Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Man and The Shirt

A man was ironing his shirt when the shirt spoke up:

Shirt: Sir, why are you trying to burn me up?

Man: No, I’m only removing the wrinkles from you

Shirt: But the heat is too much, it will soon burn me

Man: That’s not possible

Shirt: Why are you so sure?

Man: Because before I began, I looked at your label and noticed the right heat for you. I do not intend to exceed that temperature

(Author unknown)

1 Corinthians 10:13 – No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it. (The Message Translation)

Peeps, promotion in every area of life usually comes after examination. God follows the same principle. The first thing that happened to Jesus Christ after God proclaimed Him as His Son was temptation (examination) by the devil!

Let’s rest in this assurance: Your maker knows you more than you know yourself and will NEVER allow anything that is stronger than you to destroy you.

(This write-up was culled from the book “Watch Out World, I’m coming Out” – A collection of short inspiring Christian messages by Mike Kalu Ogba…. Send him a mail at michael.ogbaa@gtbank.com if you want a copy.)

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Some mind programming isshh

I woke up thinking these thoughts and since I’m one who believes that nothing happens by chance, I was sure these thoughts were an answer to someone’s questions and so I have decided to share.

Here goes…...

Your mindset will determine what you believe and what you believe will determine the quality of life you live.

Your mindset is how you’ve been programmed… Knowingly or unknowingly we are programmed everyday by the things we expose ourselves to… TV, music, books.. e.t.c

Someone sits somewhere in their studio, house, out in the garden or wherever the inspiration came and scribbles down a couple of words probably from their experience and make it into a song. I hear this song and all of a sudden it becomes the template of what my life should be. I nod to it because it probably tells the story of what my life is at the moment. There I sit, being programmed.

I'm watching a movie/TV series (Grey’s anatomy don scatter my head, kai kai kai *giggles*), this is the handwork of some great script writer, but, here I am matching the scenes to my life and trying to connect the results on screen to what I’m experiencing at the moment. That’s some programming issh going on... again.

Every day we wake up there are a thousand and one things fighting for our attention, its either the internet, TV, work… there’s just something there that requires our time… but there’s ever this little something that also wants our attention… it’s the Bible.

The Bible... the blueprint of life. Our maker, the creator of the universe, the reason we are all here in the first place (the one who can answer #IsThatWhyWeAreHere), did not leave us without guidelines, he gave us an instruction manual…

But, how often do we stay around the bible to get programmed by it, to have our mindsets formed by the content?

In this manual are guidelines on how to live an effective life…

- For when you’ve got no money in your pocket Psalm 23 reminds you that “the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want… he makes me lie down in green pastures

- For when you can’t seem to understand that course in school he says in John 14:26 “the HolySpirit will teach you all things” and you’ll know more than your teachers”

- For when you are ill he says in 1 Peter 2:21-24 “by his stripes you were healed”

- For when you keep doing wrong he says in Romans 6:14 “Sin shall not have dominion over you” and in 1 John 1:9 “he is faithful and just to forgive you”

- For when you need a business idea he says in Proverbs 8:12 “you’ll have knowledge of witty inventions”

- For when you start up a business and you require contacts he says in Psalm 37:23 “your steps are ordered of God” he’ll lead you to be in the right place and at the right time to meet the right people

Wouldn’t you rather be programmed by this?