No Wasted Experience

Life in today’s world is no longer a walk in the park. It’s what you make of it that counts. We don’t just lay back with folded arms and expect things that have gone eerie to just come right, for things that went complete opposite to our expectations to just correct themselves. Men are fighters! Men don’t just sit back and watch life go past. Wrong! Many men do just that. We experience times of trials and hardships; it could be your business, maybe the project you are working on and your employer is not happy, or even your marriage could be hovering on the rocky ground. Experience never goes wasted.

Experience builds character and offers us great wisdom. Experience is something we can get from God. No experience that we go through in life is wasted. It becomes a learning curve and a way to allow God to move us forward. Let’s read 2 Corinthians 4:17; “For our light and temporary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs our troubles.” God takes us through many different problems in life, only to use them to teach us how to hold on to Him, how to realise that our eternal life is waiting for us, a new glory life with Him. Even the difficult and challenging aspects of life He uses for our benefit.

God should always be in control. He should be steering our lives. Men, are you allowing Him to do just that? He is at work in us, producing that eternal glory that is ahead for us. Let Him complete His work and don’t interfere. Let Him take you on this journey, and in this way He will complete your walk and through this you will have a wonderful testimony to share to the world. God is the only One who knows best, who offers best wisdom ever, who fills us with a knowledge which surpasses anything the world can offer us. Therefore, move aside and allow God to move inside. Be blessed!

What do you want?

Men always want something more. We want greater financial statuses. We want great cars. We want big homes. We want long titles behind our names. We want to be famous. We want to be better than everyone else. Yes, men wat always! For most, it is not so easy to achieve planned goals. It could be that the timing is wrong. It could be that our walk in life, our choices we make are always failures. It could be that we listened to the wrong people and follow advice that was not meant for us. Men are stubborn! Ouch, now I can hear you giving me the lip, but truth hurts for those who need to hear it clearly. What do you really want? What is it that your heart desires?

Have you tried ways to achieving your desires, on reaching those goals you set? Have you failed big time? Have you tried getting there illegally, maybe working under the belt of the law? What do you want? Let’s read Esther 9:12(b). Esther’s story, although it being a female, is truly an amazing one, and a great example for us men. Here’s the verse, “Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.” Esther stood up for her people and went straight to the point. She too had goals to achieve, plans she desired for her and her people. She faced this head on. When she approached the king, he was ready to hear and answer her request. The same is true when we approach the Lord our God with our requests.

What is your request today? What do you want? What is the pressing issue you are facing? Approach God and ask Him directly. He is listening to you. He wants you and I to approach Him with boldness and ask what is in our hearts. When you call upon Him, God will answer you and honour you. He will rescue you as well. Just make sure that what you ask or petition before the Lord is in His will, that it is something worth asking Him. Put your requests before God in prayer. Talk to Him today. What do you want? God is waiting for you right now. Enjoy!

Time To Change

Firstly, welcome back into 2017! May this year truly be a life-changing one where our Lord God, Jesus Christ will take you into a new world of being a believer and true follower... Enjoy the first post for this great year which lies ahead... Amen...

Men allow life to swallow them up in many instances. Men get attracted to things that are not what they should be doing. I was there, in a few of the instances, pulled into things I should not have been doing; not all stated here as examples though. Men get attracted to porn. Yes, even pastors have fallen short here [I know of two personally]. Men get attracted to drugs and other illegal substances easily, and these can lead to death in some cases. Men get attracted by the opposite sex and destroy their marriages through this. Men, supposedly strong humans, become weak when temptations cross their paths. Sin is the worst “enemy” that leads men astray from God.

Where should we be when these temptations cross our paths? At the feet of our loving God, seeking Him and allowing Him to break these “attractions” in our lives from leading us into paths of destruction. In Psalm 51 we read something which we all should allow God to do, in verse 10. It goes like this; “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” This is what we should be praying each day until we are delivered from these “attractions” which are destroying us, our businesses, or our marriages and other relationships – especially the relationship with God. Allow the Lord to be at work in our lives. The keywords here are ‘create’ and ‘renew’, and these are our main targets we should reach through God’s help in our lives.

God can bring about something in us that we did not know existed before. He takes that which is worn out and renews it again. He comes and cleanses us, making us new creatures, with new hearts that please Him totally. Men may look strong and bold on the outside, but brittle and broken on the inside. That’s when we should call out to God and pray like this verse above states, asking Him to help us. We must swallow our pride and macho status and allow God our Saviour to change us. It is time to change! Do it today! Be blessed…

 

MOP Ministry no postings

Hi Everyone,

Please note that we will be closed and no posts will be going out until Monday 16th January 2017. We are taking a small break and will resume with articles from that day forward. May the start of this year be a wonderful one, and may 2017 be the best year ever for one and all. Be blessed!

Nelson Canha [founder of MOP Ministry]

Happiness Pursued

Are you happy at all times? Let me be frank right here. I’m not always happy. There are times happiness does not fit into my life, times when happiness is not in my dictionary of life. Why? That’s a good question. Because I don’t allow happiness to be a full part of my life, even when I’m a believer and great follower of the God who saved me. I’m human and I allow “attractions” of the world to distract me from happiness. Many men, if not all, go through such phases in life, only to realise that they are doing themselves a great “evil” and hurting themselves. Business may be doing far below expectations, marriage may be feeling rocky, and many other things cause unhappiness to crawl into our lives.

Happiness must be pursued at all times. And now you may be asking the question, how? Let’s take a look… Read Acts 3:1-13. These verses are amazing! Happiness exist most when self doesn’t. Does this make sense? Martin Luther King Jr said the following, which I read once, and I quote, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” Most times happiness is not with us because of self. When we seek to pursue happiness, and seeking happiness for others around us, we feel happy. Happiness becomes a part of our lives again. Yes, being happy is when we are feeling happy for others too. Unfortunately, in this world we live in, it wants to take happiness away from us. Christianity can offer us three practices as prescribed in Acts; how to be true Christians. The first one is Community [Acts 3:1-2]. Where do we go to equip ourselves weekly? It is the church. The best place for this is in the house of God. We get prepared so that we can go and prepare others. We get equipped to equip others. This is one area of pursuing happiness.

Secondly, we have Character [Acts 3:6]. John and Peter did not have silver and gold but they had better; they had Jesus. When we live in Him and He lives in us, we have everything. His character starts to become our character. Pursuing happiness is so much easier. Happiness is knowing Jesus. Then happiness flows from us to others around us. Happiness just happens! Thirdly, and last for now, we have Cause [Acts 3:12-13]. We should live lives that are “others focused. Self should be removed and when we focus on those around us, happiness is present. To glorify Jesus is happiness! Therefore, pursue happiness at all times, making it stick like glue to our lives. How? Start by removing self from the equation of life.

Our cause on earth is to influence and touch the lives of others. This is pursuing true happiness. Happiness is Jesus with us and in us forever! Are you happy? Are you pursuing happiness at all? Then start with Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is true happiness! Therefore, go forth and seek happiness for yourself and those around you. Start with Jesus! Amen.