If there ever was a year of crisis upon crisis, this year 2020 has been such a year. This has happened in many of the nations of the world, so it’s not peculiar to Nigeria. Our world has been rocked by crises from different directions. As you were about to get your head above water, the enemy deals another blow, for make no mistake, the enemy satan has been responsible in differing ways for all this evil across the world. Yes, he has used us against each other to a great extent. However, the biggest crisis that has been shown up all over the world is our lovelessness. 1 John 3 v 11 says “The message you heard from the very beginning is this, we must love one another.” Daniel 7 v 25 says that satan seeks to wear out the Saints of the Most High God. This is why he is relentless all over the world at this time. I am not in anyway saying only Christians are affected. If it’s not the first or second wave of the corona pandemic, it’s the winter flu. The economies of nations continue to show terribly negative indices. If it’s not politics, elections or the stimulus package, it’s killings and wanton destruction of property. There are injustices and police brutality by those who are supposed to protect citizens all over the world and outright racism. There are the killings on white farms in South Africa, battles with extreme poverty, weather disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes. The dust from the Brexit still hasn’t settled after so many months. So, what really is going on and how are we to make sense of all this. I never have much desire to give much attention to satan, for I know he is a defeated foe. I also know without an iota of doubt that Jesus, our King is on the throne, and we must give Him our full attention at this time (Psalm 47 v 8). “God sits on His sacred throne, He rules over the nations.” “I will lift up My eyes to the hills, for where comes my help, my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121v 1). None of what is happening has taken Father God by surprise for He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 44v 7). I would therefore like to focus on what I am perceiving in Papa’s Presence at this time for this is where we can enter into for Him to fill us with His Spirit as He promised (Isaiah 44v 3; Joel 2v 28; John 7v 37-39). It’s also important to say that the Lord had sent prophesies that this year would be a year of dark clouds gathering over nations including Nigeria. It would also be a year of much conflict, challenges and shaking. However, in all the challenges, especially of the pandemic, we still see the faithfulness of God. We see that with the restrictions even in our inability to gather to worship, Our Heavenly Father used the opportunity to draw us to Himself in a heavenly reset. Our excessively busy lives were curtailed so we could focus on what our Father told us was His priority…. “Himself”. It helped us recalibrate our lives and turn our formerly cluttered hearts back to Him to learn once again how to position ourselves to receive a revelation of how much we are loved by Him, for only then can we spread it. At this time, it is also most important to touch base with our feelings. It is important that we understand that we are responsible for the state of our heart and can not control anyone else’s heart. Proverbs 13 v 12 says; “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it’s a tree of life”. This means that when we go through disappointment, and when things don’t seem to turn out the way we expect them to, our hearts could become sick. There may be pain, trauma, depression or so much more. If this sick heart is not addressed at the time, we try to suppress the hurt inside our heart and it affects how we do life. We tend to believe lies about the Godhead as we seek to make sense of the situation, and this results in us developing wounds deep in our hearts. Since the abrupt violent end of the most peaceful demonstration named “#endsars” campaign in Nigeria, and the subsequent outpouring of pent up emotions by many, there has been such a display of hardness of heart against one another – anger, violence and bitterness, deep seated resentment of each other, lack of sympathy, inability to honour and lovelessness. We were made to receive God’s love and allow it flow to others through us. There’s no greater crisis than our inability to spread the love of God to our world that is desperate for the unconditional love of our Most high God. The Lord desires that we guard our hearts at a time like this, for out of it flows the issues of life (Proverbs 4 v 23). This means that issues like trust, honour, integrity, obedience, faith, and love have to be allowed to flow from our hearts. Guarding our hearts implies that we continually examine our thoughts and our beliefs. What thoughts are we allowing to be placed in our hearts. Most importantly, this is a time to unite with each other and spend time in the Presence of Father God. The more time we spend together in worship, the more our hearts will align with how extravagantly we are loved by Him.  Isaiah 60 v 1 -3 says “Arise, Jerusalem, and shine like the sun, the glory of the Lord is shining on you. Other nations will be covered by darkness, but on you the light of the Lord will shine; the brightness of His Presence will be with you”. It has been prophesied that in spite of the gathering dark clouds and the darkness, we will arise and God’s light and love will shine forth from us. Our hearts will once again exude His love. This crisis of lovelessness will be no more as we learn to forgive each other. God is more concerned about our hearts than the harvest. No one can take away our intimate relationship from us(Habakkuk 3 v 17 – 18). Habakkuk explained that even though the fig trees have no fruit, and no grapes grow on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no corn, even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty, I will still be joyful and glad, because the Lord God is my saviour. This is a time when we desire to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit. We have to take the long-term view and in His Presence, ask for Him to fill us with faith, patience, hope and love for one another. He is the source of unconditional love and can help us to become conduits through which His love flows into our world. God bless us all. Mina Bajomo |
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