As I write this, I’m in all shades of joy, and my gratitude towards God is at an all time high. First, today, I welcomed another little niece to the world. Gosh! She’s such a bundle of joy. And then, I got an answer to a heartfelt prayer I made to God last week.
My church had a 21-day prayer and fasting program, which ended on the resurrection Sunday. During the last week of our prayers, as we prayed for our families, I asked God to do the “almost impossible”…well, to me it was close to being impossible, but to God it wasn’t…of course. I was scared when I started off with the prayer. I heard my mind asking me, “You know that’s almost impossible, right?” but in the place of prayer, I had the urge to press in…I felt my faith growing larger and wider than my fears, and I just declared what I wanted God to do. With tears running down my checks…with a heart that saw Jesus, and only Him, I called forth the “almost impossible”…and today…barely one week from my asking…God has answered.
I’m so happy, and my trust in Jesus has never been this firm. I’m just here, thanking Him for being so faithful. I get to welcome another beautiful niece, and I also get to see the answer to a request I felt was almost impossible. Do have a burden? Do you have something that you really want God to do for you? I want to encourage you to take that burden to Jesus today. You can just take a break from reading this, and just ask God to take that burden. It shouldn’t contradict His will though…ask Him in the name of Jesus. Tap into my testimony and watch God “wow you” like He “wowed me” today. I’m going to specifically agree with you in prayers. Before this post goes live, I’ll pray that a special grace be released upon any one that will key into my testimony, and that they see their own miracles, and I trust that by the time you’re reading this, that special grace is available…so go on…just ask God. When you get your miracles do let me know. I’ll be glad to read your testimonies, like you’re reading mine.
Okay,
I just want to use the remaining few words to talk about something specific and straight forward. It is as straight forward as the title of this post: Titus 3: 2-8. I just want to share what the Holy Spirit laid in my heart as I read and meditated on the book of Titus 3, on the 15th of April 2020. Basically, they’re just two points:
First, let’s really learn to acknowledge that we cannot be good or do good without Jesus
The Bible talks about the heart of man; it says the heart of man is desperately wicked (SEE Jeremiah 17:9). Man without the Holy Spirit has the ability to do great evil. God is the reason we’ve not consumed ourselves with our wickedness. If this world was left with man and the devil, we wouldn’t have a world that has laughter, peace, Joy and all love has to offer.
The “good and disciplined man” is good and disciplined because of God. God allowed good to still be in the world, even in the life of humans that haven’t accepted the offering of Jesus, because He knows the world can’t survive without His goodness. God causes the sun and rain to come to all men (SEE Matthew 5:45). We all enjoy the night, morning and noon, Christian or not. When we sow, the earth gives back to us, more than we sowed, Christian or not. That’s God. His goodness and mercy is everywhere. His grace has appeared to all men (SEE Titus 2:11). He so loves the world (SEE John 3:16). The hearts of kings are in His hands, and he turns it wherever He wishes (SEE Proverbs 21:1). The discipline, goodness, joy, peace and everything good we have here on earth is of God…it is because of Him. No man…absolutely no man, Christian or not, can be good without God.
Man was created in the image of God and after His likeness (SEE Genesis 1:27). Hence, even in his fallen state (when he has not accepted the offering of Jesus) man still has the attributes of God. We can create. We can dominate. We can be disciplined. We can love and be good. We have the ability to will “right” or “good” and then make our will a reality…Christian or not. God made us that way. He is responsible for everything good that is in any man. So, no man should boast, we should acknowledge Him.
Now, an unbeliever might choose to defy God and refuse to acknowledge God as the reason for his ability to be good and do good, but as Christians we should never be caught in that act. We, Christians, owe our being…all of our being to God. Actually, we owe Him more than the unbeliever, because we are no longer on the same level with an unbeliever. We’ve been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son, Jesus (SEE Colossians 1:13). We have the God head three-in-one living on the inside of us.
We shouldn’t make anyone feel we’ve got our act right all by ourselves. We should always allow Jesus get His due reverence when we tell and live out our narratives. When people see and encounter us, they should see and encounter Jesus…so much so…they glorify our Father in heaven (SEE Matthew 5:16). When we live our lives like this, there are things that should become second nature to us. One of such things is my next point.
We should learn to make room…big room…for other people’s shortcomings
The world, as of now, has zero tolerance for mistakes. If you’re associated with something wrong, the world doesn’t wait for you to be confirmed guilty, it will just burn you down. It almost seems the world wants everybody to live a “mistake-free” life. I’m not saying we shouldn’t call a spade a spade. And of course, there are situations that are so bad and we just can’t ignore them…and, in fact, we shouldn’t ignore them. I, however, believe our heart of patience, tolerance, kindness, empathy and forgiveness is getting smaller by the day…and that’s not God’s will. As saints, God wants us to be an extension of heaven here on earth…and in heaven there’s more than enough room for all the shortcomings the world can and will ever produce.
We have all it takes to be as annoying as the person that is getting us angry, but for God. At times, we were even like them, but thanks to Jesus…we now know and so do better. Yes, I believe so much that we all have the power to decide whether to live right or go wrong. I actually have a blog post about it. But, how can you even choose right when the right option is not known by you? If the right option was Blue, but you’ve never been exposed to Blue, how then can you choose Blue? And then, even when we choose right, we still need grace to sustain our “right choice.”
Some persons don’t even know they can do better. And there are those that know they can do better but don’t believe they can…and hence, can’t do better. The person that talks carelessly is just ignorant. You might want to argue, but honestly think about it: why don’t you talk carelessly too? Is it because you can’t? Why don’t you cheat? Why do you find it difficult to accuse someone falsely? Well, it’s because you know and understand better.
By the way, we’re all on a journey here on earth. That means we’re all “works” in progress. No matter how much we think we’ve become and achieved…there’s still so much room for us to do better. Let’s learn to pray for people. Let’s understand that love, joy, patience, kindness, self-control, meekness and gentleness are attributes God wants us to exude here on earth…and those attributes find their very essence in the face of their opposing forces. God wants us to make room for people’s shortcomings, as He has made room for us. One of the ways to do that is: acknowledging that we cannot be good or do good without Jesus. If you need Jesus; others need Jesus too. If others can’t get to Jesus on their own or have refused to get to Him…let’s bring Jesus to them.
Titus 3:2-8 says:
No insults, no fights. God’s people should be bighearted and courteous. It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Saviour God, stepped in, He saved us from all that. It was all His doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Saviour Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this. (MSG)
Read the above scripture again. This time do it slowly…and then meditate on it.
Now, My Prayer for You and Me:
May the eyes of our understanding be flooded with God’s light, and may our hearts be flooded with His love. May we continually learn to receive from Him, and may we learn to give unto others, as we receive from Him, in Jesus’ name…
Amen.
Do get in the gym, and
Stay Spiritually Fit.
This is lovely!!
Thank You.