Mindset

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...” (Proverbs 23:7).

Yesterday, something happened that made me feel led to talk to you about mindsets but I did not. In fact, I simply added what GOD had revealed to the second edition of my book called, ‘Prayer’. However, today, GOD drew my attention to it again and I believe that He wants you to hear it.

I have found it to be true that, sometimes, we do not need to pray but simply change our perspective about things. When we see right, as GOD sees, we are bound to have what we want.

One time, feeling so fatigued after the death of my nephew (Klaus), my sister and I decided to leave the housework until later. However, my brother (Meddie) suddenly took to cleaning up with such energy that we were surprised. He swept the compound and then made us breakfast among other house chores. When we marveled at this energy of his he told us that it all had something to do with our mindsets. For as long as we pitied ourselves about how tired we were, we felt so. In fact, the more we looked at the housework as a huge mountain, it would remain so. We needed to change our mindsets about the entire scenario. Immediately, receiving his counsel, we were soon energized as well and soon joined him with the chores.

Sometimes, we do not have to pray much about our situations – we simply have to change our mindsets. 

Now, recently, another sister of mine had a spiritual attack, in a dream, which later manifested into a backache in the physical. She noted that whenever she had similar dreams, such as that one, she would develop a backache (slipped disc). When this happens, she is in a lot of pain that she is unable to take care of some menial duties. In fact, her doctor often recommends bed rest immediately. That was exactly what happened during that the occurrence that I am telling you about this time. In other words, she was not able to drive her children to and from school. Indeed, she was in so much pain that she arranged to have one of my sisters help her take her daughter to school. However, something came up that demanded my other sister’s immediate attention leading her to cancel her plans. Having no one else to help her, she decided that Satan was not going to ‘do this’ to her! She got out of bed, got her daughter ready for school, gingerly bent around doing what she needed to do in that position (with a slipped disc), drove her daughter to school and then went back home with no pain! You see, for as long as she remained with the same mindset of having a back problem and having to take bed rest for a specified number of days, the situation prevailed. However, once she got into a fix and put her foot down, she got out of her predicament.

You must remember that she had prayed about that backache for so long but it kept returning and making her unable to do any housework. You must also realize that although this disability and pain had its source in the spiritual realm, she was handling it in a physical way...with physical solutions! It was not until she started dealing with it spiritually that she received some results!

Sometimes, we need to change our mindsets to do that which we were unable to do before due to a physical inability.

In fact, sometimes, it is not about how much we pray but about setting the right foundation to our deliverance by having the right mindset.

GOD BLESS YOU.

'TOB'

Okay, GOD wants me to talk to you about Tob.

Yesterday, the sermon was taken out of Judges 11 and the preacher preached from just a few verses there. However, what caught my attention was just one verse in the entire scripture for the day.

Judges 11:3

“Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him”.

Now, at the time Jephthah fled from his brethren he was what one would call a ‘nobody’. In fact, his brothers chased him away from home because he was the son of a harlot! However, the ‘vain’ (worthless) men ‘went out with him’ when he got to Tob! Ironically, however, they that appeared and were considered worthless were able to identify worth. They identified Jephthah’s worth and followed him!

In life, many follow those who are already famous. However, when one follows you and believes in you when you are not yet successful, he or she recognizes the worth in you that remains hidden from the rest. You should be careful to keep him or her close to you on your journey to success.

The more I reflected on ‘Tob’ the more I realized that many of us fail to recognize value. We often look at one’s origin and shun him or her – we chase him or her away because of certain circumstances. However, today, I want you and me to ask GOD to open our eyes to the value in people. That value that no one else can see. This value is usually something that only the Spirit of GOD can reveal to us. This is exactly what happened when Peter said that JESUS was the Christ. It was not revealed to him by flesh and blood but by the Spirit of GOD.

Matthew 16:17-18

“Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.

One day, I met a young woman that I would only meet occasionally and she said something that shocked me. She said, within the hearing of my sister, ‘but do people know what a good heart you have’? Now, this is something I have always known about myself but did not think that anyone else had noticed. You must remember that this particular woman and I rarely met and, when we did, we did not talk for long for her to notice something like that. Now, a few months back, a man who I had only met for the first time that day said the same thing to his girl. He told her not to ‘let go of me’ because I have a good heart. These people see things about people or about situations that no one else has told them...things that only GOD can reveal to one. It is also without a doubt that GOD revealed it to me!

Consequently, today, my prayer is that GOD reveals your worth to you so that you can glorify His name upon revelation as well as when He reveals it to someone else. It is my belief that GOD put that worth in you for a reason and that that reason is so that multitudes would be delivered and His name glorified!

I would like to encourage you that GOD has revealed your worth to someone else. However, the question is, ‘do you sometimes see the value in others despite their origins’? I must say that I have sometimes been guilty of not seeing the worth that is hidden from one’s physical possessions or acclaim. Therefore, my prayer is that GOD reveals your worth as well as that of others to me. I pray that He opens my eyes to things about strangers and strange situations that no one has ever told me before.

It is also important for us to be aware that one has to have a following. Everyone needs at least one person who sees his or her worth and follows him or her. This following is also that which GOD will use you to influence or to change multitudes for His glory. I am of the view that the lives of those ‘worthless’ men in Tob who recognized Jephthah’s worth did not remain the same, especially, after he became ruler in Gilead – their lives changed! In other words, every revelation has a prize attached to it. In fact, those who are blessed enough to recognize your worth will be beneficiary to the prize attached to it just as Peter was. You see, it was due to the revelation that JESUS was the Christ that JESUS said that upon Peter (‘this rock’) He would build His Church! It is true that I can never think of those two people who saw my hidden worth without praying for them. In fact, the man won my heart and I am quick to see his good side and to put in a good word about him to his future wife. I must also say that I will often drop whatever I am doing just so I can honor his invitations.

Therefore, I implore you to be one of the seemingly worthless men in Tob who followed Jephthah. I pray that your inner eyes and ears will see and hear what others do not see and that you will follow a future leader.

Prayer

Dear GOD, I ask you to reveal my worth to me so that I can glorify you for it.

Heavenly Father, I thank you and glorify your name because you have sometimes revealed my hidden worth to those with whom I rarely interact and who do not know me well enough. However, I admit that I have sometimes written off others as worthless. Please forgive me. Today, I ask you to reveal the hidden worth of all those you bring my way to me so that I can appreciate them more and align with them if I have to. I also ask you to give me the prize that is always attached to revelation of hidden worth. In JESUS’ name, I have prayed, amen.   

GOD BLESS YOU.

Hidden Victory

We wrongly assume that victory is like a blazing torch on a hill and that everyone, including the one holding it, can see it. However, this is not always the case. You see, we often engage in battles without knowing it and hence making the ensuing victories hidden from our sight. When we commit our ways to GOD, He uses us to do His will without our being keenly aware of it.

As usual, I started the day (yesterday) by asking GOD use me to do, say and hear His will other than mine. Yet, as the day progressed, I became increasingly disappointed that it went so fast and nothing seemed to go as I had planned it to. You see, even if I ministered to a couple of people and uploaded one poem that was in the queue to be released I did not edit or write a book or a poem. Oh, how the feeling of disappointment threatened to hold me in its tight embrace! I was so focused on this feeling that I did not consider that my main assignment of the day was the Muslim woman (‘GOD Answers Simple Prayers’) and that the poems that I sent her were my only important activity of the day. In fact, the implication of what I had done was hidden from me until much later!

As I sent her twelve of my poems that I had never sent her before, I prayed over them and asked GOD to use them to minister to her and to heal her. Nonetheless, since I am so used to saying such prayers and doing such things I did not stop to think of their outcome. Therefore, I was not alert to the sharp pain that pierced my left shoulder as I hoisted my laptop bag onto my left shoulder in preparation of returning home. An insect had entered my dress and begun its torment on my flesh! Recognizing it as an attack, yet not knowing the source, I immediately reached out for my spiritual weapons and prayed off the stings. Although, I still could not tell the source of or the reason for the attack, I realized that the day had been very productive. You see, Satan sometimes attacks me depending on the level of victory I have secured against him by the grace of GOD.

Now, interestingly but not surprisingly, I did not make the connection until a few minutes back! The Spirit of GOD reminded me of the Muslim woman. You see, in addition to the other things I prayed about, I prayed for her healing reminding GOD of His promise to heal all those with HIV/ AIDS. Most important of all, however, was the fact that I prayed for her salvation as well and asked GOD to use those poems to preach to her. Of course, it is hardly surprising that Satan was not be happy about that! Therefore, he attacked me but to no avail. As I sat here basking in that revelation of the victory that had been hidden from me until today, I thanked GOD for using me as His vessel.

It is, therefore, with this mindset that I encourage you to endeavor to keep in step with the Spirit of GOD. Commit all your senses and activities to Him and let His will be done through you every day. Secondly, I know you hold a ‘staff’ in your hands, ‘Moses’. Allow yourself to use the staff (your gift) to reach out to those who have not yet given their lives to Christ and lead them into the Promised Land. Use your staff to preach to them even as you commit their other needs to GOD.

Prayer

Dear GOD, I confess that I usually have a set plan on how my day should go yet you too have a plan for me. I know that your plan for me and for my days far outweighs all the plans I could ever have. Please forgive me. Today, I choose to lay down my plans and replace them with your divine plans for my life and for all my days. I commit all my past, present and future days and activities into your hands and ask you to use me to do your will. May I do, say, and hear all that you want me to do, say and hear. Open my eyes and ears, dear LORD, so that I can clearly see and hear your instructions concerning others and myself. Keep me so alert that I will know that I have accomplished your will for my life as I go along.

King of kings, I commit my ‘staff’ into your hands and ask you to use it to win souls for your kingdom. In JESUS’ name, I have prayed, amen.

GOD Answers Simple Prayers

It is unfortunate that we often wait to say some ‘complicated’ or long-winded prayers thinking that GOD will only hear us then. It is also sad that we wait to receive answers to our prayers after a long time yet GOD will often answer immediately! If we simplify our prayers, GOD will also simplify His response. In other words, when we speak to Him using simple methods He will also respond in kind using simple methods!

Yesterday, in order to inspire a Muslim woman who is paralyzed from the waist down and is now bed ridden I decided to send her another set (twelve) of my poems. However, the internet connection was very slow and just as I was about to lose my peace about it I said a ‘halfhearted’ prayer asking GOD to bridge the gap between the uploading circle. Okay, in case I confused you, what I refer to as the ‘uploading circle’ is that circle that appears on a file while you are uploading or downloading it. My apologies to the computer wizards for lack of proper jargon.

Now, I went ahead and took care of other things only to return and find that almost all of the poems had already been uploaded! You see, I had said a halfhearted prayer in a very uncomplicated way and then took my attention off the problem! I even thanked GOD for bridging the gap between the two ends of the circle before I saw any results!

Psalm 69:30-31

“I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.”

Therefore, today, I want to encourage you to say what you would consider a simple prayer, take your eyes off your circumstance, thank GOD for answering your prayer, and then take care of other things. I also would like to encourage you that what you considered a halfhearted prayer was heard by GOD and your answer is you are about to receive your answer!

GOD BLESS YOU.