Godliness vs Goodness & Holiness vs Happiness

At first glance you would think there is not much difference between godliness and goodness or holiness and happiness, but if you look deeper you will begin to see that one carries more weight than the other.

See the biggest difference between the words to me is that one is what God wants for us and the other is what we want for ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that God does not want us to be happy or have goodness in our lives. What I am saying is that He would rather have us holy because holiness is not attached to a thing or a person, it is attached to Him. Allow me to give you an example, think about what you would ask God for in order for you to be happy in accordance to you...Now tell me if that happiness is not attached to a thing or a person. Okay now think of something that you think you can ask God for that will bring goodness into your life... Is that goodness attached to a thing or a person? See the difference in what we want and what God wants for us is that what He wants for us is designed to strengthen, support and validate His existence in our lives, as opposed to the quick fixes we as humans want that are not robust in order to withstand obsolescence over an extended period of time. The reason why we don't always get what we ask for is because it is not in line with Gods perfect will for us.

God is more concerned with your holiness than your happiness, He wants to establish an intimate relationship so that even when things around you seem to be falling apart , you remain confident in that He is holy and He is devoted to complete the work He has started in you, provided you too are devoted to what you are set out to do. It is easy to remain holy when you are happy and things are going smoothly, but what happens when you are unhappy and are faced with disabling challenges? Will you conform to a quick fix or will you hold onto Gods word as it is a promise from Him to you? Not to scare you but imagine if God was easily moved and acted when He was in His feelings every time we did something that made Him unhappy... Luckily for us we serve a God who is loyal and follows through on His word. Think it is time we all take up the challenge and strive to be more like Him. 

A godly relationship is what God wants to have with you and I. He wants to show us that what we ask for at times is less than what He can give, because all He provides is according to His divine and perfect will. " Are you looking for great things  for yourself? Don't look for them because I'm going to bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord. But wherever you go I will let you escape with your life." ( Jer 45:5). Sometimes we ask God for things which we assume will be good for us, I challenge you to ask Him for wisdom as opposed to wealth because through your wisdom you will be equipped to produce wealth, ask Him to make you more holy as opposed to more happy, because through His holiness you will be happy, ask Him to influence you so that you can become more godly as opposed to good, because through your godliness others will see your goodness shine for His glory. Learn to ask God for things of the Kingdom and the things of the earth shall be added unto you.

Gods love for you has no limit, you were blood bought honey *POW WOW* 

Manage your mind

Forget finding yourself, find Jesus and allow Him to introduce you to the real you through His truth.

I've been through situations that have left me feeling gutted, basically hollowed me out, leaving me feeling empty. My mind would tell me to take time out to find myself and reinvent Pheladi. The thing I didn't like about "finding myself" was that I only identified with the negative perceptions people had of me and their actions towards me. So " finding myself" only intensified my feeling of being lost. It took away my freedom because my heart became set on all the wrong things. I began trying to fix what was "wrong" with me according to man, I grew tired of having to prove myself to anyone in order to gain approval or acceptance. There had to be more to life than being stuck in a cycle where I was enslaved by my own thoughts and the thoughts of others about me. Then it hit me, I actually hold the key to the chains that I willingly put on myself... I control my mind, I have the power to start a process in which will enable me to be free of all that is not of me, the real me. I just needed the correct guidance.

Gaining control of what I allowed myself to think about gave me a sense of peace, things that I once freely yielded to surely couldn't hold me captive unless I allowed them. An un-managed mind leads to unnecessary pressure. What I was believing about myself was not true, but because I wallowed so much in it I started believing it which resulted in me living it... a complete lie. But because my daddy loves me, He reminded me that who I THINK I am is not as important as who I BELIEVE Jesus is. He endured opposition from sinners so that I don't become tired and give up ( Heb 12:3). Yes I don't have the strength and stamina to free myself, but my hope is found in knowing the truth and that is found in Gods word. His word will discredit every single lie that has been plaguing your mind. " God didn't spare His own Son but handed Him over to death for all of us. So He will also give us everything along with Him" ( John 8:32)- Peace.Man the greatest wonder of all times is the love that was displayed on that cross at Calvary.

One has to be relentless in focusing their mind on God and His word on their lives, that will bring them freedom and the only way this can be achieved is through equipping their minds by reading His love story to us. You cannot find yourself by yourself, you didn't make you. God made you therefore He is the only one who can reveal your true identity to you. The truth truly does set you free, God sets you free. 


Let love lead, let God lead, His love for you is real. *POW WOW*

My covenance with God

I got reminded of how serious God takes His covenance with His children. How His promises never fail. How this blog is not just a blog, it is in fact an utterance of the truth, His truth in my life. With that said I would like to encourage you to continue in trusting in Him, if  you don't, begin to open up your heart and allow Him to not only tell you just how trust worthy He is, but to show you just how trust worthy He is.

Allow me to tell you just how God reminded me of just how " O,O,O" ( Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient) , He really is. I was driving back from a community meeting this past Sunday, when the car I was driving behind hit a stationary car which had also been involved in an accident. I basically had to go into the lane with the on-coming traffic to avoid more wreckage. I landed on the gravel to the side of the road, mind you I was on a national road so I was not exactly driving 60km/h. I know it all happened very fast,but in my head everything was happening in slow motion.When all the dust settled I realised what a mess it was on the road, to my surprised nothing happened to the car I was driving and I was hundreds. Can I just mention which song had been playing, wait for it, wait for it.... " You hold me now", by Hillsong United. Man I wept like a baby, my God is OMNIPRESENT! See back in 2012 I was involved in a fatal car accident, the physical healing was the easy part, it was the emotional healing that was the big problem. I distinctly remember asking God to protect me from  ever experiencing what I had experienced.  Four years later I can testify that He answered my prayer. Man it feels so good knowing that a prayer request doesn't have an expiry date. My God holds me now and forever.

It is so amazing to know that God never takes a day off, a lunch break or any other break for that matter. He is everywhere, knows everything and has never-ending power. I am in complete awe of such a magnificent God and I get to call Him my father, my friend, my king, my protector and my provider. Knowing that He is ALWAYS involved in my life is the most secure feeling I have ever experienced in my life and wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING in this world. God promises us that His plan for us is not to harm us but to prosper us, ( Read Jer 29:11). In whatever situation you are in you need to silence the noise and listen to what God is saying you must do in that situation, ( Jer 29:4-9). The Lord encourages the people of Jerusalem who were held captive to continue living normally under abnormal circumstances. He encourages them to prosper and not allow what the enemy brings onto them rattle them, they must just keep focus on Him because He is the truth, the way and the life. Let us be encouraged in that as long as we whole heartedly seek the Lord, we will find Him, " When you look for me, you will find me", ( Jer 29:13). I found Him when I looked to Him for divine protection. 

Prayer truly does allow God to work in our lives, be steadfast in your praying, He hears you and He does answer you.

Gods love for you is infinite. *POW WOW*

In Partnership with Elohim

As a person with really bad balance,I learnt during my gym sessions that I needed to develop a method that was going to keep me steady while I lunged.What I found worked perfectly for me, was staying focused on a stationary object as I did my lunges. That way I would be able to walk in a straight line and not look like a dud falling all over the place.

Call me crazy but this got me  thinking about my relationship with God, I came to a very big realisation( This walk with Christ is truly an adventure, you are bound to discover something new at every corner you take). Anyhow as I was saying... I realised that lately the noises had become a little louder, the waves had become more violent and I had become helluva uneasy when it came to certain things in my life. The reason for all of this was because my focus was placed on everything happening around me as opposed to God. I had lost my balance because I had lost sight of my focal point by concentrating on matters that were not of Kingdom business, Oh, oh! All the emotions that I allowed to take over me and the challenges began tossing me around and I was beginning to get " motion sickness". All the stress had taken away the peace I had come to know.

I now know that I have to constantly remind myself when things get shakey of who God is to me. He is the Great I am, He is the creator of all things, the anchor of our souls ( Hebr 6:9), everything becomes alive in our lives through Him. We need to keep our focus on He who is stationary in our lives, He who will bring balance to our lives, He who will keep us steady, that when the waves come, they will merely wash over us. " You rule the raging sea, when its waves rise, you quieten them." ( Psalm 89:9).  Your peace is found in Him, do  not let the circumstances in your life make you lose your bearings, your peace is found in a relationship with Him. You are partners with Jesus Christ ( 1 Cor 1:30), you are not alone, even if you may mess up, He is saying He will get you out of the mess. All you have to do is keep your eyes on Him and trust in His ability. I am not sure if you have noticed that I used the word "Him" a lot here, I did it purposefully because I want you to realise that once you shift focus from "me, me, me" and , make it about " Him, Him, Him" something magnificent happens, as you seek more of Him your worries begin to drown in His unfailing love as He begins to bring peace into your life through His word and works. Trust goes a long way, with no trust there will be no partnership.

 

Honey you were blood bought, you are now part of Christs team, do not let things or people distract you, keep Him  the center of all in your life. 

You are a part of a wisdom filled team, not only are you winning, you are LOVED. *POW WOW* 

Get eggshited about love this Easter

I don’t think that there is anyone who can talk about God and not mention or think of the word “love”, He is the epitome of what true love is. I actually think that when we look up the meaning of love in the dictionary it should just say: GOD.  With the Easter weekend coming up it only made sense to me to go deeper in the way in which He loves us.

Would it sound crazy if I told you that  at 27  going on 28, I can honestly say that I have never experienced true romantic love, now this is not because have never dated or opened myself to it. It’s simply because I was too quick in giving my heart to boys ( a man would have know what to do with it and what not to do with it). I did this because I convinced myself that the intense feelings I had towards them was love. This led into believing that they too loved me, but I had it all twisted. Being emotionally manipulated is not love, being shoved is not love, being used and not of use is not love, being cheated on is not love, having to put up with their exes is not love, being ignored is not love, being afraid to say what is on your mind with the fear of them walking away is not love, being placed second to their friends is not love, I could go on and on about all the things love is not, but that is not the point of this message. Love is from God so it is deep and amazing, not shallow and destructive.  Having dealt with what I call an” oopsy” that left me slightly wounded recently, God spoke to my heart and told me that I need to understand what love is all about so that I do not fall for phonies anymore.  I need to know what love is so that I know what I can do for love and what He says I can expect from a man who has also experienced His love. I now see that I am meant to give my heart to a person who is also after Gods heart so that they know how to take care of mine.  Through reading Song of Songs 1 (I urge you to do the same, your mind will be blown away), I learnt that love needs to be both in actions and words. True love doesn’t hold back, your heart wants to tell the universe when you are in love.  Taking a peek back at my failed relationships I see I was not mature enough to be in love. Like the woman in Song of Songs 1, I felt strong emotions towards the guys I was seeing, I was excited by the thought of him, but at the same time I had serious insecurity issues, these drove me to compromise myself – an independent, opinionated,  driven woman, to a “yes” woman, all of this just so I didn’t emasculate them. Now I see why I was frustrated most of the time, boys frustrate women, that’s why real men should rise and claim their brides. A real man will pick you all the time, not sometimes based on the mood they woke up in on that day or peoples opinions. “Like a lily among thorns, so is my true love among the young women.” (Song of Songs 2:2). He will take the lead, look after you and show you off in a crowd. “He leads me into a banquet room and looks at me with love.” (Song of Songs 2:4). Although it’s Solomon poem about his love for a woman, I saw so much of God in these verses. He has so much adoration towards us as His bride, He expressed this through words and showed us in the flesh when He gave His only son for us.

I have to admit that the older I get the more I feel the pressure to “settle down”, but the truth of the matter is that things don’t always go the way you planned in your head. Where I am I can either choose to feel sorry for myself or take His instructions when it comes to me finding love as something wonderful as opposed to being a stumbling block,  an enemy of progress. See we need to get to a place where we see our worth through His eyes,  if we were worth what we assume we are worth or the way someone makes us feel we are worth,  then we would not measure up to being blood worth, because honey that is priceless.  A very dear friend of my, Kene, helped me put things into perspective when it comes to the matters of the heart ( I cannot stress how important it is to guard it, guard it with all that you have, do not leave space for people to walk in and taint it). She basically made me understand why it was taking time for me to get over my “oopsy”, she made an analogy of having feelings for someone and rock climbing. You cannot let go of the rock you are holding onto until you have another rock to grab onto in order to move forward.  It made me think, before I would have easily jumped into something with someone else, but I want more these days because I am worth it, so a replacement is definitely not what I need, I know how that goes… soon I will have to find a replacement for the replacement.  If you identify yourself in me, I am going to tell you one thing: Allow God to be that rock that you hold onto, but you have got to let go of the one you are holding onto at the moment, if that person is not reciprocating the feelings LET THEM GO, DELETE THEIR NUMBERS, UNFOLLOW THEM, UNFRIEND THEM, you do not owe them an explanation, stop enabling them to make you look thirsty, besides God is your source and He never runs dry.  Clearly they have no intention of showing you the kind of love God talks about, do not force matters, you will not find someone in a place they are not, so why in the world are you looking for them there? “Young woman of Jerusalem, swear to me by the gazelles or by the does in the field that you will not awaken love or arouse love before its proper time. (Song of Songs 2:7). Become Gods and let Him become yours before becoming someone else’s. Learn about the kind of love He has for you, let that be the base of your relationships. Place Him first, the same way He places you first, to Him you are always number one. Once you have a solid foundation of you love story then you will be mature enough to be in love with the man or woman of your dreams.

Remember Gods love does not come with conditions, allow Him to love you first before expecting a man to love you.

His love was spilled for you…. True love. * POW WOW

  

Mirror, mirror on the wall, show me the reflection of my soul

Standing in front of my mirror as I was getting ready for my day, I wondered what I would look like if the mirror actually showed me a reflection of my soul as opposed to my physical exterior. Now imagine what you would look like if the mirror showed you the true you,because that’s what your soul is, your total self.

Reflecting back to the time I re-committed my life to God I saw that there were still  many things I did and attempted to hide them. Having been born again, but still did things my way, or friends’ way, or lovers’ way, basically disregarding Gods way. The only difference between how I did things before I was born again and after I was born again was that after encountering Jesus Christ I became “shy” of doing things I knew I shouldn’t be doing, whereas before I couldn’t have been bothered with my actions. Other than that difference there was nothing different about my behavior, what was different was the feelings my behavior brought about. What was once “harmless” fun had become something that I felt bad about doing either during or after, something had begun happening to me internally (soul) but my external( flesh) was still the same, it still craved what  I had introduced to it over the years . There was a war happening between my immortal being and my mortal being, I thought that maybe if I fed my mortal being in private I would be fine.  I was so wrong, see what happened is that the more I fed my flesh the less I could hear Gods voice (I was robbing my spirit of what was keeping it alive).  It became very apparent to me that God does not speak in the dark, He does everything in the light, light symbolises godliness and goodness. “This is the message we heard from Christ and are reporting to you: God is light, and there isn’t any darkness in Him. If we say ‘We have a relationship with God’ and yet live in the dark, we’re lying. We aren’t being truthful” (1 John 1:5-6).  I actually thought I had my sins under control because I was not doing them as frequent, as apparent and loud as before.  Boy was I wrong, instead of spending my time and energy on getting to know this amazing saviour who had come to my rescue from I life that I was tired of living, I was spending my time and energy coming up with ways to hide my sins. “For the lighting, you must command the Israelites to bring you pure, virgin olive oil so that the lamps won’t go out.” (Exod 27:20). Olive oil is used many times throughout the bible to symbolise a number of things, the one I would like to refer to is the time after the flood and the dove brought back an olive branch to Noah, showing the promise of renewed life and new beginning, as the waters had washed away all that which did not please God. God wants us to live in the light in other words in Him, by continuously filling ourselves with His promises, His words, His ways and His love.

When you become overwhelmed by the battle you face up against your flesh remember that like the baby eagle carried on its mothers wings, God will carry you on His mighty wings. Like the baby eagle, we are all on a journey. We reach a certain point in our walk with Jesus where He will push us out of our comfort zone in order for us to grow from strength to strength ( this is called maturity, when He knows you are ready He will reveal more things to you, but they will require more from you).  Very much like what the mother eagle does for her eaglet. See there comes a point in the life of an eaglet where the mother no longer brings food to the nest for it like she did when it was still very young. She will remain motionless above the nest to show her eaglet just how strong the wings attached to their backs are ( I would imagine trying to stay motionless in the sky is pretty much like planking, looks easy but requires a lot of strength). Eaglets have to be taught how to fly, if they aren’t they will spend the rest of their lives walking on the ground, I assume they would not live for long as they were not designed for that kind of life. In our walk with God we need to be taught godly ways as we are born into sin. If we are not, then we will continue in low living and killing our spirits. We have to be born again in the spirit in order for us to learn from our teacher Jesus, like the mother eagle, He demonstrated  to us by showing how a child of God should live. Back to the eagles, after the mother has demonstrated, she goes to her nest and pushes  the eaglet close to the edge ( does that sound similar to what God does?), then suddenly pushes it out of the nest. Now picture an eagles nest, unlike many birds who build their nests in trees, it builds its nest high up on the mountains, so if the eaglet was to touch down there is no way it would survive. The mother flies down in lightning speed and catches her baby on her back before it hits the ground. The reason she does this is because she knows that they are meant to fly, but the eaglet just doesn’t know yet. She lets them fall BUT doesn’t let them hit the ground… (tell me you see where I am going with this). After pushing the eaglet the mother puts it back into the nest, she then starts taking out sticks from the nest because she knows as long as the eaglet is comfortable, it will not learn how to fly, eventually the eaglet will have no room to stand on and will drop out the nest and if it had been paying attention to it's mother, will flap its wings and fly.

I had read the bible many a-time but still didn’t understand why my life was still falling apart. I mean it didn’t make sense at all, I was told that the only way I was going to know God was by reading His word and talking to Him through prayer, then why in the world was there no change in my life, if anything it appeared to be getting worse. I learnt something from the eagles, it’s all a matter of action. When you read the word and do the word then only will you see changes in your life.  (Read Exod 19:1-6). Once you take the first step and obey His word it becomes easier and you will not see Him as a God who punishes you and wants to wretch your life. He like the mother eagle does everything to better your life, so that  the true you starts to reflect. Not the one that was influenced by the world and had taken mold based on what others say and do.” You have seen yourselves what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to my mountain.” Don’t expect the worst from God, He is not standing there with a whip so that when you make a mistake He is ready to hit you. Instead He wants you to learn from them to become better. There is a reason why He pushes you, why He wants you to move out of your comfort zone, why certain relationships have to end, why you need to move on. Obeying Him will not lead to your demise, He will be there to catch you when you fall and place you on higher heights. Picture the view… It’s okay to fall, but know that you will rise at His feet and soar like the mighty eagle you were made to be.  Let Him be your mirror, allow Him to reflect your true image.

The love of God will catch you always.*POW WOW

Catching your feelings

Living everyday being led by feelings can not only drive you crazy because feelings continuously change, but they can lead to you making hasty decisions. The thing about feelings is that they are based on whatever is happening around you and not in you.  So gaining control over what you allow yourself to feel is very important. This starts with controlling what you think about because what we think about determines how you feel. 

I am guilty of letting my emotions get the better of me, to a point where staying in bed seemed like the best thing for me to do… a whole day wasted. Sadly I am one of those people who cannot function when things are not hanky-dorey... My daddy and I are working on it, trust me I do not have it all together. I was convinced that I was falling back into a state of depression. Having been diagnosed with medical depression before, I was sure I was falling back into the same dark hole.  According to me all the “symptoms” were there, my mind being clogged up with nonsense, insecurities, comparing myself to others, loneliness, emptiness, basically feeling completely worthless. Normally I would call up my tattoo artist and get inked, but this time something within me told me that no medication ( so there goes the idea of calling my shrink up for a session and hopefully she would throw in a prescription of the good stuff), no needle work ( mind you don't get it twisted, I love my art work,  I rate it spoke for me when I couldn’t, notice I say “spoke” now I have found my voice through Jesus, so any ink I get now will just be an extension of what I have to say, not a platform for me to say something) would “fix” me this time… Those were temporary solutions. I needed a permanent solution, which I knew wouldn't be an instant thing, it would require some effort from me this time.

As you read this please do not think for a moment that I disregard depression, because trust me I know what it leads to when not treated correctly. The type of depression I am talking about is the one I was “going through”. Like I mentioned before as a person who went through professionally diagnosed depression I was sure I was going through it again, then I opened my bible to Luke 24:13-35. By the end of reading this chapter I realised depressed is not what I was, what I really was is SPIRITUALLY SICK- my spirit was depressed. I say sick because even after I had fully committed my life to God, I did not recognise who He is to me, what I recognised were the crippling thoughts that I had allowed to invade my head thus making me feel  debilitated. My spirit was not healthy therefore there was no way it would have produced anything healthy because I was using the wrong medication to heal it. I was like the disciples who were so caught up in their sadness on their way to Emmaus after the crucifixion that they did not realise that the one they had been talking to on the road was in fact Jesus Christ.  They were so glued to their heartbreak that they had forgotten what He had said to them prior to His death. It was only after Jesus broke the bread at the table where they were all seated, did they realise who had been in their presence all along. The breaking of bread is done in remembrance of what Jesus did for us on the cross, His body was broken so that we can be whole-whole from heartache, whole from sickness, whole from anything that hinders us from concentrating on our relationship with God, ( 1 Cor 11:24). It all leads back to the cross. As Gods beloved children, we need to fully understand what that means. For Jesus to enter into His glory He had to suffer on our behalf, (Luke 24:26). So does it not make sense that for us to get to where we need or want to be we have to endure the good with the bad? Does it not mean that we need to see all that we go through as a gift from Him as He is preparing us for our good and His glory?

We need to recognise God, (like fully recognise Him)and who He is to us and we need understand His role in our lives. For us to move into greatness, we need to stop allowing negative thoughts brew in our minds as they play on our feelings and we end up losing focus of the main thing. The sadness, the insecurity, the anger, the uncertainty, the heartbreak, the rejection etc, are the feelings we need catch, gain control of and chuck before they begin to manifest in our lives. I urge you to be relentless in finding Him, it starts with a change in attitude, recognise the difference between acting on feelings and acting on wisdom…  One of them is more informed than the other.  Try something new with me, instead of seeing a bad situation as simply that, a bad situation, begin to see the bigger picture, God would not bring you to a place just to abandon you. So instead of dwelling on the negativity of the situation, praise Him even when it hurts like hell, because feelings are temporary but victory is made eternal when you see God in everything. Honey that break up is setting you up for your Boaz or your Proverbs 31 Woman, that declined application is showing you God has bigger plans for you, those who walked away from  you is an indication that where God is taking you, you couldn't take them with their season in your life is over.  Trust that He is fully involved in your life as you begin to recognise Him as He has recognised you.

His love was spilled on the cross for you, that's how deep His love is for you. *POW WOW