace

Whose mind is stayed on You

because he trusts in you

Trust in the Lord forever

For in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength"

Isaih 26:3-4

and then there was light!!!

There's a song by Hillsong which says "It used to be darkness, without You (God)" and this song best describes the story of my life before I knew who God was!!! Last week when I read the scripture of John 1:1-5 I got reminded of this song and of my spiritual journey, and I just had to share a little bit of where I come from.

John 1

 ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 ²The same was in the beginning with God.

 ³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

 ⁴In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

 ⁵And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

This scripture really describes the story of my life... Before Him there was darkness in my life and this darkness was in many forms.

I was angry, at my mother for passing on, at my sister for being my responsibility, at God for allowing pain to infiltrate my life, at my grandmother for trying to be my mother.

I was bitter...that I hadn't achieved all the things that I had set out to achieve.

I was filled with sadness at the thought of all the dreams I had let go of because of fear.

I was full of fear - afraid to do anything because I felt out of control.

And then one day I said "Jesus, I cannot do this on my own. I have had it!!! I need you to take over from here. I need You to take control"!!!

And He came and shone as a light in my life... and everything fled...all darkness left. The anger, the fear, the sadness, the bitterness, the pain, the disappointment, the illnesses... everything left in an instant and I was made completely well and whole.

All voids in my life were filled, because when the true light came, there was no place for darkness to camp within me. He came and set me free from all emotional chains.

His light shone and the darkness could not comprehend it, indeed. The darkness had no choice but to flee the strong presence of the saviour.

Sure I still felt angry after that, but that only meant that my mindset was yet to catch up with what Jesus had done in my life.

Imagine this: you were born into slavery, your mother having been abducted while she was pregnant with you, and all your life you had known nothing but slavery...and then one day your father, who had been looking for you for 25 years, finds you and reveals to you that you are actually a princess of a certain kingdom and that he has come to take you back so that you can claim your place as a princess.

How long would it take for your mind to catch up with the fact that you are no longer a slave and no longer have to labour for someone else? it surely wouldn't be easy for you to catch up with your new-found status in life.

It's the same when Jesus comes to set us free in our lives. It takes us a while to catch up and get used to what it means for Him to have set us free, but that doesn't mean that the job has not been done or that it is incomplete. When He comes, He destroys all yokes and sets all captives free, instantly. The sprititual journey and process happens because you have to catch up with what He has done and also get to know Him as your Father, Saviour and Friend!!!

So tonight, I hope you understand that Jesus has done it all. He came, He died and was raised up to be seated on the right hand of the Almighty God. And He took us with Him. We are above all principalities and powers. We have overcome. we have won the battle.

May God keep reminding us of who we truly are - conquerers in Christ Jesus, that we may find it easy to comprehend what it means to be truly FREE!!!

p.s. If you find yourself in the same darkness that I spoke about above, and you feel you want that light...just say a little prayer and invite Jesus in your life, and let Him be the light that ends all darkness!!!

be blessed

Likeleli

True Friendship

The subject of love cannot be explored without also exploring the subject of friendship; and this is what I found myself doing in the past two weeks.

Ever since I learned that "who you are is a reflection of the people you surround yourself with", I have been very careful of who I let into my life, although it's not so easy because some people show up into our lives unexpected, and before we know it become a very important part of our lives, even before we can evaluate whether they are the kind of people we want to be associated with or whether the friendship is built on a good foundation.

I really believe that the foundation on which friendship is built is love. I'm not talking about the emotional type of love - the one-day-I-love-you-and-one-day-I-don't kind, but love that comes from the depths of our hearts, the love that is inherent in us - creatures of a loving God.

In assessing whether my friendships are based on love, I have used 1 Corinthians 13 as a measuring tool.
Some of the characteristics of love that are mentioned in that piece of scripture about love are:

• love is long suffering
• love is kind
• love does not envy
• love does not parade itself and is not puffed up (pride)
• love is not provoked and does not seek its own
• Love bears all things, hopes all things and endures all things
• Love never fails

There can never be friendship without love. Any friendship built without love will never stand the test of time, and will fall at the first sign of challenges and hardships - which will always be there where there is any sort of relationship.

So every time I have a friend, I continuously assess whether I am still willing to put in the time and effort to love them as 1 Cor 13 suggests, and whether they still put in the effort to love me the same way (because friendship is a two-way thing - never a one-way thing).

A lot of people claim to have friends that they are not willing to love (which includes respect, care and consideration). People will usually just look to see what they can out of a friendship than what they have to offer to a friend and this has led to many so-called friendships that result in friends giving each other wrong advice, betraying each other's trust and leading each other astray - which is a manipulation of the true meaning of what friendship is.

Jesus Christ is the perfect example of what a true friend is...in John 15:13,14 he says:

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends

So, my challenge to you, dear reader regarding friendship is this: are you willing to lay down your life for the person whom you call your friend, are you willing to love them as Jesus commands us to love one another???

This is the meaning of true friendship!!!

The foundation of love

Wow, it's 2012... I cannot believe it has taken me so long to write my first post for the year. This time I decided that I would wait a little while and let the unfolding of 2012 guide me in terms of what I should be focusing on this year, and since Christmas day I have been meditating on the subject of love.

On Christmas eve, my younger sister and I had a serious fight, I mean it got physical, and I actually thought that it would turn out to be the fight that ended our relationship. Not that we had never had a fight before but, for the first time, I felt like I would never speak to her again.

A few weeks later she is visiting me for the weekend and we are having the time of our lives loving each other. I really found this amazing. That you can love someone so much that no amount of bad words exchanged and fighting done could ever get between the bond that you share.

While I was reading the bible in the past few weeks, I came across many scriptures that spoke not only about the love between God and man but also of love amongst ourselves as brothers and sisters in Christ.

The most amazing love of all is the love that God has for us as human beings, that He gave His only Son to be crucified for our sins!!! We do wrong against Him and He takes it upon Himself to redeem us, simply because He loves us!
What's even more amazing is that God requires of us to love one another with the same love that He has for us.

While it might have been easy for God to decide that He would send His Son to death for our salvation because of His capacity to love beyond human understanding, it is a bigger challenge for us to honour His request that we love one another because we are weak in nature. However, it is not impossible because God also says in His word that our weakness is His strength. And therefore, if allow God to take over our lives, we find that it is easy to love our fellow human beings.

Last night, God challenged me with this:
  The gift of friendship is more important than the question of who is wrong and who is right!!!

This made me realise that the relationship that I have with the people in my life ought to be of much more importance than the problems that we are going to face together.

So, as I begin the year of 2012, I choose to begin by building on the foundation of love.
This means that love has to be on the forefront. That everything I do should be motivated by love.
The plans that I make and the vision that I have for my life should be birthed out of love and nothing else - a love for life, a love for people, a love for my country, a love for my family, a love for myself and most importantly a love for God.

And I challenge you to do the same, to begin 2012 on the right foot, to start with love in mind.
If you were thinking of letting some of your friends go, do it because you truly believe that it is what's best for the both of you, and if you were thinking of beginning new friendships, do it because you are motivated by love.

This is love, that when we feel we no longer have it in our hearts to love, that we lay it down before God and allow Him to teach us to love again... when everything else fails (careers, studies, plans etc) then all we have left is love and the people that love us.

lots of love
Likeleli

11 Lesson learned in 2011

1. When you make God the foundation of your life, and you entrust Him with everything that concerns your life, then NOTHING can move, shake, break or kill you!!!

2. We never ever stand alone...there's always someone vouching for us, cheering us on to get to the finish line. we can't afford to give up on ourselves!!!

3. there are no shortcuts to any place worth going, and there's no easy way to develop good character... dreaming allows you to begin with the end in mind, but living is what happens between the beginning and the finish line. BE A DREAMER, but even more than that, BE a LIVER OF LIFE!!!

4. Some things in life can wait...the race is not against the clock -but everything has a time and an appointed season...like my dear mother once said: time is not a speedway between the cradle and the grave...so be patient, it will get you places!!!

5. Never underestimate the power of prayer: pray before the battle, pray during the battle, pray after the battle and pray during a time of peace, pray in every season!!! never ever cease to pray!!!

6. Family is a gift from God, no matter how bad things get, never give up hope on your family. Love them, pray for them, talk to them and talk with them!!! No one will ever be perfect, but love them any way!!!

7.  Even when things are not going that well in your life, celebrate with the people in your life that have something to celebrate, do not forget to pray for other people to prosper as you pray for your own prosperity... God is able to bless us all!!! He won't give your blessing to someone else!!!

8. The love of true friends speaks for itself... it is seen in truth and honesty, loyalty, sacrifice and most importantly time!!! trying to be a best friend to everyone only results in you spreading yourself so thin that you can't even be a good friend to one person!!!

9. People that are willing to walk your spiritual journey with you are for keeps...cherish them and pray for them too!!! thank you to my homecell for a great and interesting year!!!

10. Ntate Nelson Mandela (& his fellow comrades) was wiling to die for freedom because way before '94 he had found freedom within himself, that's why he believed that it was a cause worth fighting for.Your dream has to be alive within you, even before the rest of the world can see it manifest...because when days are tough, the dream will keep you going!!!

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·      11.   gold has to go through the harshest conditions to be made pure and of great value... life will test you, it will burn you, melt you and change you... and it's okay!!! whatever you go through in life doesn't define you, all that matters is the finished product!!! hold on, God is with you throughout the whole process!!!

Thus says the Lord

I couldn't sleep tonight, the heat is just too much to bear. So I decided I should read a little scripture to make the best of my time, and I came across the story of Elijah and Elisha in the first four chapters of 2 Kings. (please read them to get a good idea of what is going there)

It's an amazing piece of scripture, and what stood out for me were the following verses:
 2 kings 1:16-17 the he said to him, "thus says the Lord: ...therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone, but you shall surely die". So Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken.

2 Kings 2:21-22 Thus says the Lord: I have healed this water, from it there shall be no more death and barrenness. So the water remains healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.

2 Kings 3:17,20 For thus says the Lord: "You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain, yet that valley shall be filled with water so that you, your cattle and your animals may drink"...Now it happened in the morning, when the grain offering was offered, that suddenly the water came by way of Edom and the land was filled with water

There's a few more of these kind of verses in the 4 chapters, and what I saw was that, without a doubt, whatever God says will be shall be.
In John 1:1-3, 14 we understand that the foundation of the world was built on the word of God:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."
And the Word became flesh (Jesus) and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Furthermore, Isaiah 55:11 reads: so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to Me void.
But it shall accomplish what I please
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

WOW!!!

What awesome knowledge to understand the power of the word of God.
God has built everything that we have come to know on His word. He said, and it was - even at creation (Genesis 1)

The Bible is full of things that God said, His word in pure form and I think now that we understand what power there is in His word, we can begin to declare His word in our lives and in the lives of the people we have been called to reach in order to see it become alive in all of us.
We can even begin praying for our countries, for Africa, for the world, for our leaders... just by declaring what the Lord has already said, making it specific to our lives!!!

There's one specific scripture that I declared throughout the year, which made a huge difference in my life...Psalm 32:8 "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with My eye"
Every time I felt I needed direction, I would loudly remind God of this promise that He made through His word, and I would ask Him to lead me as He has promised. And then I would continue to blindly follow Him. I applied this to my studies, my job, relationships. As a result I found myself within His will, and even when I went out of His will He always led me back to where I was supposed to go because I continuously declared His word in my life. He had to honour it.

I am grateful to have a God who honours His word above everything.
I am grateful for Jesus Christ, who is the Word in flesh!!!
I am grateful that the word of God will not return to Him without having established what He has sent it to us to accomplish.

"this Book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. That you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success"
Joshua 1:8

Inspire-d: Living the Gym Experience

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