Heritage

...this is the heritage of the servants of God, and their righteousness is of me, saith the lord" Isaiah 54:17

The banner that hung from the fence read Emmanuel Nwakanma 1875-1994. That is 1 shy of 120 years. I remember thinking to myself “Was Papa really that old?”. My Grand Father was already very old by the time I was born, but all through the time I was growing up I remember he was very active even in his extreme old age. Although it is doubtful that he was really 120 years old, it is generally agreed that he lived well over 100 years. No one can place the exact year that Papa was born, however what is clear is that he was alive before the first colonials came to our village in the Igbo tribe of the lower Niger River, West Africa. That alone speaks to the sheer number of years, and change that this man saw.

My Grand Father’s story is very profound, and he left us a lasting legacy. This legacy is my familial heritage, a heritage that manifests itself in many aspects of my life, and one that I grow more and more cognizant of everyday of my life.

Emmanuel Nwakanma was not always called Emmanuel. In the early years of his life, when he was still a young man he was known as Nwosu. Now in the Igbo language Nwa means child and Osu means Oracle. So the name Nwosu literarily means “Child of the Oracle”. Yes, in the time before the first colonials began to appear in our tribe located deep in the Niger rain forest my Grand Father was one of the servants of the Oracle in keeping with our tradition. He worked in the shrine and even married the daughter of the keeper of the shrine, with whom he had two sons.

I do not know the specifics or circumstances of Papa’s conversion to Christianity, but I do know that perhaps sometime in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s, he accepted Jesus Christ as his lord and personal savior. My Father tells me that when Papa converted to Christianity, he took on the name Emmanuel. Just as Abrams name was changed to Abraham, and Saul’s name was changed to Paul, Nwosu’s name was changed to Emmanuel. To God be the glory.

When my Grand Father converted to Christianity, there were major changes in his life as you can imagine. His wife at the time; the daughter of the keeper of the shrine, refused to convert to Christianity, insisting that she would keep on with the ways of old and so there was a split. The details of this split have also been lost in time, but Papa then married my Fathers mother who bore him 6 children. These Children, including my Father, he had in the older years of his life.

When God changes a persons life so profoundly, he never lets it go to waste. God used Papa to build the Church in my tribe. From stories of him climbing a tree in 1908 to retrieve a Church Bell that was somehow stuck in the tree, to the different positions he held in the Church, he was always a Patriarch of the Anglican Church in our tribe.

He raised his new family in the Church. Although not formally educated, he learned to read and write, and even until he was over 100 years old he read in the Church, rode bicycles, and even farmed.

Papa gave up his old ways and gave his life to God, and God rewarded him with a very long life and blessings above his peers. This is part of my family heritage, but the heritage that has been on my mind lately, is the heritage of the servants of God.




What is this heritage? The heritage of the servant of God is something that this one stands to inherit; a pact that has been made with God. A blessing that they stand to inherit.

Now I want to be clear: This heritage is not for everyone. It is specifically for the righteous servants of God. Not those who are unbelieving, or those who merely go through the motions of Christianity, but this is for those who have committed themselves to serving the lord and sincerely strive to do so.

This is a point that everyone has got to come to in his or her growth in the lord. A crossroads of sorts, a junction on the highway of life, upon which your options are plain: Serve or Observe.

For those who choose to observe, they will always hang in the fringes. They will identify with the Lord but never totally commit to him. But for those that choose to serve, the lord will pour out this heritage upon them. They will reach out and be a blessing unto all whom they serve, and the lord’s blessings will never be far from them.

My friends when I read the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, he asked the reader to come up with a summary of how we will live the rest of our lives. After which he also asked that we convert it into a short phrase that can be remembered easily. I would like to share my phrase with you. It is this: I am a servant of the ever-living God, and to be the perfect servant is my hearts greatest desire.

At the time I did not understand all that phrase would entail, and I still do not understand all that it means for me. But I do know that I said it from a sincere desire to serve God, and him through people.

And so what does it mean to serve, and what is this heritage that belongs to the servants of God? Both can be found in the book of Isaiah.
I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” Then I said “Here am I, send me”. Isaiah 6:8

My brothers and sisters, God is looking for a generation of people that will say “Here I am lord. Send me”. Being a servant of God means giving up our own earthly desires and giving our lives completely to him. It means setting aside our own agenda, our own hopes and dreams, and taking on those of the lord.
Being a servant of the lord is often misconstrued. Some people think that only preachers are servants of God; or people who work in the Church. But you can serve God anywhere that you find yourself. There just has to be a change inside you that’s all. The things that are important to God (Love of all people, caring for the suffering, spreading the good news of Jesus) all of a sudden become of greatest importance to you. Jesus becomes more and more precious to you. You begin to burn with a passion for Jesus; and away you go.

Sometimes we may feel that we are unworthy, or that we have no talent to offer God. But none of us are worthy to serve. The only strength and gift we have to serve are the one’s that he provides to us. My brothers and sisters the bible says that we do not have because we do not ask. I am here to tell you that there is no shortage of service that we can do for God. The bible has told us that “The harvest is plenty but the workers are few”. God has so many things that he wants to accomplish through us. We need only ask for the opportunity to serve.

My friends, God has called us to serve, and when you are a servant of God you attract all sorts of attention. The moment you give your life to Christ, the devil notices you. The more you strive to do his will, the more difficult he will try to make it for you.

This article titled Heritage my friends is a culmination of everything that I have seen over these past few weeks. I want to tell you that the more of these articles that I write, and the more of the things of God I do the more I feel the Devils dissatisfaction with me. Over the past few weeks I have faced all kinds of hardships and temptations. I did not help matters because I got too comfortable in my place of spiritual growth. But I have seen many hardships, with different issues across various aspects of my life. I have been tempted with so many sins, even in my sleep as I dream of things that I would never do awake; one time I woke up in the middle of the night and prayed before I went back to sleep.

I tell you these things neither to derive empathy nor to scare anyone away from serving God. But my friends I tell you these things because I want you to know, that as servants of God, although we are blasted from side to side by the tides of life, although we face hardships, trials and temptations, we are inheritors of an everlasting heritage. “As it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” Romans 8:36-37.
Now let us look at this Heritage that assures us victory.

Amidst these times the lord led me to Isaiah Chapter 54. Below you will find the text from verse 13 to the end 17.

And all thy children shalt be taught of the lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror for it shall not come near thee.

Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: Whosoever shall gather against thee shall surely fall for thy sake.

Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth the instrument for his work, and I have created the waster to destroy.

No weapon that is fashioned against thee shall prosper, and any tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the lord.

What a powerful passage. In it we see that the lord will teach and give peace to your children. He will establish you in righteousness and you will have no fear because terror will never come near you. But he also says, “Behold, they shall surely gather together”. Yes, in difficult situations people or powers and principalities will make you the focal point of a spiritual attack. But the lord also says that whosever shall gather against thee shall fall for thy sake. For-thy-sake. This is because you love the lord; because you serve the lord. God says that he creates the smith that makes the instruments and the destroyer to destroy. He is all-powerful. And in his power he tells you that no weapon fashioned against you will prosper. He tells you that any tongue that dares rise against you in judgment you will condemn. This God says is the heritage of his servants, and your righteousness is of him.

All of that is yours for the taking, if you will only serve.

Earlier I talked about how Papa came to claim his heritage as he dropped the name Nwosu, for a more blessed name “Emmanuel”. I am sure that at times it must have been difficult for him, giving up an old life for a new one, but God saw him through and was faithful to his promise.

This glorious heritage in the book of Isaiah is ours for the taking, and God is always faithful to his promises.

I want to conclude with a question: Will you serve? And if you do, will you continue to serve?

God bless you and keep you now and forevermore. Amen.




TESTIMONY

Sometimes we think we are doing things for one reason but we are actually doing them for another. As I wrote this article late at night, I all of a sudden had a sudden need to talk to my Father. I needed to get some facts from him about Papa’s life. I wondered how I could call him so late at night (About 3am in Nigeria), and then I remembered that earlier in the week I bought a calling card to call a friend I really wanted to speak to in Nigeria. Earlier in the week God put the need in my heart to call this friend, but as I realized that night, it was so that when the time was right I would have the means to call my father, and speak to him about much of what you have read. God’s plans are intricately platted through every hour of our lives. His love Is unending. His grace is amazing.

We need each other

Depending on how it is used, the word need is often a word that we do not like to be associated with because simply put: No one wants to be in need. For many, in a perfect world they would be self-sufficient, have everything that they need, and if they ever had to depend on anybody it would be members of their family or loved one’s. No one ever wants to be in a situation where they need help, neither do we ever want to be described as needy. Some even go as far as denying that they need help even when that much is clear.

In any case the irony of it all resides in the stickling truth that as human beings we come needy by default. We are already in need of salvation at the moment we are born, and even when we are saved we need to reach out and touch our brothers and sisters in the lord. We need to reach out and touch the world; for their sake and for ours.

That is what I want to talk about.

That at one point or another we need other people for earthly things is a truth that I think is quickly dispensed to us in ever-increasing doses by circumstances in life. People who have not come to terms with this fact are either delusional or have already made a comfortable home for themselves in a fools paradise. No, I think most people realize that from time to time we all need help. What I think is not as clear however, or perhaps has lost it’s potency in this current generation is the fact that as Christians we n-e-e-d each other, and we n-e-e-d to reach out and touch the world. Not just the Christians we know who also happen to be our friends, but every single brother and sister in Christ, and every single person within our ever changing circle of influence who happen to be in need of salvation.

PRIDE & PRIVACY

Two of the greatest obstacles to us reaching out, meeting and interacting with brand new people are two fold:

1) Privacy
2) Pride

PRIVACY
I think that anyone who reads Christian Perspective can immediately tell that I share a lot about myself, and sometimes I am amazed at the things that God draws out of me and lets me share with the world. I share these things because God has made me see that every aspect of our lives, even the one’s we consider private, are open to be used to the glory of his name. God wants to use everything that we’ve been through: Our pain, disappointments, strengths, weaknesses, hopes and dreams. You name it and God can use it to the glory of his name.

But I was not always like this. Like a lot of people I used to take pride in the fact that I was “a private person”. My sense of privacy could even be traced back to when I was a boy. Ask any of my siblings and they would tell you that sometimes I would play my own games and keep to myself. And so as I grew and came to know Jehovah with a mature mind, this deep sense of privacy translated itself into my Christianity. Many of us have been there. I thought that it was enough to read my bible everyday, pray, don’t do anything bad during the week and go to Church on Sunday. That to me was the winning formula. The formula that I thought would allow me to give God all the glory, live my life in peace without getting into the messy affair of other peoples business, or worse yet, have them encroach upon mine.
A lot of us are that way. We don’t get involved with strangers on a deep level or get involved in church because we like to mind our business, don’t have time, don’t trust people etc. We don’t want to get involved. How involved are you in the lives of people? Jesus Got involved.

Now we might think to ourselves “I am not Jesus. He’s the savior of the world; of course he had to get involved with people”. But Christ is the ultimate model upon which we ought to live our lives, and he has commanded us to “Go into the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” Mark 16:15.

PRIDE

Another obstacle to Christians getting involved with each other is pride. We all have issues with pride in one form or another. My brothers and sisters pride is a very wicked thing. Wicked because it has a way of wrapping itself around us like a python around its prey. And once the spirit of pride takes hold of you, it begins to squeeze away. Pride is dangerous because it is oh so difficult to identify, and here are some reasons why:

Ø A person can be humble in so many aspects of their life but prideful in one thing. The pride gets hidden amidst the numerous examples of extreme humility.

Ø Pride has come to be a good thing. We hear it all the time. Pride and strength somehow have come to go hand in hand (I don’t know how, humility I think is the ultimate example of strength). You hear phrases like “The few, the proud, the marines”, “He is a proud, strong man”, “She stood up for her rights because she has a sense of pride”.

Ø Pride is not an act, but the impetus for the act. So pride in and of itself is technically not an action that can be identified, but it shows its fruits through our actions.

I could go on, but the truth remains that our pride often gets in the way of us getting involved with other Christians or people in need of the good news of the cross. We are quick to cut off people who do us wrong, become less tolerant of other people’s faults etc.

But there is a story in the bible that highlights our need for each other, the folly of pride, and the realization that we cannot afford to judge each other to harshly because God uses what appears to be a wrong done to us to the glory of his name.

It is the story of Joseph in the bible.

In Genesis chapter 37, the bible tells us that Jacob loved his son Joseph more than all his other children because he was the son of his old age. And so he made Joseph a coat of many colors. The bible says that when Josephs brothers saw this they hated him and could not look peaceably upon him.

But Joseph also dreamed. He dreamt that that he was in a field binding sheaves, and all his brothers sheaves bowed down before his. He also dreamt that the sun and the moon and eleven stars made obeisance to him.

You see my friends a lot of times when people are doing or saying things that we do not like or want to hear, It is easy to get offended. But what may appear wrong to us might be God working his work. And so Joseph’s brothers plotted against him.
One day when his father Jacob sent him to check on his brothers in the field, they saw him coming and plotted to kill him. The bible tells us that they threw him into a pit, and since they did not want to have their brothers blood on their hands they instead sold him into slavery. They smeared his cloak with the blood of a goat and told their father Jacob that Joseph had been killed.



Jacobs brothers sold him to slave traders headed to the land of Egypt

This is an example of a family that did not recognize that they needed each other, and so they sold their brother. But on the other hand, this was God doing his work because many years later when Joseph would have attained a high position in Egypt, he would save his family and people from the Famine that had come upon them.
These are Josephs words to his brothers when he revealed himself to them in the land of Egypt:

Joseph said to his brothers “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But when his brothers heard this, they were so terrified that they could not answer. Then Joseph said to them “Please come closer.” They did, and he said “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be upset or blame yourselves because you sold me here. It was really God who sent me ahead of you to save people’s lives.” Genesis 45. 3:6

My friends I tell you this powerful story because just like Joseph and his brothers, we are one family- In Christ. I want you to see that even though at times people may annoy us, or get on our nerves we cannot afford to discard people. And everytime we turn our back on a chance to talk to someone about the awesome glory of God, we are in effect allowing them to remain in slavery; because sin is slavery. . Also, we will begin to experience the powerful power of forgiveness in our lives when we realize that when people hurt us, it could be to the fulfilling of a greater promise in our lives (What the world means for evil, God uses for good).

So I need you. I need you because I need God, and the glory of God shines through people (Jesus says that when we show kindness to those in need, we show kindness to him) I need you because when I speak to you I am encouraged, I need you because when I pray for you I am blessed. I need you because we are part of a flock and Jesus is the Shepard. A Sheep isolated is already lost.

And I need to touch the world. I cannot expect Jesus to come again in the body of a man, to do again what he has instructed us to do. I need to touch the world because of love. God loves everyone in this world, and he wants every soul saved.

My friends let us ask the lord to give us a desire for him that manifests itself in a desire for Gods people. It is a just request that he will be delighted to grant us.

I am excited about all of you that I know, and all those I am yet to meet. I am excited about all of the lives I am yet to touch. Not just for their sake; but for mine as well for the lord has revealed this to me: 1 Timothy 4:16.

“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them : for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee”.

To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Independence Day

The beginning of July is a very festive time here in the United States of America. The 4th of July is a day where many celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the same day in 1776. History tells us that back then the 13 colonies rebelled against the rule of England’s King George, who was imposing taxes upon the people without any representation in the British parliament. This was a time of heroes. God fearing men who wrote the declaration of Independence:

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

Just reading this brief excerpt from the declaration of Independence, it is easy to see that God-fearing men who longed to be free wrote them. Indeed it is a day worth celebrating.

And so today many workers are given a holiday as the days events are typically marked by fireworks, parades, barbecues, and other forms of great merry-making. The Independence of a nation is no small feat

That is one Independence Day; let us look at another.



Nigeria we hail thee
Our own dear native land
Though tribes and tongue may differ in brotherhood we stand
Nigerians are all proud to serve our sovereign motherland.

Growing up in Nigeria, October 1st was the only Independence Day I grew up knowing. By an act of the same British Parliament, Nigeria became an Independent country within the commonwealth on October 1st 1960.

This was a brilliant achievement given the African makeup. There is nowhere else in the world as naturally diverse as Africa, and there is no other country that embodies this diversity more than Nigeria. This isn’t a diversity that is brought about by a gathering of different peoples to one area, but a diversity that exists from people inhabiting their lands since time immemorial.

For example, Wikipedia states that the number of languages estimated and catalogued in Nigeria (Which is about half the size of Texas) numbers at 521. With 510 living languages, 2 second languages with no native speakers, and 10 extinct languages.

Such diversity lends itself to a fierce autonomy of the indigenous peoples, and so the concept of “One nation” becomes foreign and unnatural.

As such it becomes something of a miracle, that people of such diversity who had been carved into a regional Government by the British empire, should band together in pursuit of a concept that though traditionally foreign to them, would rid them of a foreign rule. The Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and countless other peoples of Nigeria embraced this one foreign concept of “Country”, to rid themselves of something more foreign “Lack of freedom”.

But in as much as these two nations gained their Independence, it is only a fragile thing as all things declared by men are.

The United States declared its independence in 1776, and was fighting a civil war by the 1860’s. Nigeria gained its independence in 1960 and was fighting a civil war by 1967. In both instances the very same people who had worked together to secure freedom were now at each other’s throats.

TRUE INDEPENDENCE



So what is the point of this little historical discourse? Well quite recently I was asked an age-old question: When did you give your life to Christ?

You see now that I ponder this question even more deeply in the lamentable absence of the questioner (Lamentable because would that she were here to hear my revelation on the question), I begin to understand that for the Christian the day you give your life to Jesus Christ is your independence day. That is the day you gain your freedom from the clutches of the devil. That is the day that begins the fulfillment of the verse that says “I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people” Hebrews 8:10, in the life of the believer; The Independence Day that counts.

And so I confess that as I was asked this question I fumbled a bit. The truth of the matter remains that not everyone can point to particular day that they can say that they gave their life to Jesus Christ. For me, my coming to Jesus was a process that saw me raised in a Christian family, while coming closer and closer to Jesus in different levels of depth and understanding.

It remains an unswerving fact that for many, our independence is analogous to that of the country’s we examined. We gain our Independence, but there is still some infighting within us. We have accepted Jesus Christ as our lord and saviour, but there are still parts of our lives that we have not given over to him completely to him.

And so just as these countries who gain their independence but all of a sudden start fighting within themselves, we give our lives to Jesus but because we are still holding back various aspects of our lives there is a war that is waging inside us. And so just as some countries who go through a Civil war come back together after the war is over to achieve greater heights, while some other countries who go through the same remain broken and divided, we as Christian either come completely to Jesus after holding out for a while, or we sink back into the world.

For me, I came completely to Jesus. God introduced various crises in my life that he designed to get my attention. I faced hardships that left me nowhere else to go but the cross. By February of this year, God set aside a 40 day period that radically changed the face of my life and made me into the person that he planned for me to be; The person that he will continue to grow and mold. I became hungry for the word of God, in love with every believer of Christ. My job was changed, I met wonderful God fearing people, I prayed more earnestly and experienced revelation after revelation. My only regret is that I did not surrender to him sooner.

And so when did I give my life to Christ? The truth remains that not all of us have an independence day. For some of us our freedom was a process and even a struggle that continues. But God wants all of his Children saved: And his grace is always sufficient.

And so I ask you the same question my friends: When did you give your life to Christ? When was your Independence Day or Independence period? Are you in a civil war? Is there a struggle raging inside you? Hold on to Jesus. Know that total surrender to him is the only path to victory. Surrender the only path to victory? This phrase would not make sense to the average person. But you are not the average person. “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light!” 1 Peter 2:9.

God bless you and keep you now and forever. Amen.