LIVING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

One of the mistakes I make most frequently is forget that i'm living in the presence of God. As a matter of fact, I have filled my phone wallpapers with icons of the Christian faith to remind myself of this fact all the time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work.

We tend to live life in a dualistic fashion; God is up there in the sky, sometimes interfering in the affairs of men, but essentially absent. Meanwhile I’m down here living my life, doing the "mundane" things; gong to work, eating, drinking, and occasionally loving those around me. The only times that these two realms intersect is when we are in the mode of worship or prayer, when we feel a presence or heightened emotions.

In actual fact, we serve a God who fills all things and encompasses all things. We learn that Jesus sustains all things by his powerful word and all things exist in him (Colossians). We are perpetually swimming in the ocean of the divine, we are drowning in the presence of God.  There is a scene in Erik Guzman's beautiful book "The Seed" where the Man is dying of thirst and hunger, while surrounded by clear beautiful water flowing from the root of the Christ figure. But his mind has been so warped by the distortion of Sin that he doesn't see this water, All he sees is this black soot. So while the woman is scooping the water and literally drinking in the Holy Spirit, the man is disgusted and cannot bring himself to drink the water/soot. That is the predicament of the Human race. Even we who believe are not always aware of the presence of God. We are too weighed down by the darkness, too invested in our self dependent life that we have forgotten to refresh ourselves in the waters of the Holy Spirit. We have even forgotten that the Holy Spirit is present, that we are in Jesus and he is in us and that we belong to the Father. In actual fact, as much as we would like sometimes, nobody can escape from the presence of God; not even the dead

“if I were to climb up to the highest heavens, you would be there. If I were to dig down to the world of the dead you would also be there” Psalm 139:8

.   And why would God be absent? He is the one who provides us with our emotions, gifts and the activities we like.  We like the things we like because he first liked them. We enjoy the company of our friends because he enjoys the company of friends. This is the beauty I try to remind myself of at all times. That in all activities, he is there with me. I don’t have to beg and scrape for him to come down. I don’t have to drum up spiritual energy on my own in order to do the work of God. Neither do I have to perform some rain dance or debase myself in a fashion that impresses him enough to come down and give me his blessing. He is always present, always blessing and always supplying everything we need for every challenge and every endeavor.

JESUS, JESSE AND THE DONKEY

Recently, popular  Evangelist Jesse Duplantis released a video stating that God wanted him to believe him for a new high end private jet. He then proceeded to request that his followers donate towards the purchase of said jet. Much has been said about the propriety or otherwise of a minister of the Gospel flying in private jets; and much more has been said about the idea of Jesse requesting for donations to buy the jet. As a result, I have no interest in getting into that debate. Suffice it to say that there is no such thing as the prosperity Gospel or the poverty Gospel; they are both false misrepresentations of the Gospel

What I do want to address is Jesse Duplantis’ remark that if Jesus had been around in modern times, he would not have been riding around on a Donkey.  This is true, a Donkey is not an appropriate of efficient way of going from one place to another in the modern day and there is no reason why he would choose to ride on such. But Jesse’s statement seems to suggest that if Jesus were around now, he’d be flying in a private jet. He seems to suggest that a donkey in the first century is the equivalent of a private jet. This is a common line of thought among many modern preachers that lean towards the prosperity gospel. They tend to suggest that Jesus was extremely wealthy and lived a glamorous life. I believe I have heard this Donkey-Jet analogy before too.

I can only surmise that Minister Jesse is either speaking out of ignorance or he was being mischievous. I favour the former. By no stretch of the imagination was a donkey seen as a luxury means of transportation in the first century, of course it beats walking to your destination, but it was not a means of transportation for the rich and powerful. As a matter of fact, the whole point of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a Donkey was to be in contrast to how the powerful rulers of his day would ride into town. The Kings of the world would ride on Horses, accompanied by a parade of chariots and carriages. Jesus, the King of Israel (the Universe) rode into the city on the back of a donkey, surrounded by the lowly people. It was a sign of his humility and the upside-down nature of the Kingdom of God. It’s the equivalent of a nation's president driving himself to a state function, in an old-model Volkswagen Beetle no less. While I can neither affirm nor deny that Jesus would have been flying to and fro in the latest Gulf Stream jet (remember I said that the poverty theology is as much a farce as a “prosperity Gospel”) I can say that Jesus did not and does not represent a Kingdom that tries to keep up appearances with the kingdoms of this world, neither is he a King that needs to set himself higher than his subjects.

So my response to evangelist Jesse Duplantis is this; Yes, Jesus would not have been riding a donkey in 2018, but no, that does not mean he would be riding in a private jet either. Most especially if he wanted to enact his triumphant entry.  

NOTHING IS IN VAIN

In my days of blogging, I’ve taken a hiatus about three times now, the first two times were because I just needed to learn consistency, the third one (which I just came out of) was because I was going through a time of reevaluation and rethinking a lot of things through. I didn’t want to do in the public eye. So, I stuck to my local church and my friends.

In my ministry, there are times when I considered things around me and foolishly compared myself with peers; other Pastors, bloggers and ministries. In those times, I would get extremely discouraged and wonder if what I was doing was really making an impact. This was one of the reasons for my initial hiatuses. I wondered if my blog and the messages I preached was reaching anybody, or if it was even affecting anybody’s life.

In those times, the thing that got me going were the testimonies. People who would just randomly tell me that they enjoyed my blog and how helpful it has been. People who would mention long forgotten messages on the podcast that impacted their lives. It always meant a lot. I remember one time a good friend of mine, who I least expected to care about such things just brought it up in our conversation. She asked why I had stopped writing on my blog. I told her I was just moving on from it. She commented that it was a shame, she really enjoyed my writings (or something to that effect), I can never forget that. In the course of time, I’ve learnt that consistency and quality is key to any venture. We only see people at their peak, we do not know all the hours they put into the work. Starting is euphoric and full of energy and the result seems sexy and glamorous, but we do not see the time in the middle when it’s not so cozy. More importantly, you never know who’s watching you and being impacted by your humble beginnings. So keep doing what you do

I admit, I’m not the type of guy who’s doing this for glory, I’m not ambitious in that regard. But still, the desire to be heard, to excel and to grow is always there. I know I will not abandon the Gospel, and I cannot abandon the preaching of it in one form or the other. But I also have to keep in mind that nothing (usually) happens overnight and nothing we do is in vain. Even if we don’t see it or hear about it, all our spirit-led actions have an eternal impact. Just read 1 Corinthians 15:58

 
So, my dear brothers and sisters, stand strong. Don’t let anything change you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord. You know that your work in the Lord is never wasted.

English Revised Version

“With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort” The Message Translation

Nothing we do is in vain, no act of love or sacrifice we perform is wasted. We might not be able to see the impact or ripple effect of our actions now or even in this lifetime. But we will see it eventually, when all is wrapped up and the world is renewed. We have been used by God to sow little seeds of love that will eventually germinate and cover the whole earth.

Selah