FORGIVING YOURSELF AND GIVING YOUR BEST TO GOD

SERMON BY EKOW E. COBBINAH

16^th August, 2015.

I thank God for speaking through me. I pray this becomes a blessing and I'm seen just as a vessel of Christ.

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” – Hebrews 9-14 KJV

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” – Romans 12:1 KJV

We all make mistakes, when the mistake is done, the aftermath is more important, it is vital to learn from them and apply them in our lives for a brighter tomorrow.It’s hard to approach people we have wronged to seek forgiveness. Personally, I believe it is harder forgiving ourselves. If we are to give our best to God, then we have to do everything with a clean heart and that includes a heart that holds no grudges.

If you haven’t accepted Him yet, it is prudent to do so, repent from your sins and accept Him into your heart. If you are already a believer, you still have to ask forgiveness and guidance so you don’t repeat your err.  “1^st John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (KJV).” Regardless of how hard we try to move on, our minds can revisit our past, now it is our decision to make what to think when that happens. We can choose to let the devil win by always feeling guilty or by learning from it and feeling assured that God has forgiven us. When we forgive ourselves, it gets easier to forgive others. You may forgive, but not forget, it is a process, one step at a time.

Some of those past errors were to humble us and make us more careful, that notwithstanding, we should be careful and strive to please God always. Sometimes too we have to share our past, so that it does not become the tomorrow of others.

As humans we are sometimes consumed with guilt over our past errors. What we should bear in mind is that the way we see ourselves is not the same way God sees us. We often label ourselves based on the particular sin we committed in the past, whiles God still sees us as His children, just as the prodigal son. He loves us no matter what, that is why He forgave us and gave us a second chance. It is our duty not to continue in our wrong ways but to learn from them and be better. We must not allow our past to cloud our today nor tomorrow. If we do not forgive ourselves;

1.      We sin because we deny the sacrifice his son made for us on the cross.When the recipient of a gift receives it gladly and with joy, the giver is glorified. But when the receiver shows no appreciation, the giver feels his gift has been unappreciated. God gave us the gift of salvation for free, which has cleansed us from our sins. So next time you hold on to your past and refuse to forgive yourself, bear in mind you are not appreciating God’s gift of salvation to you.

2.      It gets difficult to approach God, because you feel too guilty. You then gradually pray less.

3.      You feel unworthy and do not offer yourself for work on God’s field.

These are exactly what the devil wants, once you feel unworthy, you cannot give your best to God because you hardly offer anything nor do any work for Him. Instead you wallow in self pity and never get to move on in life. This defeats your purpose in Christ as you do not live your full life in Christ, this hands Satan the victory.

Those of us around should also not remind people struggling to forgive themselves about the past, as this makes the situation worse. For instance, if someone lied to you in the past, we should not be making statements to them such as “You have a good record of hiding the truth”

Bear in mind that God has already forgiven you and you should forgive yourself. Satan will remind you, but when he does, remind yourself that God has forgiven you and you are a vital worker on God’s mission field.

Have you lived an unchaste life, don’t worry; you can still give your best to God. Remember Rahab.

Have you lost a gift God gave you? Don’t worry, change, pray and if it’s His will, He’ll give it back. Remember Samson.

Did you tell a lie? God has forgiven you, so forgive yourself and move on, Remember Abraham. Gen 20:2

Did you misuse your authority? Forgive yourself, Remember David

Did you murder? Murder is not only slitting someone’s throat, you can say words that can kill a person’s spirit. Forgive yourself, remember Moses. All these instances exist in the Bible to serve as lessons we can learn from.

Deliverance is necessary, but you have to forgive yourself after that, else you will still focus on the mistake and miss the blessings that come along. After you forgive yourself, focus on giving your best to God, because this pleases God.  John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments”. In other words, pleasing God means submitting to God’s will. When we submit to God’s will, we enjoy a close relationship with Him because we can hear and feel His prompts. So we have to trust and obey God always, through reading His word and obeying His prompts.

This will not be easy, so we have to be prepared to hold on to God no matter what. He never said we will not walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but He said he will be with us always. The temptations and trials will come but with God we will overcome.

TEMPTATION is not from God, it is from Satan, it comes from our own weakness, some things we did in the past and also fleshly desires. It may not necessarily be sin but may lead us to sin. For instance, your favourite TV show, sports game preventing you from attending church. James 1:13-15 further explains: “¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” English Standard Version.

Trials are from God, they come to test your faith and draw you closer to God. “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” 1^st Peter 1:7 - KJV

Some trials may be tough; they will hit you so hard that you will feel like giving up because there is no sign of hope. We will all have different experiences. Some of us may be rescued like Peter was from prison, Acts 12:1-17. We will have a miracle that will change things, some of us will have Stephen’s experience Acts 6 – 8, and we will have to be faithful till death. This shows others that even in our bad times, we were faithful to God. It can even be as complicated as being sent to share the message with people who know your past. Whether you have Peter or Stephen’s experience, the best part is, we have a crown waiting for us in heaven.

If you are going through an Abraham or Job sized trial, put on your Abraham or Job sized faith and expect an Abraham or Job sized blessing/breakthrough.

Sometimes too our own acts make things hard for us, for instance, we may be seeking promotion at work but always report to work late. You certainly cannot be promoted when you are a late comer. You may want promotion but never willing to work over time, the post you are dying for may be one that demands a lot of sacrifice, so let’s work on ourselves too.

My parents said two things to me, Dad said, “being faithful is not easy, but it is worth it. Mama also said, “Your test of faithfulness to God comes when no one is watching, the things you do that no one knows”

Finally, our past is dead, we can visit it to learn from it but not to be held back nor tortured by it. God loves us and has forgiven our sins, so let us forgive others and ourselves, learn from our past, help others in similar situations and strive to always trust and obey God with a thankful heart. AMEN, GOD BLESS US ALL.

ADVENTURES OF A GAMER

As a boy, my love for entertainment comes naturally, I get so nostalgic when I remember all the fun I had
playing with my broskis, for now, I'll focus on the mad fun I had in the world of video gaming.
Well, in sharp contrast to the word "video" in video gaming, my adventure actually started with a "WATER GAME". A gift from my parents,it needed no battery nor electricity, I consider it as the father of hand held games, it already had water in it with some plastic rings and poles, all you had to do was just play it. I remember playing with such determination to make sure all the rings go hang on the two poles, which signified victory in the game. I then advanced to the "BRICK GAME". That one was also hand held but required a battery, had interesting games like "Bricks","Snake" and "Ping pong". I moved on to a little thing called the "Nintendo GameBoy", which sparked my interest in a certain Italian plumber.

Then I made a paradigm shift, from hand held to consoles, I started with the Nintendo Entertainment System, popularly known in Ghana as the Family game and ended with the Sega Saturn. My shift to consoles, coupled with my new found interest in that Italian plumber, whose name is Mario, Super Mario as I prefer calling him, sent me jumping on mushrooms and bad dudes to save a princess. I picked up the role of a virtual hunter to do a little "Duck Hunt" before I discovered the Flash of hedge dogs called Sonic.I was fascinated by ninjas too, so I had some karate fun with some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, then my military dreams took me on an adventure in "Contra". Since I had already had some karate fun, I figured I could use some kung fu too, so I tried it in a Mortal Kombat, which was fun, I heard about another tournament called Tekken, but I didn't try it out because I didn't want to awaken my Killer Instinct. Eventually, I gave up my kung fu dreams for a little Road Rush because I had to satisfy my Need For Speed. I also heard about that pretty girl who was a Tomb Raider, but I never met her as I was busy being a Virtual Cop cleaning out the House Of The Dead. I wanted to be in the Moto GP and Formula One, but I preferred riding in Karts with Mario. That didn't last though, neither did my soccer career with FIFA, not even the trainers at the Pro Evolution academy wanted me, as for the Winning Eleven folks, well, lets just say I had lost interest in soccer by then. I got the chance to meet The Freedom Fighters who ousted the God Of War from Vice City, indeed, it was a Just Cause.

My adventures are still going on, someday God willing I'll build a PlayStation in my backyard, but for now, I'd prefer some warm up exercises on an XBox.

NOTE - I do not own any of the images, they were downloaded from Google.

FROM ZONGO WITH LOVE

Zongo, a place I don't often go
But a place I certainly can't forgo
I've been to all three Zongos of the West
But trust me, Effiekuma Zongo is the best
It's nothing extraordinary, it's just special than the rest.

So this decent girl I met at Effiekuma Zongo
On that day I stepped out to visit Atongo
When our eyes met, we both froze with passion
Grrrrr, inside me I felt my heart dashing
I got closer and said,"I'm Ekow"
She smiled and said,"I'm Adisa"
"Oh boy!" I said, because our names didn't rhyme
But you know what, that's no crime.
We had a nice chat
Made me feel like a singer whose song is on top of a chart


Few minutes later her brother showed up, looking like Umaga
I shivered, looking like a scared character in a manga
He smiled and said hi
And all I could do was sigh
So he left and I asked if she liked social media
She said,"Yes, facebook, tumblr and I love to read from Wikipedia"
So her blog on Tumblr I followed
Since I had few pictures, most of the ones I shared on there with her, I borrowed.
After a year of friendship, we're soul mates
Don't worry, I'll send you the wedding and anniversary dates
If I ever lose her, then it'll be a mea culpa
And my heart will be shredded like a paper


With her, joy to my heart I feed
For she has the credentials of a wife I need.
Yes, we're from different tribes, but we have no room for stereotype
And our true love will make us the 21st century romance archetype
I'll describe her as my beautiful dove
Yes! Welcome me home, from Effiekuma with love!!

MEMOIRS OF A BROKEN HEARTED MAN

There's nothing like that very day when that dream girl of yours smiles back at you,just can't help but replay it over and over again in your mind.It's a day you can't forget, that day is when you realize that your dream of making her your soul mate is finally on course.Then,another unforgettable day, the day she finally says yes. Trust me, euphoria is an understatement to the excitement you feel for that very moment, because she's yours now and forever, as you think with optimism.

Life as we know it, is full of uncertainties, I heard someone say that everyone will experience a broken heart at least once in a  lifetime, how true that is,I don't know. There comes that time when you realize some little cracks in the relationship,you try hard to solve them but it just doesn't work. That is when you notice the signs, but love blinds you so bad so you just try to live with it.

Then,the Big Bang! She tells you it's OVER!! You laugh it over, "No it's not over" you think,hoping her decision will roll over, believing it's one of them "girlie" tests. Days go by and she still doesn't change her mind, then you think to yourself, "Should I be the perfect gentleman and let her go or become the savage and go after her with all guns blazing just to get her back no matter what." You realize you can't handle it, so you tell her best friend, she tries her best to convince her but it doesn't change a thing, now you slowly begin to accept the harsh merciless reality,she's gone and never coming back. Like the waves of the sea her love got so close to you but now its gone. Now almost every 30 minutes, you check your phone to see if she messaged or called but you don't see her name in the log, your heart skips a beat each time you hear the phone ring. You answer wishing it was her only to hear the voice of your boys or an annoying friend. You wish she'd at least message but that message never comes and you stay awake all through the night because you know she'll pop in your memories when you close your eyes. The moment you hear that song you both loved, memories of her flood your mind like a rushing river, you break down and turn the music off, you go through all the messages and realise how close and happy you and her were, you just can't help but miss her.

Time flies and moments grow old, you wonder if you have to hold on and wait in case she changes her mind, or you're just wasting your time so you just have to move on. She never said goodbye but you can sense "goodbye" in the few replies she gives you. Then you hear what you've always feared, she's got herself a better man.You get hurt so bad and then you wonder if you were ever good enough for her, you look at her photos and can't believe you had a diamond under all that dust, can't believe the chance you've lost.You shiver invisibly, fall apart silently and reality becomes a live nightmare as you try to make your heart understand it's finally over.You try hard to smile through it all but the pain is like an arrow straight through your heart. Folks around you tell you to get over it, but trying to simply forget her is like remembering every word you said ten years ago, feels like quicksand, the harder you try to get out, the deeper you sink. Not so long ago, she was your Lois Lane and you were her Superman, but now she's gone forever so you become Wolverine and she becomes your moon, because all you can do is just miss her and howl at her. One thing I know is that broken heart is like a wound, it hurts so bad, but with time it will heal and all the pain will go away.Sometimes the scar remains and that scar is the memories we have of that one special person. Love is wonderful,makes you fly without wings but sometimes,just sometimes,it's Lots Of Vague Emotions(L.O.V.E).

WHEN THE WELL RUNS DRY

When the well runs dry, you get desperate, because you know you have to go the extra mile to find water. Most wells usually run dry during the dry season.

The dry season is a time of hardship, scarcity, desperation and heat. Even in the wild, its not the right season to bring forth offspring, because its around that time when both predator and prey share the same drinking spot almost at the same time, the almost dried up water bodies, its survival of the fittest. During the dry season, the well becomes our sole source of water, metaphorically speaking, in our daily lives, its our last resort of hope. At some point in your life, you will experience a bitter dry season, a time of drought and despair. Things will go from bad to worse, some of the people you trusted most will turn their back on you, a shock that will take you sometime to get over and just when you thought it won't get any worst, your well will run dry. That little light of hope will shine no more and you will feel like you are at a dead end.

During such times and at all times, trust God no matter what and let others see Him in you by obeying His word, being faithful to Him, learning and sharing His word with others. As a Christian, you are like a book, people are reading you page by page, so let what they see lead them to Christ. Bear in mind that as bad as the dry season may seem, it needs to come to provide enough heat for evaporation, just so the rains can fall, paving way for the wet season. That season of green and plenty, a season that will fill up your well once again. Those hardships come to test your faith in God(James 1:2-3), if you can stay faithful to God in your bad times, you can stay faithful to God in your good times, in all things thank and submit to God by trusting and obeying Him.

Your well will be full again by God's grace and that WELL OF FAILURE,will surely run DRY! Amen.

FORD OFFERS YOU AN "ESCAPE"

The front view of the 2013 Ford Escape

The Ford Motor Company  is one of the most successful car manufacturing companies in the world and has really stood the test of time. This time around, they offer small size SUV(4 wheel drive) enthusiasts an escape route to comfort, style and endurance in their 2013 Escape, a small size SUV in a class of it's own. With a complete redesign that sees the Escape escaping from its "boxy" style and adapting a sleek design, trust me, you simply can't look at it once. It is the smallest compared to the Explorer and Expedition, since it's introduction in the year 2000, as a 2001 model, it's become one of the best selling small size SUVs and has carved a niche on the small size SUV market.

The rear view of the 2013 Ford Escape

The 2013 Escape gives you the opportunity of saving up to $1,521(USD) in fuel/gas in 5 years. For space, you can leave the seats up and you have 34.3 cubic foot(cu. ft) of space behind the second row. Or fold down the rear seats for a flat load surface and up to 67.8 cu. ft. of space. It comes in four trim levels, namely; S, SE, SEL and Titanium. Now let the bragging rights begin, for starters, the S comes with full power accessories, air-conditioning and a six-speaker sound system with a CD player and auxiliary audio jack. The SE challenges with a turbocharged engine, keyless entry keypad, a 4-inch multifunction screen, the Sync voice control system, reclining rear seats and satellite radio. Then comes the SEL, which offers you a one-touch up/down for all windows, the MyFord Touch electronics interface, dual-zone automatic climate control, leather upholstery, a power driver seat, heated front seats and an upgraded sound system. Now make way for Titanium, it boasts of more powerful turbocharged engine, 19-inch wheels, remote start, keyless ignition/entry, upgraded leather and a Sony audio system.(According to Edmunds.com ).

The "Foot Activated Liftgate"

Now you won't believe this, the 2013 Escape comes with a "Foot Activated Liftgate". Finally, you don't have to struggle to lift the tail gate whenever your hands are full of groceries/provisions or even traveling bags. Once you have the Intelligent Access car key in your pocket or purse, all you have to do is just kick your foot under the bumper and "Open sesame", the tail gate opens lol, so simple.
With these few of the many amazing offers the 2013 Ford Escape offers, its an escape route you can't resist. Do well to check out other Ford brands as well. You can get more info on the 2013 Escape, just click this 2013 FORD ESCAPE . Thanks for reading, God bless ya.

KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

Ladies, there is a difference between A man who condemns you & A MAN who corrects you,A man who spends money on you & A MAN who invests in you,A man who thinks he owns you & A MAN who knows you own his heart,A man who lusts after you & A MAN who loves you,A man who treats you like a slave & A MAN who's the boss but still recognizes & treats you as his better half, A man who thinks he's every woman's dream & A MAN who knows you're his dream come true, i mean a MAN who sees you as a blessed gift! So, ladies, know the difference and guys, please be that kind of MAN!!