Underneath It All

I finally got a new phone! 

It's been a journey. My last phone ditched me at my sister's birthday party. It fell down to its destruction. I must admit I should have handled it with more care. When my phone stopped working, my sister gave me her old phone to use [good sister :)]. But man it was a struggle. The first week with that phone taught me a lot about myself. I could hardly take out the phone in public. I was ashamed and afraid of what people might think. I remember texting with my phone hidden in my bag and the frustration with the fact that it was super slow whenever I wanted to call someone. All in all the phone showed me that I view myself and others mostly based on what they own. I judge someone mostly based on their appearance. And that's just horrible.
It reminded me of Samuel when God asked Him to go and anoint a son of Jesse to be Israel's new king instead of Saul (1Samuel 16). When he saw David's older brother, tall and handsome; he thought to himself surely this is the one the Lord meant to appoint as king. But he was wrong and God told him “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” . - 1 Sam.16:7

Many a time we are too quick to judge people and ourselves based on the outside. But a beautiful face doesn't necessarily mean a beautiful heart.

Jesus also talked about this. He called the Pharisees and teachers of religious law white washed tombs with rattling bones inside (Matthew 23:27).

The world does emphasize an external beauty. You see outward beauty promoted everywhere. The media is constantly promoting fashion and weight loss above good behavior and the celebrities some of us look up to have no depth when it comes to character either. 

I don't know about you but I want to be different. I don't want to judge books by their covers. Yes nice clothes etc have their role to play but they are not and should not be the deciding factor about a person's identity. I wanna choose character over wardrobe. And I thank God for my broken phone cause I desperately needed an awakening. I want to see people the way God sees them. Some might argue, well maybe God created us to see people that way after all He said that people don't see as He does. That argument however is only correct to a certain extent, yes we are not God and can't see people exactly as He does but we as believers are being transformed into the likeness of Christ. And Christ was not partial, for example He approached the Samaritan woman at the well despite cultural differences.Therefore, we should strive to be Christ-like with the help of the Holy Spirit because its not something that we can do on our own.

"Dear God, help me to value what You value. 

As I follow Your example, I pray that You will be pleased with what 

You see in my heart. "- Our Daily Bread (An Inside View)

God bless you all xoxo

Guest Post: Walking in Obedience to His Way by Wadzanai Kaziboni

Obeying the voice of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit is an important aspect in our daily walk with Christ. We need this continuous and unwavering communication to navigate every aspect in our lives, especially when making decisions that affect us, such as whether or not to do that degree, whether or not to take that job offer and so on. Many a time we find ourselves in situations that would not have occurred had we chosen to obey. We pay that price by making a sacrifice of another element in our life such as our joy, time and perhaps happiness. There are instances also where the voice of God in our hearts is as clear as day and yet we choose to do what we want regardless of the unconcealed guidance and direction of God. This brings me to Saul and his disobedience which he paid a dear price for. In 1 Samuel 15- God clearly instructed Saul to attack Amalek and utterly destroy it. Saul chose to use his discretion, blatantly ignoring the voice of God, by sparing the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings and the lambs and all that was good even though God had set out a clear directive which was to destroy everything.

God then said“I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.”  1 Samuel 15:11.

Does God speak the same of you?

1 Samuel 15:22

“So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.”

In response to Samuel, Saul said 1 Samuel 15:24“I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.”

We need to learn to hear more of God and less of people around us and to do things out of the fear of God as opposed to doing things because we are scared of people and their opinions no matter how important these people may be to us. It is also important to be able to discern when God is speaking to you through another person. That is why we need to pray for God to teach us to obey and help us to know when it is Him talking, to be able to recognize His voice.

2 Timothy 1:7 “For He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and of a sound mind”

This should be one of the guiding principles when discerning the voice of God.

Hebrews 5:8 “though He was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things he suffered.” 

This is a clear illustration of one of the ways on which obedience is learned. Sometimes choosing the path of disobedience seems like a more appealing and less rocky-route in the terrains of life. However even though it seems easier and takes less of our time and effort at first glance it costs more in the long run. The path of obedience on the other hand is not an easy one, because it is not that we follow in our own strength therefore we need to ask God to teach us to obey Him and enable us to obey Him. This path is worthwhile because God is our Father and He loves us and has our best interests at heart.

Matthew 7:11 ‘If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

“But when we position ourselves under the headship of Christ and learn to do what He requires of us, there is a flow of the Holy Spirit that will carry us wherever we need to go.” (Stormie Omartian- The Power of a Praying Woman).