Every journey have had a beginning. Every human, a birth.
How did I embark on this relationship with Jesus? Actually by default, I was born a Catholic ( up to a few years ago). But the Jesus in that church was as accessible as your local politician. Many layers in between, normally people and hierarchy. That's a story for another episode all together...
Fast forward to today.
With all the jobs I have done in the past, I never felt I belonged. But I did excel. Something was missing..something deeper..more meaningful. I knew what I did was right (mostly) but there were no real governance, no real direction or an operating manual. No, I do not like to be told what to do all the time just like anyone else. I felt that as an adult, I could do most anything. And the question of morality became an non-issue due to the fact that I was way over 21 years of age.
Fast forward again.
One day while attending a disciplining session at Ronald's house, he asked me to read the book of Jonah. He had read that the sign of Jesus being a Messiah that He would be dead and be risen again on the third day, similar to Jonah's turbulent episode in the "great fish". Feeling irritated ( because Ronald could read it himself), I read it. I laughed a lot because of Jonah's behaviour after God's proclamation that He would save the city. While being swallowed in his temporary watery grave, Jonah prayed to God to have mercy and let him live. When the people of Nineveh repented and God wanted to spare them, Jonah asked God to take his life. Twice! Read the book of Jonah..there's a lesson or two for everyone!
Pause to right this moment.
While I was the main character in a play depicting Jonah, I was acting out my future role in the God's plan. I had endured hardship, loneliness, depression, poverty and lack, much like Jonah's experience in the "great fish". I learnt obedience and trusting God's plan, even though it did not make any logical sense. I understood through His words that His ways are not ours. His plans are not comprehensible to us because we see the scene of the play not the whole play. We are short-sighted and are not equipped or skilled to solve our problems. God has not lied. So believe Him when He says He knew us from the womb. And that His has magnificent reward for those who are faithful to the end. The end is not far off....
I received prophetic words today about the future directions I am to take. In fact, I have been "renamed" Jonah. I was humbled to told this as it is a tremendous responsibility, especially when I think how inadequate I am. But God has given many talents to me ( and you too, I'm not the special one) and I have been asking Him to give me an avenue to use it. So here it was, the avenue that is. But I keep in mind, all things happen in His time, not ours. In the mean time, I have devoted more time to read His words and to study the many resources that are available on the web.
In many advanced countries I read and hear about the evil in forms of sexual immorality, pleasure-seeking, dishonesty, theft, murder and a host of other alarming trends that are on the rise. We in the developing countries are mimicking every single sin and cannot get enough. The whole world is getting rotten by the day, nay by the minute! With time running out, He wants us as His labourers in His vineyard; the world that is.
God has called on the few to reach out to the many. I am learning every day to be His servant. I just want to serve Him because of His coming government that Jesus will lead. There is an awesome time ahead of us. This is not God's earth, it's satan's. He is the ruler of earth right now. But you and I will be inheriting a glorious kingdom, with the present one being wasted away with Jesus' second coming. He will come again, yes He will.
Do not believe me? Good! Prove me wrong by reading the book of Revelation. It has a blueprint of the calamities, disasters, diseases, violence, price hikes etc detailed in it. Want immediate proof? Read your newspaper, it corresponds to what the bible is saying. Go out in the web and find resources about the book of Revelation. Read it. It is the best thriller ever known to man and the best part of it all is that we are in it. No, it was wrong to label it as a thriller, instead it is a a real-life situation. You may say that it is a depressing book to read because your life may be in the pits or living in want for basic necessities. God never intended His people to suffer but He wants us to have abundance so that we can be a testimony to others. That is the most lop-sided trade off ever! We are the beneficiaries, mind you.
If you trust Him to lead, He will lift you up. One condition: Learn To Be Humble. After all He created the very universe we live in, He is not impressed with the work of our hand. He resists the proud but listens to the poor and the contrite in spirit. That does not mean we ought to be broke all the time. In those days, a poor man was often seen as a humble man. If you are blessed with abundance, thank God for it and be humble to Him because He is the provider. Be humble and have a child like innocence, we are His children. Many times I wished I could throw it all away and run to my father and ask him to solve my problems. If you had felt that, how much more our Father God is waiting for you to run to him and to cry to Him like a child. How did you feel when you see a crying child being comforted by the parent? How did you feel the child would have felt when the father or mother hugged, comforted and assured the little one that it going to be okay no matter what. How different do you think our Father in heaven would react? We are similar in many ways to Him. After all, we are made in His likeness.
Stop for a moment and examine where you are headed. Time is a precious commodity, use it wisely! Your Father is waiting...He wants to talk to you.
