What is 'THAT'... in your 'HAND'?

"Then the Lord asked him,
“What is that in your hand?”

“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied".

Exodus 4:2

When God made it known to Moses that he had been chosen to deliver the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, the first thing Moses did was protest - like most of us would! I can almost hear the conversation between Moses and God going like thus:

"WHAT? You want me to do WHAT? God, why now, why me? I mean look at me, I think you have the wrong person. All you need to do is look down the road and you will see that Mr A is the perfect candidate for this job. I mean, he has got all it takes. He is a great speaker, a great multi-tasker and an accomplished man in the society. As for me, I don't have the skills, I can't even speak properly and you want me to go and talk to the king of Egypt! Besides, I am not an important person in society, so even if I do go to the king of Egypt, he would never listen to me, or believe that you have sent me".

In response to Moses protests, God asked him the question::

"What is that in your hand"?

When I look at the state of the world's economy, I envisage this is the question God is asking most of us at this point in time. At the back of the dreams, visions, inspirations and much more He has given us, He is asking us the question "what is that in your hand"? The sad thing is, I bet most of us, are responding back in protest with answers such as "I don't have anything in my hand, to I don't have the right tools in my hands."

However, this type of thinking is far from the truth. You see, our hands are the seeds that is called "talents, skills, gifts and abilities. Romans 12: 6 states that "In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well". We all have talents and abilities that God has given us, and we are required as children of God to work on developing them and then use them to further God's kingdom.

"what are we doing with that which is in our hand?"

When most individuals think of gifts that can be used to further God's kingdom, the thoughts more often than not, surround spiritual gifts such as prayers, singing or working in the 'corporate church' in some shape or form. This is good, however, our everyday ordinary skills are also our gifts and abilities.

For example, some people are extremely talented in DIY, some are talented in cooking, some talented in establishing friendships, some have an extremely good eye for detail and much more. We must take these simply everyday abilities and submit them to God, for Him to use. Like Moses, we must lay them down and watch them come alive. When they come alive, they will have the power to help those around us, and eventually we will see God move in our lives like Moses did in his.

If God had a conversation with you today and asked the question:
"What is in your hand and what are you doing with it"?

What will your answer be?

Will it be "A Shepherd's staff" or will you say, a skill, ability and gift at your disposal Lord, for the advancement of your kingdom?

I encourage you all to submit your gifts, talents, skills and abilities to God. Lay them down at the master's feet, watch them come alive, thrive and show someone the way to eternal life!

I beseech you to actively work on and develop them into a powerful tools. Use them to display the true nature of God, thus, helping the advancement of His kingdom; whilst making Him famous along your way.

Much Love
Remi
***pictures by photobucket***

THE CENTURION SERVANT

Now a centurion had a bond servant who was
held in honor and highly valued by him, who was sick
and at the point of death. And when the centurion
heard of Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to Him,
requesting Him to come and make his bond
servant well. And when they reached Jesus,
they begged Him earnestly, saying, He is worthy
that You should do this for him, For he loves our
nation and he built us our synagogue [at his own expense].
Luke 7: 3-5

This passage of scripture is about the story of when Jesus went into the city of Capernaum, which is by Galilee. At that time, there was a certain centurion who had a 'favourite servant' who was sick and at the point of death. When the centurion heard that Jesus was in the city, he called some Jewish elders and sent them to seek Jesus, asking them to tell Him (Jesus) to come and heal his bond servant. When the Jewish elders sought out Jesus and found Him, they 'begged' Him earnestly to come and heal the centurion’s servant. The basis of their plea was that the ‘centurion is a worthy and good man, so much that he even build them a synagogue in their city, with his own money’.

Before I go any further and to help us understand the angle of this post, let me explain the meaning of a few key words.

• Centurion: Roman officer in command of hundred men
• Bond Servant: a person who serves in bondage; slave
• Favourite: someone something regarded with special favor or liking
• Begged: to ask humbly, begging for help
• Earnestly: serious in intention, purpose, or effort
• Worthy: having adequate or great merit, character
• Good: morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious: a good man
  

When most of us hear or are taught the story of the Centurion, we are taught from the angle of the great faith the centurion showed in verse 7 -9 of the same chapter, where he tells Jesus not to physically come to the his house, but to send His healing word and command, that it was sufficient enough to heal the sick servant.

However, I want to bring this passage to you from a different angle. Sometime last week, I was listening to the audio Bible (God bless the makers), whilst on the treadmill (yes, I am still fitness crazy) to this passage, God gave me new understanding. I played the whole chapter back about 10 times, if not more, and God revealed to me another dimension of this passage.

The Holy Spirit started teaching me with a series of questions which went like this - “why would a centurion, who was in charge of 100 men, pick out this particular servant? After all he was a Bond servant, a slave? Why did he love the servant so much that he was moved to the point of finding a cure for him. He was moved to seek help from the Jewish elders (highly respectable men of the city, who were then moved to favour him), and SEND THEM on an errand. He sent them to go and find Jesus and for them to bring Jesus back to his house to heal the servant”?

I was taught this: For the centurion to love his bond servant this much, the servant must have been very diligent in all that he did. He must have worked in excellence and integrity, which must have been only through the spirit of humility, for we must not forget he was slave. He must have been a trust worthy and good man, for the master to set him apart from the other men (99 others), This reminds me of Joseph, who was still diligent in using his gifts, even when he was in prison - Genesis 40: 1- 20.

Question for us all: Can your good works and your living set you apart from others in your time of need? Can your boss, your parents, your friends, your elders, or the ones in charge of you, see you in your time of need and be moved to compassion to want to go the extra mile to help you. Selah…

The lessons, however, did not end there, for another series of questions ensued … “Why did the Jewish elders take time to listen to the centurion, and why did he (the centurion) find favour in their sight? They did not only listen, but they obeyed. They WENT and sought out Jesus, and the Bible says they’ begged’ Jesus to come to the centurion’s aid.”

I was taught this: The centurion’s good work and living and his love for all things God brought him favour before the Jewish elders and before Jesus Christ.

The lesson from this passage is not complete without understanding how the Jewish elders came about to come and seek Jesus.

For you see, if the bond servant had not been a good man, he would not have found favour with the centurion. If he had not found favour with the centurion, there would have been no need for the centurion to find favour from the Jewish elders. If the centurion had not need to find favour from the Jewish elders, they would have no need to seek out Jesus, and there would have beeb no opportunity for the centurion to exercise his faith (which encourges us all today). Ultimately, thre would have been no healing for the bond servant.

Needless to say, at this point in time, I realised that I was peddling furiously on the cross trainer, mouth open and heart racing (must have been a confusing and shocking sight to the fellow gymers!)

My charge to everyone (myself included), is that in the name of Jesus Christ that, whatever we find yourself doing, we should make a decision to 'DO IT WELL'. Do it with all your mind, might, spirit and soul. Do it is as unto the Lord as we are taught in Colossians 3:23-24 which reads “Servants, do what you're told by your earthly masters. And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work”. We do not know how, what and whom God will use to promote us to the next level, or bring to our aid in our time of need; which will surely come.

Thus, as you commence a new week, as you live out the intricacies of every second, minute, hour, day of this week, I encourage you to work in the spirit of excellence, deligence and of integrity.

I encourage you to work with a good and pure heart, clothed with humility and in so doing, by God’s grace and power, imitating the wonderful saviour, master Jesus; making the excellent God famous along your way.

Much Love

Remi

***Picture by photobucket***

Not Falling, BUT Growing In Love...

And may the Lord make your love for one another

and for all people grow and overflow, just as

our love for you overflows.

1 Thessalonians 3:12 (NLT)

From the verse above it is evident that we are expected to GROW and overflow in LOVE for one another.

To Grow means to: increase gradually in size, amount, become greater or larger or expand

To fall means to: drop or descend under the force of gravity, as to a lower place through loss or lack of support. It also means to be deceived by, such as being falling for an old trick.

Growing in love with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, appointed someone is a conscious and determined process. God determined He loved us and thus, gave us His only son, Jesus Christ.

Paul also encourage us to stir up our love for one another as written in Hebrews 24:10, which reads "and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.." . To Stir up means to stir up means to rouse to action or incite, which can be viewed as the opposite of the meaning of falling.

Furthermore, our God IS love as confirmed in 1 John 4:8, and He is not a God that takes us to a lower place through loss or lack of support, when we grow in love with God, we arise Higher and deeper in Him.

When we grow in love, we grow in the understanding, meaning and nature of what Love is as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, which reads "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance".

So, here is me encouraging us all that as we start out a new week under God's grace, living a day a time in His will, to GROW gracefully in love towards one another; displaying the intricate nature and colours of God, who is the definition of love, whilst making Him famous along our way.

PS... Congratulations to Danny Bagucci for winning the book"The Call".

There is still one free book to be won! "The invisible bond - breaking free from your sexual past"

Much Love

Remi

***pictures by lukeprog.com***

Relational Beings...

God created man as relational being. This is evident from when He created Adam as we read in Genesis 1:26-27, which reads "Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” 27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them".

Relationship is defined as a connection, association, or involvement.

Adam's first relationship was with God. He had a connection, an association and an involvement with God. However, I God wanted to increase the relational experience of man, so he created Eve. This we read in Genesis 2:18, which reads "Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

God does want us to have relationships; but the right ones and manage them adequately.

The pattern of forming or creating and managing relationships can be likened to that of the harvest, and the steps are: Conditioning the soil, sowing the seed, watering the seed, and then reaping a harvest.

For relationships, we can write the pattern as including: Introduction, Acquaintance, Friendship and Intimacy.

In relationships, at the beginning we condition our hearts (soil) through introduction to an individual, then we get acquainted (sowing he seed) by getting to know them. When we like what we see and perceive, we then move further to work on the friendship (watering the seed) through spending time with the individual. When we are sure and affirmed and confident of the individual in areas such as their believes and maturity, we finally we move into intimacy(reaping a harvest), and this could mean marriage, or having the individual as a close friend.

In today's society, most are used to having everything in an instant. Fast cars, fast meals, fast life... and therefore fast relationships. With all this 'fastness' the relational management of most has become faulty, or none existent.

Most people seem to go from introduction to intimacy in a very short period of time, showing that they want the benefit of commitment without actually being committed to the relationship. For example, two people living together, is called involvement. However, two people married and living together, is called commitment.

Not all relationships in our lives should move on to the next level. some are meant to stay at Introduction, or Acquaintance level (pointing finger to self at this point!). It is the fact of life that there will be some people, who will be closer to us than others.

We can learn more about relational management from the life of Jesus Christ.

Jesus had a special relationship with twelve men, His disciples, as we read in Matthew 10:2-4. However, amongst those twelve men, Jesus had a special relationship with three of them - Peter, James and John. This we are affirmed when he took them up a mountain to be alone. This we read in Mathew 17:1, which reads "Six days later Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone". Within those three men, Jesus had an even closer relationship with one of them, John.

Jesus also had relationship with other people that He managed. He had relationships with the Pharisees, He even had dinner with them. He also had relationships with His family and the people He ministered to along His way. It seemed that throughout His life, Jesus managed the people around Him, relationally, seamlessly.

To us all, the question is "How are we doing with the relationships in our lives?"

What if I have someone occupying the wrong space, relationship wise, in my life, what do I do? I hear you ask. Well we could do the following:

• Retrain: This means to review, re-asses and re-instate the nature form and shape of the relationship. It means that we could try to re-invest into the individual by putting more effort into the relationship to build it, for example spending more time with them or getting involved more in their life, and them ours, in the hope of experiencing growth.



• Reposition: This means that we reposition the space the this person takes in our lives. For example, if we have someone at the intimacy level, and we know they are not meant to be there, we must re-asses the relationship and move them to the right level within our lives, or if need be retire the relationship completely. This however, is not an easy thing to do because with relationships comes expectations. When expectations are not met, problems will most definitely ensue, but we must manage them all the same.



• Retire: if the two above does not work, then it might be safe to part ways, amicably.

What is the nature, shape and form of the relationships in your life? Do you need to retrain, move or retire a few of them?

For relationships to work, they must occupy the right space, and managed so that the right investment (time and resource) is spent on them, therefore providing and yielding the right reward (harvest) to both parties, all for God's glory.

Have a great time being the all relational being that God created you to be, making Him famous along your way.

Much Love

Remi

***Picture by glimbo.com***

...And Then He Is Risen!!!

"But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from

the dead, why are some of you saying there will be

no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no

resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been

raised either. And if Christ has not been raised,

then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless".

1 Corinthians 15:12-14

But as we know and believe, Jesus Christ died, and on the third day, He rose from death, to live forevermore, as he declares in Revelation 1:18, which reads “I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave" Hallelujah!

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. It proves the truthfulness of the Word of God, that was spoken by the Prophets of old. It proves his deity as the son of God and proves the completion of the salvation of God.

For us to be justified before God, we MUST receive eternal life. This is the only way. Thus, if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, He will not be alive today, to give us eternal life. However, praise be to the powerful Almighty God, He did rise as declared in John 11:25, which reads “Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.” ...And because he has risen, we have ETERNAL LIFE!!

If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, the gospel of the Holy Spirit will not be alive, and with us today. If there is no Holy Spirit, then there is no church. The gift and presence of the Holy Spirit is dependant on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which Jesus also acknowledges in John 16:7, which reads “But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.”

Finally, if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, he will not be seated at the right hand of the Father INTERCEDING (pleading) for us, as explained in Romans 8: 31 – 34, which reads "31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us".

The scriptures says it all.

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Christian life is GUARANTEED

as explained in Romans 6:4, which reads:

"For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism.

And just as Christ was raised from the dead by

the glorious power of the Father,

now we also may live new lives".

There is nothing to add or take away from these. Jesus Christ lived and died to save humanity, to give us back dominion (after the fall of man, in the garden of Eden) and ultimately, to reconcile us back to God. Simply beautiful...

Dear Lord, to say 'thank you' can never be remotely close enough, to express my gratitude for changing my pathway from hell to heaven, through the awesome power of your resurrection.

I pray that you help us all, by your grace to understand and live out the ramifications of your resurrection, all for your glory.

And I leave you with this...

"And the Ever-living One

[I am living in the eternity of the eternities].

I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and

I possess the keys of death

and Hades (the realm of the dead)".

Revelation 1:18

For that verse alone, we should NEVER be afraid of anything that comes our way. Jesus Christ has the keys, means we have dominion- OVER EVERYTHING. Praise God.

Have a Happy and wonderful Easter celebrating the awesomeness of the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and what it means for all humanity.

Much love

Remi Banjo

***Pictures by photobucket***

THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

He came
He lived

He died
For you and me

He changed our paths from hell

Bought us a one way ticket to heaven

To reign and dwell with Him for eternity

In His mighty haven

Today, many years ago, God gave the ultimate gift, He scarified His one and only Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He was killed for the elevation of you and I, as confirmed in 1 John 4: 9 - 10, which reads "9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins".

This sacrifice epic's the meaning of LOVE AND IT'S WORTH. It writes a story of "A love that surpasses all understanding" as further explained in John 3:16, which reads "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"

The death of Jesus Christ, on this very day, inverted our pathway to Hell, it changed our course from eternal death to eternal life. It changed our course to heaven.

Today, wonderful Lord, I thank you for the ramifications of what you did today, for me, so many years ago. I thank you that because of your love for me and the sacrifice of your one and only son, by your grace, I am heaven bound, to reign with you for eternity. Hallelujah!

I thank you Papa that you find me worthy (even in my dysfunctional state) of an awesome sacrifice. Words cannot express my gratitude and the word 'thank you' is not even close enough, to sum up my appreciation for today.

However, in my attempt to show gratitude, from the depths of my heart and soul, and with every fibre of my being, I say a BIG THANK YOU LORD, for the beautiful gift that you gave me today. The gift of Jesus Christ.

I do not take this for granted. You died for me, and so I live for you. I live to praise you, love you and by your grace walk steadfastly in your will, declaring your awesomeness, your glory and never-ending love; making you ever so famous along my way.

Thank you Jesus for everything.

How about you? How do you feel about the glorious gift of today?

Much Love

Remi Banjo

***Pictures by Photobucket***

Introduce Him...

Someone introduced me
to a man, who is not a man
who resides within the heavens
yet, His presence is evident all around

Someone told me...
my realities and dreams
Can be realised if I reached out
and invited Him in, embracing the reality
and essence of who He is.

I called out His name,
pleaded to Him to show me His ways
my life He changed,
never to be the same again

and so..
I told someone about
this man's greatness,
His love, His comfort and kindness
His never ending mercies and faithfulness

I told someone about Jesus
the saviour of all who seek Him
the giver of peace and calm within
The God and ruler of everything
Copyright © Remi Banjo, Revised March 2008


2 Corinthians 4:5 reads "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake."

Someone, somewhere is waiting for that very introduction that will lead them into the waiting arms of the father.

Have a wonderful day, introducing at least one person to the wonderful saviour, Jesus Christ.

Much Love
Remi Banjo