The Scandal of Grace

Sitting here on my bed, I still feel the presence of Jesus so intense that I said to Him, “how do I express how I feel right now?” The thoughts are overwhelming and His love is palpable. A lot of things happened today, but the most of it is that I saw Jesus clearer and now love Him more.

In the evening, I set out for some of my friends’ house for a hangout, not knowing what to expect. I like to consider myself as a spiritual person, and I am proud of it, but I don’t feel the same way about being referred to as “religious.” So, the main thing for me tonight was that nothing was religious. Everything was simple, fulfilling and pleasurable. At the house, Yinka Karis and I began to watch Pastor Chris Online clips and the presence of Jesus was so strong. We laughed and almost fell out under the power; boy, were we DRUNK in the Spirit.

Shortly after that, we heard Pastor Joseph Prince was ministering LIVE from Lakewood Church, and we decided to watch. WOW!!! It was a gathering of kings, and I believe heaven watched intently with excitement. I STRONGLY believe Jesus couldn’t contain Himself anymore; He DANCED! Boy, did JESUS dance tonight, while the devil cringed in fear and shame. As we watched, we celebrated Jesus, and we celebrated Him with so much joy. One of the highlights of Pastor Prince's message for me was when He talked about how Jesus decided to go hangout with Zaccheus, the tax collector, and the religious folk immediately took offence against Him. Pastor Prince said it was the beginning of “the scandal of grace.” Those words caught my attention, causing me to make up my mind to be a proud bearer of Christ’s grace message. I hope to write a book with that title, the Scandal of Grace, sometime in the future; it’ll be lovely.

Finally, I thoroughly enjoyed a great time with the people I call “friends.” I tend to pay a lot of attention to people’s eyes, and tonight all I saw was a lot of love being communicated - so much love it was impossible for Jesus to have been absent.  In everything we did, you could tell that Jesus was there. Now, I’m home, full of exuberant joy. I never stop being impressed by Jesus’ sacrifice for me. He bore it all. Now, all I have to do is look into His eyes and become more like Him as I do so. I’m not sure how to best communicate it, but I am convinced that HE LOVES ME!

P.S: Suggest a song for this post, please. Thanks!

"Woman, I Charge You, Give Your Heart to Christ" :: A Vision - 10/29/2011

It looked like the room I now type this note from. I got up from my bed with the sound of people coming up the stairs. I wondered who they were (mind you, I thought it was real life). Two gentlemen walked in with kids and a caterpillar (yes, the animal, as a pet, crawling in with them). They said construction was going on at their place and they needed somewhere to cook. I agreed reluctantly for them to come in. They got excited and started bringing out the food. "Jesus, Lord have mercy," I thought, when food of different types started showing. I ate and ate and ate rounds of it. I just couldn't have enough. Before long, I saw people trickling into the house, in tens, then looking like hundreds, but there was SPACE I never knew of before. 

Unknown to me, those men had planned an outreach - an opportunity to preach to people - after feeding them. I got excited about that too. Then, I started working with them. I'll skip the details, but by the time the merriment was over, those men did not minister. It was our responsibility. Yinka Karis ministered first. Some believed and some did not. He wasn't discouraged (none of us was), because the ones that didn't believe had left. We were now with those who believed but needed more teaching.

Yinka called on Chukwuemeka Obiaka to minister to the rest of the people that we had left with us. Yinka made sure to make it clear to "Obi" in a stern manner that "all these ones have to give their hearts to Christ." Then, Obi started to minister (strong and powerful) and right when we were confessing our salvation, we heard the voice of a rather short lady demanding that everyone moved out of the field. So, both we and the people we were ministering to, began to run in a certain direction. It seemed like the short lady had some clout, like she was a teacher we feared. It looked like she felt insulted that she had been trying to get our attention but everyone was listening to "a small boy" (referring to Obi) and ignoring her.

In stead of running with everyone, I ran toward her and began to explain. I said, "We were not listening to a small boy, ma'am. We were listening to Jesus. It was Him standing there, talking through that young man." With deeper conviction I said "He [Jesus] could have won many to Him tonight, but you stopped Him (at this point, almost in tears)." Her colleagues (strict women of power like herself) spoke harshly, encouraging her that she made the right decision to protect her reputation by dispersing the gathering, even though at this point, I was sure she was questioning her reasoning.

"Woman, I charge you, give your heart to Christ," I said pleafully. By now, I could see tears in her eyes. Then, I went on to say "I assure you He [Jesus] is real, and one day you will stand before Him and your whole body will shiver; everything in you will respond to Him and you will have to give account of what you have done in your body." Her colleagues tried to dissuade her, but I could tell that she knew what was at stake. It was simply now a choice between her ego and the reality. 

Next, I felt a call - a need to go and join the believers where they were, so I left her. It was a dining room - a huge one. We all wore purple apparel, everyone with a different face and name. The food was DELICIOUS; in fact, it looked like it was alive because it did move. It was like nothing I was aware of existed on earth. Every bite was satisfaction. I declared proudly to my comrades in Christ that I had made an attempt to win the woman over, and now I only hope that my words would win her. The room we were in was like a sort of waiting area before we went to the real place, but it was gorgeous in there.

We began to share the reasons why each of us had believed. One of the guys in the room (I got the impression that I didn't "like" him before then, but now, I loved him) talked about how he believed because of the food. He said he loved food in general, so when he heard about this one, he wanted to try it out. It was at that time that I noticed my food was extremely delicious and ALIVE. 

** JESUS is REAL. If you know Him, wear Him proudly. He died for everyone, and He is coming some day very soon. Believe me, He's worth it ALL. **