The Prince and the Princess...

A majority of my friends now have boyfriends. Good and admirable men. I remember when most of them got into a serious relationship, there was always a great commotion. It wasn’t something we just said, ‘Oh wow’ over…there was screaming, hugs, the whole deal; we had to know the whole story. I remember for one of my friends who is getting married in a few months, we screamed so loud people in the next building came over to inquire if something had gone wrong…hahaha… Sometimes it would not be screams but just major excitement. They wanted to let people know. We wanted to hear. And even if they were very private, the news seemed exciting enough to whisper of it at least; tell their closest friends.

It seems now as I grow older that the topic of men is what is most talked about in women’s circles. We all like, ‘I saw this guy’ ‘this guy said this’..’Girl, he’s so fine..’ ‘ I want my husband to do this’..the conversations are endless. I have no problem with this, nothing at all. What does sadden me however, is how as women we would rather get excited over earthly relationships but not over Jesus; how we could completely try to replace that deep need within us with a man. You could say that, that is not what you are doing but it is. We, after all speak what our hearts are full of. If that is the bulk of our conversations then ; surprise, surprise!!!! Our hearts are full of men. And it is sad, so sad that there seems to be no excitement over Jesus. No buzz about the coolest guy in the entire world!!!

 For as long as I can remember, I have wished for a guy who would make a fool of himself for me.  You know the one am talking about. The guy who stands in the middle of a crowd and shouts out, ‘Ruth I love you, Marry me!! Marry me Ruth!!’….hahaha..and yes I would be embarrassed but it would be well worth it and plain fun!! I would love blushing any day to that. He had to be a guy who would love me so much that his own personal pleasures were not even a factor. Someone tall, dark and handsome. Someone whose heart is completely set on God….gosh, don’t get me started..the list can go on… And I know already some of you are saying, ‘Ruth, in your dreams!! Such a guy does not exist!!’ I have been told of that so many times that I have believed it to be truth for the longest time.

But I have found Him and proved everybody who ever said it wrong. You see I found my Mr Perfect but what I did not know was that He had His eye on me all along. He had been watching me silently, pursuing me and gouging the best time to present His case. Sad thing is, I never noticed Him and even if I did, I brushed Him aside. But He finally caught my attention one beautiful day and told me, ‘I am your man, Ruth.’ I get goose bumps even while writing this!! Hahaha.. He said, ‘I am the one you have been waiting for all your life. I know you have suffered heart aches, I know your trust in men is broken, I know you have been told not to believe in the perfect guy because you, yourself are not perfect so why expect perfection from another.. But look at me, I am perfect and I am telling you: I love you so much.’

You can imagine how speechless I became, still am…but right before I could utter anything else, He continued, ‘You might not know it but I have been pursuing you for a long time. I have loved you for so long, way before you even knew of me. And I know that you have always wanted a guy to make a public spectacle of himself for you. Well, I did that too.’ He told me then of how He had been stripped of everything for me. He was a prince, He said, but because I was a peasant He came down to my level so that He could relate with me, so that He would woo me and take me back for Himself. I heard Him say, ‘I know that people in love often say I would die for you but I am not just saying it, I died for you because it had to be done; if not by me, then by you but I love you too much to let you take that burden on you. I don’t want you to worry about anything, Ruth. If its money, I gat you covered. You will be fed for always, clothed. So wipe those tears and smile for me because you have all the reason to be. I am here for you always. You just have to keep your eyes on me, just keep looking at me and I will take care of everything. I have you.’

I am still today amazed that somehow I stumbled into love…I am in the arms of love. People ask why I smile and why my eyes glow. My answer is: how can I not, with such a lover? There’s a spring in my steps and I sing a little tune everyday! And when flowers bloom all around me, I know its Him, knocking on my door with a bouquet of flowers. Aaaah..He’s amazing. He knows just what I like more than I do myself. I thought I did not like roses till He gave me an opportunity to walk in a rose garden. I thought I did not like sand until I sat on a beach of pebbles and decided, sand is better..hahaha..Everyday, when light slips through my window, I know its Him, saying ‘Good morning, sweetheart!! How did you sleep?' And the best part of all this is knowing I am secure in Him. Nothing and no-one can separate me from Him.  He loved me yesterday, the same way He will love me tomorrow. The only thing that changes, is my knowledge of how much  He really loves me. Tomorrow, I will know it more.. I have wanted a life of discovery, full of surprises and I have found it in Him and I think He’s the best.

I am a woman, ladies, and so I know women. I can safely say every woman wants to be loved ( not a synonym for marriage); to be appreciated, no matter how strong and independent you are. I do not believe God would have told men to love us( Eph 5), if He did not think we needed to be loved. I do not think He would love us as He does if we did not need it. A lot of the problems that do arise with women like self esteem issues, trust issues, depression, self-preservation and abusive relationships can all be linked back to this need to be loved; to be taken care of. And I have also come to realise that what every woman longs for, knowingly or unknowingly is Jesus. You can write the list of your man today, the character you want and try and measure him up to Jesus...That level of perfection is found only in Jesus (Unless you want a bad guy whose main aim is to hurt you and that falls incredibly short and there is no comparison there) . There does not exist someone in the whole of creation who will not disappoint you in love, who will fail to meet up to your expectations..The only who does, is taken by me…hahahaha…and the beauty is, He can be taken by you too.

I know a lot of emphasis is placed on what Jesus did on the cross and I am all for that: the fact that even His eyebrows were pierced by that throne of thorns for me is just too much for me. And if my heart is not a gooey lump at my feet at such a demonstration of love, what just completely and utterly dazzles me is the effect of the cross on my life. You and I both know that He would have just died and our debt would be paid. That He would have just defeated the devil and call it even, saved us peasants and gone back to the King to reign as the Prince He is. But oh, no..not this Prince. He became sin or in other words, completely void of all that God is (what He was) and from prince, He became a spiritual peasant like we were and died in our place. He did not however stop there. The Bible says, He took us to hell with Him, then we rose with Him and were taken high with Him, to sit together in the heavenly places (Eph 2:5-6). WOW!! It was Him saying, 'I do not want to reign alone; I want these people to be princesses too. Because I am righteous and Holy, I want every one who will confess my lordship over their lives to be holy too.'  And when He was awarded for His mission; when His name was made the name above all names, when He was given all power and authority both in heaven and on earth, He did not think to  keep even that to Himself. He stretched it out to us. How amazing is that??!

The fact that we walk around like we are equals to the devil or our circumstances or  like they are stronger and scarier  than us shows that we don’t really know Jesus and the power He has given us. Using this measuring stick, I fully acknowledge that I have so much more to learn because, yes, some things still intimidate me. On many days, I blame my ignorance of Him for the times when overcoming seems impossible because we have been made overcomers, we just don’t know it and therefore we walk on as powerless people ( Psalms 82). There is a solution always in God’s word, in Jesus for whatever it is we are going through. We just have not yet found it or we are not bothered to check because we think it can not be found in God but maybe in our brain, or our friend's  more creative one. It should definitely be there considering we made the whole world and all. But that is really underestimating what Jesus did on the cross which is sad because He had so much faith in what we would become after He went to heaven. He clearly said we would do greater things than what He had done. So if we are not doing it, that's on us and not Him. He is too much of a gentleman to come barging into our lives if we will not invite Him in or acknowledge Him. If we are too lazy to know Him, too busy, too bored, too cool..whatever it is, He will leave us to it. But that’s our loss because  He is the answer. Not knowing Him for a believer is like choosing to walk, when the car ( latest model) is parked. It's choosing to scrub the carpet when there is a carpet cleaner. It is choosing to live like a peasant while dressed as a princess. A shame isn’t it?

Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.  And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,  and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled  in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight (Colossians 1:15-22).

This definition of Jesus  in a nutshell says: everything revolves around Him, everything is for Him and He being Jesus chose not to enjoy it all by Himself but to make all who have accepted Him partakers of a divine nature. It’s a good life from where am standing. What could  beat that. This is definitely exciting news right! I do not know of a girl in this age who would not fight tooth and nail to be His lady and yet you are but you walk on lamenting of how no one loves you, appreciates you and so on…

 It is my plea today that you learn more about Him. No matter how much you know, there is still more to know. If you knew it all you would not be where you are because that knowledge would have catapulted you to greater heights... He has already done most of the work. If you are born again, you are already a princess; He just wants you to learn how to be one. If you have not yet received Jesus, receive Him today….it is supreme life guaranteed.

When A Princess speaks...

A story is told in my family of how I was born. Apparently, unlike many babies, I did not open my mouth to cry at birth. I had to be pinched in order to let out my first cry, which I hear is the first breath a baby takes- Am not a doctor so don’t quote me on that- anyway, for some reason, as a baby, I just did not like opening my mouth. My mom says she had to wake me up or shake me a bit, just  to feed me or get some sound out of me otherwise I would not just fuss. I was just so quiet; she says it was like there was no baby in the house. And this continued through my early years. At kindergarten, I was so shy, and the story is that I could not utter any words if none of my parents or siblings were around….hahaha…yeah, yeah, yeah…I was whatever you might be thinking I was…

Over the years I have wished many a times, that this had lasted but alas!! It must have been in grade two when I finally knew that the mouth could be used not only for eating but talking too. And so off I went, from quiet to talkative. Suddenly, my name was found on the noisemakers list. My mom said I was probably making up for all the years in silence. I remember I had an aunt who would quote scriptures of how a man would rather sleep on the roof or corner of a house than be in a room with a nagging wife (Prov 21:9). I am not sure I really understood what that meant but I did know I had to tame my tongue because it was bad to talk all the time.

I have grown up since…thankfully..and learnt to shut up…but still occasionally I find myself falling short. Sometimes it’s not particularly the abundance of words (because I can be really quiet) but just the quality of them; what I say when I speak. Do you relate with this? Anyway, I found myself over this past weekend wondering about this.  I spent last weekend hanging around with friends and working too and I can count the amount of things I said but I question whether there was any meaning to them, anything tangible in them. I know a lot of people say words are just words but if words were just words would they have the power to hurt a person? To warm you inside? To cause massive revolutions in history? I do strongly believe words are not just words. They do have power, more especially those of a princess.

The Bible clearly states that death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it ( Prov. 18:21). In other words, by your words you can either produce life or death; you can break things or mend things. It is not surprising therefore that one can be hurt with words. If negativity is spoken into another person’s life, you are in fact killing them-I am not just being dramatic although there is some fun in that- I do have proof. When Jesus cursed the fig tree in Mark 11, He did not say, ‘ I curse you, you wicked tree that has failed to give me fruit!!!’ He just spoke negatively to it and told it no one shall ever eat any fruit from it again and He believed what He had said. The next day His disciples said, ‘look, the tree you CURSED has withered away.’ It’s so easy to doom a thing or a person as a Christian. All you need to do is believe it when you speak negatively about yourself, others or things. If you say for instance, that you always fail at something, you will continue to do so. Some people are continuously lamenting of all that is wrong with them or others and how things will never change…well, it will continue to be that way. You will never change and they will never change…

I  am in fact not exaggerating this. If anything, I am not really saying all there is to say. The Bible clearly states that by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned or innocent or guilty…whatever you prefer (Matthew 12:37). You will be accountable for all you say. Your words have power to free you from any situation or to keep you imprisoned. There is something in words that just makes you believe it and amplify it in your spirit. 

James has equated the tongue to a rudder on the ship. It charts your course in life. The more you say you are a failure, do not be surprised if you fail all the more...your whole system, begins to shift towards failure just as the whole ship turns to where the rudder turns to. I remember I once told my boss I could not catch a ball (of course I could but I did not like playing ball when I had to work) so I kept saying it each time he said, ‘Ruth catch!’ For as long as I said it, I never ever did catch it even if I genuinely tried. Then I stopped saying it…and to cut it all short…I am catching again. It seems so little but it is the same principle that applies to bigger things. There is power in words and the point your life is right now is a result of your words unless we call the Bible a liar.  When I first learnt this, I thought it was a joke but I began to think about things I had said in the past and it rang true. Of course, I then had to renounce a lot of other things I said.  If you do not believe this, we can look to God. God’s words led to you and to me; to all you see around you. Don’t you wonder why He had to say it, to bring it into being? He would have just thought it because He is after all God. But no!! He had to say it. Still more, everything happening now, the earthquakes, everything!! He already said it would happen; you can search your scriptures. God has placed so much value in words. He loves words so much that Jesus is His word personified. It CAN NOT get bigger than that.

Knowing how important words are makes me want to shut up. It really does because I do not want to make a mess of things. If my words have so much power, any incorrect use of them is not good. It is like having a knife in your hands. You do not want to hurt anyone. And thank God the Bible has given us clues of what our words ought to be like. For instance, Colossians 4:6 says that ‘EVERYTHING we say should be kind and well thought out so that we know how to answer everyone’; it does not say that only some things should be kind but that all we say. Also Ephesians 4:29 says that ‘Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it.’ Its clear to see that we are not to speak just because we have a mouth or because it is fun. Our words should ALWAYS have a reason and the reason should be to build up another person. I know we often indulge in jokes and I am not saying it is wrong to joke but you will agree with me that most of such talk is worthless. And it is really sad though, that a lot of Christian conversations are not beneficial, they are more on the gossip and negative side…yeah.. the deep stuff has its moments, right? Wrong!!..its for always. And what if we talked right? What if we did it all the time? This verse says blessings will rest on all who hear us talk. How amazing is that. We will bless people like crazy!! WoW!! This is a way a princess is meant to talk. Do not talk like a normal person. You don't have to sound unsure because everyone is speaking confusion. You are a princess!! Speak like one!!

I will be honest and say am not there yet. As I said, last week, I did not particularly say harmful stuff..but yeah, I was on a worthless rant!! Sometimes, I like listening to myself as I speak and I hear shallowness, pride, self-centredness and even when I hear nice things, my motives are not entirely pure. It can be really frustrating and I asked God how I can fix this. Should I stop talking, I said? In answer, He led me to James 3 where James is clearly stating how a man who does not stumble in words, is a perfect man and how it is impossible to tame the tongue as it is unruly and full of deadly poison. You can imagine that this is not particularly what I wanted to read because I wanted methods of how to make my words count, not that I can’t make them count. But I read it again and again until I noticed that it is interesting, how in that chapter after talking about the tongue, he begins to talk about wisdom and the heart and how if you have bitter envy and self seeking in your hearts, you should not BOAST and LIE…both things done by mouth. It led me to Matthew 12:34 which says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. I had the aaahhh moment!!

 Whatever is in your heart will come out of your mouth through vain talk or whatever. Just listen to yourself speak. It is no wonder the Bible cautions us to guard our hearts above all things because it is the wellspring of life. For every born again Christian, you have an advantage because you have been given a clean heart and a life giving spirit. It is therefore in your nature to speak life, to speak positively. Your job is therefore just to guard what God has invested in you. If you let fear in, your speech will be full of fear and you will become more fearful but if you guard it, allowing only what helps you grow, your speech will be blessed.  

You also need some wisdom. James says the wisdom from above is pure and peaceable, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. This again is available to you because Christ has been made to us wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30). You have wisdom to know that which is from above and that which is not. Do not speak everything that comes to mind. You have to watch what you say, period!! Some words can be planted in your mind by the devil but you don’t have to say them because He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin (proverbs 13:3).

So once you begin talking RIGHT, you are set for life!! Some things in your life do not need praying for. They just need you to change the way you speak or for you to talk them out. The devil has put lies into peoples head, ‘Oh, don’t say that, you might jinx it. Oh don’t say anything otherwise it wont happen.’ He wants you quiet because he knows how lethal the tongue is when used wisely. Mark 11 does not say when you pray believe what you pray; it simply says believe what you say. Jesus inspires me because He, after cursing the tree did not sit by and watch it to see if in fact what He said would happen. The results were seen the next day. You can start now, or continue, whatever is true in your life. If you are facing south, and want to turn north, start speaking north irrespective of how turbulent the waters are!! You do not have to see the north first. Sometimes it might sound unreal because things are not really like that. By way of example, if I am not patient and begin to say that I am patient..it would seem fake but keep saying it because as you do, your whole body is being re-programmed to act that way. It is in fact not lies because you are that in Christ Jesus. So you can say it: I am a love creature, born in love, walking in love, I speak love, I ooze love.. I am not proud or selfish, I endure long, I do not fail… and there you go..taking a hold of your identity in Christ.

When I started this, I felt silly. Sometimes fake!! And people can laugh but when you say it long enough, you believe the truth you are saying. Because it is truth..it just sounds fake because you have not believed it. AND IT WORKS BIG BIG TIME!!  But let me just say here: you CANNOT do this just because you are determined to. No matter how many times you say, ‘ I can do this, I can do this, I can do this,’ it will not work. I have tried that too…. The whole reason all this works is because of who we are. Because of the power that runs through your body. Because of the life force that vitalizes your body. The Bible says, as He is, so are we in this earth. Can you grasp that one? You can speak life on this earth because of the life He has given you. Because Jesus is Lord of your life. If you have not chosen Him, choose Him today. He is the real deal.

MAKE THINGS HAPPEN IN YOUR LIVES LADIES!! YOU CAN SO DO IT!!!

The Father's heart for you

It is easy to think God, the Father is distant. That He is some abstract person. And even if we don’t think that way, our actions would lead one to think God is not around. It is like having your parents in the next room, not knowing what is happening in your room or living in another part of the country. They are around but they can’t really do anything, can they?

Either way, the fact that it escapes your mind does not mean He is not around and much more closer than you think. The fact that you don’t hear Him does not mean He is not talking. Jesus came into this world to show us that God, the Father was so close to Him, closer than anyone. Imagine Him saying: the hour is coming, and it has arrived, when you will all be dispersed and scattered, every man to his own home, leaving Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.  Can you just imagine that!! He was basically saying: I will not experience loneliness; I have my father to keep me company.  You should note, this was at a time when people were gonna reject Jesus, His very closest friends were gonna forsake Him…How much that must have hurt!!

And I know some of you have been hurt in similar ways. Rejected by those you love and you have been going on hurting and feeling alone and yet look at how Jesus responded to rejection. One would think: ‘ Oh maybe He did not love His friends enough.’  But No!! that’s not it. He just knew that people had limitations and no matter how close they were, there was no one who would be there for Him as His Father. I am not saying its wrong to count on people but I am saying though, that sometimes we might fail to hear God, or to experience Him because we just rush off to someone else. What would happen if at those times, we firstly told God about it? Jesus had an earthly mom, a dad, brothers… He would have so totally run to them and told them how hard His whole life was turning out to be. It sounds ridiculous even saying it but He would have done it. He was human just like you and me( Philippians 2:7). With the same pains and hurts. He loved His mommy, his daddy and brothers just like you do. Knowing Him, He must have had good relationships with them, maybe even better than yours considering the moods and all..hehehe….In view of this, I wondered why He did not act so. If He was really like me, why was He so different? What was the difference between Him and us?

The more I learn about Jesus, the more I realise He was different because He knew who He was and the relationship He had with His dad. That is the root of it. If we really knew who we are in God and the kind of intimacy we can have with Him, there would be no worrying, selfishness and all that. Casting Crowns has sang a song I like, ‘To Know you’. It talks about how to know Him is to never worry for our lives. Listen to it, its truth.

 

And well Jesus came to tell us and to show us that: hey, guess what???!!! If you gave your life to Me, if you love Me, He is your daddy too.  You can see this through many of the times He referred to the Father. In Matthew 6:25-34, He essentially said, "…look at the birds in the sky, they just fly around and are so happy, eating and singing, they don’t sow or reap yet the Father feeds them. Are you not worth more to Him? Why worry? Don’t be worried about anything. Just be happy and joyful because the Father will take care of it all.  Just look also at all the flowers..They are so bright and beautiful…no one on earth has ever out-dressed them and yet they die so quickly. People would say it’s a waste to make them so beautiful but the Father doesn't. He has dressed them all. And if He took that time with flowers, how much more time has He put in making sure you have it all. There is nothing you can want that your Heavenly Father does not know that you want. So don’t act like you have no Father who loves you by worrying about who you are or what you will be.. just live, live without a care in the world." He went on to say in Matthew 7:11 that if your earthly parents can give you pretty much all you can ask for if you ask from them; if they can make the sacrifices they have for you, how much more can the Heavenly Father give you?. In other words, His love for you is beyond any love you will ever experience from any human. I can go on but I can only squeeze one more..hahaha…the best one for me..

Jesus said that the Father HIMSELF loves you (John 16:27). I am still wrapping my head around that one. It’s the Father right? The one of whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named [that Father from Whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name]…(Ephesians 3: 14-15)!! He is the one who loves me. He loves you!! The one who owns it all loves me!! Do you understand how HUGE THAT IS!! He could have loved anything.. ANYTHING!! and yet He made you the focus of His affection. The apple of His eye. The prime recipient of His love.  He has an engraving of you in His palm (Isaiah 49:15-16). He can never forget you. Just never!!! He has numbered your hair, one after the other (Matthew 10:29-31). Not counted it, but coded it in some manner. Maybe, it’s A, B,C…I have no idea..hahaha..If one drops off, even if you have not noticed, He knows it. He knows that hair, code number B is off Ruth’s head. This is incredible. I just know nothing about me is too insignificant for Him to be interested in.  He watches over you, night and day. He neither sleeps nor slumbers (Psalm 121:4). Nothing can come at you that He hasn’t foreseen. Nothing can harm you. He has it that bad for you. And honestly, it should be suffocating right? But its not. Its liberating.  Say goodbye to fear!! Why would you be afraid when He is watching you? Say goodbye to worry. Why worry when He’s got you? Jesus got this. He so got this and I yearn to get it too. It would really be easy living. The one who sits on the throne, the boss of all bosses, loves me. Until we reach this understanding we do not fully get His love and we should be asking Him to reveal it to us.

A lot of people just think they can not know the love of God really so they don’t even try to know it. Its just a matter of I know He loves me. But do you really know? If you would be open to it, God can reveal it to you. If He could not, Paul wasted a lot of prayers on the Ephesians because he prayed continuously for them, that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and knowledge of Him, of His love. At one point he even said, that I know, people can not understand Your love, but I pray that You reveal it to them, that they comprehend it (Ephesians 3:14-20). If you want to use your intelligence to know it…Good luck.  It will save you time though, if you humbled yourself and asked Him to show you. And don’t stop asking until He does so. Your continuous earnest prayer will avail much.

Personally, I have had a hard time getting to know and to accept His love ( I still have not yet been perfected in it). You can have it differently. Maybe you already are.  If it was in the physical, you can say I have shut my door in His face before because I was being spoilt..hahaha…I was wanting things the way I wanted them only, and when they weren’t I forgot how good He was to me and said: how could this happen on your watch? How could you leave me? Looking back on that, I realise how ignorant that was. I am never left alone. Only Jesus was for a time really really forsaken by the Father but that was because He became sin for your sake. Only He ever rightly said that. I can’t imagine how that must have been like. I know I surely can’t live without God and thank God I won’t ever have to.

  

When I finally opened the door again, there was a lot of pretence with Him. I was all smiles and telling Him how good He was. But I have learnt that like any relationship honesty is important with God. The fact that He knows it all before we ask does not mean we should not voice it. Why pray then? He wants to know what is on your mind. When I finally got tired of the masks, I began to tell Him a lot about how I felt. I told Him I didn’t think I trusted Him, like the Bible said to and how I wished I really meant it when I said I loved Him. I think I believed more that He was a good God than that I loved Him. I asked Him to help me grow in the knowledge of Him (No matter how much you know, you do not know it all even if you have to read the verse a thousand times, because He is greater than you; there is always something new He can teach you. This can also be true of our prayer lives. Sometimes we just talk and talk to God, telling Him what is wrong or at least what we think is wrong, asking and asking, without listening to Him speak. Not that you shouldn’t talk but learn to listen. He is after all, your Father).

Anyway I am still learning more. I do believe being a Christian means you are forever going to be a learner. Not that you will feel inadequate but you will also know there is still more. I hear it almost everyday; Christians saying how much they want to  know God more and be more intimate with Him. But it is not happening and frustrations begin to rise.  What we have to know is that God will not hand it to you on a silver platter. He has already given you salvation, a fresh start, love, everything you could ever want in this life. Do you want Him to inject you with knowledge as well while you are just sitted comfortably going on with your own life? He will not. From the beginning God has never intruded into the lives of people. If you want Him that bad, you will seek Him and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). If your relationship with Him is going to work, you are going to have to put in some work. Paul said that although he was who he was by grace yet he worked the hardest than all the apostles. He took advantage of the grace God gave him ( 1 Corinthians  15:9-11). So while He knew he could do all things through Christ, he didn’t just sit with this knowledge, with this advantage, he really did go about doing things. Even in this world we live in, if I wanted to learn something, the information does not automatically appear in my head, I have to search for it, in books, from people….Why would the principle be different? If you look for God you will find Him. He promised. If you read the word you will grow (1 Peter 2:2). It is not theory, its fact. Of course consistency matters. If you are on a diet and eat salads today and chocolate the whole of tomorrow, it will not work. It has to be consistent. Even when you do not feel like it. You just have to keep on doing it and being expectant that he will do as His word says. If you miss a day, don’t beat yourself up, just carry on the next and the next. Its really okay. Just keep on earnestly doing it instead of just talking about doing it.

I do pray that you would open your heart to this word and not just to read but to do it and that at what ever level you are that you would seek Him more so that you grow in the Knowledge of Him. He loves you so so ssssssssssssssoooooo much. Oh that you would see the Father’s heart for you!!

Insecurities? Self esteem? Beauty?

Insecurities is a thing we have been known for as ladies. When I speak to guys they always comment on how we need constant affirmation and do not believe in ourselves. It is a shame that even us as Christian ladies should lack in this area because it shows very much how we do not fully grasp what God has done in our lives. We underestimate who He has made us to be, His investment in us and His view of us. Worse still, is that the devil has used this misunderstanding of oneself to totally destroy a woman’s confidence and power. It might be you grew up never hearing anything positive about yourself, only the negative, of how you are a failure and will not add up to much. It may be that you were in an abusive relationship, never treated right no matter how hard you tried. Or that you have always felt like you were loved the least in your family, that all the attention was on other people. Even in your circle of friends, no-one seemed to really include you and you feel so alone, so unloved.

And you have tried so much to fit in. To amount to something. Let me tell you this though. You can not please people no matter how hard you try. If you judge yourself by how people, including yourself, see you, you will wear yourself out. You can only please God because He looks at you. Really, looks at you, your heart and intentions. And when He looks at you, He sees this beautiful person, who is so clean, so righteous in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). He sees His temple, so strong, so sacred in which His Spirit dwells (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). He sees His glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). He sees all the wisdom He has hid in you (Colossians 2:3), all the potential to do great things (Philippians 4:13).  Contrast that with what you think of yourself. If it is contrary to that, please re-read your bible. Do not think less of yourself. Do not just be so conscious of your limitations, inability. If the devil tries to cheat you and call you worthless, be sure to hit back with what God says about you. If you don’t and just listen, you will believe it and the consequences will be low self esteem. You have a responsibility to resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7). He will not consider leaving, he will flee. So do it. But I hear you say, ‘it is not that easy Ruth…it cant be’. It is, Jesus went through a lot so that you would have easy. Of course, the attacks will come but use your sword which is the word of God. You are standing on winning ground.

I will tell you something I have discovered. For all the times I have felt less sure about my self, that I have felt ugly or whatever, it was because I was concentrating wholly on myself. I would think am just too fat or when I speak, I sound weird. Some of you might think, he doesn’t talk to me because am too this or too that. Oh, if I just changed this then that…it is never really a problem with another. But see that’s where the problem is. As Christians, it is incorrect to look at ourselves as separate entities from God. The Bible says, we are from God (1 John 4:4), we are with God and we are in God (Colossians 2:10). We are one spirit. WOW!!! Isn’t that cool!!! No wonder Paul says it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20). It is no longer only your strength, your beauty or intelligence. It is His grace, His favour and His spirit, His ability in you. Do not undervalue what He has done. There is noone, NOT ANY ONE who has invested in you as He has. Who has loved you as he has. I know what I am talking about. I spent most of my life trying to impress people, people who never seemed to appreciate it all. To realise that I don’t have to impress God has been to me, a stress reliever. His love is sure and nothing you do, NOTHING!! and noone can make Him care for you less. I do not have confidence apart from God. The thought of writing an exam without the knowledge that He is with me freaks me out…in fact, I can’t do it. It is because of Him that I am. Because what God placed in you is enough, you are enough. Because Jesus is good enough, you too are good enough.

You have to stop looking at you as you and look to yourself as having divinity in you (2 Peter 1:4). Be deeply rooted in this truth and allow Him to train you, develop you and to build you up. He desires to build you up through His word, heal your heart and bind up your wounds (Acts 20:22, Psalms 147:2-3). The bible says, He is the one who can set you up and enable you to stand on highest places (Psalm 18:33). That is, confidence for you. To stand, high, knowing you wont fall. He can give you that. You can be that person who walks tall and holds their head high. Just have hearts that listens to Him.

  
And  if by now, you still think you are ugly…Well, you are wrong….

You know, people marvel at the stars. They have written many books on them, invented telescopes to see them closer. They are just so fascinated with such glamorous particles. They are mesmerized by these particles that our God dispersed across they sky… I can just picture it…Him taking glamour in His hands and sprinkling it across the sky, taking beauty and writing with it across the sky in patterns that man is still, till now trying to uncover. Man knows they are beautiful, knows there is some sort of design to them; who can question that?? Yet he can not understand the complexity of this beauty and creativity.

And then man says, if you get too close to the sun, you will die!! Hahahaha…it makes me laugh really. Because, God has pitched a tent for it in the heavens- Psalms 19:4.  His hands have carried the sun and His eyes withstood its brilliance. He literally, looks scorching heat in the eyes and it knows whose boss. The brightness that blinds the human eye, does not blind Him. These are hands that have touched things that man can not touch, eyes that see much more than man sees…This is the greatness of our God!!

 Then Scientists will tell you that the earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees but ask them why it tilts and they will have no answer. How can such matters be understood with the wisdom of man? All they know is that it is a good thing because if the Earth did not tilt, countries near the poles would be cold and dark all year round. If it tilted too much, the seasons would be very extreme. Wow!! This is beyond razor-blade precision. Somehow, the earth is positioned just on the right spot!! Just perfect. And we know Him who does perfect things!! Wow!!

And now, maybe you will find this crazy, but it is flowers that do it for me… especially a rose!! Those fragile and thin petals just make me think of how tender and gentle, the hands that created them must have been. To draw the lines on so thin a petal without damage, what amount of care did that need?  And have you seen the way a rose is layered, one petal on top of the other, as if it is hiding a secret, some sort of treasure that can not be forced out of it unless the right environment exists for it to blossom…and when it finally does…I find it breath-taking. Now, I get to see the treasure inside which comes along with a beautiful scent, you cant help but breath it in once, and again…Eh!! The geniusness of our Father!! How did He trap all that beauty and fragrance in that tiny rose bulb??!! I mean even if you’re not a fan of flowers, it makes you think, right?

But what is exciting beyond measure, what is just A-MA-Z-I-N-G, is that the hands that sprinkled glamour, elegance and beauty in the sky, these hands that did so in a pattern that men are still trying to uncover, knitted you inside your mother’s womb!! One cell after another, these hands knit you but unlike stars with more glamour, more elegance and more beauty for He made you in His likeness and we know, God is perfect in beauty (Psalms 50:2).Still more, these hands that touch things that no man can touch created your inner most being. How can you not be unique? Who can challenge God and duplicate you? Who can touch the sun? You are not ordinary!! The eyes that can see what man can not see and withstand any level of brightness or brilliance search you? What audacity does man have, who fails to see or understand what God has created to be lesser than you, to label you as ugly and useless? Can he/she search you with piercing eyes? Ain’t it wonderful that the one who has the audacity to label you, has labelled you priceless. Your price tag is the very life of His son.

And just think, if He placed the earth with such precision, the earth He created for you to have dominion over…how much more precision did He use on you.  You look at your hand, your palm. There are so many lines drawn on them. Why are they there? In that particular order, some seen, some not seen? Even if man were to make a human, I doubt He would have the patience to make the lines…which for all we know might have a purpose. This is the level of patience and preciseness He took to knit you.  And He did it with much more tenderness and gentleness than the flowers.

I don’t know about you but this makes me feel very very beautiful. That everything on me is right where it is supposed to be and looks right as it should look. I can not find errors in His ways for How could He have erred with such hands, with such precision and care, with such a mind? Do you know, sculptors don’t stop chipping at the wood until they feel like it is utterly smooth. Artists will erase their works until in their eyes it looks just right. But what these have is just a little bit of the creativity God has, yet they strive for perfection. Do you think God, who is perfect in Himself would have made an error with you? No way!! God did not stop until you were right as He wanted you to be and His opinion is all that counts for He sees you. He really sees you. And you are beautiful and unique and so much more….

David said, “ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” His soul knew this, very well. He understood it. And He said this after He had been talking about being knit together and His inmost being being created (Psalm139). You know, as ladies, we have to know it. We have to understand it. Just memorizing the verse or saying it because David says it does not work. I am saying this out of personal experience. There was a time in my life that I thought I was ugly. There was a time, I was just never happy with how I looked. I even stopped smiling because I thought it made my cheeks look fat. I was so conscious when I laughed because I always wondered how fat my cheeks must look. And I read this verse. I knew it. But now I know, I did not fully understand it. People must have thought I was this confident person but when I was alone, all the insecurities would come back to me…I won’t mention them all but I know you feel me.

But then I understood it. Yes, finally by meditating on it, the Holyspirit unlocked it to me. And I knew, I just knew that when the Bible says ‘marvelous are your works, Oh Lord, it includes me’..because I am His workmanship. I am marvelous!!  I looked at the mirror and said,’ Ruth you are beautiful...it doesn’t matter what anyone says’ And no one can stop me from smiling now, no one!! And the thing is, this is true of every one. You are so beautiful. But you have to understand it for yourself. People will say, it doesn’t matter and it is vanity. My dears, if it doesn’t matter, then why do these insecurities cripple a lot of us? God does not want any weaknesses in you that the devil might use to destroy you. He wants you strong in all areas. So if this is your weakness, do not ignore it or think everyone has an Achilles’ heel and this just happens to be yours. Face it!! You are breath-taking. This is reality!! So next time anyone, including YOURSELF, tries to make you think your hands are too big, or you are too short, you say, ‘ Well, my Father knit them…are you saying He did a bad job, are you seriously criticizing God?????’

You know, while people can appreciate beauty, they can not explain it. They do not know what makes up beauty. They would know a painting is beautiful but if you ask them why, they can not fully explain it. That’s why beauty to people changes all the time and will depend on the person. But God, He knows what beauty is because He created it. He is beautiful, perfectly so. And if you look for explanations in man, you will never understand it. Only God will teach what it is and only He can make you understand that you are beautiful and why you are beautiful. Because like a rose, He has layered you up. You have hidden treasures that will only come out in His environment.  Each day, He will reveal a new facet of you, and make you more beautiful. He will reveal to you and to the world why you are beautiful. And each day, this beauty will increase until we are taken home.  This is the real beauty!!  The one the world searches for but will never find until they turn to the source, the one who sprinkled it across the sky….

So from now on, walk in the light of this word. God loves it when we appreciate His creation, including yourself. Be grateful for you and His ability that is at work in you.....