When I was Asked About Bible Study & Meditation
Tola’s Thoughts On Faith & Life
I get questions now and again from my email list. Sometimes, I get such a good question that the response more or less reads like a blog post.
I got one of those questions on Monday. After responding, I figured I should share it.
Perhaps you might catch a thing or two from it.
The Question
Hi Tola,
Awesome stuff as usual.
Would you care to share tips on Bible Study and Meditation?
I seem to be having a good time with prayers, I could fast a lot more now and I see some spiritual gifts manifest in more powerful dimensions but I seem to have a struggle with bible study especially in the area of getting revelations from passages I study and being able to meditate on them. I get particularly ‘worried” when someone talks about a place I have probably just read in the bible (from my bible study plan) and they discuss it in such a way that makes it seem I didn’t read it at all. At a time, I was reading bible commentaries alongside the passages (Enduring word commentaries) but it takes a very long time and this could extend my quiet time to about two and half hours sometimes. Now, I try to use different translations of the bible.
Do you care to share tips around this?
How A Christian Can Lose Salvation
Is it possible to lose your salvation?
That was the question a guy from a choir I once was a part closed his facebook post with. He had just told the story of a professional pastor, who after 40 years of been a Christian, denounced Christianity.
Not one for online diatribes, I put up a scripture text that I thought answered the question.
That was so naive of me. It brought out the man-of-action in another lady. She went to great lengths to tell me that it was impossible for anyone who had become a Christian to lose his or her salvation.
And that by continuing along that line, I was putting fear into the hearts of God’s people. Nothing I said connected with her. She wanted me to admit I was wrong.
Her reasoning and points made me wonder.
Do Christians ever lose their salvation?
Why You Don’t Like Pastors
He was one of the leading pastors in the city. But this pastor was getting the kitchen sink thrown at him. It was not something he had not heard before. It started like any other regular interview.
It went into the usual stuff – a personal story, family life, and his professional career. He was one of those likely to succeed as an investment banker before the detour to become a man of the cloth.
The interviewer asked him what the ministry he was running was doing to address social justice in society.
And that was where she came with all guns blazing.
According to her, the pastor was not doing enough. He needed to be setting up entrepreneurial loans. This would help the financially-disenfranchised access credit to set up businesses.
The school the ministry was running was not cheap enough until it could be near free. There was nothing the pastor could say about what they were doing that could change the interviewer’s mind.
The pastor was a big fat cat not doing his fair share of the work to make life better for the rest of the people on the bad end of Lady Luck’s deal card.
So, what do we do to make the pastors do their fair share?
When You Find It Hard To Forgive
Tola’s Thoughts On Faith & Life
Someone sent me a question recently. She had been struggling with forgiveness. She really wanted to let go but this was proving difficult. She was candid enough to let me know that she had read books and done an online class.
A part of me sort of felt intimidated – was I going to offer more than the better names she listed or would I add to the statistics.
But I reminded myself why I got into this gig.
I got into this gig because I wanted to share with my friends on the internet (that’s you) whatever I was learning living out my faith in work, love & life.
And that is what I wrote for her.
Now I’m sharing it with you
I hope you find some value in it
When God Doesn’t Save You From An Unfair Boss
To him, he had the unfortunate luck of ending up with an unfair boss. He was doing his best but for some unexplained reason, he was always the one picked last
Last for commendation and last for promotion if he ever got any. His appraisals were very good but he wasn’t recommended for promotion. This happened more than once. It was clear to him – his boss probably had it in for him.
Fortunately, things were starting to smile his way.
A friend of his had told him told him about a position that opened up in another company. More pay and a better role – just the combination his skills deserved.
“And maybe a boss that appreciates my skills”, he said to himself.
He was about to send his CV and for some reason, he could not commit himself to the process. He was sure he would get the job so it was the fear of failing that was holding him back.
He remembered something he heard in church. “Don’t stay where you are not celebrated”, the preacher had said.
He was not getting the “celebration” vibe from his boss. He was sure it was ok to make the move.
“Time to go where I will be celebrated”, he convinced himself.
But what was holding him back from making the move?
Could God be telling him to stay in a bad situation?
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