STRETCH OUT...

"...and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."

He stretched it out, and his hand was restored"

Mathew 3:5

This passage is from the story of the miracle of Jesus, the healing of a man with a withered hand on a Sabbath day. Jesus asked the man to arise and stand in full view of everyone and then commanded him to stretch forth his hands in doing so, he was healed.

• For something to be withered it means it has become shrunken, or dry incapable of action. when something becomes shrunken, it means it is filled with wrinkles, and appears to be shriveled as in shrinking.

• To stretch means to draw out or extend to the full length or to be expanded to a larger size.

A woman cannot carry a baby to full term without 'stretching out'. It is hard for us to live out the realities of God's promises and our desires and dreams if we don't 'stretch out' in obedience, working diligently doing the Father's will.

As you start a new week, 'stretch out' unravelling shrunken dreams, aspirations and promises gifted to you by the Father. 'stretch forward', beyond your present limitations, from where you are to where you ought to be. 'Stretch out' removing all the wrinkles that cover your potential to attain.

I encourage you to 'stretch out' in action, faith, diligence, perseverance, excellence and in belief that, whilst you are faithful working on the dreams God has given you, He is always faithful to perfect everything concerning you.

'Stretch out' in faith, peace and love, expanding in victory on all sides; whilst making God famous along your way.

Much Love

Remi

**pictures by photobucket**

The Richest Place....

Small beads of sweat was starting to form just above his brows. Henry wiped it off with the back of his glove covered hands. It had been a long day on the grounds today he thought. Henry, the grounds caretaker was carefully tending to the flowers and trees around various plots in the vast compound. He was a diligent worker and did his best to make sure the compound always looked neat and presentable.

He heard a car drive through the gates of the compound. He turned to his left, and peered through the hat he wore to shield his face from the afternoon's sun. He saw a group of people emerge from the car and another one behind. They walked towards a plot, at the far east side of the compound. A voice started to sing a sweet but solemn song. This was followed by quiet tears and sniffles. Then he saw the box, it was being lifted out of a long car. A box like so many others that got delivered. Henry sighed and looked away, his heart heavy. To the ground’s latest residence, he whispered a prayer and said...

“Welcome to your body's final resting place, the richest place on earth. Welcome to the place that holds within its grip untouched, unrefined, unadulterated and unused treasures; treasures more precious than silver and gold.”
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If I asked the question “Where is the richest place on earth?” What would your answer be? Would it be “The bank, the stock market or the sultan’s palace and empire”?

What do you think my answer would be? It would be something like this “The richest place on earth is the grounds of any Cemetery or graveyard. The place where the body eventually ends up when the spirit and soul departs from it”. What? I hear you ask.

Well, let your mind wander for a minute or two, and think about it. We could say the grave is the richest place on earth because it holds within its grasps, treasures that were never realised, unwrapped or utilised. It holds and keeps treasures more costly, beautiful and meaningful than silver, gold or diamonds. The Graveyard is a place that is full of man's potential that remained unfulfilled.

Imagine a soul, on arriving at heavens gate, realises that he/she could have been the greatest singer, writer, presenter, accountant, businessman/woman ever. That if they had realised their potential they could have done so much for the kingdom of God and for mankind. Now imagine that... !!! I don't know about you, but I don't ever want to be a soul in that situation!

In the gym this morning (yes, it does sound like I sleep in that place), puffing away on the StairMaster, hoping not to pass out and fall flat on my face, I was watching and listening to music on the attached TV screen. Brittany Spears came on and she was singing a song titled “circus”. The opening line to the song goes as thus “There are two types of people in life, the ones who entertain and the ones that observe”. That got me thinking.

I thought, really, we could say there are two types of people in life;

• those that make things happen, that work and walk diligently in God's will for their lives, persevering and trudging through every obstacle; and
• those that sit on the sidelines, watching other people make life happen because they are comfortable and content where they are, how far they have come and with what hand life has "supposedly dealt them".

At this point, I must ask; which type are we?

Are we making things happen, or are we in on the sidelines of content and comfortable? Are we in the middle of God’s will, doing our part to bring his will into manifestation, causing a ripple effect to our immediate environment, beyond and for generations to come? Or are we simply a spectator on the sidelines watching the procession of life waltz by?.


God never created us to be on the sidelines looking in. We were never created to be content and comfortable with where we are. God are meant to keep pressing forward, using our talents, abilities and skills to become a better you and a better me.

We were never made to be 'average' or embrace the reality of 'this will just about do', or 'I have got as far as I can go'. To do means we imprison ourselves within walls of limitations and limiting God's work in our lives.

A way to step out of the sidelines, away from the trap of 'comfortable and content', is by realising and embracing the talents, abilities and skills that God has placed within us and using them for his glory.

Matthew 25:14-30 teaches us about the parable of talents. (please read the whole chapter for completion). Jesus tells a story about a man who gives money (talent) to three individuals to keep, whilst he went away on a business trip. Each man used his money (talent) in different ways. Two invested and one hid his talent.

From the passage, we learn that each man was given a talent. It is safe to say at this point that God has given every single human being a talent, a gift. Each and every one of us have something to offer, be it big or small.

Imagine that it is a loved one’s birthday and you spend days, or even weeks, looking for the perfect gift. You finally find it, buy it and present it to that person, only to find that they don’t appreciate your gift. They take it from you, but in an instant toss it into the far corner of their room, forgotten, never to be seen, opened or used. Imagine how bad we would feel...

I sometimes wonder if God must feel the same way when we neglect or simply ignore the different talents and abilities he has deposited within us as explained in Ephesians 4:11, which reads "And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers."

Our talents, abilities or skills are meant to help us live out the reality of God's will and in so doing, cause a ripple effect and impact in our environment, generation and those to come. They are meant to help the world see the glory of God, therefore guiding back to him.

Also, we benefit from using our gifts, abilities or skills because the Bi-product, as I like to call them, are blessings such as wealth, health, wisdom, fulfilment, increase and expansion in all areas of our life; which by the way are meant to be used to bless others.

The decision or choice to realise, develop and use the gifts, abilities and much more that God has blessed us with, is ours to make. We can:

• Discover, develop and deploy (use) them for God's glory by actively working on and with it.
• We can discover, develop and deploy(use) them for our own self gain and greed; which is in tune with today's "me" society; or
• we can choose to ignore them totally, and live a life that is quite the opposite of God's will, thereby making the graveyards even more richer than it really needs to be.

Whatever we do, we must do our best not to take the gifts, skills and abilities we have been given to the grave, untapped, unrealised, unused and unopened.

So, do you know what talent or skills God has blessed you with? If you do, thank him for the wonderful gift; pray for wisdom, understanding and insight on how to develop and deploy them. Make a decision to work on and with them, for God's glory and in so doing, watch him take you places beyond your wildest dreams!

Are you unsure or don't know what talent and abilities you have? Firstly, be assured that you do have some, you just don't know what they are yet. Ask God for wisdom; ask him to reveal them to you. He will not rebuke you for asking, as we are taught in James 1:5 which reads "If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking." Once they have been discovered, one step at a time, start developing and deploying them and in so doing making room for God to steer you firmly and purposely in his will, making him famous along your way.

Much Love

Remi Banjo

***Pictures by Photobucket***

NO LIMITATIONS...

I swam away from the wall
I swam away from the wall
I swam away from the wall!!!

What is she on about you must be thinking?
Well, about a week and a half ago, I decided to learn how to swim!
Ah! Yes, I decided to make my peace with the water!

Now, this was not an easy decision for me to make, because I am absolutely terrified of water, due to an almost disastrous childhood incident. So you can imagine my anxiety. And finally, after four lessons, I managed to edge away from the wall, bearing in mind that up until now, the picture has been - 'wearing a float around my mid-section, wearing swimming flippers, holding 2 floats out in front, and somehow managing to hang onto the swimming pool side wall, for dear life.' Yes, the utter shame of it all!!!

During the month of July, I attended a week long conference at my sanctuary, and one of the messages was about "living a life with no limitations". The speaker explained that most of us place some sort of restrictions, limitations on ourselves and within our hemisphere. These limitations can be in various forms and shapes and sizes, but tends to affect all aspects of our lives - spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. It affects us at work or at play.

The message made me think about all areas of my life where I might have placed limitations knowingly or otherwise. Well needless to say, there were a few barriers firmly lodged in place that needs to be lifted pronto, and one of them being swimming.

So, I made a list of all my self imposed limitations, the actions I need to take to lift them and timeliness. Yes, we must pray about them too, but physically doing what we have prayed for, is also required to bring about deliverance and breakthrough. It's like the story of the lepers that Jesus healed. They did not get healed when he spoke to them, but they got healed when they were engaged in the activity of going to (walking - doing something) show themselves to the priests. Luke 17: 11 - 14 11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12 As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, 13 crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”[a] And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

At this point, I must ask; what barriers or limitations have you placed knowingly or unknowingly on yourself, in your life? Think about it, make a list, pray about it and write an action plan and go forth and conquer!

The dictionary explains Limitation as thus: "a restriction; a qualification; a restraining condition, defining circumstance, or qualifying conception; as, limitations of thought"

Further more, Restriction, or Restricting is defined as "the act of keeping something within specified bounds (by force if necessary); "the restriction of the infection to a focal area"

From the above definitions, it is safe to say that when we place limitations on ourselves, we are basically keeping ourselves confined or contained- our abilities, thinking, learning, growth and much more. This being the total opposite of what God wants for us and who God created us to be.

I truly believe God does not want us to live a limited life and embrace the "I can't do attitude or thinking" . This is very much evident, from the beginning of time. Lets go back to where it all began, Genesis.

Genesis 1:28 reads Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” Now if that is unlimited living, I don't know what else.

Here we see God commanding us to live freely. No where did he imply that "we should be fruitful or multiply to a point, or fill only the left or right side of the earth, or just reign over the fish, don't go near the animals on the land, that will be too much for you! Ah! No!

He gave this powerful and complete command in its fullness and it's entirely - no restrictions, no limitations; and after the fall of man, master Jesus Christ, came and reconciled us back to the father, so we still have that command working for us today.

So, yes, I swam away from the wall. I'm quite excited, it's a little step, but I'm trying to put the "no limitation" principle into practise, in all areas of my life. How about you, do you need to implement the 'no limitation' rule to certain areas in your life? Does a "can do" mindset" need to take hold, changing your vocabulary from "I can't" to "I can by God's grace"?

I believe a life of no limitations, means we are empowered to reach out, embrace and experience a rich and fulfilled life, according to God's will and purpose; making him even more attractive to those around us, and therefore drawing men unto him.

Have a great day of breaking free from all forms of limitations - spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally; whilst making the Almighty God famous along the way.


Much love
Remi Banjo
***pictures by photobucket***