As I walked into church I could not believe the words I heard coming from the pulpit. Was this a joke or did God just truly wait for me to walk in to send me that message? I shook my head in amazement because there I was internally worried about missing praise and worship as I had promised God a serious dance offering only to come into his presence and hear: ”Do not worry about the onslaught of the enemy of the past, forget all the failures of the past. Today is the set and appointed time for you and God is going to do a NEW thing in your life.” So you can imagine how this was tantamount to me worrying about a cheque that I feared was going to bounce and then from nowhere, an inflow of funds way above the value of the cheque hits my account! As I sat down, I could only thank God for knowing my every thought, my deepest worries and my heartfelt desires and for being ever willing to reassure me.
He did the same thing the other day at work. I was having a particularly trying time concentrating. The enemy kept assailing my mind with all sorts of nonsense and it just seemed that the faster I countered them, the craftier he got at coming up with new lies. So I escaped into the bathroom. I had no good intention to be honest. I was tired but somehow I managed to pray. I sat there and asked God for a word. I know he had given me words in the past when I began this season of my life but I needed a fresh word. Something to tide me over this fresh onslaught I was facing. I asked. And again, God heard me. And again, He answered. He said:
No matter how hot water is, no matter how much it bubbles forth with heat, no matter how scalding its steam, it will ALWAYS, eventually turn cold. Hold on. Be patient. I am with you.
I thought to myself, how great is this our God. So simple, yet so wise. Is this statement not just pure wisdom? No matter what we are facing in this life, if it had a start date, it will surely have an expiry date as well. What goes up must come down. It can rage hot today but as sure as the sun rises in the morning, it will sha get cold one day. We may weep today and maybe even tomorrow BUT as the Lord lives, rejoicing and dancing will come forth as we trust in the Lord no matter what. He will keep his promise and He will rescue us and that boiling water must become cold even if the enemy does his best to stoke its fires with his evil suggestions and diabolical machinations. I, SALT have made up my mind not too allow the devil use me to keep the water hot. No way! I will not. And I will NOT give up. I will fight with all my might! Cos, my new thing MUST manifest in my life. And so must yours. In Jesus name. Amen!
Later on that same day, he would add this “Ti eru ba daru, ki a ba le tun to ni” (if a load falls to the ground and scatters, it is so we can pick it up and put it back together). Sometimes, things happen to us or we let things happen that seem to bring our lives tumbling down around us. It is only natural for us to think that all is over and life is just not worth living. But I believe what God was telling me here was that it is not so in the lives of his children. No matter how awful a situation is, He is able to bring good out of it somehow. He is able to build the ruins back up again and the glory of the latter days will be even greater than the former. I believe that it is very possible, with God on our side, for our phoenix to rise up from the ashes! Halleluyah!
So my dear one reading this right now, stand with me, let’s look into the pot of boiling water of our lives. Let’s eyeball those hot bubbles of pain, anger, fear, defeat, shame, loss, rejection, hopelessness, denial, lack, sickness, whatever the heat represents in your life, look at them and tell them this one thing:
You may rage hot today, but I know my Redeemer lives and because he loves me, and is working it all out in my favour, you WILL be gone tomorrow! I believe this and so I receive it! In Jesus Christ’s name. Amen!
And so shall it be done in our lives according to the faith we have in that wonderful name, Jesus Christ! Amen!
Shalom!
Bola Essien-Nelson (aka Salt) is a blogger/author based in Lagos, Nigeria. You can connect with her via her blog – The Salt Chronicles on Blogger where she is ‘seasoning’ the world around her one salt blog at a time.
