John ESENE

Please continue from Pt.2 of last week.

      The SUNRISE says, “The Sun never asks permission to rise, nor does it compete with yesterday’s sunset. It simply fulfils its assignment every new day. There is freedom in focusing on your purpose instead of comparing your journey with others. Today is a fresh page. Leave yesterday where it belongs and embrace the new mercies that this morning brings.”

     We must not forget that God who created us out of nothing and without our help mean well for us and watches over us every second of the day even when we forget to acknowledge or thank Him for His goodness. He loves us more than we love ourselves. That was why He sent His only Begotten Son to die for us to bring us salvation. What else do we want Him to do for us before we praise Him? The more we thank God, the more blessings we shall receive!

    In John 17:22-23 Jesus said, “I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as you and I are one:  I in them and you in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me” Loving God in return for His love for us will bring us everlasting healing and happiness always.  “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” Jer. 31:3 And Peter consoled us saying “Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares about you” 1Peter 5:7.

    You hardly thank God for what He has been doing for you, yet, you do not want others to thank Him. The man at the pool of Bethesda lived with his burden for 38 years when Jesus located and healed him in John 5:1-15.  Rather than rejoice and thank Jesus for lifting the burden off the man, the people around him blamed him for allowing Jesus to heal him on a Sabbath Day. Is that your character?

   You are expected to thank God not only for yourself but also for other people whom God has blessed to your notice. Unfortunately, most of us want God to bless us with many favours and boast of our wisdom for our achievements rather than that of God. If you have ever behaved like Jonah, then you too are Jonah. So repent today and thank God not only for yourself but for others who have received God’s favour in any way!

      “God saw what they did; He saw that they had given up their wicked behaviour. So He changed His mind and did not punish them as He had said He would. Jonah was very unhappy about this and became angry. So he prayed, ‘Lord, didn’t I say before I left home that this is just what you would do? That’s why I did my best to run away to Spain!” I knew that you are a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind, and always ready to change your mind and not punish. Now, Lord, let me die. I am better off dead than alive” The Lord answered, “What right have you to be angry?” Jonah 3:10, 4:1-2,4.

   Gal. 6:2 says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.” And Psalm 68:19 complements the above by saying, “Praise be to the Lord, to God our savour, who daily bears our burdens.”

      “God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom. By Him we are put right with God; we become God’s holy people and are set free. Therefore, as it is written, let him who boasts, boast of the Lord” 1 Cor. 1:28-31. Today, I boast of God who did not allow me to die (when I was shot by robbers) and 3 hospitals rejected me for the fear that I might die in their premises. Glory be to God forever!

     Job wondered aloud as he reflected on God’s relationship with man, “Why is man so important to you? Why pay attention to what he does? You inspect him every morning and test him every minute” Job 7:17-18. Anyone who recognizes God for His work, grace, love, kindness, mercy, compassion, etc. will never have cause to regret: he will be like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. “You have done many things for us, O Lord our God; there is no one like you! You have made many wonderful plans for us. I could never speak of them all-their number is so great!” Ps 40:5.

     Every human being has problem. And God waits eagerly for you to heal your wounds. So why worry endlessly? William Ward has said, “Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster and belief in defeat. Worry is a magnet that attracts negative conditions. Faith is a more powerful force that creates positive circumstances. Worry is wasting today’s time to chatter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles.”

    John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that anyone who believes in Him may not die but have eternal life.” When you think God does not care for you, when you think He cannot forgive you your sins, when your problems are driving you to hopelessness, go on reading Isaiah 43 meditatively and have a change of heart. Only then you will say, “God loves me more than any parent can love his/her child.”

     When Paul and Silas were imprisoned for preaching the gospel they decided to praise God. “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, which shook the prison to its foundations. At once all the doors opened, and the chains fell off all the prisoners” Acts 16:25-26.  Complain no more but praise God in all your situations.

   Dear readers, reflect on your past and come out with a list of what God has done for you and praise Him for His goodness to you. No one has ever cared for you as much as God does: not even your parents, siblings, friends, neighbours, and others. The poor, the rich, the sinners, the righteous, the sick and the healthy: God cares for them all.

   O Lord, your love is better than life. We brought nothing to this world and will go with nothing. Do not allow spiritual blindness to lead us away from your plan for us. Grant us the grace to appreciate and thank You for your goodness to us daily! Dear readers, sing with me, “With an everlasting love, you care for me O’ Lord, I will sing forever of your love!