Tag: God’s will

Is it just a placebo?

~ bohlajee123 ~ Leave a comment

Many, if not all of us have experienced unfulfilled dreams, disappointments, broken promises, unmet expectations etc., at some point in our lives and in one or more areas. It could have been the loss of a loved one, a job or promotion, broken dreams or relationships, etc., that causes us to wonder, ‘Does God really fulfil His word? Or is the whole thing just some form of placebo?

I heard a young man tell a story of how his life turned around to become purposeful recently, and as I listened, I could see the invisible hand of God show up in many way all through the journey – making ways, causing the bad things to end up working for him etc. One key thing that this story reiterated was the fact that in as much as God can move people and situations to work for our good, we (you and I) have an extremely important role to play if we want to see God ‘come through’ for us.

Let’s take a look at a few popular bible stories to explore this concept.
1) The blood of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12) – When God was going to send the final plague on Egypt which was the death of the first born of every living creature, He instructed the Israelites to put the blood of the lamb on their door posts so the angel of death will pass over them as it goes around the land. Now, if the Israelites chose not to obey, there would have been no difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites the next morning. Goshen too would have been filled with wailings for the loss of their sons and the verdict would have been that God cannot be trusted and He doesn’t come through.


2) Crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14) – When the Israelites were by the red sea and Pharoah’s army was behind them, God parted the sea and told them to go across. Effectively, He made a way (like we sing) but, imagine if the Israelites chose not to step out in faith and walk on the dry land because they feared the walls on water on either side might come tumbling down any minute and kill them, or they were paralyzed with fear and just didn’t move, or … (fill in the gap). The likelihood is that the army would have eventually annihilated them and guess what the verdict would have been …


3) The Israelites and Canaan (Numbers 14) – When Moses sent 12 spies to check out the land God had given them, they came back and confirmed that the land was indeed everything God promised (their hearts desire) but, they had a ‘but’ – it came with a challenge that they didn’t think they could overcome. Hence, they focused on the challenge ignoring the reality of the promise being exactly what they hoped and prayed for. The result? The whole generation (except the 2 that said ‘let’s go at once, we are more than able to take the land’) died in the wilderness and didn’t walk in the manifestation of what was already theirs. God had promised it; it was staring them in the face; yet, they never laid hold of it and died without experiencing the fulfillment. Unfortunately, their disobedience led to a 40 year delay of the manifestation of the promise for Joshua and Caleb (the 2 that focused on the promise and were ready to act in spite of the challenges), as well as the generations to come.


4) The wall of Jericho (Joshua 6) – Unlike the generation before them, Joshua and the Israelites were ready to take the land even though Jericho seemed impenetrable. They were preparing to take the land when the ‘captain of the Lord’s army’ appeared to Joshua, and gave him a strategy that seemed absolutely useless to the human mind. Joshua had an option to either trust that strategy (God’s wisdom) or depend on his own mind and strength (human wisdom). Although God had already given them the land and caused fear to overtake the people of Jericho, the manifestation hinged on acting on the seemingly unrealistic strategy and this led to their seeing what God promised.


5) Naaman the Leper (2 Kings 5) – Naaman was a Captain in the Syrian army, was wealthy, smart, had ‘kingly’ connections, was influential but had a situation that all his wealth, wisdom and influence couldn’t solve. He was leprous. A maid who was part of the Israeli captives told him Elisha could heal him; so, he went to Israel and finally Elisha sent for him. However, instead of meeting with him, Elisha sent a message asking him to go and was in the river Jordan 7 times and his flesh would be restored. Naaman was furious at the instruction. He had an expectation in his head of how the healing should come and it certainly didn’t include washing in the river Jordan. “But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.” 2 Kings 5:11-12. If the story had ended there, it would have appeared that God was not capable of healing the leprosy since Naaman would have returned home the same way he left. Mercifully, his servants persuaded him to wash in the river and once he completely obeyed Elisha’s instruction, he got exactly what his heart desired – his flesh was restored.

When we pray for God to open a door and He does, do we have the courage to walk through regardless of the seeming challenges?
When we pray for God to send a helper and He does, do we recognize the person and embrace the helper with open arms or do we evaluate based on our perception of how the help should ‘be packaged’ and walk away from a divine solution/blessing?
When we ask for resources, and we wake up with an idea, some instructions, or He sends a person, do we act on it immediately; begin to list all the ways it might not work or are we quick to obey?

Don’t get me wrong, you sure have a brain to process things; but God gave you that brain (just like your skills, resources, breathe etc.) to help you work out His purposes. I hate to break it to you but what you call your life, is really not about you. It’s all about Him. So, once He says this is the way, you don’t use your brain to figure out if it makes sense, whether it’s practical etc. (most times as long as it is God, it likely won’t 🙂). Instead, you immediately apply your brain in conjunction with the Holy Spirit to come up with the strategy to make that thing a physical reality. It is your action of moving forward with a plan towards (not away from) what God has said, that shows God you’re ready for His partnership and then He makes all things begin to work to bring it to fulfillment. If you want to wait to see how it will work before you take the required action, the end of your story will likely be the verdict of ‘God does not come through’.

God ‘shows up’ for those who ‘show up’. Don’t miss out on great opportunities and answers to your prayers because those answers are dressed in ‘overalls’. Be careful when you put a ‘but’ where God had put a full stop and remember that your actions or inactions can also affect those who’s destiny is linked to yours.

I pray that where you have chosen not to follow God’s instruction or act in faith due to a challenge or because the solution didn’t come as we planned it to in our head despite the fact that God had brought the solution to you, may the mercy of God give you a second chance to retrace your steps, act on His word and walk into the manifestation of what He has promised so your joy will be full and your waiting will be over.

Remain connected,

Bolaji Ajayi

The ripple effect of obedience

~ bohlajee123 ~ Leave a comment

Obedience to God can be downright painful, illogical (based on all the things you can see/perceive with the natural mind), contrary to our feelings and emotions, confusing etc. and the list goes on.

Yet taking God’s word over your emotions, can result in the most exhilarating and satisfying thing you can do because it is in the place of obedience that you find yourself truly walking in alignment (in step) with God and get to “see God” – have an experiential knowledge of Him. It’s the state where you’re dwelling in the secret place of the Most High. It’s also in this state of walking in obedience that God is able to commit His agenda to you because He can trust you to immediately run with whatever He says.

Obedience works like the origin of a ripple. It’s that action that says “I trust what God is leading me to more than my feelings or understanding” that God then sees and sets things in motion to honour your act of faith in Him.

There’s a great example of this in the book of Esther chapters 5 through 9. We start from the point where Esther has accepted Mordecai’s request to help even though it might cost her life and she’s now about to appear before the king after fasting for 3 days and nights. At the time Esther went and stood in the inner court of the King’s house, her heart would likely have been throbbing since this was in reality a matter of life and death. Now, here’s a sequence of the result of her act of obedience.
1) God caused the king to favour her so he raised his scepter and she wasn’t executed.
2) Her invite of Haman to the banquet she prepared made Haman feel even more important than he already was such that Mordecai’s defiance made him angrier and he couldn’t wait till the time he had decreed to kill all Jews to get rid of Mordecai. He immediately sought counsel and set up gallows to hang Mordecai the next day.
3) The same day Haman plotted this, the king could not sleep at night and God caused him to ask for the records of the Chronicles where he was reminded of how Mordecai told of those that plotted to kill the king and he decided to reward Mordecai when he discovered he had not been rewarded. Side note: sometimes when you do a good deed, expect a reward immediately and don’t get it, it just might be that the reward is gaining compound interest to come in at a time when it would be “life-saving”. Imagine if Mordecai had been rewarded before, the king just might have moved on…selah.
4) Once the king had decided to reward Mordecai and was looking for ideas, in walks Haman. God uses the person that wanted to destroy Mordecai to come up with a way to honour him.
5) Esther tells the king about the plan to kill all Jews and informs him that Haman is the orchestrator to which Haman tried to plead with her and this leads to the king’s fury and Haman’s death on the same gallows he had set for Mordecai.
6) Mordecai and Esther get to repeal the decree that Haman had made to kill the Jews and in fact turn the tables around on their enemies and killed them instead.
7) Esther found so much favour with the king that in Esther 9 v 12 after the king had gotten the report of the people the Jews had killed even in Shushan, the king further asked Esther what else she wanted – up to half of his kingdom.
8) The Jews were saved, their sorrow turned to joy and had peace in a foreign land.

By a single act of obedience that seemed like a death sentence at the time, Esther triggered a partnership with God that culminated in the salvation of a whole nation – the Jews.

What is God asking you to do that you’re holding back on because it doesn’t “feel” right or seem practical? Truth is, God will still accomplish His purpose with or without you (ask the Israelites that died in the desert…their children fulfilled God’s word) however He wants you to take His word over your emotions so you can be a part of His “kingdom come” movement and walk in the good works which He created you for. The choice is yours and I pray that you choose obedience over “emotions” or ‘reason”.

Remain connected

Bolaji Ajayi

The Royal funeral and horses

~ bohlajee123 ~ 1 Comment

All across the world, the funeral of Queen Elizabeth has been one of the constants on television since the ceremonies began over a week ago. In many of the processions, the coffin has been carried along by horses with riders.

Now, a horse is a really strong animal. In fact look at how God himself described the horse in the book of Job – “Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane? Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting? It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray. It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against its side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds. At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’ It catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.” Job 39:19‭-‬25 NIV. Even we humans describe a horse as aloof, challenging, fearless to name a few. Yet, it is this same animal, as strong and fierce as it is, that had been used countless times as part of the solemn processions we’ve seen in the last few days.

So, where is all that strength?
Where is all that fierceness?
It has become power under someone else’s control achieved through the ‘breaking‘ process.

You see, the horse is not born ready to be subject to anyone. For a horse to be ridden, it has to first be tamed (which is why even for tamed horses, they sometimes throw unknown riders off because that rider is not ‘their master’ or their master has not ‘given them the ‘go-ahead’ to carry the rider). So, how does ‘the master’ get this really strong animal to be obedient to Him? He/She ‘breaks’ the horse and believe me the ‘breaking process’ doesn’t come easy for either the horse nor it’s master. However, because the master has a purpose for the horse, he doesn’t relent even when the horse stubbornly doesn’t want to be broken. The process is repeated multiple times until the horse, as strong and fearless as it is, surrenders its will to the master. It is then, and only then that it can be used for the master’s purpose – even something as significant as being responsible for safely and gently carrying the Queen’s coffin from one location to another – walking solemnly for miles.

Isn’t this how it is with God and us? He has endowed you and I with our own unique abilities, opportunities etc. (strength) which is supposed to be used to fulfill His purpose. However, the only way we get to fulfill His purpose is to be completely surrendered to His will and that involves a process of ‘brokenness’ – totally and completely yielded to do the master’s will and not our will.

You see, the wild (unbroken) horse doesn’t mind being fed and sheltered from the elements etc., by the master but doesn’t want to surrender. However, without surrender, it is not fit for purpose and guess what, if a horse consistently refuses to be broken, it could potentially be substituted for another because the master has a need that has to be met. I pray you and I will not be like the wild horse – content to get blessings from God yet refuses to be broken and surrenderour wills to Him. Unbroken, we miss out on those wonderful parades (God’s divine purposes) that God has lined up for us.

Remain connected,
Bolaji Ajayi.

P.S.
There were certainly many broken horses available for use but these ones were specifically chosen. Could it be because they had reached a certain level of brokenness and could be trusted more than the others to immediately and completely obey?