I wanted to make sure I can look at all of the great things I've learned since July of 2022 up till Jan of 2024 in one glance. This is especially important because I believe they are the lessons God has taught me through the experiences he's allowed in my life.
You will always find Jesus in the lowest of places.
God can't stand you trying to earn validation, acknowledgement and love from people or places that aren't aligned with the will of God. So meet and be friends with those who love and accept you as who you are, a humble servant of God who tries his best not to follow the worldly ways but only follow his word. Trying to earn validation from the worldly people will only backfire and make you hate yourself because they only praise and worship what isn't eternal and what ultimately perishes away. Don't let the world and its people devalue you and all that God has given to you and how you've lived your life.
A real man is able to confidently give trust to others. Don't play those games with your partner, family or friends. Carry yourself the way you deem right in God's eyes and stay rooted in it in spite of how others act. Any injustice or anyone trying to take advantage of you, God will handle. So be at peace and not always in fight or flight mode.
Being able to quickly use your brainpower and effectively plan things in advance will not only demonstrate leadership but will also give a sense of peace and ease to others around you. They will follow you, respect you, trust you and love you if you stay diligent this way. Practice planning and conveying your plans to others effectively. Again, failing to plan is a plan to fail.
Pride is the quickest path to destruction. The moment you put yourself in the centre of your life, whatever accomplishments, achievements or goals you fulfill you will credit yourself and not God. Ultimately you become your own God and you will soon find yourself living a more sinful, selfish, meaningless and dark life than ever before until you come back to Christ once all is lost.
God can speak to us in many different ways. And he usually doesn't come out of the clouds with a bolt of ligthening and shout our names to give us instructions. He speaks through the bible, through songs of praise, sends us people to speak through them, and even allows circumstances in which we come to understand his messages and lessons for us. The God I know and experienced is a SLOW, GRADUAL GOD because that is the only way the lessons will stick with us for a long time. We all know whatever comes easy disappears easy as well. If God popped up in front of you, you may come to believe him in that moment, but without the foundational faith, you will later start to doubt yourself and declare that it was in fact your delusion and not God that popped up in front of you. So it's foolish to ask God to show himself to get you to believe him instantly. Faith - true faith - occurs gradually.
"Be still and know that I am God" I didn't physically hear him, but I did hear him ever so clearly and vividly declare this in my heart and in my head as I was singing songs of worship on Sunday Jan 28, 2024. I came to tears which I tried so hard to hold but couldn't. I then came to a sense of peace knowing that God is there no matter what I am going through. I came to a sense of peace knowing that he is the God of the Universe who has the entire universe in the palm of his hand, capable of all things. So let us trust in his plan, and not our very own.
Don't let your heart conjure up the worst-case scenarios all the time. It brings forth worries, anxiety, and doubt and skepticism as if the whole world is against you and out to get you. Not only is this extremely unhealthy for your psychological well-being, it also hurts others around you because you continue to cast worries, concerns and other negative energies unto them as well. Also it could ruin your relationship as you continue to show doubt and skepticism towards your loved ones when all they've shown was trust and loyalty. And man, honestly if you have time to imagine all these scenarios, you might have too much free time in your hands. Make yourself busy with more activities, experiences and what not!
Give people the benefit of the doubt. This sort of ties with the above pointer where you may assume your friends or partner may be engaging in the worst-case scenarios like cheating, gambling, doing drugs and what not. If you happen to have this toxic way of thinking, practice conjuring up the best scenarios your friends or partner might engage in like they are thinking of you, working hard in their job, working out, picking out gifts for you, having a genuinely good time with their friends, and more. This way, you are giving them the benefit of the doubt and you will also be at peace.
Do not put everyone on a pedestal. This is what David Goggins once said as well. Even he had a time where he thought everyone else was better than him. But Goggins soon realized with experience and meeting people that everyone was f'ed up in some way. They all have had dark times and have insecurities and weaknesses. So as long as you are working hard towards a goal and giving it all to become the better and best version of yourself, you don't need to compare yourself with others and feel inferior because you know you are on the right track. With your hard and dedicated work, your strenghts and weaknesses will become clear and you will feel confident and comfortable in your skin. If people don't appreciate you as the version you are proud of right now, know that these are not the people for you. Don't chase after people who have no capacity to appreciate your personality, strengths and weaknesses. God will surely bring people who will appreciate you for who you are and who you strive to be. I felt this greatly with myself as well because I very much believe that God has given me lots of blessings, lots of talents and skills to work with. God is telling me that there is no reason for me to feel inferior, in fact I should have confidence because God has given me so much and God is within me and I in him.
Satan's goal is obviously to destroy you and rip you into pieces so that you may never recover. But he doesn't make you sin big time from the get-go, instead Satan makes you do small sinful things first and contaminates your heart little by little. He works diligently like this until your heart becomes fully contaminated to a point you can't go back. So watch out for those "little" sinful things you do because that is exactly how satan gets started with you in his destruction plan for you.
Don't let yourself get jealous of the male friends or coworkers your partner might have, because there really is no need. As a matter of fact, by becoming jealous, you are acknowledging him and giving him credit, way more than they deserve. This is not to say they are bad or weak people, but just people you don't need to envy. If you find yourself still getting jealous, imagine an average "Charlie" or "Jay" or "Edward" any other average people you came across from the past. They are generally harmless, nice people. Reminder yet again, this ties back with the point not to put everyone on a pedestal. Don't put everyone on a pedestal and give your partner the benefit of the doubt!
For many different reasons, a real man should have some social connection and circles with whom he regularly interacts and spends time. It is also a good idea to challenge yourself to new situations and new people because this way not only are you developing good social skills, but you also grow as a person with profound life experiences which will earn you respect and honor. Also what I found in myself is that if I don't regularly engage in these activities, I have a tendency to overly rely and overly invest in my partner or friends emotionally. This can lead to obsessive behaviours and other actions that can ruin the relationship. So keep yourself busy with productive activities and continue to strive for the best as a man.
Your life and your plans will never exactly go the way you wanted. God knows and has the perfect plan for all of us. And his plan for us is not focused on giving us success and financial freedom in this world but rather to help us develop and maintain a personal relationship with him so we can enter his kingdom. This is not to say he will not fill you at all with your needs and desires in this world, in fact he will bless you abundantly in this world as well if you continue to abide by his word. But be very careful not to use these blessings against God (it is very easy to become arrogant and prideful when you have everything) because then he will take everything away instantly. Do not profess with your mouth and heart that what God has given you is all because of your own hard work. You only came this far because of him and him only. Always keep his ways and do not lose Gos's favour.
Peace does not come from your circumstance, but from whether you are with God or not. Peace - transcendant peace - can be found in the lowest moments or in trenches if we we are with God. But peace might not be there even in your highest moments and even if you have everything if you aren't with God. So seek first the kingdom, and everything else will be added unto you.
God has revealed my true colours by stripping away everything from me. I was completely swayed by my circumstance, and I began to be insecure, overly sensitive, judgmental, capable of hurting loved ones with my filthy tongue, keep making the same mistakes, imagining worst-case scenarios, lying, not loving, envying and more. Then I came to confess to God how weak I was and how filthy I was and how this is the exact reason why I can never and I should never become arrogant and overly confident with who I am. Because in the end I am a human being that continues to sin. The world teaches us to be prideful, but we should instead be humble. The world teaches us to strive for stability and money, but we should instead seek the kindgom and listen to God's words. The world teaches us that our value and worth lies in our career, our promiscuity, and our status. But we should instead base our worth and value on the fact that we are created in the image of God, and thus we are inherently valuable. The world teaches that morality can be subjective, but we must understand morality is objective and actually comes from God. Do not be misled by the world, friends, what they teach and cheer for are lies.
Someone whom you've always respected and relied upon for knowledge and experience might not actually be as wise as you think, especially if you see and talk to them again after some time and after you've grown as a person in God. This became all the more clear after I had spent a year and a half reading, listening and speaking the word of God consistently. When compared with the knowledge and wisdom of God, a person whom I thought was extremely wise and smart wasn't so after all. As a matter of fact, now I can identify major flaws and missing pieces in his life philosophy that actually leave me dumbfounded and shocked. And it makes sense because no human wisdom can come even remotely close to that of God. This is when I again realized we should never rest assured in other human beings but rather in God and Jesus Christ.
Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. What has kept all of us from doing even stupider or foolish things than we are right now is because the words and instructions of God are guaring our hearts. Him knowing what is best for us cautions us, warns us and guides us away from the very things that can easily destroy us. These include things like promiscuity, toxic relationship, money-chasing, status-chasing, materialism, pride and more.
God loves us and cares for us but be reminded that he doesn't need us.
It isn't enough to simply proclaim you accept Jesus Christ as your saviour and your Lord. Yes you may have heard lots of churches say that this is all you need in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. But anyone can say they love Jesus with no actual intent to follow his ways and demonstrate it in action. However, true faith is only reflected by the very actions you take. So you must not only proclaim Jesus is Lord but you must also obey the law of Christ, which is the 27 books of the New Testament.
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