Category: Blog post

Why host Him?

Published on by thestillsmallvoicesaysLeave a comment

“Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.”

— Luke 10:38 (NKJV)

The story of Martha and Mary is one of my favourite Bible stories because there is so much to learn from it.

In the story, Jesus visits the home of two sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha is busy with the work of hospitality—preparing and serving—and becomes frustrated that Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to His teaching instead of helping out. Martha asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her.

Jesus gently responds that Martha about being worried and distracted by many things, while Mary has chosen a better option which is listening to Him and that this choice will not be taken away from her.

Have you ever wondered why Martha actually invited Jesus into her house?

The answer may not be as obvious as it seems.

We can however infer from her actions in the passage that it wasn’t primarily to listen to the teaching of the word of God from Jesus. Perhaps she liked the prestige of having a mighty Man of God in her home. Perhaps her name would have been on the lips of the people of Bethany. Everyone would have praised her for “hosting the great Rabbi, Jesus” in her beautiful home.

Why do I say this? Because she placed more priority on serving rather than on fellowship with Jesus.

It’s so easy to fall into the same trap as Martha.

When last did you do a heart check?

Ask yourself, “Why do I actually go to church?”

The answer may seem obvious—until you look deeply into your heart.

If we are not careful, we can seek to be around Jesus, but not truly with Him. Martha was around Jesus, but Mary was with Him.

Many Christians like the “Christian” label and even benefit from it, yet have no real interest in Christ Himself.

Our priority should be in our fellowship with Christ and learning at His feet.

When we come to God—whether in our personal time with Him or in the place of corporate fellowship—our focus should be on Jesus Christ, while all other activities take second place.

Locked out?

Published on by thestillsmallvoicesays1 Comment

God has a unique purpose for each and every individual. A beautiful purpose!

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11 [KJV]

In each and every one of us, God had placed certain gifts and talents. He has allowed us to have various experiences and qualifications. Which by His grace and wisdom, He has purposed to reveal a beautiful life story.

For some reason, I cannot explain, I am very familiar with locking myself out of my room. Leaving my key inside my room and jamming the door. For those who have never experienced it, it is a very frustrating experience.There is nothing more annoying than not being able to get into your own house or room. Due to these predicaments, I once found myself watching a video on how to pick a lock (It’s okay you can laugh) and the person explained that each key is made with a unique pattern to fit the lock. There is a unique interaction between a key and a lock. This is when you try another key it will not work no matter how similar the pattern is.

Drawing from that illustration, there is a unique combination of gifts, talents and characteristics that propels us into our destiny. However, we often get distracted because we see how somebody else is using their own gifts and talents and we put ourselves under the pressure of using our own in the same way. But this is not meant to be so.

Each of us has a specific call on our lives, if we were all meant to be doing the same thing, what a boring world this would be!

Fulfilling potential isn’t the same as fulfilling the purpose for our lives. One could fulfil potential (invest sufficiently in ones’ gifts, traits and talents) and still be very unsatisfied. Believe it or not. Ever wondered why certain people who appear to be successful in the eye of the world suddenly commit suicide?

There is a unique purpose for everyone and it is not always as obvious as we think. Not every funny person is made to be a comedian and not every person with a beautiful voice is destined to be a musician. We need to realise this so that we don’t get frustrated when we seem to be putting all our resources into developing a certain talent and not bearing fruit.

Going back to my illustration about locks and keys, this can be likened to trying to open a lock with the wrong key.

But who knows the key better than the locksmith who made the key or the landlord who owns the house? Well, I guess its double joy for you if the locksmith is your Landlord.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. Psalm 24:1

So here lies the huge task before us, to determine how and when to use the things that God has placed in us. The good news is God doesn’t demand such an impossible task of us. This is why He has given us the Holy Spirit who teaches us all things. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and knows the Mind of the Father concerning our purpose and destiny. Since we know someone who already knows the way, all we need to do is follow!

If you don’t believe me, let’s look at 2 Corinthians 2:10-12

 “But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.” 2 Corinthians 2:10-12

See! I always like to bring you good news

Rather than going about our lives in a trial and error fashion, making costly mistakes and getting frustrated. Why don’t we seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit? This beautiful thing about walking with Lord is that He will not only show the goal, if you allow him He will hold your hands and go with you on the journey.

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

Maybe you are reading this post and you feel figuratively “locked out” and you are tired of making failed attempts at figuring out the reason why you are on this planet. Perhaps you aren’t even failing, but you want to be sure that you don’t get to the end of the road and ask, “was it all worth it?”

I want to encourage you today to invite the Holy Spirit to be your senior partner. He is on the inside of every believer.

If you are reading this, however, and all of this sounds nice but you haven’t yet met with Jesus. You can say the prayer here and just like that you are a member of the family and have access to all the amazing wonders God has in store for you.

Thank you very much for reading. God bless you!

Written by:

Ayowade Adeleye (through the revelation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.)