Small Things with Great Love

The Lord first laid this verse on my heart a couple of months back with regard to a personal initiative that I believe He is calling me to take up. Someone who absolutely delights in chronicling everything that Jesus tells me in multiple journals, I made a quick note.

But as I did, a really funny thing began to unravel in the days and weeks ahead.

What began as a fancy name for a future enterprise slowly morphed into a most stunning personal revelation. Seeking to share what I have learnt, allow me to welcome you to a tiny segment of my personal walk with Christ called,

“Small Things with Great Love.”

I believe that it was Mother Teresa who first contrived this phrase in her well-known adage,

“We cannot all do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

Though there is much to say about our faith walk with the Lord, what I love most about it is that it can all be summed up into one simple law, the law of love – ‘and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Mark 12:30-32, ESV)

More often than not, I feel that as children of God who are learning to walk with the Lord, we can tend to overcomplicate things. We can start to think about our calling and destiny in terms of something quite spectacular and grand which will happen, ‘one day when.’

One day when I get my degree and start my practice..

One day when I get married and start my ministry..

One day when I get my breakthrough and the path ahead is cleared..

But what I have discovered is that all we ever have is the ‘here and now.’ As long as we are sowing in love in our lives on a daily basis, we can be rest assured that whatever the Lord has promised us in the ‘then and there’ will manifest most organically as a result of our humble obedience and loving devotion – right here, right now.

1.Loving God well

Our primary calling in life is to know God and love God. I have learnt by experience that what this basically means is a lifestyle of unbroken fellowship with the heart of our Perfect Father, something which doesn’t only happen in and through our spiritual disciplines like prayer and quiet time with the Lord (though those are really important!), but rather in and through the beauty of an authentic heart-to-heart connect with the Lord through the hours of our day.

In my own personal walk with Christ, I have discovered that one way to effectively put this truth into practice is to remain in a relational dialogue with the Lord as we walk through whatever it is that we are called to in our day-to-day life.

Whether it is in the context of family, community, business, workplace or ministry, what confounds us is never beyond the wisdom of heaven. I have learned the value of taking my questions to Jesus, instead of striving to find solutions in my own limited strength. What inevitably follows is not only a satisfactory response from God that promises resolution, but also strength and strategy for the journey as I embrace my process, knowing that God controls the outcomes and therefore, they remain secure.

The net result of such a lifestyle, friends is a deepened and more dependent relationship with the Father where He leads, and we follow. Walking in humble steps that keep Him involved in our daily lives not only demonstrates our love for Him, but also brings the awe and wonder of God into our otherwise mundane lives, keeping the adventure fresh and exciting.

Love, I’m learning, is its own reward.

2. Loving ourselves well

Fuelled by the transforming power of grace, rest and self-care; I am also learning the power of loving myself well. We cannot pour from an empty cup, but for my cup to run over, I not only have to receive the love of God for me in its fullness, but let my experience of that love transform the way I see myself and love myself.

Grace
Talking of grace, our Father personifies it fully in the person of Jesus and as I take my cues from Him, I am learning to not be too hard on myself but rather give myself the kind of grace that I receive from the Lord too. Letting Him teach me to understand myself with mercy, not judgement has one of the most challenging yet satisfying part of my journey to wholeness thus far.

Though the times I fail or falter are many, learning to correct my posture in such times from self-condemnation to self-compassion has begun to awaken me to the truth that God does not call me to a life of perfection, but rather perspective. I wasn’t created to have it all together, but rather to bring all the messy parts of me to Jesus, letting His perfection fill in the gaps. For in Him, I am complete. The Lord couldn’t have said it better when He spoke thus to apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV)

And because it is, I am learning to let go and let God. Letting God not only inhabit those spaces of my soul where His power is made perfect in my weakness but also take over as it relates to the situations and circumstances of my life, which brings me to the topic of rest.

Rest
Friends, though there are many ways to practice rest, I have found that they are all rooted in one common truth – trust.

Our most basic human instinct is to have control, but the word of God says that love always trusts (1 Corinthians 13:7). Control has to do with fear, but love will inspire trust. As image bearers of God being transformed into His likeness which is the purest love ever, a huge part of our process with the Lord has to do with releasing control and replacing it with simple, childlike trust.

I am discovering that when I do what the Psalmist describes in Psalm 56:3, ESV “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you,” I immediately enter into a place of deeper rest as a result of placing my trust in the right place – Him.

Not in my limited ability, and not in the broken state of my circumstances, but rather in Jesus – the author and perfector of my faith (Hebrews 12:2). Each time I sense fear creeping up, tempting me to take control, I have to be very intentional about acknowledging that the Lord is sovereign – over every nation, every household, every heart. And if He said it, He will do it.

This is a gentle reminder that I give myself several times a day, and the more I do, the more I am able to trust Him and the more at rest I am internally.

Self-care
The third counterpart in the realm of loving ourselves well that I have found, friends is self-care.

Taking the time to engage in an activity that serves to rekindle our passion and zest for life while simultaneously connect us to the heart of the Father is a wonderful way, I believe, to remind ourselves that we are worthy to be taken care of, to be nurtured, to be replenished.

A personal revival is always at the core of revival in our families and communities. Though there are several things that we can indulge in, I have learnt that commiting to what is most authentic will be the most fruitful.

For some of us, this can look like catching up with a trusted friend over coffee at Starbucks. For some, it can take the form of reading through a fictional novel that transports us and stimulates our imagination. For some, it can even be fixing a jigsaw puzzle in the cosy comfort of their home, while for others, it can look like long walks and evening strolls with Jesus.

Let me share a true story at this point. On the other side of having begun this post, I found myself thrust into an unexpected trial. Since my temperament is basically like that of a finisher, I had kept a target of 2-3 days when I would write, finish, edit, pray and publish. However, the process that the Lord had in His mind for me, was quite different.

Though I don’t believe that He causes our troubles, I do believe that He uses them for our development. And this much I knew, I had hit a valley.

As the Lord shepherded me through this difficult time, I learnt how to love myself well in a whole new way. Walking out the impact I had endured hand-in-hand with the Father, I was compelled to give myself grace even if I never completed what I had begun. And perhaps, especially then. I was inspired to take adequate rest not only physically, but also spiritually as the Lord challenged me to trust Him to complete that which He had begun. Any voice of self-condemnation was replaced by the voice of self-compassion as I took the necessary measures to heal, recover and rebound well.

Coming out on the other side, I am so pleased to share that as a result of learning to love myself well through this time, I have come forth more refined, more rested, more whole, more free and more empowered. I also feel better positioned to love my neighbour more authentically because I know what it is to love myself the way God loves me.

3. Loving our neighbour as ourselves

I believe that God deposits the seeds of a prosperous future in our present. We are summoned by Him into a lifestyle of daily devotions and daily missions where it is not so much our ability that qualifies us, but rather our availability before the Lord.

The people that He has called us to love and serve are always around and about us. So, I will share here a couple of questions I have started asking God in prayer that have empowered me to be the hands and feet of Christ to help those around me:

– Who can I help today?
– Who can I encourage?
– Who can I pray for?
– Who can I bring loving correction to?
– Who can I forgive and bless?

As I write these questions for you to ponder, I am struck by the fact that all these questions have one thing in common –

‘Who.’

I feel we can often stumble over the ‘what’ in terms of our calling/destiny. My own experience testifies. But what I am learning and seeing is that the Lord wants us to pay attention to the ‘who’ – His son or daughter that is right in front of us. And as we do, He promises to make all things manifest in His perfect way and timing.

In other words, the question perhaps is not so much as, “what am I called to do?” as it is, “who am I called to love?”

Personally, this approach has been hugely rewarding for me. I have since found myself more present in my day-to-day life. Whether it was organising a vehicle for a young girl stranded on the street desperate for a ride to her destination, fetching medication to aid the recovery of my auto-rick guy, or agreeing to speak the truth in love to a family member; walking in tune with the rhythm of the Father’s heart postures me to be more aware of and attentive to the needs of the people that God has placed in front of me – right here, right now.

For it is our obedience in the here and now that is instrumental in unlocking the realms and doors of our destiny in the then and there, simply because all that we are and all that we do is grounded in the primary call of beholding and becoming love.

The value that God places on love above all else is clearly revealed in the passage that says, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, ESV)

I believe that God here is saying that no matter how accomplished we are, no matter how much knowledge we possess, no matter how theologically sound our doctrine is, if we have not love, we have nothing at all.

Conversely, even if the areas of our calling and destiny seem a bit obscure, we don’t need to despair. We are encouraged by heaven to start small and begin right where we find ourselves. We can all learn to love God, love ourselves and love our neighbour as ourselves right where we are at. And as we do, the Lord promises to go before and do what only He can do.

So as we walk in radical obedience friends, may we be encouraged to remember that our tiny acts of faith executed on a daily basis will inevitably add up to a glorious destiny. For the liberating truth of the Simple Gospel is that we don’t really need to do grand things for God to make a difference, but only small things with great love.

🤍🎅🏻🤍

Lost and found!

“A life that is found in You is also hidden in You.”

When we were lost, He found us; and when He found us, He also hid us. Making us dead to sin but alive to God, He hid our lives within Himself in order that we may seek Him, and as we do, we may find Him, all over again.

Colossians 3:3-4 (The Passion Translation) puts it like the best way ever,

“Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ. And as Christ himself is seen for who he really is, who you really are will also be revealed, for you are now one with him in his glory!”

There is so much to unpack from this, and I’m not quite sure if I can do justice, but what I do feel is the infallibility of the Truth that when Christ found us, He found us at our worst and His Unfathomable Love towards us compelled Him to take us just the way we were and make us His own. So, when we surrendered our heart to His, we were rendered dead to sin, and alive to God. Our old nature that saw us wandering about was replaced by a new nature that sees us as truly found. But as we were found in Him, we were also hidden in Him: Our Identity, Purpose and Destiny. I believe God did this so that the more we seek to know God in and through a relationship with His Son, Jesus; the more we will begin to understand Eternal Truths about ourselves, simply because our journey is so relational.

Jesus is The Savior, Healer, Redeemer, Deliverer, Comforter, Counselor, The King of kings and The Lord of lords; yet our best friend forever. As we begin to grow in the revelation knowledge of who HE is, we begin to understand who we are. As Children sealed through The Holy Spirit, we are now saved, healed, redeemed, delivered, set free, and have access to the constant companionship of Our Father. Our lives are hidden in Him, the plans He has for us and the paths He has chosen for us. God, I believe, is a God of Freedom. He hid our lives in Christ so that instead of being bound by the things of this world, we may remain tethered to His Presence, sensitive to His Voice and reign in life. Instead of meandering about, we now have The Holy Spirit dwelling in our midst, sensitizing us towards our next course of action. Redeemed from the world, we have now been set free to serve and love the world, the way Our Father in Christ has shown us. We now walk in the fullness of our Identity as Sons and Daughters chosen to make an Eternal Impact for The Kingdom of God, a Purpose as fulfilling as it is challenging. But, the fact that The Comforter, Counselor and Friend is constantly with us positions us to be precisely that to the sphere of influence we find ourselves in. Author and speaker, Graham Cooke calls us a “visual aid” to the world in order that they may catch a glimpse of The Father’s Heart and be naturally, wooed to know more, seek more and perhaps, be found in Him, forevermore.

So, He hid us. He hid us in the safest place ever: Jesus. Our life, now hidden in Him, is also revealed through Him as we faithfully abide in Him and walk with Him, allowing Him to unveil the redemptive story of our lives. I feel prompted to share a small snippet of my conversation with The Father as I was wrestling with the possibilities my future may hold. I told Him that I release my future to Him, and ever so gently, He responded by saying that He will release it back to me, bit by bit, and day by day.

Beautiful, isn’t it?

That’s how He loves us. He will never allow more on us than we can bear, and chooses to develop us as we walk with Him, in order that we may be mature enough to handle not only the weight of the blessings He has in store for us, but also the weight of Glory that comes with every breakthrough in The Name of Jesus.

Friends, He hid us only to reveal us, but in my experience, He does that in bits and pieces. Every step revealed only finds us back in His Presence praising Him for orchestrating that which happens only when Heaven is involved in our affairs. We thus, have the privilege of living a life of Faith, where we seek Him, heed His Voice, step outside the boat and watch His Glory manifest, as He comes through for us , every single time.

Even when we are disappointed or disillusioned, He never leaves us nor forsakes us, and promises to use EVERYTHING for our good and His Glory!

Pretty Mighty, I’d say.

And if that’s who HE is, then my friend, that’s who YOU are. A mighty man or woman of valor and virtue. Everything that Jesus modeled for us in his brief visit to the planet, God, by His Spirit, has made a way for us to become. Jesus is the Light of the world, but before He departed, He called us the light of the world. What does that mean, and how does one do it?

I believe to be the salt and light we are called to be in a world that is lost and hurting, we will be effective only to the extent that we have allowed God to forge the character of His Son within us and develop the fruits of The Holy Spirit. This journey will then empower us to demonstrate:

Love in the midst of hate,

Joy in the midst of sorrow,

Peace in the midst of chaos,

Patience in the midst of trials,

Kindness in the midst of hostility,

Goodness in the midst of evil,

Faithfulness in the midst of weakness,

Gentleness in the midst of harshness,

Self control in the midst of temptation.

So, we choose to remain hidden in Him so that when the opportunity arises, we will have it in us to manifest a piece of Heaven here on Earth. We will be the hands and feet of The One who calls out the stars and knows each by name. We will carry the aroma and fragrance of Christ to the world around and about us, and live lives that are truly triumphant in the way God would have it.

My exhortation, as I close, is that as God has hidden the plans and purposes of our lives in Christ, may we seek to know Him more, looking forward to each day as an opportunity to see another dimension of who He is unveiled so that we too, may tap into yet another dimension of who we are in Him.

That’s my hope. That’s my prayer. That’s my one aspiration.

Amen.

Becoming.

“You don’t have to ‘become’ anything. You just have to ‘be.'”

The world we live in lays a lot of emphasis on “becoming.” Becoming something – a star, a celebrity, a diva, a legend. The undue importance attached to positions and titles seems to have created the kind of pressure can crush potential rather than nurture it, and kill passion rather than empower it. This is not what our generation needs to hear.

What our generation needs to hear is the freedom entailed with the process of “becoming.” As God’s very own heart, our process of becoming is very different from what we see plague the world today. The Bible says,

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

It is imperative to note the use of the word, “be.” The inference here is not to become, rather simply, “be.” I believe this is an exhortation to each and every one of us to “be” in Christ – remain in Him and abide in Him. As we do this, faithfully and diligently, day after day, the consistency thereof allows His Spirit to initiate and sustain the process of “becoming.” He begins to transform and conform us to His image, and therein begins the miracle of metamorphosis. Our old nature is replaced with a new one. Our weakness is replaced with a new found strength. Our confidence begins to be rooted in the reality of who we are and whose we are. Our thoughts are replaced with His Truth, our plans are replaced with His Purposes. Our Identity is affirmed, thereby liberating us to yield to the actual process of, “Becoming.”

As we yield to Him and allow Him to make us, mould us, shape us and re-create us; we witness and become witnesses to the miracle of becoming Children of God who through His Spirit, have found it possible to leave the emptiness and the muddiness of the past behind in order to lay hold of all that Christ Jesus laid hold of us for. But the thing that bridges the gap is the golden process of, “Becoming.”

This process will take us through the fire and the furnace. It will test us, refine us, purify us and make us new. The new creation that Christ has promised for us to be. Creations that are not conformed to the pattern of this world, but are transformed by the renewing of their minds. Creations that burn with what His Heart burns for and are consumed with a passion of enriching the world in the unique way that ONLY they can. Creations who understand the weight of The Glory entrusted to them and are committed to carrying it with humility and grace. Creations that are, as The Word says,

“His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

This Truth, once internalized, with evoke but one response: an unconditional surrender to His process of making us higher and better versions of ourselves in and through a relationship with Him. We can do this, friends, because we know and trust the nature and character of Our God. He will never require us to be like someone else. Rather, He delights in our uniqueness. If all we have is two fish and five loaves of bread, He is not intimidated but is able to manifest His Glory within the shards that we have to offer. He converts the water into wine in a way so seamless and smooth that we have no option but to look Heavenwards in absolute awe. He takes us under the shadow of His Mighty wings, till we learn to develop some of our own. And even when we start to fly and eventually soar? We are still doing it within the safety of His gentle embrace.

If THAT is how Our God is, how magnificent a creation do you think He wants to carve out of each and every single one us?

You already are enough, have nothing to prove to anyone but everything to surrender to The Only One who is willing and well able to take you as you are and launch you on the helipad of “becoming” all that He has ordained you to be in order that you may accomplish all that you are called to in this lifetime, accomplishments that are not limited to titles and positions alone, though they inadvertently follow, but accomplishments that simultaneously touch human lives and extend the reach of The Kingdom of God on the planet we call Earth.

Suffice to say, when we are content to “be,” the “becoming” will take care of itself. And as you watch it unfold, I hope and pray that you will not hesitate to point to The One who made it possible for you, in the first place.

Selah.

The Father’s Love

“I don’t need you, I want you.”

As God’s chosen ones, we have the absolute privilege of co-partnering with Him to see the fullness of His purposes burst forth not only in our lives, but also in the lives of those that are connected to us. At times, the work may seem to try everything in our mind, body and soul. We may feel tired, drained, or outright overwhelmed. It was during such a vulnerable moment that He spoke to me,

“I don’t need you. I want you.”

What ensued was a bag of mixed emotions, but an undeniable touch of The Father’s Love. It led to a reckoning that He really does not “need” any one of us to accomplish what he desires to see happen in the Earth. He “wants” us.

We are King’s kids. As such, He wants us to walk in constant fellowship with Him and reign in full freedom. He wants us to cultivate a depth in our relationship with Him that will, time and time again, unravel not only greater dimensions of who He is, but also of who we are, for our Identity is tied to Him, and Him alone. He wants us to experience The Potter’s touch that, in turn, puts us in touch with another reality; a reality that is more real than the ground we stand on, having experienced which, begs but one question:

Can we keep this to ourselves?

I’m guessing not.

The work may seem prolonged at times, and at times, simply impossible. But take to heart what He says,

“With man this is impossible, but not with God. With God, all things are possible.”

As I write, He seems to impress upon the term, “with.” After all, He is Immanuel – God WITH us.

Friends, as we steadfastly labor and toil, we may hit points where we feel it’s a bit too much. At such times, we need to remind ourselves that He is WITH us.

In the pain, He is WITH us. In the mystery, He is WITH us. In the confusion, He is WITH us. In the uncertainty, He is WITH us. In the chaos, He is WITH us.

He loves us way too much to leave us by ourselves. His Promise is true,

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

He is our Constant Companion, a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He knows what He has called us to and what needs to be factored in for the accomplishment thereof. He could do it all on His own, but He chose to “choose” us. He works patiently with us, forging His own image on the inside of us that we may go out into all of the world and be the salt and light that we are called to be. He is a Father who takes us in baby steps towards the fullness of our God-ordained Destiny. He loves us so much that even when we think more highly of ourselves than we ought, He reaches down into the pit we dig up for ourselves and gently whispers,

“I don’t need you. I want you.”

From The Father’s Heart!

Beloved Son/Daughter,

I know it’s not been easy, but I need you to know that you aren’t here by accident. I chose you before the very foundations of the Earth and lovingly formed you before I put you in the womb of your mother’s belly.

You aren’t an accident, but rather The Designer’s Original.

You are a masterpiece, never to be replicated again in the course of history.

You were made on purpose, for a Purpose, that you and ONLY you can fulfil. The unique gifts and talents that I’ve put deep down on the inside of you speak to the High Calling that I’ve placed upon your life.

I know you believe in me, but today, know that I believe in you too.When doubts arise (and they will), I need you to trust in my character as opposed to the temporal reality of fleeting circumstances. And you will see change happen before your very eyes.

But above all else, I want you to know that you are loved, you are called and you are known by the Maker of the Heavens and the Earth, who simply happens to be your Father too. You are precious in my sight, and as valuable at your broken worst as in your most whole self.

You are just as precious on the streets as you are on stage, on the hospital bed as you are on a helipad, on the backside of a desert as you are on the front lines of battle.

You NEVER have to perform to be accepted, for in my eyes, you already are. And this Truth is enough to sustain you through the rejection and ridicule that are an inevitable part of fulfilling your Destiny.

As I hasten to a close, there is much on my heart to say but if I reveal all to you now, then where is the mystery?

And as mystical as your Father is, know that mystery runs in your DNA too, in the very fabric of your being, so much so that each day you arise is simply another opportunity to unravel another layer of the enigma that is YOU.

THAT is what you are. And I know you will live upto the hope of the calling you have received.

Love you forevermore,

Your Father.

👑

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