THE‬ GOD LOVER 08: THE COST (CONTINUED)

As this series draws to a close, I want to also share one out of so many stories of my personal experience as a God lover. I pray it blesses and challenges us.

On July 15th 2014, we were robbed by some Fraudsters in the company where I was working. It was a terrible experience for me personally for a number of reasons:

*It was the eve of my birthday
*I had poured out my heart in prayer for the company, especially regarding robbery incidents.
*I was chiefly responsible for the ease of the robbery.

That period was a very difficult period for me. My birthday celebration plans had been cut short, and a number of other plans that were adversely affected by that incident.

On the Sunday of that week, I went to church and God demanded I give him the last N7,000 I had in my account that period. This was the first time I was experiencing God demanding for my last. Meanwhile, I had planned to use that money to at least pay transport to work and feed the much I can. But alas, God was asking me to give it to Him! I battled with everything within me from that Sunday to the Thursday I was to drop my sacrifice on the altar. Finally, I gave it all.

It was a particularly rough month for me as I had to cut out the little luxury I enjoyed as a salary earner. How God saw me through that month and the following month that I had to go home with half pay is still a miracle to me. If you stay in Port Harcourt, you will understand what I am talking about. It will interest you to know that from that time till date, I have not borrowed money because I totally do not have money. At the end of that month, my boss officially gave me a pay raise. That is what God can do for those who love Him.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”. Rom. 8:28 (NIV).

I know that as you give your all in love to God, He will show you a dimension of His love you have not experienced before.

Stay blessed.

© TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES

THE‬ GOD LOVER 07: THE COST

“For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor. And they scolded her.” Mark 14:5 (ESV).

As I still did a deeper research on this event, I discovered that the oil this woman poured on Jesus was the most expensive oil in the world at the time. Outside the fact that it was made from spikenard, some of its ingredients came from the Himalayas. All these factors contributed in making it a very expensive oil.

In that occasion that day, there were professional business analyst and evaluators. They quickly got to work and valued the oil at 300 denarii. In that era, this was enough to pay a labourer for one year. This was how expensive this oil was. The expensive value of this oil makes it strictly reserved for royals.

As I pondered on this, I imagined this woman using all her life savings to buy this expensive oil. After spending so much in purchasing this oil, she just poured it on Jesus all at once. You might think that it was a crazy thing to do, its alright. This woman epitomized an exemplary expression of love that we must thoroughly learn from.

My dear, if you say you love God, it must cost you something. You cannot claim to love God and still hold back things from him. The cost of your love can be money, time, friends, and habits, even family. Can God place a demand on very sensitive and most cherished things in your life and be sure to have it? What is God demanding from you? Even as I write this, I am still asking myself these pertinent questions. As a God lover, give it all to him, you will be glad you did. I pray God will help us all, in Jesus name. Amen!

Stay blessed.

© TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES

THE‬ GOD LOVER 06: BREAKING AND POURING (FINAL PART)

“And while He was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head” Mark 14:3 (ESV).

I had to quote that scripture again to keep us abreast of our foundation in this series. In the last episode, I talked about the gesture of breaking the alabaster flask and the significance to us as God lovers. I believe by now, you have broken your heart in love for God and given him the pieces to fix. Let us move ahead to the second gesture.

INSTEAD OF SPRINKLING, SHE POURED: Another stunner! There is a question I have never ceased asking myself; what was this woman thinking? Well, whatever she was thinking is irrelevant. All that matters is that she went all out in her expression of love for Jesus.

By pouring, she released all the content of the broken alabaster flask on Jesus. She gave it all! She did not hold back. She used the best she had to show her love.

To be a God lover, you have to give him everything and withhold nothing from Him. I like to say that loving God in part is as dangerous as not loving Him at all. If you must love God, you must love Him in totality and with everything. “Jesus replied, ‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind'”. Matt. 22:37 (NLT). Loving God demands your all, without reservations.

“There were some who said to themselves indignantly, ‘why was the ointment wasted like that?'”. Mark. 14:4 (ESV).

It was obvious that the people present saw this woman as someone with temporal insanity. Of course, they knew the worth of the oil she was pouring like that. But it was only this woman and God that knew what was going on.

In expressing your love for God, you are bound to look stupid in the eyes of men. Never mind, it is an affair between you and your God. If only they know how much you love Him, maybe they will understand. People always see God lovers as taking Gods things too far or doing it too much. Well, I owe nobody any apology for how I express my love for God knowing He is pleased with it. When they say you are doing too much, do much more.

Have you ever thought of it that this woman could have been an uninvited guest? It could be that nobody gave her a chance. But she was not going to be deterred by that. You could call her a gate crasher, that’s fine. But she had to find her way in and show her love to Jesus.

I like to say that you do not need to wait for when it is convenient to express your love for God, do it anytime and every time. You do not need a special occasion to show God how much you love him. With everything you have, show God all the love you can.

Stay blessed.

© TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES

THE‬ GOD LOVER 05: BREAKING AND POURING (CONTINUED)

Remember from the last episode, I said this woman did something that stunned everyone, including Jesus. I was stunned too in the course of studying this event. I want to divide this woman’s action here into two gestures:

INSTEAD OF OPENING, SHE BROKE THE FLASK: From my explanation of the alabaster flask, we now know that it is not an ordinary flask you just break and replace. That flask cost a fortune. I was hoping the woman will just open the flask, but no, she broke it!

By breaking the flask, she was not expecting to have it back. It is okay to open up your heart to God, but that will still put you in charge. You can decide to close it again. Beyond that, God is seeking for broken hearts. “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” Psalm 51:17 (NLT).
The day your heart is broken in love for God, you give Him licence to take it because it no longer belongs to you.

You need to break that heart that is full of strife, jealousy, bitterness, envy and their likes. That will be the time God will take it, mend it and give you a heart like His; that can love at all times.

I will deal with the other gesture in the next episode. I feel strongly that someone needs to digest this and deal with some pertinent issues of the heart. I believe strongly that as you break your heart in love, God will take it and fix it.

Stay blessed.

© TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES

THE‬ GOD LOVER 04: BREAKING AND POURING

In the East, it is a tradition to sprinkle few drops of oil on the head of guest(s) to an occasion. This is to show hospitality and love to the guest(s). In the story we are considering, Jesus was a guest at the feast organized by Simon. It was demanded by tradition that Simon sprinkles oil on the head of Jesus to show hospitality. For whatever reason, he did not.

Contrary to what tradition demanded, this woman did something that stunned everyone present, including Jesus. She broke the alabaster flask and poured all the oil contained in it on Jesus head. This was beyond a show of hospitality, there was something more.

I will want you to chew this a bit and in the next episode, I will expound on this woman’s action and what our response should be.

THE CHEWING PROCESS:
As you chew and await the next episode, I will like to involve you a bit. I will love you to share what you think of this woman’s actions. You are free to comment on any platform you are receiving this.

Stay blessed.

© TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES

THE‬ GOD LOVER 03: OINTMENT OF PURE NARD (CONTINUED)

In the last episode, we looked at one of the three qualities of our love for God. We will look at the remaining two in this episode.

OUR LOVE MUST BE PERENNIAL: I was not particularly a good student of Agricultural Science, but at least I can remember what I was taught about plants being perennial. When a plant is perennial, it means it can be present at all seasons of the year. A more interesting definition is persisting for several years usually with new herbaceous growth. This means that our love for God has to be persistent and enduring.

God’s love is unfailing (Psalm 6:4). The love God has for us is an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3), and we have to reciprocate it. Our love for God must stand the test of time. This forms the basis of a lasting relationship with God.

OUR LOVE MUST BE SWEET SMELLING: This has to do with how God feels when we express our love for him. A lot of people do things with the intention of showing how much they love God but in the end, God does not regard it. I will show us to scenarios from the scriptures that can help buttress the point I want to make:

Scenario 1: “Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priests servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servants name was Malchus). Jesus commanded Peter, Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” John 18:10-11 (NIV).

It was evident here that Peter did what he did out of love for Jesus. But his act of love was contrary to the way God desired the events to play out, hence Jesus rebuked him. You can see that even though his actions were borne out of love, it had to align with the will of God for it to be acceptable. Your act of love for God can only be worthwhile when it is in line with the will of God.

Scenario 2: “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my lambs”. John 21:15 (ESV).

Jesus, seeing how eager Peter was to demonstrate his love for Him, he showed Peter how to express love in line with the will of God. It is not enough for you to desire to express your love for God, you have to allow God show you how to do it.

REFLECTIONS:
Look at your life in the past few weeks. How much of your actions has really depicted the acceptable way of showing how much you love God?

Stay blessed.

© TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES

THE‬ GOD LOVER 02: OINTMENT OF PURE NARD

King James Version translated it as ointment of spikenard. Spikenard is a tall, perennial and sweet smelling plant. Perfumes made from spikenard have a long lasting and sweet smelling fragrance. This perfume is a very precious perfume.

From the definition of spikenard above, I want point out three words that I have decided to use to qualify our love for God. They are tall, perennial and sweet smelling.

OUR LOVE MUST BE TALL: The love we have for God must be greater and higher than the love we have for any other person or thing.
“One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the Law of Moses?. Jesus replied, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” Matt. 22:35-38 (NLT).

God is not saying we should not have love for any other person or thing, but He commands us to love him above all else. God must be given the highest priority in your scale of preference if you must be a God lover. I like to say that whatever you love more than God stands taller than God in your life. If you love God, lift him above everything in your life. Let every other thing be secondary and God be primary.

I will talk about the remaining qualities in the next episode.

REFLECTIONS:

At the end of today, look back at your activities and point out how much of God was involved in your activities today. Do this for the next one week. You can share your experience (that’s if you’ll to) with me on WhatsApp (08063566730) or Facebook (Ibeh Uche Sam) or e-mail (transformingwordseries@gmail.com).

Stay blessed.

© TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES

THE‬ GOD LOVER 01: THE ALABASTER FLASK

The story of this woman has been preached and taught from different angles to drive home different messages. One of the most popular of these message is typifying it to how our worship of God should be like. But I am taking another angle of this story to show us the depth of the expression of our love for God, which also has a lot to do with our worship. I like to say that a God lover is a worshipper.

The first question I asked myself was: why did this woman choose the alabaster flask? I did a brief study on this and I was thrilled at what I found out.

This flask as we know was made of alabaster. Alabaster is a soft white stone like marble in appearance. It is used in preserving ornaments. The flask is specially used in storing costly ointments.

I drew two analogies from this:

1. The expression of this woman’s love for Jesus had to come from something very special. The source of our expression of love for God must come from a pure, soft and dedicated heart. You cannot profess your love for God if your heart is far from him.

“Then the Lord said, Because this people draw near with their words and honour me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from me, and their reverence for me consists of tradition learned by rote” Isa. 29:13 (NASB).

“He replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” Mark 7:6 (NIV).

2. The alabaster flask is always kept safe because it contained something very special. It is important to understand that your heart is very delicate because it is the source of your love for God. You need to guard it jealously and be careful the things you allow access to it.

“Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it” Prov. 4:23 (GWT).

REFLECTIONS:
Do you really love God? Well whatever your answer is, you may need to revisit this question at the end of this series.

Stay blessed.

©TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES

THE‬ GOD LOVER (PROLOGUE)

Mark 14:3-9

3. And while He was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.
4. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, why was the ointment wasted like that?
5. For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor. And they scolded her.
6. But Jesus said, Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
7. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.
8. She has done what she could, she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
9. And truly, I say to you wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she had done will be told in memory of her. (ESV).

When I got born again, one of the things that I always thought about was how to show God how much I love Him. I do not know if you are like me? Well a brief study on the scripture above helped me a lot and I want to share some of the things God opened my eyes to with you. In this all new love series, I will basically be looking at expressions of our love to God.

I am going to make it available on some of the groups I have access to on WhatsApp and Facebook. Should you not happen to share a mutual group with me and desire to share in the blessings of this series, type SEND TO ME and send to my private chat on WhatsApp (08063566730) or Facebook (Ibeh Uche Sam).

Brace yourself, tighten your seat belts and tie up your laces. It is going to be an exhilarating journey.

I also want to say that I’m glad you made it to July. I pray that God will perfect all that he has started doing in your life this year in this second half of the year.

Stay blessed.

© TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES

LEADERSHIP‬ TONIC (THE EPILOGUE)

‪I want to say it has been an incredible journey through some aspects of leadership. As I round up the leadership tonic series, I want to share some sound bites from our journey. 1. A good leader is a man who has discovered his strengths and weaknesses, come to terms with them, and is not limited by the weaknesses nor arrogant with the strengths. 2. A leader’s mistake can rob an entire generation and more of their destinies. 3. Always have in mind that someone is looking up to you and you cannot afford to disappoint them. 4. Do not always crave to dish out what you have because you are a leader, strive to learn more. 5. Do not live like a slave when you have a royal blood running in your veins. 6. Every humble man has worked on his pride over time that he can exhibit humility like he was born with it. 7. For every promise you fail to keep, you gradually lose reliability and credibility as a leader. 8. Guide your enthusiasm with wisdom and you will make a very successful leader. 9. Humble leaders submit to good advice, counsel and correction. If you are the kind of leader that always wants things to flow your way, then you have pride to deal with. 10. If you have a good charisma without a good character, you will not be able to make a good leader. 11. If you must be a successful leader, you must ask questions. 12. If you must live out your potentials and become the leader you were designed to be, you have to DISCIPLINED! 13. If you must succeed as a leader, you must agree within yourself to do all that is required for a successful leadership. 14. In humility, you receive grace to turn your weaknesses to strengths. 15. It is dishonest to claim absolute honesty. 16. It is in the place of vision that you will see your purpose. 17. It is not enough to make positive declarations about your future, it is not enough to have loads of prophecy over your life, and it is not enough to have big dreams when you are not committed to ensuring they happen. 18. It takes humility to know that you cannot always be right. 19. Leaders do not live for now, they live for the future through vision. 20. Leaders see tomorrow from today. 21. Leadership gives you the opportunity to discover things others know that you do not know and to learn from them. 22. Let people follow you, not because they are left with no other options, but because you are worth following. 23. Let people follow you, not because you have exerted a forceful control over them, but because you have shown examples of good leadership. 24. Nobody cares about why you did not keep the promise, the fact that you did not do as you promised is what matters. 25. Reliability is so important because as a leader, the only collateral that the people have is the promise that you will lead them well. 26. Succeeding as a leader is a decision you make and not something that happens by chance. 27. The amount of success you record in leadership is determined by how big your vision is. 28. The consciousness of who you are should affect the way you live your life; your dressing, talking, eating, sleeping, and response to issues. 29. The more reliable you become, the more God can commit bigger leadership responsibility to you. 30. Treat everyone as important; rich or poor, older or younger, male or female. 31. Your success as a leader is a function of the amount of responsibility you are willing to take. 32. Vision shows you where you are going, but commitment takes you there. 33. What makes a good leader is not the absence of mistakes, but the ability to learn and move on. 34. What takes you from one point in life to another is your commitment to make it happen. 35. What your character shows on the outside as charisma is a result of the level of discipline used to fine-tune the output. 36. You are destined to lead! Think it! Act it! Live it! 37. You can have great ideas and wonderful potentials that will die with you if you do not commit yourself to making something substantial out of them. 38. You can only go as far as your passion carries you. 39. You have to do all that you can to make good your promise, even if it will hurt you so badly. 40. Your ability to place your priorities right will help you focus on what you need to achieve as a leader. 41. Your enthusiasm as a leader is what creates the positive atmosphere and energy for great achievements in leadership. 42. Your reliability as a leader is tied to your ability to keep any promise made. At this point, I take a bow. Hope you enjoyed this series? I’ll be expecting your comments on WhatsApp (08063566730) or e-mail: transformingwordseries@gmail.com. Stay blessed. © TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES