Isaac Boluwatise

“The heart of her husband safely trusts her” – Proverbs 31:11 NKJV

The poet wrote, ‘Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn’t love, till you give it away.’ We can be rejected by many, as long as we can come home and be loved by one. At times life will beat you down, so make your home a sanctuary. Here’s a story to help you do that.
He’d finally decided to ask his employer for a pay rise. Before leaving for work he told his wife about it. All day long she felt apprehensive. Finally, late in the afternoon he summoned the courage to approach his boss. To his delight he got the pay rise. Elated, he arrived home to a beautiful table set with their best china and lighted candles. Smelling the aroma of a specially prepared meal, he guessed that somebody from the office had called his wife and tipped her off. Finding her in the kitchen he shared the good news. They embraced before sitting down to a wonderful meal. Next to his plate he found a note that read, ‘Congratulations! I knew you’d get the pay rise. This dinner is to show how much I love you.’ Later, on his way to the kitchen to help his wife serve dessert, he noticed a second card that had fallen from her pocket. Picking it up off the floor he read, ‘Don’t worry about not getting the pay rise. You deserve it anyway. This dinner is to show you how much I love you.’ Acceptance! Love! She stood behind him no matter what – softening the blows, healing the wounds, believing in him. So the word for you today is – support your spouse!

A newspaper carried the story of a woman who fell asleep behind the wheel and plunged her car through a safety rail on the motorway. It dangled precariously, 60 feet in the air. Motorists stopped, grabbed ropes, tied them to the back of the woman’s car and hung on till the emergency units arrived. A ladder was extended from below to help stabilise the car while fire-fighters chained the vehicle to tow trucks. Every time her car moved she screamed. It took over two hours for passers-by, the motorway patrol, tow-truck drivers and fire-fighters – about 25 people in all – to pull her to safety. The fire captain at the scene said later, ‘It was funny. She kept shouting, “I’ll do it myself!”” Are you like that? If you want to enjoy God’s best, reach for others!

Put aside procrastination and excuses for doing nothing at all.
There is a famous compound interest story about the Emperor of China who offered the inventor of the game of chess one wish. The inventor replied that he wanted one grain of rice on square one of the chessboard, two grains on the second square, four on the third and so on through square sixty-four. The unsuspecting emperor agreed to the seemingly humble request. Yet, two raised to the sixty-fourth power is eighteen million trillion grains of rice, more than all the rice in China! Do you think your actions might only be a tiny drop in your bucket? Have you ever placed a bucket under a dripping tap overnight?

Become God’s Friend (4)

“I have called you friends” – John 15:15 NKJV

Another step in developing your friendship with God is choosing to be honest with Him! God doesn’t expect you to be perfect, but He does expect you to be honest. If perfection was a requirement not one of us would qualify. In the Bible, God’s friends were honest about their feelings – sometimes even complaining and arguing with Him – yet He didn’t seem to mind. In fact, He encouraged it. God listened patiently to David’s accusations of unfairness, betrayal and abandonment. He didn’t zap Jeremiah for claiming God had tricked him. Job was allowed to vent his bitterness and God actually defended him for being honest. On the other hand, He rebuked Job’s friends for faking it: ‘… “You haven’t been honest either with me or about me – not the way my friend Job has… My friend Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer”‘ (Job 42:7 TM). To be God’s friend you must share your true feelings with Him, not what you think you ought to feel or say. Until you understand that God uses everything for good in our lives, you’ll harbour resentment towards Him over your looks, your nationality, your economic background, your unanswered prayers, your past hurts, and the things you’d change if you were God. Actually, revealing your feelings and releasing your resentments to Him are the first steps to becoming spiritually whole. Isn’t it encouraging to know that God’s closest friends felt just like we do, but instead of masking their feelings in pious clichés they voiced them openly? Why? Because expressing them leads to healing and a deeper level of intimacy with Him.

The Word for Today and scripture citations are copyright.

Become God’s Friend

“I have called you friends” – John 15:15 NKJV

Friendship with God is maintained and strengthened through continual meditation. It’s impossible to be God’s friend apart from knowing what He says. You can’t love God unless you know Him, and that’s only possible through the Bible. ‘… He revealed himself to Samuel through his word’ (1 Samuel 3:21 NIV). Now you can’t spend all day studying the Bible, but you can think about it throughout the day, recalling verses you’ve read, mulling over them in your mind. Meditation isn’t some mysterious ritual, it’s simply focused thinking – a skill anybody can learn. When you think about a problem over and over, that’s called worry. When you think about God’s Word over and over, that’s called meditation. If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. Just switch your attention from the problem to the solution! The more you meditate on God’s Word the less you’ll have to worry about. The more time you spend meditating on the Scriptures the more you’ll understand their secrets. The Psalmist said, ‘The Friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant’ (Psalm 25:14 ESV). After Jesus told His disciples, ‘… “I have called you friends”… ‘, He went on to say, ‘… “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you”‘ (John 15:16 NKJV). The benefits of friendship with God include abundant living and answered prayer. So if you want to become God’s friend, read, digest and meditate in His Word.

The Word for Today and scripture citations are copyright.