Monthly Archives: April 2017

NAILED FOR A REASON

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Sometimes life nailed us.

There are events, circumstances, and people who hold us helpless.

With no one to turn to, our only last hope is God.

LIFE NAILED YOU

It was trending recently when a passenger doctor was dragged forcibly out of the plane of a reputed airline company.

Is it a life mockery that you entered the plane as a descent doctor and leave the plane as a patient?

Sometimes we are good doctors but we cannot heal ourselves?

That we are good marriage counselors, yet we have inner struggles in our relationship?

Is it not we are frozen when we teach others but we find it difficult to teach our children…

That we excel in academics but we are poor in love…

We are respected servants of God but struggle to get respect from our peers.

Sometimes life nailed us. Sometimes life is a mockery…

And this is the same experience Christ had when people asked Him to help Himself because He helped a lot of people.

He had done a lot of miracles and still, people were waiting for more…

He wanted to save many but He cannot able to get that respect from His neighbor.

Because what they saw was His being ordinary, a common man, a son of a carpenter.

Sometimes people treat us based on our seeds but not on our fruits.

THE SEED and the FRUIT

We cannot judge the seed by its appearance for now.

Because if we understand what it would become, we can tell what it could be.

I am hesitant toward people who only want my fruits but they are not there when I’m on the struggle to sprout my root.

Be cautious with men who are only after the fruits but nowhere to be found when you were once a seed establishing a root.

BE INSPIRED BY THE ONE ON THE CROSS

Christ was nailed for a reason.

He was nailed by the disciples who betrayed Him.

He was nailed by His own people.

Our life can relate to Him because, in one way to another, we were nailed by our experiences and people who do not understand us.

If after all the good works, good intentions, and good service you provided, you are misunderstood and unappreciated; do not be discouraged for you are not alone.

If you look at people, you will be disappointed.

When you look at events, you will be discouraged.

When you look at your surroundings, you will be dismayed.

But focus on Jesus, the One nailed on the cross and you will be uplifted, encouraged, and delighted.

May His grace abound in you.

Mikesendon

NO BEAUTY IN HIM

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On the cross, there was no beauty in Him that there may be beauty in us.

He was despised by many that we may regain our dignity…

He was rejected that we may be accepted.

He was deserted that we may be gathered.

He was slain but his death was never been in vain…

His blood comes out that the church may come in.

He was a disgrace that I may receive His amazing grace.

He endured the whipping that He may not nullify the offering.

He was hanged on a tree that He may set us free.

He took away my guilt that my faith in Him be built.

In silence, He showed His resilience.

In humility, He showed His divinity…

He is our King whose love from all generations will ring…

LOVE FROM THE WHIPPING POST

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OFFLOADING ALL EXCESS BAGGAGES

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Offloading All Your Excess Baggage

Jonah 1:1-17

Excess Baggage

There are so many things we heard about following our dreams and pursuing to reach our destiny.

To traverse every difficult path no matter what and with much perseverance, we will be able to reach the end of the trail.

We are excited to talk about getting to our destination.

But there are a lot of people who don’t enjoy their journey because they carry with them so much excess baggage in life that they don’t actually need.

Are we ready to let go of every excess luggage that we have?

Even if we set to reach our goals unless we throw out that excess baggage, we will not enjoy our journey because we carry the burden of things that are beyond
our ability to bear.

At the Airport

One of the typical scenes at the airport is people packing their luggage, trying to squeeze everything with all their might just to salvage something.

Just imagine how pressure and stressful it is when you’re catching a flight to your destination but the staff would not allow you until you pay the price.

The price is expensive and we need to choose.

To keep it or throw it.

It’s a decision to make. To be at the desired destination or be stuck at the airport.

The Story of Jonah

There was a prophet named Jonah who boards a ship at Koppa going to Tarshish. But on their journey, they encountered a strong storm that almost destroyed the boat. They prayed but the storm seemed don’t want to stop. They already have thrown out every cargo they could throw off but the ship is still sinking. So they decided to cast a lot and Jonah was picked.

Jonah told them his story and in short, they threw him away from the boat and the storm stopped.

Maybe today you’re encountering the same storm in your life. You have prayed a lot and tried to solve everything that you can but it seems it never stops.

The reason why it destroys us is that we keep with us the excess baggage.

Every excess baggage we have can sink the boat.

Every excess baggage in our life can destroy us and stop us from reaching our destination.

The crew tried to row the boats instead of throwing Jonah from the ship but it never stopped the storm.

Sometimes, even when we know what are those things that stopped us from our destiny, we try to manage it but the situation becomes worse.

Even if you have thrown everything unless you have not to get rid of what is destroying, it will not save the boat.

Even how mighty the ship can be if it carries beyond what it can carry, it will sink.

We need to point out what is that excess baggage in our life that makes us sinkable.

Any disobedience to God is an excess weight that we carry and it takes from us His grace and protection.

It’s the responsibility of the captain to check the capacity of the boat and how much wt it carries before leaving the boat.

Because any excess is dangerous.

It’s the usual reason for so many tragedies that happened in the past…carrying more passengers than it’s allowed to carry.

Our EXCESS BAGGAGE

What is that excess baggage we have?

All our negative thoughts and negative minds are excess baggage that we need to throw out to the sea.

It does not only destroy us but it prevents us from reaching the other side of our destiny, our goals, and our eternity.

Every anger, hatred, and sin that are in us drags us down to the bottom.

Its weight is so heavy that it slowly sinks us to a deeper depth.

We cannot journey with joy and peace of mind as long as we carry the weight of it.

LIFE DESIGN

Anything that is in excess is not good.

We are designed by God but we have our own weaknesses and limitations.

Yes, we are designed by God to be stronger, to be mighty people, to be an overcomer but with condition that we don’t entertain anything that will destroy us.

Even Superman, he was strong but he has his match.

We are not designed to keep with us anything that is not according to his purpose and design. Otherwise, it will certainly destroy us.

God commands us to think about what is good, noble, pure, righteous, anything that is praiseworthy and excellent.

Any negative thoughts that we entertain are a hole that will sink our boats.

Every feeling of un-contentment steals from us the joy and experience of having more than enough.

Every feeling of ungratefulness takes the opportunity to receive more.

Every inch of doubt destroys our faith and robs us of the opportunity to witness and experience the amazing power of God to transform the impossible into the possible.

Every hatred that we keep, suppress the sparks of love in our heart.

Every weight of sin keeps us further away from God’s promise of eternity.

ANYTHING EXCESS

In the natural, everything made by God is good and enough according to its purpose.

When he saved Noah and his family, He asked of him the only pair of animals and not more.

Why because everything that is in excess is not good.

The same principle in Engineering design, every foundation and member is being designed according to its capacity and the load it can carry.

To arrive at a sound and safe design, the designer will compute how many loads a member could carry according to its capacity otherwise, it would look for alternative materials to carry it or provide additional support.

Every member has their own stress to carry.

If the stress it receives is more than it could carry, it will produce cracks. Stress over time can cause members to buckle and eventually destroys it.

If this is true with Engineering, it’s true with our spirituality.

You cannot carry stress more than you could carry.

You either get rid of the excess stress or find support to carry it for you; otherwise, this will torment you and will not help you over time.

But why carry so many unnecessary stresses in our life if we know that we could live without them?

Sometimes we try to carry it with our own strength but carrying it over time with our own strength becomes heavier.
DELETE AND UNINSTALL

Have you noticed that even our computers become so slow and don’t function exactly as per their design when their stores are full and with apps that are not required?

What we do. There is a button called DELETE.

Anything that we don’t need, we should delete.

It eats up your time, it eats up your space, and it eats up the opportunity for other good things that you can download.

In life, we need to delete anything unnecessary but we have to decide.

We need to delete the relationship that makes us unhappy.

Delete the job that doesn’t give you real joy and happiness.

Delete all the vices that ruin your money and health.

They are just excess baggage that eats your space/ time and resources.

You need to have the courage to push that delete button.
DELETE BUT TRASH

It takes courage to offload old friends if you know they take out from you the opportunity to grow.

If you have an extra relationship that could destroy your family, delete it.

In a computer, even when we delete it, there is still space allotted to keep the deleted items; yet it still occupies storage space.

Isn’t it true that many of us even though we already deleted many excess areas in our life, still keep space and room to store them to a point that we install them again when we decided to?

We cannot let it go.

To truly experience freedom, put it into trash and junk so that you have completely gotten rid of them.

ARE YOU THE EXCESS BAGGAGE?

We talk so much about extra luggage, but are we like Jonah whose excess baggage?

Sometimes we are the excess baggage to others. Instead of being blessings, we became the source of their agony, their sadness.

Maybe we are the reason that they commit sin.

Jesus said it is better for a man who makes other sins to be tied up with a grinding stone and be thrown out into the sea.

GIVE IT ALL TO HIM

Mt 11:28
Come to me all of you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest

1 Peter 5:7
Cast to Him all your anxiety for He cares for you.

Our sin is too much for us to bear, God carries the cross for us and bears the pain even to death for us.

God trims and takes out from us every single impurity in us to perfect us…

May you dare to throw all your excess baggage and let your happiness be full,

Mikesendon

GROUNDED AND ROOTED IN LOVE

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Grounded & Rooted in Love

Ephesians 3:16-19

We were created by God with love.

We are living because of His love.

We have the power to love.

As we are a product of God’s love, it is just right that we live; we celebrate and share that love we received.

STRENGTHENING THE INNER MAN

People of today are more focused on strengthening the outer man.

We go to the gym to make our bodies fit and strong, we go to salons and spas to make us look younger, and we visit doctors to be healthy.

We are more concerned on the outside that we forget to strengthen our inner man.

That is why when problems come, we easily surrender. We easily give up.

In a relationship, in marriage, we easily give up and find a replacement.

Divorce and separation are just like changing clothes or gadgets.

Why because we missed the basics.

Where are the gyms for the inner man that hones our character, our faithfulness, our faith, and our love?

Increases in Value

Last Valentine’s day, there was a scarcity of flowers in spite of their price going double. The queue was more and many men were fighting their way to buy flowers for their loved ones.

I remember one time on the same Valentine’s Day, there was a man asking the Saleslady how much was a bouquet of flowers.

The Saleslady replied “100 Dhs”; and the man said, ” Oh it’s very expensive, It’s only fifty on an ordinary day. Anyway, just give me the single rose. How much is that?”

“10 Dhs Kabayan!” says the Sales lady. But the lady suggested “ Kabayan, it’s better you give a bouquet of the lovely flowers so that your girlfriend will say Yes when you propose..But the man said,” No need, she’s already my wife!”

As time flies by, we heard countless stories of marriage is broken. It is because as time passes, we neglect to value the partner that we have.

The value of our partners, our friends, or relatives should not be compared to the price of our gadget which depreciates over time.

Their worth should increase even more like an old whisky fermented for years.

IT’S ONLY HERE ON EARTH

We should give importance to this gift of having a partner because it’s only here on earth.

Have we remembered when a Sadducee asks the Lord about the resurrection? His questions were

19“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last, of all, the woman died too. 23At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!” -Matthew 18:19-27

It is therefore that marriage is only here on earth.

If you are single and want to be married, then avail this opportunity because in heaven, your spouse will not be your spouse anymore.

OPEN THE COMMUNICATION

Most of the problems encountered by so many are marriage-related problems.

A man has settled for another one. A nagger wife that makes the man avoid going home.

There was a saying that in the 1st to 2nd year of marriage, the man speaks and the wife listens. In the 3rd to 4th yr of their relationship, the wife speaks and the man listens. But in the 5th yr of their marriage, both couple speaks and the neighbor listens.

One time, the wife brings his husband to the doctor for a check-up and said, “Doc my husband has a serious problem because he speaks every time he is sleeping”.

After the consultation, the Dr called the wife privately and she asked, “is there any problem with my husband?” “There was no problem with your husband. Just allow him to speak when he is awake.”

Relationship over time dwindles because one partner controls the others.

Communication gaps started because partners are occupied with so many things in life.

And because of this, it results in quarrels and misunderstandings between the couple.

Couples quarrel but because they don’t want their children to know about it, they usually treat their partner with SILENT TREATMENT.

They share the same bed at night, they eat at the same table but they pretend to be ok.

SILENT TREATMENT

One time, couple quarrels and they treat each other a Silent treatment.

To avoid clashes, they don’t talk to each other.

But the problems come when a man needs to wake up early morning the next day but He is dependent on her wife to wake him up…

So he wrote a note saying “I have a flight to catch, wake me up at 5AM”.

The next day, the man was so angry when he noticed that it was already 9AM.

He immediately ran to his wife and angrily said:” I told you to wake me up at 5AM, now I’m late because you did not wake me up”. The woman said, “Hey, before you get angry go back to our room and read your note”. The man went back to their room, pick up the note beside the bed and read the handwriting of his wife “Hey wake up, you have a flight to catch!”

We should not let our pride ruin our relationship. We cannot just be silent and not resolve the conflict.

Because at the end of the day, the couple should resolve their conflict right away. Face the realities and decide to journey together in marriage.

You can’t continue with the silent treatment that other people think that your relationship is ok.

One time a neighbor approached the husband, you know I admire you and your wife because for a long time that we were a neighbor I never heard you arguing or fighting unlike us. What is your secret? Actually, the secret why we were silent is because we are not talking for years now.

Imagine how many wasted years in a relationship, being together but living in stress.

IT’S A JOURNEY

Being together is a journey.

There will be a fight but it’s a part of it.

We need to enjoy the journey of being together. We need to learn how to listen otherwise small conflicts become big.

When no one listens, what happens we ask for marriage councilors. What does the counselor do, counselor says “Mister what the wife says is this and that…the counselor will just repeat and clarify what the couple did not bother to listen to…And the last stage when both parties don’t agree to listen and settle, they will go to court, and the court will try to bring about all your flaws to have ground for separations.

Imagine the time, the resources, and reputation lost which can be resolved when they started to listen to each other at the start.

How much money and time was lost could be used for a Caribbean cruise and a second honeymoon.

The Grace to be Rooted and Grounded

Rooted is an agricultural term. Grounded is a structural term.

Our life is like a field wherein it should be rooted down in love.

Like a farmer who is planting good seeds, we should also plant a good seed of love.

The fruit is in the root

To be able to manifest the fruit of a lasting relationship, we need to be rooted.

You cannot expect a fruit unless there is a root.

The fruit is just a manifestation of what is in the root

You cannot expect a good fruit unless the seed is good.

Anything that springs up comes from the root that springs down.

For a relationship to last, it should be rooted and founded well that no matter how strong the wind of storms, no matter how many trials a couple faces; the couple could be able to last it all even against all odds.

May your love be always rooted and grounded,

Mikesendon