One of the things God spoke to me about this year was on collaborations which I narrow mindedly thought would be in the space of the worship ministry but I have seen this come about in more ways than I could have imagined.  Collaboration really begins with connections if you really think about it.

Vision cannot be birth without collaboration

Let me just drop this tiny thing here – your vision cannot be birth without collaboration of some sort.  You are a part of someone else’ vision just as others are part of yours.  Your prayer should be about truly discerning who is part of your God given assignment and vice versa and in what season that is.

Introduction

This young lady I am about to introduce to you guys is a sister with a passion for God! To tell you the truth, I don’t even know how we connected. I am not sure who followed whom first but I know in this season, this girl and I are supposed to be connected and it is humbling when God himself is directing your steps and you see the results starting to show.

So, my first guest blogger/writer – Kikelomo Idowu is driven by her passion to impact lives. She runs a network of women called “ the Passionistas”, which seeks to create safe spaces for young women to learn, share, and inspire. She also believes in the power of women harnessing their resources to achieve more. She is a learning & development professional / human rights activist at her day job and a bubbly/fun human every other time. After I posted part one and let me say, there was no plan for it – I saw some of her responses and hit her up quickly and voila, part 2 was birth!  Enjoy….

Kike’s Response

The other day I was talking to someone who was plotting to engage in an ungodly/unholy activity. They felt safe sharing their plans with me because they knew I would listen without judgement. This is someone who grew up in a Christian home but has grown up to be one of those people who don’t believe in organized religion but still have an awareness of the power and authority of God. You know… those kinds of people who believe in the super power but think church is trash and the Bible is archaic…

The Reality

I shared all that because it is important to set the context of what seems to be the reality for many, in this age and time. We live in a world where being Christian is “uncool”. Different people have different versions of what it means to have some form of connection with God. Honoring God’s word, going to church, and preaching the gospel have become optional or almost non-existent in the variations of spirituality people practice.

Anyway, in my response, I pointed them to the Gospel but they felt like that did not apply to them and said things like “God don’t listen to sinners like me”.

You’ll Fall But Get Back Up

But, isn’t that all of us? Don’t we all mess up? Don’t we all fall short of God’s glory? You may not be at the level where you are plotting how to sin but the best of us still fall short of God’s glory. At the end of the day, we can’t let our small minds hinder us from experiencing the grace and mercy of God.

Remember the story of the prodigal son? Despite his rebellion, he was his father’s son regardless. His Father never stopped loving him. At the prodigal son’s return, his father literally threw him a party and asked that the fattened calf be slaughtered. Wow! Think about this! Could you even imagine offending your Nigerian parents (no shade to Nigerian parents) and upon your return, they threw you a party? Unfathomable! I know! However, in the case of the prodigal, that was what his father did.

God Couldn’t Love You Less!

In the same way, there is nothing you will ever do that will make God love you less. Not your actions, inactions, planned sins, and unplanned sins. God loves you regardless. However, to enjoy the fullness of God’s love you have to let Him into your life. The prodigal son, after wasting away his father’s fortune came to his senses and decided to go back home to his father. What if he never did? He would never have known how much his father still loved him. He would have missed the opportunity to be restored with his father.

God would never force us to love him. He has given us the power to choose. The question is what are we choosing? Life or Death? Spirit or Flesh? Sin or Salvation?

Continue to Seek God

When we continue to seek God daily through His son Jesus and commit ourselves to His word and His spirit, few things happen.

1. We are positioned to be helped by God. The key is to stay close and keep pursuing Him even in your brokenness/weakness. Until the prodigal son came back home, his Father could not help him, even though he never stopped loving him.
2. You cannot live in sin and in the spirit at the same time. The spirit and presence of God will contend with the spirit of sin in your life. Darkness cannot overcome light.
3. You are able to walk in the authority of who and whose you are. One of the biggest issues we have as believers is our distorted identity. We don’t know who we are in Christ. The prodigal son remembered his identity and where he came from. ““When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!” Luke 15:17 NLT

Rise Up Again

We shouldn’t continue to wallow in sin and unrighteousness because we know we have failed God. Oh! How I have failed many, many, many, many times. In fact, I am more flawed than most people realize but one thing that keeps me going is my relentless dependence on the grace of God. I reaffirm my dependence on Him daily, which guides my decisions. And to be honest, sometimes when I get overwhelmed, I forget. That’s when I panic, live out of fear but His grace always brings me back.

I said all that to say, regardless of whatever your situation is, whether it is living in fear, feeling stuck in an ugly phase, living in sin, whatever it is… God loves you and he isn’t done with you yet! As long as you stay pursuing His presence and word, He will cause all things to work together for your good.

Grace Resets

Wow, wasn’t that a good read?  As I read my devotional this past sunday morning, a word dropped in my spirit and it was ‘Grace Resets’.  When you look at the meaning of reset; it means to adjust, or fix in a new or different way.  Let me explain as it was beautifully written by Tauren Wells in that devotional.

Remember Peter standing by that fire after Jesus was arrested? It was by a fire that he denied Jesus but it was also by a fire that Jesus redeemed him! We see with him that Jesus reset the scene of his denial.  A fire place would have been a constant reminder of his greatest failure but it is also where his dignity was restored and reclaimed by the activation of God’s grace. It was in that place that his life was reset!

No Condemnation

Jesus never mentioned Peter denying him, He never even pointed it out.  The truth is that Jesus doesn’t point in condemnation to our past.  He didn’t come into the world to condemn but to save us.  The author of my devotional Tauren Walls encourages us to ‘meet Jesus around that weakness again so that space can be reclaimed by the glory of God.  He asks that we let grace reset the scene, and what was once the place where we were most ashamed can become the place where God performs His greatest miracles in our lives.

Our Response to His Grace

The song I’m going to leave you with this week is by Maverick City Music featuring Chandler Moore. It reads like a love letter to God and puts into perspective the realization that God’s not done with me/us yet and what my/our response is/should be.  There is a part of the song that says ‘With one look, everything changes.  I’m captivated; I’ll never be the same’.  That is exactly what Grace does, it changes everything!  And if you’ll let God’s grace captivate and capture your heart, I guarantee you’ll never ever be the same.  Stay in the word!!!

Tauren Walls, God’s Not Done With Yet Devotional