Life and death

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. 
Proverbs 18:21 NIV

Someone you know is dead.  He is in heaven.  She is in hell. 
Words heard, accepted or rejected, determined which place they ended up after they died. 

Perhaps words you spoke. 

Our words birth or kill. 

Sometimes I think about people I know that are dead. 

I wonder what I said that brought them closer to or farther from God. 

I wonder about the impact I had on their lives by my words, or my lack of words. 

I wonder what impact I'm having on you.

What if my words are the last ones you will read? 

If so, I want you to know that God made you.

You owe your life to Him.

If you are not living for Him as you read, stop reading and give your life to Him right now.

If you are living for God as you read, stop reading, and rededicate your life to Him right now.

I'll do it with you....

"God, you made me.  I am yours.  I live for you and you alone.  I give my life to you."

We did it. 

We are ready to live, because we are ready to die, even if it's today.

Lessons from Baymax about Purpose

Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion.

Baymax knew who he was and what his purpose was:

• Who was he?  Baymax

• What was he?  A personal healthcare companion.

From his introduction to any person he served, Baymax focused on his purpose, and never lost this focus. We'll look at Baymax's persistent focus on his purpose by his quotes from the movie. 

Flying makes me a better care provider

Baymax measured everything he did by his purpose.  If it fit his purpose, he did it.  If it did not, he resisted it, as we will see.

I am programmed to assess everyone's health care needs.

Baymax knew he was programmed and he knew his programmer:  Tadashi.  He always acted in agreement with his programming, and thus with his programmer.

I am a robot. I cannot be offended.

This reminds me of of Jesus saying, “I do not receive honor from men.”  Why did Jesus say this?  Because He came to receive honor from God, not men.  Therefore, he did not receive honor (or dishonor) from men.  In the same way, Baymax’s programming did not make room for being personally offended because he did not exist for himself.

My programming prevents me from injuring a human being.

Hiro, Tadashi’s little brother and the present owner of Baymax, commanded Baymax to destroy Tadashi's murderer.  But Baymax resisted according to his programming. He would not and could not go against his programming, and thus he could not obey a command that contradicted who he was.

Are you satisfied with your care? … I cannot deactivate until you say, “I am satisfied with my care."

Baymax sought direct and clear objective feedback from the one he served as to whether he was achieving the goal of his purpose. He couldn’t rest until the one he served as a healthcare companion affirmed the fulfillment of his purpose: personal health care.  He couldn’t rest or deactivate,  which is a robot’s version of dying.

Like Baymax, we should know who we are according to our Creator, and we should only be and do what we were created to be and do.  We should measure everything by our Creator’s purpose for us.  This will give power to who we are and what we do.

How to wait for God's power in your life (Part 1)

Jesus, the Son of God, born of a virgin by the power of the Spirit, couldn't do anything until He received God's power.  He had to wait.  So do I.  So do you.


Jesus' followers, who spent three years with him, seeing Him perform miracles, rise from the dead, and ascend into heaven, couldn't do anything until they received God's power.  They had to wait. 
So do I.  So do you.


If God in the flesh had to wait for God's power before He began God's work, so do I, and so do you.
If Jesus' followers, who only had to tell what they had seen with their own eyes, had to wait for God's power to simply tell what they had seen, so do I, and so do you.


This is how you wait for God's power in your life.


First, waiting implies not only time, but a specific amount of time.  It's not indefinite by any means.  And if it's specific or definite, then you have to know how long to wait before you do God's work for you.  Jesus had to wait until He was 30, which made sense in His day because ministers couldn't begin ministry until they were 30.  Jesus' followers were commanded to wait "not many days from now," which ended up being 10 days.  Jesus didn't say "10 days from now," but the followers knew that the Jewish festival of Pentecost was exactly 10 days from the day Jesus ascended into heaven.  Ten days is "not many days," even for us. 


If your boss told you he or she would give you a raise in 10 days, that wouldn't seem like many days.  Or if he or she said, "I'll give you a raise not many days from now," you'd expect a raise soon.  Within a week, or two at the most.  But if your boss wanted you to do a certain job that required a specific amount of money or resources, and told you to wait until you received those resources, you'd have to know what the resources were and you'd have to wait until you received them.  But how long?  Until the time came for the job to begin. 


Keyword:  Job.


(Click here for part 2.)

How to have an epiphany today (Discover the meaning of your life)

To change your life, change your mind.  See in such a new way that it changes how you think, speak, and act from that moment on.  Have a sudden answer to your two most crucial life questions:

1. What is the real purpose of your life in this world? 
2. What real difference do you make by simply being alive?

These two questions can't go unanswered for you.  If they do, why should you bother doing anything at all?  If your absence makes no difference, if your presence possesses no significance, if no one notices when you are not around, then how can you really and truly be happy?

 

Experience an epiphany. Do these three things.

 

1. Ask.
2. Seek.
3. Knock.

 

Jesus, the light of the world, the light and life of every man and woman, gives these three keys to experiencing a revelation, an epiphany. This is the promise of Jesus, the son of God:

 

Ask, and it will be given to you.  Seek, and you will find.  Knock, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives.  Everyone who seeks finds.  Everyone who knocks, the door is opened.

 

What is your most crucial life question?

• Ask it. 
• Now seek with everything in you to find the answer.  The question has to be a matter of life and death for you, something you really want to know, an answer you feel you can't live without.  If it is answered, your life matters.  If it goes unanswered, you might as well have never been born.
• Try to open every door to every possible answer to this question.  Try to answer the question yourself to the very best of your ability at every given opportunity. 

In this process of asking, seeking, and knocking, you will experience a sudden answer to the question.  A revelation.  An epiphany.  Give God the glory.  You know the answer didn't come from you, because when you tried your best to answer the question, you couldn't.

 

Tell me about your epiphany.
I look forward to hearing from you.
(click HERE for part 2)

What It Means To Be CALLED (Part 2)

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine."  Isaiah 43:1b

To be called is to be summoned, chosen, and empowered for a specific task that only you can do.  The key word to focus on is SPECIFIC.

Only you can be what you are called to be, and do what you are called to do. 

This is how you know your calling.

 

There was only one Noah, and only he could build the ark.

There was only one Abraham, and only he could have Isaac.

There was only one Sarah, and only she could mother Isaac.

 

One Moses.

One Joshua.

One you.

 

In fact, you can imagine your calling as the literal calling of your name, what you are literally "called." Your name is your calling, the meaning of your name and the reputation of your name.  We see this  consistently with God, who gave and changed names.  We see it from the beginning of his summoning or callings of created things.  He named all of creation.  He named the man. The man named woman, and the first woman.  Each name was a calling.

 

God changed Abram's name to Abraham, and Sarai's name to Sarah.

God gave the name Isaac to the child of promise, and the name Israel to Jacob.

Each name was a calling. 

 

The names of John the Baptist and the name of Jesus were their callings from God.

 

It's the same with you.

You are called by name, by your specific name. 

Only you are you, and only you can be you.

 

To know and experience your callings in life, all that is necessary is to see what you alone are, and what you alone can do.  If you agree, pray with me:

 

"God, my Creator, I honor You in the name of Jesus, my Lord and Savior.  Thank you for making me.  Thank You for saving me.  Thank You for indwelling me by Your Spirit. You knit me together in my mother's womb and created my inmost being.  I am Yours.  You are mine.  We are one.  I dedicate my life to fulfilling my calling, to fulfill the purpose for which You made me.  Only I can be me.  Only I can do what You made me to do.  Thank you.  Amen."

 

Now look into your life and see the unique places you hold in relationships to others.  For example, I only am the husband of my wife and the father of my children.  These are my callings.  I alone, as Olatunde, son of God, am writing to you right now what the Spirit gives me, and is giving me alone.  There is no other Olatunde in all of creation writing this blog that you are reading. 

 

In the same way, there are things that only you are doing and can do.  These things are obvious.  These things are what you are called to do.  Do them for God's glory and fulfill your destiny.

 

What It Means to Be CALLED (Part 1)

To be called means you are summoned, chosen, and empowered to do a specific task assigned only to you. 

• God called Noah to build the ark.
• He called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be the nation that would bless all nations.
• He called Joseph to rule in Egypt.
• He called Moses to deliver Israel.
• An example of being called in our day would look like this.

John is a doctor, a surgeon.  One day the head of the surgeons yells, "John, come to my office."
--That yell, that call to the head surgeon's office, is John's summon.

John goes to the head surgeon's office.

"Have a seat John.  We have 10 capable surgeons in this hospital, but your focus and discipline stand out to me.  So I'm choosing to send you to a special medical operations camp in Washington by order of the President.  You will be assigned to troops who return from Afghanistan who are in need of special surgical attention. Do you accept this commission?"

"Very much sir.  Thank you," John replies.

John was summoned, chosen by the head surgeon, and empowered for a specific mission. He was called for a specific task.

This is what it is like to be called.

You are also called and experiencing being called even as you read. 
How do I know?

Your very existence is a call from God.
By creation you are summoned, chosen, and empowered to be you, an assignment only you can fulfill, as it is written,

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb."  Psalms 139:13

Knitting is a very intimate and intricate act.  When God made you in your mother's womb, it took time and attention.  This is your summons.  You were chosen to be God's creation.  You were empowered by the God who knit you together in your mother's womb and created your inmost being, your unique personality and abilities.

Your very first and foremost call is to simply be what God mad you to be today. 

Here are two ways to experience your calling:
1. Commit right now to be completely and utterly honesty.  Don't let a word come out of your mouth that doesn't reflect the absolute truth as you know it.
2. Commit to doing only what you are very good at. Only use the talents you know you have.

If you do these two things, you will experience how God knit you together in your mother's womb and created your inmost being. 

You will experience what it means to be called.

But there is more.  Stay tuned for part 2.

Your Greatest Connection to God

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." Revelation 4:11

When a creature desires nothing more nor less than to be what it was created to be,

there is no greater connection between the Creator and His creation.

How could there be?

Could the creature create itself by it's own will?
Could the creation come up with a purpose that is greater than the purpose of it's Creator?

God the Creator had something in His imagination for each of His creations.  For you.  When He made you, even before He made you, He had something in mind.  An idea. A feeling He wanted to express.  A purpose. 

So He makes you.
You wake up.
You are conscious.
You look at each other.
Your one desire is to please Him, to be what He had in mind.

Is there a greater connection between Creator and creation at this moment?
Is there a greater agreement between them? 

Is there anything you want more than to simply be what God made you to be, or to simply do what God made you to do?

You have this guarantee:  If you want this, so does God.  And it will happen.

This is your greatest connection to God.


 

Why Knowing Your Purpose Makes You INVINCIBLE

"Moses removed Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain."  Numbers 20:28

You cannot die until you've fulfilled God's purpose for you.  Now if you could care less about fulfilling God's purpose, and you live carelessly and recklessly, then you are choosing a random and meaningless life.  You could die at any time and for any reason.  But I'm not talking to the careless and random.  I'm talking to you, someone who wants to fulfill God's purpose for your life.

What is your purpose?
If you know it, then you know you can't die until you fulfill it.

The scriptures show me three examples of your purpose making you invincible, three men who didn't, and thus couldn't, die until they fulfilled their God given purpose.

AARON THE HIGH PRIEST
Moses and Aaron dishonored and disobeyed God, and God forbid them both to enter the promised land as a result.  Moses was commanded to remove Aaron's priestly garments.  Upon their removal, Aaron died.  Do you see that Aaron's purpose determined his death?  That once his priestly garments, given to him in holiness of purpose, were removed by the command of God, he died?  Now Aaron died because of his disobedience in connection to his priestly purpose.  But you can't separate his death from his purpose.

JOHN THE BAPTIST
John knew who he was and who he was not.  He was not the Messiah, but "the voice of him crying in the wilderness:  prepare the way of the Lord."  John knew that Christ "must increase," while he "must decrease."  Herodias, the one ultimately responsible for John's beheading, murderously hated John long before he was imprisoned.  She wanted him dead long before her opportunity.  But like the Lord Jesus, our third example, John could not die by her desire because John's time had not yet come.

JESUS THE SAVIOR
As I showed in this blog, Jesus evaded or escaped at least four attempts on His life because "his hour had not yet come."  Jesus knew "his hour," his purpose, the way and reason of his death.  We should know ours.  We should know why God put us on earth, and what He wants us to accomplish before we die. In fact, we should even know the kind of death by which we will glorify Him, and accept nothing less than that kind of death.  Jesus didn't accept less.  He didn't come to be stoned or thrown off a cliff.  He came to die a vey specific kind of death for a very specific reason:  His mission--our salvation.  To submit to any other death would have been sin for him and hell for us.  But Jesus' purpose made Him invincible to every attack on His life.

Why does knowing your purpose make you invincible?
Because God Himself is invested in you fulfilling it.
It's His purpose for you, and His breath in your nostrils.
The only one that can take purpose and life from you is you, if you carelessly choose to.