GETTING DOWN TO THE BRASS TACKS OF THE BOKO HARAM ISSUE: GOD IS NOT AMAGICIAN

I wrote what I am about to post sometime in May and I realised just today that I didn't get to feature it here ....Hope it resonates with at least one person.

        

Today, I ministered at our WWP PH fellowship and the Exhortation Emphasis was "GOD IS NOT A MAGICIAN".

it was one of the few times I ended an exhortation feeling like I had literarily gone through a wringer; totally broken for having had an added insight to what it really means to walk with God.

A mere cry of repentance just didn't suffice as I was caught up during the prayer session in my little corner in bouts of tears, literarily grovelling at the Feet of the Master, crying out for mercy for Self, Country and Commons.

Today, I realised that In the face of what has becomes our reality with the Boko Haram menace and the present plight of the #Sambisa276, Our expectations of how we think God should intervene in this matter has become somewhat delusional.

Our Daily Cry and Mantras of 

"Arise O Lord and scatter our enemies"

"Oh, God, do something"

Our Positive Declarations

"The end has come for Boko .haram"

"God will Deliver His own"

"There is God"

And our many questions borne out of Despair and Desperation:

"Where is this God? 

Why doesn't He work miracles to clear all of this up? 

Where is God when we need Him?

If God is so kind and merciful, why doesn't He work miracles to deliver us?"

Are if truth be told......JUST MERE WORDS.

We have become like Gideon in Judges 6:13 

"And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites". 

Gideon like many of us are doing presently, wanted God to pull a NIKE and "JUST DO IT" and save the Israelites. After all they were God's own people, No?

He had conveniently forgotten just how adept at doing evil his people had become. Simply put we are doing the same thing Gideon did and I wonder, Yes. I wonder what God thinks of our petitions.

We have conveniently swept the evil we perpetrate as Nigerians and the multitude of sins We all commit under the carpet and instead dump murmuring cries at God's Door. Ha it's about time we remember not to deceive ourselves for GOD IS NOT MOCKED.

WE WANT HIM TO DO SOMETHING YET WE WONT DO RIGHT BY HIM WITH OUR LIVES.

We are suffering, yet like Gideon we want God (Yes Na! Some of us are commanding HIM, demanding of HIM and summoning HIM to action on affairs of the Nation) all in a bid for HIM to remove the pain by working a miracle.

We forget that Miracles from God bear witness to truth.

We forget that God is in charge. 

God is a miracle-working God do doubt, but He always works miracles that are consistent with His purpose and with His will.

As a Nation, it's about time we got down to the Brass tacks and realised that God is not a Magician who would wave a magic wand to make us feel better albeit temporarily. its about time we forget what we want from God and do what He wants from Us, that we may get what HE promises and that is the very thing we desire...

And what HE says is 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

All in all today's experience was for me Cathartic.

I end by quoting my dear SistaFriend Salt Essien-Nelson ; "WE, the people who pray....are the ones ' holding' Nigeria back. We are only doing enough for God to show us mercy (and thank God for that!).....But we have the power to turn this country around. If you believe the Bible, you must believe it. In fact, we are responsible for that state of things....For those who believe me and are tired of feeling help and hopeless" 6th May 2014

"It breaks my heart when we talk about praying for Nigeria and people sneer. But I don't blame them. It's our fault. We, the praying people of Nigeria. We, the Christians. We have given prayer a bad name by our behaviour. But the truth is the fact that we who call ourselves 'The Salt' of the earth have lost our flavour does not mean that prayer to God has lost its power. Prayer still is the most powerful weapon in the world. In fact in my life, I find that prayer coupled with praise are veritable weapons of mass destruction." 3rd May 2014

Stay Rooted

OSA

6th May 2014