Nkowee

Day 10 Meditation (Psalm 129). Can you think of times in your life when God has delivered you from affliction? Or perhaps from “the cords of the wicked”? How have you dealt with the bitterness that comes from oppression? Have you been able to forgive? If not, what would it take to enable you to forgive your enemies and offer them a blessing? Times when God has delivered me from affliction / cords of the wicked - Plenty! Even from within the family. How I have dealt with the bitterness that comes from oppression? - Withdrawal. Make serious adjustments. Pray about it most times. Have I been able to forgive? - Eventually, yes. To the point that I do not feel a shift when the remembrance of it drops in my thought process. It's important - in order to be free from baggage I don't need. Better to forgive them. Be at peace with myself and with God. What would it take to offer my enemies a blessing? - I could pray for them. I do include them in my prayers. Sometimes. From a distance. They don't have to know about that. And I don't have to be in an up, close and personal relationship with them, either. But if I passed them on the street, I could offer a greeting. Even a smile or handshake. Or something. No hard feelings, though. No anger. No evil thoughts of revenge or anything like that. But definitely no access to my inner circle/personal space. There will always be people who are vexations to ones spirit. And since we can't hate them, better to keep it simple. From a distance!

To fear the Lord is to have a healthy respect for God and all that He stands for. God has kept me throughout the covid-19 experience [among several other experiences] happening around the world. Initially, I thought the world was ending, with the total and simultaneous global lockdown! But some of us are still alive. It's like a wake-up call of what could possibly happen. I mean, what if the world did end? Where would we be now? I need to get my act together! I believe remaining struggles are there to help mold me in preparation for assignments that are ahead. What doesn't kill me, only makes me stronger... Faith results in prosperity. The Word says so. Even though it may not appear in ways we expect at first, in the end, it only makes us better than we were. Prosperity has the ability to increase us and add value, even in ways we do not expect. When we endure the battle on the field, we become the better for it. Though it may not appear to be so at the start.

All our efforts are futile in the end if we do not partner with God. We have to trust Him to partner with Him. He has blessed us with whatever skills or gifts we may have, but if the Lord's hand is not in whatever we do, it becomes a lot of stress, with no guarantees that we will end up where we planned. There has to be physical manifestation of what it is we are believing. We cant just wish things into existence; expecting manna to fall from the sky through our roof tops and into our houses! We have to combine the act of trusting in God, with physical conscious moves in that direction, for results to happen. We are heirs of the Lord and children are our heritage. The fruit of the womb is God's reward. Whether they come by birth or adoption, they are gifts. And even though some may not have children yet, children are just one of the ways we are blessed. There are so many other ways that God blesses us. Some people tend to think children are a burden initially, but they are really blessings to us; our strength when we age. We love them even when they make mistakes. And that's the same way God feels about us.

I went to make enquiries concerning admissions at a state university. The street in front of the school was a one way street. As I made to leave, I was looking in the direction of oncoming traffic. When it was clear, I stepped on to the street to cross to the other side of the road, not realizing a car was driving against traffic heading in my direction from behind. As I stepped on to the street, I hit something that felt like a hard invisible surface, that stopped me in my tracks - like walking into a transparent glass door. Then a strong force pushed me backwards in the direction I was coming from. The second I was in the clear, a red car filled with people sped past! If I had not stepped back, that car would have cleared me off the road! It was at a bus stop, so the place was a bit crowded. I stood still for a while, but was very shaken. I looked around for I-don't-know-what. Nobody seemed to have noticed anything amiss. I kept staring in front of me to see if I could make out the trace of some invisible surface or something. But, nothing! That's when it dawned on me that life is actually deep; and surely it must have been my guardian angle that had just saved me from being hit. Possibly from death! It's one of my close shave experiences I still think about to this day... It just had to have been God's mercy! Relatives who display entitlement mentality without contributing to the relationship can really get under one's skin. Sometimes it's a struggle to overlook certain things. But we try.

In what ways does stress pull us away from God? This happens when the issue is constantly on my mind. Sometimes I even forget to pray about it; but I could fret, sulk and anything else, aside taking it to God in prayer. In what ways does stress draw us closer to God? Realizing that what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. It's really not about anything we could possibly do because it is not by might or by power; it is about what God has already done regarding the issue. We just have to trust in His word. And He says all things work together for good for those who love Him. If we can find something in His word that relates to our issues and just hold on to that confession and make it ours, no matter what, He says if we put our trust in Him we won't be disappointed. But sometimes it's easier said than done. What are you asking Him to do about your stresses? I'm asking Him to help me remember He is the first one I should go to and talk to about any situation. Because there's no need talking to someone who can't help you. If a blind man leads another blind man, they'll both fall into the gutter!