Remember: God Is Close

I’ve been reminded of this for a while now. That our GOD, our Abba-Father does hear (Heb. 5:7). For me, it is critical (life-saving) to think about it and remember this truth because I am writing. And when I say “writing” I mean it is an essential part of my work and in a way an extension of myself. Unfortunately, it has been almost impossible to write. I am going through yet another frustrating inconvenience with my phone and I am fighting the emotional Armageddon that all those hours trying to set-up the (new) phone so that I can hit-the-ground-running for Tuesday (Sept. 3) morning was, is a total waste. I am trying not to start singing my sad-song about my life being sooo hard and nothing ever seems to go my way. But I won’t deny that I can taste and smell that the temptation is right here, there. I mean the reality, right now, even after another hard-reset (total wipe-out of info) of the phone, is that it still has problems. You should see my face right now (it is weirdly funny, so I will lol). 

But y’all know that tis not just (about) the phone, you know…it is sooo much more…hard-fought-battles that…oooohh, do you know that I just experienced a computer freeze?! Sigh… Amen.


Yes. Amen. What else shall I, we say, that I continue on this trajectory that is only leading me to anger, bitterness and fits of rage (2Cor.12:20; Gal. 5:20; NIV)?! No. I can hear Paul’s voice—or what I think is his voice --reminding me to NOT do give in to sin—stop getting so angry and impatient.


 So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not!—Romans 6:1, The Message


‘Peju, stop swearing in your head; ‘Peju, stop punching people in your mind and having violent massacres. Ok, now that you know how dark my mind can get, I shall stop. All I remember is Paul saying that I shouldn’t give myself the argument of grace as an excuse to sin (See Romans 6:1-3, NIV). But you know what is cool, when I reach for the Word and read Paul’s charge to me in context; I also see that he had offered me a way out of this horrible nightmare. He challenges my angry and sinful thoughts with his wisdom:


“…You can readily recall, cant you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about GOD—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? … you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. … But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to GOD telling you, …[you have] A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!” –Romans 6:19b, 20, 22; The Message


There is a lot in there, isn’t there?! Ok, I’ll take it slow.


First, I see it as a mirror to my recent trials. One of my major sins, fits of rage, has been awoken this year and has been plaguing me a lot (!) and often times taking me to lows of depression. So I totally get what Paul is saying. Not caring about others, not caring about GOD, because even as recent as Sunday night I was fully in this state. And as the Holy Spirit fights to be the ruler of my body, soul, mind, I see that I have to constantly remember and choose to listen to the Spirit, to care about GOD and be right with HIM.


I tell you as I write this I don’t feel like my life is whole, healed or even put-together. I mean there is ALWAYS something going wrong—my Flat has a leak, I am failing at my research/work. But Paul tells me that I DO have a good life and that it is put-together. Huh?! Say what?! Who?!


But it is true. Even with all these trials, I DO have a good and blessed life. Over dinner (with disciples) on Sunday night, my brother remarked that I was blessed. He knows that I have many friends and people that like me, but I think now he also knows that I have people that love me. I need to remember that too. We all need to remember that when we are facing our trails.


Sisters, I know it is not easy out there…but be comforted by the truth that we are not all suffering alone (1Peter 5:9). We are called to resist the devil. Resist him. How?

• Well, first start by crying out to our Abba Father, pray like you are about to die, pray like HE is the only one who can save you (Heb. 5:7-9).
  
• And remember HE does hear (v. 7)…HE did it with our savior Jesus Christ (v. 8), why wont HE do it with/for you?!
  

True life is hard, and for some of us out there it is tragically-hard. But we DO have the Holy Spirit, who IS also our comforter (John 16:7). The Amplified English version also calls him a “Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby” who is “to be in closer fellowship with [me].”


No, I cannot go on sinning. No, even though I feel like I can’t control my emotions, I must remember that that feeling comes from satan, because as I shared above, GOD has given me, us the Spirit and this same Spirit is the very embodiment of power that raised Jesus Christ our Savior from the dead.


To conclude, I want to recall what Kimberly shared with us (Sept. 1), that “it is possible.” Things are sincerely tough for you right now? It will be fine, because you will get through it because “you have the strength for all things in Christ who empowers…[…ready for anything and equal to anything through HIM who infuses inner strength into {you}; {you are} self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency” (Phil. 4:13, AMP).


So having a tough day? Take a minute and find your strength in the Strengthener ;) 

 Adepeju S., Zürich