episode 07. SPIRITUAL AWAKENEING

thelawdsway
Mar 1
10 min read

who do we follow? thelawdsway

James 1:2-4 | Psalms 37:1 | 1st Thessalonians 5:14-16 | Isaiah 9:2

I am a Christian born and raised and I have really been developing a personal relationship with God more intuitively for the last three years. During the pandemic, I really got closer to God and became more awakened in how important and relevant the scriptures and the word of God is to be taken and applied in everything that we do.

I have 4 Bible Scriptures I believe we should all know both for its meaning and how we are to interpret its meaning into our lives. Just for reference, I read from the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) version. In this post, we are going to be discussing the 4 scriptures outlined above.

Spiritual awakening, to me, is acquiring the ability to deeply understand that whilst we cannot see, in the physical, what God is planning and putting into action for our lives, we see what He is doing through our faith.

JAMES 1:2-4 CSB

“Consider it a great joy, my brothers, and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

Facing a trial is an experience that everyone goes through. Having the means to overcome such trial is not an experience that everyone will go through. A trial is a person, experience, or situation that tests a person's endurance or forbearance. We’re tested on our sense of courage, belief and confidence that we will see through the obstacles and challenges that are formed through the trial.

I said ‘courage, belief and confidence.’ Three gifts that we can acquire from God when we trust in His works. Three gifts that when we apply it to our lives during our trials, it leads to the outcome of endurance. Three gifts that embodies the meaning of faith in which acquiring such faith, as the Book of James tells us, produces the endurance that will ensure we are made complete and lacking nothing. Three gifts that turns the negative connotations that we associate with facing trials into positive connotations as we encounter such trial not with the mind set of

‘When am I going to get through it?’

but

‘This is how I’m going to get through it with the courage, belief, and confidence that God has instilled in me to see all challenges through. I’m not going to focus so greatly on the negatives that may come with these trials, I’m not going to worry about the uncertainty of when I’m going to see this trial through. No, I’m going to focus on finding solutions and not creating problems. I’m going to keep my faith up because I have the backing of God and not give into fear. I’m going to make it through. I’m going to come out the other side greater, stronger, and better. I am going to overcome what came with these trials.”

Be joyful in the confirmation of the promises God has for us in that the gift of faith will prevail the token of doubt. Be joyful in knowing when we believe with our faith in God and not sight of the trials that are in front of us, we will endure the challenges and persevere. Be joyful, my brothers and sisters of Christ that we are made in the image of God and God is greater in us that he who is in the world so have courage, have the confidence, have the belief that yes, I will face trials, in fact bring on the trials and let it face me one on two because God is on my side. Understand that when God is for you, NOTHING and NO ONE, not the trials, not the people that are seeking the trials over your life, not the things that are causing the trials to come across your path, not the people and/or things that are placing the obstacles and trials that you are to overcome shall be against you. Keep the faith alive, keep God close and endure the trials- I’ll see you on the other side.

PSALMS 37:1 CSB

“Do not be agitated by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong.”

We're living in a world where there is a lot of pain and suffering, direct and indirect discrimination, and hatred, to say the least. It's a reality we are in need to admit to acknowledging its presence if we stand a chance to change this world’s narrative and overcome these issues. I stated the concept of acknowledgement because most times, we can see that where there is a failure to acknowledge something exists, this failure is not drawn down to be an issue of intellectual intelligence of the world, but our denial that something is not as bad as it, in reality, is. That sense of denial decreases the measure of evil, danger, bad and wrong that is associated, or of which defines such act to the point where we become associated or defined as an individual with such act. The sense of acknowledgement is crucial in life and a skill we should all acquire. Especially in environments or within people that we know ourselves are not good and will limit our growth, we are to acknowledge them for what they are, acknowledge it for what it is and understand that their ways are not to become our ways.

Denial, in some cases, can be the gateway of moving distance from God and living a life that doesn’t align with God as He is the way, the truth and life. In times like this, particularly where we have got to the stage in seeking to go back and be with God, there is an uphill struggle of now lacking understanding of who God is because we have been led astray by the secular world. You see where we continuously and obliviously denied and failed to acknowledge such evil doer and doings, in far distance or close proximity in our environment, we started to acknowledge the lack of existence of God. We are led to believe how can we trust in a creator that allowed all these evil doers to commit their evil doings, as surely, your creator is an omniscient God, the creator that is all knowing of the things that have happened, are happening and is to happen and yet I got away with this evil act of mine? Don’t you realise that they are sowing seeds of non-belief and mockery of God in a way that 'who is He if I am still reigning on the earth, doing what I am doing?'

We need not to be led astray from God to become a part of the secular things that are happening just because we failed to acknowledge the evil that was happening around us. We failed to acknowledge the evil because we did not want to be the anomaly in the crowd. Sometimes our desires to fit in on earth is what leads us to be left out of getting into Heaven. Don’t envy the people that became a part of the crowd on earth as you stood your ground and stayed true to yourself. In time, those same people will start looking for a way out, as they will realise that that is not a life worth living.

Envy is the sibling to evil so be the opposite of envy and be contempt with whose you are and what you are.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:14-16 CSB

“And we exhort you, brothers, and sisters: warn those who are idle, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all. Rejoice always,”

All these words play a part in the steps we are to take as we go through each day. To me, all these words remind me of what we would include in a prayer:

1. We pray for warning against the evil and people who seek for us to idol them.

2. We pray for comfort in times of trouble, doubt, and anxiety.

3. We pray for help in times of weakness, anger, and health.

4. We pray for patience in times of healing, overcoming and challenges.

5. We pray for evil to not come near us, we pray for goodness and how we are to live by doing and being good.

6. Lastly, we pray every time we say thank you Jesus, thank you God, thank you Holy Spirit, rejoicing because God has made a way.

Prayer is the number one thing we should do when we are being encouraged and guided to commit certain acts as we are being told in this scripture. Prayer should be our first choice, not our last resort.

Remember who God is and what He has done in the past.

When you need God’s intervention in your life: ask and admit for His help through prayer.

When we are unsure about something, or someone: take it to God through prayer.

When we don’t have the physical means to help others: help them through prayer by praying to God to heal them, protect them, bless them, and help them to grow.

We are to take everything to God through prayer. We are to place acts of limitations to God through prayer and to ask Him for His guidance and help in how we can fulfil these acts in the scripture to continue to live a life that is pleasing to God. As individuals, we can get so creative in the art of excuse, we’re only human after all, and there are some things that are just impossible for us to do. But that’s why we have God.

He can make the impossible possible, the limited limitless, the timed timeless.

Though in these times of trying to find excuses, we may become weak to fulfil our duties as outlined in this scripture. These are the times where we should be allowing and enabling God into our lives to a greater extent so He can produce more good works over our lives and through our lives to others. These times where we are feeling vulnerable or not able to do what God has expected us to do, go to Him through prayer, ask for His help, allow the virtue of God to help you to complete what you were needing and wanting to do, to take that sense of vulnerability and replace it with the protection and shield of God. God calls us, sometimes, to do things where we feel challenged and stretched beyond our means. Becoming a Child of God is not a smooth sailing process. It takes discipline, consistency, determination, perseverance, focus and confidence in who you are and whose you are. Exhort my brothers and sisters, God does not call the qualified He qualifies the called and it is us, who He has called to be His children. To live our lives fulfilling the acts in this scripture. To speak and grow close to God through the art of prayer and call onto Him in times of help.

Once we have established this reality into our daily lifestyle, all that is left for us to do is rejoice, always.

ISAIAH 9:2 CSB

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.”

Our light that lives in our soul comes from God.

We were all born with a light shining bright within us. Each of our lights symbolises the destiny that God has instilled into each and every one of us to fulfil. I always reflect on the issues around mental health when reading this scripture or when life gets a bit too much and I need a reminder of what will be, I come to this scripture. Mental health and the issues that comes with it is measured on the subjective influence of our historical, ancestral, and environmental background, to an extent. The ways in which we are to cope with mental health differs on the access one has to the services that supports mental health issues and who they have around them to lift them up. Often, it’s a thing where not many people have either the support services or people around them and as such, they are left with the fear controlling their mind, the anxiety producing their outwardly and inwardly behaviours and the depression dictating the type of future they can attain. The fear, anxiety and depression slowly but surely start to dim out our light that lives within us.

It’s a given when our identity becomes accustomed to these emotions.

Even though it’s a given, we shouldn’t settle with that outcome. Understand that the feelings of fear, anxiety and depression are not wrong as they are initial normal responses. The important thing for us to do is to know what we should do with these emotions to overcome it and not let it settle into our soul. We may decide to continue living through these emotions because we have grown to get use to the lifestyle that comes with it, but it won’t help us get into or get back into the great light. To rediscover who we are and called to be. You see the opportunity of a light that comes into your environment, take hold of it with both hands. What you are and how you are living right now does not need to continue to be your reality. The opportunity of light comes from God. He knows and sees us all. Cry out to Him if need be and let Him get you out of the darkness and into the great light.

If you're unsure of how to pray and how to ask for help, maybe use this prayer below as guidance:

Father Lord, I thank you. I thank you because you are making a way out for me. I thank you that even through this circumstance that I am going through, you did not give up on me. I thank you because you still love me and still seek the best for me. Help me to do the same for myself. Help me to not give up on myself, to love myself, to want nothing but the best for myself. Help me to overcome the current challenges that I face. Help me to replace my anxiety with certainty, my depression with peace. I no longer want to live this way. I need change, I want change, I seek you to breathe life over me for positive change. I don’t want to be in this state of mind, in this environment anymore. Help me to outgrow it and place me in a better environment for my mental health. Help me to understand the power of your grace and to call to you when I feel fear, anxiety, and depression. Let me live in your light and shine in the light that you have instilled in my soul. I am seeking for change, and I pray that I receive it IJN, Amen xx

Remember, Trust in the Lord, Love like the Lord and Walk with the Lord. TLW

who do we follow? thelawdsway