Life's Soundtrack

Ever wished that life had a soundtrack? That you could walk in the sunshine, smell fresh flowers, love and be loved [just like in those movies], and most of all have a soul-stirring melody playing in the background. Or, for the less artistic person, have you ever desired that action-packed always-on-the-move kind of life that your favorite actors portray? No time for unnecessary dialogue…just plain action-productivity? Or, do you [like myself] want both? Alas, “if wishes were horses?”

In human reality, life has no soundtrack. It just doesn’t happen that way, no matter how badly we wish it to be. Yet, God tells us [Christians] something very important; He says “Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” [Proverbs 4:23] What that says to me is that everything I need to live the life I desire is on the inside. Simply amazing! Science has proven that man has not begun to explore the half of his potentialities. Purely objective observation of science, therefore, proves that it supports the Word of God according to the Bible, since the previous scripture lets us know that all we need to enjoy life is in our hearts; Jesus also stated concerning believers in His Name that “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do.” [John 14:12] What an enormous capability we carry!

It is time we begun to reach into ourselves and pull out all we need. God made my house [or home] to be my body. So, I never have to look outside for anything, be it joy, peace, or that lovely soundtrack. The Bible teaches me that I can make melody in my heart to God and sing spiritual songs [that have never been penned] all by myself, in my heart. Something interesting the Bible also says is that, by doing that, I’d be filled with the fullness of God [Ephesians 5:18 - 19]. Wow! What a life! I create my own soundtrack of life now. So, when you see me walking, smiling, and enjoying the sunshine while meditatively producing an action-packed day, don’t think I’m trying to live the movies. No, the movies only showed a shadow, a mirage, a yearning; I am living the real deal. In those movies, we’ve been shown what man [as a spirit] knows is achievable. But, in God’s Word, we’re taught how to achieve that deep craving.

In January 2009, I heard my Pastor [Rev. Chris Oyakhilome] say, “I hear a different song”, and he went on to explain that the song he hears is not from this world. Ever since then, I have determined to hear Zion’s songs in my spirit – to soundtrack my life with songs from the Holy City of God in my heart. Nobody can teach you how to do it. As you pray in the spirit and worship, just reach in. I am still learning as well, but I am enjoying the whole process. Have the instruments in your heart; reach musical notes that are not humanly possible. Create new instruments. See! Be inspired! All around us there is creativity and inspiration. Just take a look around you, no matter how horrible, or on the contrary, exquisite where you are seems to be, and translate it all to a song of worship or intercession from inside you.

There’s a topic we’d discuss sooner than later. It’s nostalgia - and its beautiful, yet entrapping and paralytic effects. Have you ever had that song that reminded you of “way back when” and all the feelings came rushing back? That very song could keep you in way back when and steal the moment you could use to meditate on “way up there” in your future. Be more excited about the songs you’ll hear in the future of success that you’ve painted for yourself. Believe that those songs are definitely deeper and more captivating than the ones of yesterday. Look forward to them; meditate on them. And, even, create them. The past loves you very much and wants you back. But, you have to determine for yourself that the golden soundtrack before you is way better than the silver [no matter how shiny] that you have passed.

God bless you, and have a fruitful weekend!

P.S: Loads of answers to very popular contemporary questions [by my very own Rev. Chris Oyakhilome] currently available on Pastor Chris Online in video format will soon be available in readable written format as well on the Pastor Chris Online Transcripts blog. Though you can view the blog now, it is still “under construction”.

Choose Your Friends!

“I choose as my friends everyone who worships you and follows your teachings.” [Psalm 119:63 CEV]

 Who are your friends? Did you take time out to select them, or did you just take those who circumstances brought your way? Man is a spirit, not the outward body that we see. The body we see is only a housing for the real you. God has a destiny for that spirit-man; therefore, it is important to God who your friends, confidants, and trusted ones are. I have come to find that the nature of friendship is that of influence with parties changing, molding, and re-molding one another. As someone said, it is not possible to have a relationship where the parties are not effecting a change in one another at all; whether or not you believe it, if you do not noticeably see your friends becoming more like you, then you are certainly becoming more like them. The problem is not in you becoming like another person – that part is inevitable; the real concern is with the kind of character or mindset you are gradually, subtly, and progressively being influenced by.

Paul gives us a New Testament picture of the same thing in 2 Corinthians 6:14 & 16 where he says “be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness...what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God.” In the early days of mechanized farming, two animals were attached together using an implement that forced them in the same direction. Those animals were ‘yoked’ together for such purposes as plowing and generally increasing productivity on the farm. In those days, only animals of the same kind were yoked together - for example a bull and another bull; to yoke a bull with a dog would be referred to as unequal yoking, and as you may imagine, it would not work so well. As Christians, we are of a different breed [James 1:18] – a new type of beings – different from the ordinary human person, because the life of God has been put in us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus [1 John 5:11-12].

Therefore, God is concerned about who you call your best friends. Learn to define your relationships. The fact that you go to class together with someone else does not make you their friend or companion; you are simply classmates. You may do school work together, but that is as far as it goes. An unbeliever could not possibly be your best friend by God’s standards. Don’t get me wrong! You may be found in the company of sinners like Jesus was, but don’t be found in their companionship. Let your purpose in their midst be clear; you are there to be a witness of Christ to them. As such, you cannot be found with them all or most of the time. Otherwise, before long, you’ll find yourself thinking, talking, and acting like them. It is just one of the laws of life.

There are characteristics of a godly friendship that you must cultivate with your Christian friends or seek when choosing your friends. Some of them are:

Prayer: God wants you to hang around those who love to pray and know how to pray, such that if you are ever faced with a challenge, you would have friends who know how to take care of it according to the Word. Also, when you pray with your friends, you strengthen your friendship and purify it of all forms of hate, envy, and bitterness that eat into people’s hearts. Agree with your friends in prayer often [Matthew 18:19-20]!

Love for the Word: The Word of God is God [John 1:1]. You and your friends have to be people who desire to have more of God in you. The Bible says “be ye therefore followers of God as dear children” [Ephesians 5:1]. How do you follow God? It is only through His Word. Understanding that your friends will be of influence in your life consciously or unconsciously, it is best that they are themselves people who are being influenced by God’s Word continually.

Regardless of how you have been so far in life or how you started out, you can determine today how you want to end up. If you are one who wants to fulfill his or her destiny in God and be a success in life, you must begin NOW to make changes regarding your companionships. Pray to God to synchronize you with his plans and purposes for you especially with respect to those you hang around with. When you pray like that [like I did years ago], you’d find that the right people come your way and the wrong people just naturally drop out of your life. Your relationship with those wrong friends should not end in a fight; when you commit your destiny to God, they’ll leave peacefully, if they have to.  Otherwise, the Spirit of God will help you to win them to Christ quickly! But, whichever the case, until they confess Christ, limit your time spent with them.

David said in Psalm 1:1 & 3, “blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful…whatsoever he doeth shall prosper”. If you want to be a successful man or woman, you have to discontinue relationships with those who hate the Lord. Never find yourself laughing together with people who mock the move of the Spirit or speak against men of God or the body of Christ. Begin programming yourself for success by surrounding yourself with God’s children today.

The Foolish Things

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” [1 Corinthians 1:27]

Is God’s Word too simple? Are His methods unbelievably straightforward, so much that they become increasingly difficult to yield to? I heard a story once of a Christian who had been through severe hardship in his life. After enduring for a rather long period of time, he decided to confront his Pastor for a solution after a church meeting. The Pastor, full of wisdom and the HolyGhost, listened attentively to the young man. Upon the troubled Christian finishing the story of his ordeals, the Pastor recommended that he purchased, listened to, and meditated on certain Christian materials [books, tapes, CDs, etc]. To the Pastor’s amazement, the young man, looking rather disappointed said to him, “you don’t understand”. With those words, the young Christian Brother was attempting to convey to his Pastor that it could not be that simple; the young man must have been thinking “this man [referring to the Pastor] must not know how serious my case is for him to be asking me to go and listen to some sermons; didn’t I just listen to a sermon?”

Many of us Christians are like that today. God’s Words and instructions seem too simple to hold any weight. Moses made the same mistake and it cost him dearly. God had instructed him to “take the rod…and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water” [Numbers 20:8], but Moses in his anger looked lightly upon the Lord’s instruction and struck the rock instead of talking to it. Maybe if he had known that the rock represented Christ which was only to be struck once [representing his death] after which words [confessions of faith] would produce results in His name, he may have not disobeyed the Lord. As simple as the instruction was, it was very important to God that it was carried out precisely.

We, as believers, need to be more conscious of the fact that God, in His infinite wisdom, has chosen to confound [stun, amaze, and leave speechless] those that are wise in this world by making the “foolish” things contain the most power. Consider the foolishness of meditating on the Word of God in order to see tremendous progress and prosperity in your life [Joshua 1:8, 1 Timothy 4:15]. You may also examine the foolishness of prayer. God does not require you to pray a powerful prayer; you do not have to shout down the heavens. He needs you to simply “ask, and…receive” [John 16:24]. Finally, consider the foolishness of giving or sowing seeds of faith into the lives of men of God, brethren, and the poor; as foolish as the giving of your money is [to the wise people of this world], it is the key to true unending prosperity [2 Kings 4:1-7, Luke 6:38].

The man I referred to earlier may have found it easier to believe if his Pastor had instructed him to fast for 21 days and eat only veggies for another 21 days after that, while praying for two hours at noon and at midnight all of those days. Funny, isn’t it? Yet, that is the way many believers are. We find it easier to believe more in a complicated process, when God said it has been made simple. Whatever deliverance you need is in the Word of God; the knowledge of it will literally cause your eyes to be open to see that you were never bound [Proverbs 11:9].

Salvation came as simply as saying that you believe Jesus was raised from the dead and confessing His Lordship; if the most important thing in your walk with God came that easy, why should anything else be harder [Romans 10:9-10, Romans 8:32]? Focus on the Word of God, enjoy fellowship with God in prayer, and give with a heart of love. 

While you post your comment, here's a beautiful song [originally written, composed, and sung by Frank Edwards of LoveWorld Records] covered by a dear friend and sister of mine - Chidimma. The chorus is in the Igbo language from Nigeria. Enjoy!