THE CHURCH

THE CHURCH

 

 The Church in this context is not where you go to worship on weekdays and Sundays. I trust you’ve been having a purpose-filled week? God’s been faithful & I prayed for you by the way. The thought of the Church today just makes me weep in my heart- I just can’t explain it, but a lot of us, I mean- a lot, have missed the real deal.

Paul writing in one of his epistles in Corinthians said; “we ourselves are letters of recommendation to be read by the world… this ‘letter’ is written not with pen and ink… it is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human heart”. You and I make up the Church which means we are the Church. Without you and I there will be no Church, the place we go to worship is only a building; we are God’s temple meaning we carry Jesus in us and everywhere we step in- Jesus also comes on the scene. So, we actually carry God’s presence into the church, hallelujah!

Why this topic - “the Church”?

I will answer that but let me first give you a picture of what led my heart into this. During the week I was watching Daystar, for those of us who don’t know what Daystar is; it’s a Christian television on Cable. Betty Robinson and her husband are both pastors that have a program on Daystar. This particular one which God let me come across was showing the world young teenage girls and boys around the ages of 14 - 16 in Europe who have been abandoned by their parents, some of them orphaned, and it just goes on.

 Now, these little ones are been abducted, trafficked and used as sex slaves. I wept in my heart as I saw these beautiful teens and children; these are people’s daughters and sisters. Betty and her husband have helped in saving hundreds of thousands of these young girls. Some of the girls are now College professors, doctors, and they are in turn also helping in this reach out campaign.

This particular girl caught my interest. She was only 16 when her dad asked her to move out of the house with her little sibling who was 14;  She narrated; “at 14 and 16 my dad sent my sister and I out of the house, I didn’t know why and how to live by myself, (she was crying at this time) we just roamed on the streets, we were out in the cold sleeping on pavements, until one day a man picked us up and took us to a place where they where so many men and they raped us. I cried and cried for them to stop but they did not”.

 I just had to cut the whole story short but I hope you’ll get the picture. There is this popular saying that goes; ‘if you’ve never been there, you can never know what it feels like’. It’s totally true.

I can’t say I know how hurt these girls feel, but I can say for sure that they’ve been hurt; the stamp is going to be there forever. So, Betty and her husband were soliciting for donations in other to save as many as possible – what they were asking for was as low as 32 to 64 dollars to a 128 and 1,280 dollars to help save these children. With the level of brokenness I felt in my heart I really wanted to help these girls so badly, but I did not have that kind of money, I just told God there was nothing I could offer - and almost immediately He(God) told me no! “You’ve got something Itofa”; pray for these girls.

 I want us now as a family to lift our hearts to God as we share this prayer for the girls and boys all over the world who are been trafficked and used for this inhumane act, let us pray;

Dear father, every time we call  on you we know you hear us, you’ve done so much for us that even a million tongues will still not be able to show how grateful we are, father we love you and we say thank you. Lord we know that you love all of these beautiful kids and teens in Europe, Africa, Central America and America who have fallen victim to this sexual abuse or any form of abuse, I pray lord that you help us get them out in Jesus’ mighty name. I pray you heal the wound in their hearts. I pray you bring this people who commit this inhumane act into your light. I pray you help the girls and boys forgive this very people who have defiled them. Please Lord, we ask as a family that you give them a beautiful, fresh new life in Christ Jesus. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

I say another Amen to that. You and I have got a lot of things to be grateful for, just reading this is a blessing already, it’s just God telling you that there is something you can do for somebody.

We make a living by what we get and create life when we give. It is more blessed to give than to receive – T.B Joshua

I will like to reiterate what I said earlier; ‘the thought of the Church today just makes me weep in my heart’, we are the Church. We’ve become so defocused and conceited and narcissistic, it’s almost like we’ve forgotten about our primary goal here on earth. We now spend our time chasing the breeze; looking at who is driving the fastest cars & who is wearing the trending designer shoes, all of the ephemeral things are what the people who are suppose to be a light have now made a priority. Don’t get me wrong; am not saying pursuing your degree or looking and feeling good about yourself is a bad thing or it’s wrong. But I’ll like to ask; will you trade heaven for a fast car that will only boost your reputation?  And don’t forget you’ll need to fuel the car with your hard earned money.

I will not trade heaven for anything - not the house, cars, shoes, degrees, and all things transient. But, living that life of Christ is almost impossible; (is that what you are feeling?) He(God) said “cast all of your cares on me because I care”, worrying about getting a job, becoming rich and famous, getting a scholarship, getting healed, getting married, having children, stopping a habit, it’s not your job to do all these heavy lifting, He has asked you to cast it on his feet because He cares.

Friend, have you been trusting God for something? I want you to hang in there; He knows, don’t resolve to compromise because God’s got your back.

Personally, I’ve asked God to do something & it’s been 2 years down the line and it’s almost like nothing has happened. Have I given up on God? Never! Even though in the early stages of my trusting I got really scared, but yes- I’ve grown in His word and I know a 101% that He’s heard me and it’ll happen in His time.

There is this strategy I use and I’ll love to share it with you; every time am at a cross road of making a very important decision between right and seemingly right or giving something I cherish so much I just ask myself this question; “5 years from now will this still matter?”, this is how it applies to me; if am at that cross road I quickly ask myself this question “5 years from now will this have added any value or still have any value to me?” So, most times, I use this when I have to choose between watching T.V and studying, and of course you know the answer (laughs).

The second part is when I have to give something I cherish so much, I bring in the 5 years question and it makes it so easy to make a decision because I know 5 years down the line, the laptop, shoe, clothe or even the phone won’t count. So, why don’t you make somebody happy today before you hit marginal utility? There is this habit of giving stuff that make no sense to us anymore, maybe because they are worn out or out dated to people who don’t have much- I beg of you, correct that.

Jesus said “if you do this to the least among you unto me have you done it” so, would you want to give Jesus used stuff that is worn out and outdated?

I really don’t feel like ending this conversation now, but I’ve got to go and study. We’ve been called Christians meaning we’re Christ-like; to show God’s love to everyone we come across and let out the God light in us. We are the Church and God is counting on us to be the letters of recommendation to the world.

Wow! Thank you for staying through the whole conversation, please remember to pray for the girls and boys that are being trafficked and you could also help by donations, I’ll look out for the details and post it.

God bless you!

Itofa