Get The Monkey Off Your Back

Get The Monkey Off Your Back

We all have monkeys on our backs that hinder us from winning the race.  Athletes training for a race have monkeys on their backs they need to get off during their training period; they need to shed weight, change their sleep pattern, moderate their sexual life and adjust their diets, they have to drop some things, get the monkeys of their backs.

When I became a Christian I had to get many monkeys off my back. I had to change my speech, my circle of friends, the places I frequented. I had to trade bad habits for good habits. There was lots of monkeys on my back when I came to know the Lord but I began by not taking things for granted and just simply started thanking the Lord for my meals; each time I sat down to eat I thanked Him and asked Him to bless my meal; The first thing I did each morning as I awoke was to thank Him for waking me up and asked Him to direct me throughout the day; to take charge of my thoughts and actions.  Very small things can make quantum changes and I still do these small things

We all have things in our lives that hold us back and slow us down from getting to where we need to be, unnecessary weight, some little some big, unnecessary burdens dissipating our strength but The Apostle Paul teaches us that in order to run a good race we will need to strip of every weight that slows us down (Hebrews 12:1).  By shedding weight – getting the monkeys off your back, you gain strength. You become more focused, free and able to run faster. What monkeys do you need to get off you back? Are you carrying the guilt of a past life? Does your private life line up with your public life? Are you faithful to your Spirit or to your flesh? Getting the monkeys off your back is necessary to bring your spirit and your flesh into alignment.  They will never be in total agreement but they can align (Galatians 5:16). 

As Christians we have to know what to do and when to do what. Even our prayer life has to reflect Gods will.  We are running a race and God is the prize. Run the race to win the prize. Every successful athlete or businessman had to seek assistance to get rid of the monkeys on their backs that was hindering them from getting to where they wanted to be.  Ask God for assistance – Lord help me to not get entangled so as to distract me from the prize; bless or break every situation (Genesis 12:3); give me discernment to know what is of you (Psalm 119:125); Lord get the monkeys off my back!  Do not be afraid to ask (Philippians 4:6).

As Christians running the race, God will give you the strength to carry on but you will have to renew your mind and make some changes.You can’t put new wine in old wine skins (Matthew 9:17).When God is pouring His Spirit into you, you have to be ready. You have to be strong enough to get the monkey off your back.You will get tired, worn out, weary and that’s when the enemy comes to tempt you, to trick you into believing you are not strong enough to get them off but your strength lies in the Lord (Philippians 4:13 & Psalms 28:7).God works in you giving you the desire to carry on (Philippians 2:13-16). He will help you to get the monkeys off your back and at the end of the race He will reward you, He will say “Well done good and faithful servant”. (Matthew 25:21).

Get the monkeys off your back!!

You’ve Got The Power

You’ve Got The Power

I have heard it said many times in church and outside of church – the devil made me do it. Satan is on my back. I could not help it, I did not mean to do it – God knows my heart; and lots of other common sayings that make us feel good about what we did wrong.  If we are truthful, most of these sayings comfort us in our excuse and aids us in not taking responsibility for our actions.  From the beginning of time man has done wrong things and has been intentional about these wrongs.  Some of the things we do we have no excuse for doing it. Cain killed Abel; that was the very first murder. Cain was intentional about the wrong he was doing.

The truth is satan has no real power over us.  He has the power of suggestion which meets our power of thought.  He has the power of deception but we have the power of action.  Temptation can’t be avoided because it’s there to show us how strong we are not how weak we are. Temptation comes in various forms – financial, sexual, physical but it is necessary, it empowers us. There is no temptation too big for us to handle (1 Corinthians 10:13). We've got the power!.

The enemy has the power of deception but we have the power to resist.  We can rest in the strength of the Lord.  If you don’t know the Word of God you won’t know you have the power.  There are no obstacles, challenges or tests that we can’t overcome because Jesus has already conquered them for us (John 16:33).  Tests and temptation are the fire that refines us. It is the process by which we are strengthened.  A blacksmith will hold his tools over the fire just long enough before it is ready for use.  We have the power to walk through the fire. It is easy to blame others or circumstances for our wrong doings, but we allow people and temptation to get to us.  We have the power to resist temptation and to make our own choices. Be intentional about your actions; the enemy is intentional about his actions.  He intends to kill, steal and destroy but we were created to overcome his temptations, we've got the power.  The enemy shows us the way to hell but God gives us the key to the way out (Psalm 119:105).  Bury Gods Word in your soul.  The power is in the Word.  Every trick or deceit can be destroyed by unleashing the Word.  Arm yourself with the power of the Word; wear the full armour (Ephesians 6:11).You've got the power! If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour you are powerless, naked.  Know who you are and whose you are and then you will know the power you have.  When you know what you are you can act on what you know.  The enemy will try and hide the power but you don’t fight by might or strength but by the power of the Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). You've got the power! 

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. You can only be tempted with what you like or miss and the enemy knows that.  Know your weaknesses and strengths, know what your kryptonite is and safeguard yourself against it.  Go into battle with a strategic plan; arm yourself.  The enemy has a strategy to deceive and suggest.  You need a strategy. You have the power to pull down his stronghold and arguments against God (Jeremiah 1:10)

Exercise the power…you've got the power.  Surrender to God and join forces.  There is strength in the Word.  To give up and surrender in the spirit is to be Christ like because with Him we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). You've got the power.  Jesus had the power to put an end to the work of the enemy and we are made in His image.  The enemy’s attempts could not kill Him, He put an end to the enemy’s attempts and said “It is finished”; He conquered the enemy…He had the power and now you have the power.  You don’t have to be Bible scholars to have the power just surrender and you will be on the winning side…you've got the power 

Are You Scared Of The Dark?

Are You Scared Of The Dark?

Don’t complain of dark places, light a candle.

Darkness is necessary. God does his best work in the dark. A seed is planted in the dark before it comes out into the light. God created the world in the dark.  Children are conceived and grow in the darkness of their mother’s wombs.  Weeping may last for a night (darkness) but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

In the beginning there was the Word and the Word was God, there was no light (Genesis 1:2) but God spoke into the darkness and brought light; He lit a candle (Genesis 1:3).  God created darkness and light; day and night but don’t confuse the night with the darkness of the enemy.  When God created night, it was for man to take rest. We gain strength in the night time. Don’t confuse Gods darkness with the enemy’s counterfeit.   Nobody enjoys darkness except satan. He is darkness and he uses that darkness to draw us to him but God delivers us into the light.  Satan can only operate in the dark and uses it to keep us there.  Whenever we want to do something wrong we turn off the lights; drug dens, parties; adultery; burglaries all acts of sin are carried out in the dark (Acts 17:11 & Isaiah 29:15).  People who do not walk in the Word of God are scared of the scriptures because it shines a light into their darkness (Job 12:22); it spotlights their sins, their wrong doings.

Even after becoming a Christian I entered into a dark place so that He could get my attention and draw me closer to Him. The faith I have and the word I share with you today were birthed in that dark place.  God needed me to light a candle. He took me there because He wanted to show me my potential; to bring me to His purpose for me and point me in the right direction.  When there seems to be no end to the darkness, no light at the end of the tunnel don’t be afraid of the dark, it is necessary. We have to be in a dark place to get disgusted with it for us to search for the light.  A plant will always seek the light.  At the end of a pregnancy term the beautiful child is birthed out of darkness into the light.  Everything of God is drawn to the light.  God is the Truth, the Way and the Light (John 14:6), the enemy is the prince of darkness; he wants to make us ignorant to the power of the Word of God.  Ignorance and darkness walks hand in hand (Ephesians 4:18).

Every successful journey has dark paths.  In order to get to your destination you will have to encounter some dark tunnels.  To get over the river you have to go through the Blackwall Tunnel or the Rotherhithe Tunnel – go through the dark to emerge into the light.  No one likes the dark tunnels but it’s God’s way of getting you to your destination.  Your tunnels and dark places are your route to your blessings. During your darkness hold on to the everlasting, unchangeable God (Isaiah 44:6) He will deliver you (Colossians 1:13).  He who delivered David from the bear, the lion and Goliath and made him a King (1 Samuel 17); He who delivered Joseph from the pit and prospered him (Genesis 37:36); He who delivered Jonah from the belly of a whale (Jonah 1:17 & 2:10) He will also deliver you from the hands of the prince of darkness.

To live in darkness is to be unequally yoked.  God does not want us to be unequally yoked.  He desires to bring light into our darkness to prosper us (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).  Water and oil can’t mix; day and night can’t mix.  We are the light of God shining in the darkness of the world.  Darkness is necessary; it is the place where we begin to look for the light.  It is where we gain strength and power over the enemy but it’s not a place where we stay.

Don’t be afraid of the dark; light a candle

One Wrong Turn

One Wrong Turn

Have you ever turned left when you should have turned right, or missed your junction on the motorway?  The next junction is always 20 miles away and all the way there you know this is wasted time and energy.  You know you are going the wrong way. Sometimes pride keeps us from going where God wants to take us.  There are times when we head off in the wrong direction and just hope that God is going to put us right even when we are doing wrong.  We say; God please get me out of this; even though we put ourselves there.

God’s grace will keep us where His will takes us.

Sometimes it’s a long way back to where we should have been in the first place.  Jonah ended up in the belly of the whale because he went left when he should have gone right (Jonah 1). I have never been in the belly of a whale but I know what it’s like to be out of position. Just like Johan God always knows where you are.  The issue is we don’t know where we are...we fall out of position, out of God’s will and miss all He has for us.

Stay in position!  Just like Jonah, God has a plan for you and even in your dark places God’s hand of favour can bring you through and back into position.

I remember being in a situation that was going nowhere good.  I felt like I was on a rollercoaster.  I had lost direction and lost my peace.  I called out to God.  I said; Lord, help me, I’m lost and I don’t want to go any further but I don’t know how to get back.  I’m losing my way.  Lord, help me; show me the way; give me what is good for me not what I want; Lord, bless or break this situation.  The Lord put it in my spirit.  Son I can’t bless your journey as I have not commanded you to go in that direction.  When He had broken that journey part of me broke too.  The amazing thing I realised was that God loved me too much to give me too much.  Even though I was heading the wrong way He put it in my spirit to call out to Him.  It was a bit like checking the Sat Nav.  He said turn around I will put you back on route. It’s a long way back but I will be with you.  He told me; Carl, the plans I have for you are for good and not for evil (Jeremiah 29:11); turn from where you have been.  If you seek me and seek me earnestly you will find me (Deuteronomy 4:29). He told me; remember not the former things, I will do a new thing in you (Isaiah 43:18). I surrendered and allowed Him to order my steps. 

We often have all sorts of ideas and plans of who we want; what we want and when we want it.  The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord (Psalm 37:2).  He and He alone shall direct our steps.  We may take some wrong turns and even fall but the righteous man shall fall seven times (Proverbs 24:16).  He is made righteous because he gets up after each fall and surrenders to God.  We can’t make it by ourselves, we were not meant to.  God’s grace and mercy has made a way.  He has called us friend.  He is always present in our time of need (Psalm 46:1).

One wrong turn! Jonathan took a wrong turn that lead to his death (1 Samuel).  He should have stayed with David but he followed Saul to his death.  How many times have we taken turns in our life that could lead to spiritual death or physical death?

Sometimes we want the right thing at the wrong time.  Have you ever been hungry? Have you ever wanted something that was bad for you?  It’s ok to be hungry but it’s best not to fill your face with McDonalds.  Esau had a legitimate hunger but he dealt with it in an illegitimate way (Genesis 25: 29-34).  Sometimes we have the same issues.  We get together with the wrong woman/man; job; friendship and pay the price of what God had for us.  Esau gave up his birth right for a bowl of soup.  Samson lost his direction because he had a weak will (Judges 16:13).  They all took one wrong turn.  We too have to be careful of that turn.  Esau still got blessed but who knows what that bowl of soup costed him.  What’s your bowl of soup? 

Esau, Jonah, Sampson, Moses, Solomon, Jonathan, Saul and the Prodigal Son:  All these men took wrong turns.  God still blessed them even though they had to pay a price.  God can bless you even when you’re in the wrong place but you have to have the right heart; a heart for Him. If those who are called by my name would turn from their wicked ways and repent, I will heal them (2 Chronicles 7:14).

God has made a provision for all our wrong turns

It’s not too late to make a U turn and get back in position.