From the very 1st day we arrive here on planet earth we have one purpose that is definite and constant for all of us, that is development. Nature around us teaches us that everything that God created grows, if it doesn’t, something is wrong with it and it will soon wither and die. It may seem though that not all of us are really getting the hang of the concept of success, while some seem to be doing fine, to most of us it seems like an elusive, far fetched luxury.
The thing with real success is, it is not just about hard work alone, but it’s about attitude as well. According to the Oxford Dictionary, attitude is a SETTLED way of thinking and feeling. Sometimes people invest their time and money in acquiring knowledge, in doing all the things right to the tee, and according to the book, yet they find that still with all those good tools, they still not succeed in life, because they lack attitude. Many talk a very good talk, yet walk a completely different and confusing walk.
For an example, you will find tithers who are really faithful and zealous about their tithing, yet they live in utter poverty. Graduates that struggle to secure a good job, let alone climb that corporate ladder. Christians who are full of the Holy Spirit yet are paralysed by bad news, they are completely shattered by injustices and yet if they open their mouths to speak about their faith, it is a completely different story to what is evident in their lives. Some people work really hard in life, they give themselves no rest, even deny themselves necessary pleasures in pursuit of success, yet all that to no avail.
I believe that the right attitude can take you very far in life. It reveals your inner being, your spirit, or your convictions. It is the drive behind how you apply yourself. It is the purity and the honesty of your thinking. The good thing is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the level of your education. It is who you are, nothing but the purity and honesty in your convictions…. and that what’s makes the difference between the dreamers and those who dream and succeed in making them a reality…at least, that’s what I think!!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Another Easter weekend approaches...
Allow me to say something especially to all of us who claim to be Christians as yet another Good Friday approaches. Again we remember that "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son", the reason God did that was to save us from death right? Before we get busy looking for palm branches to begin commemorating the last week of the Lord Jesus on earth, wouldn't it be more profitable if we looked deep inside us and made sure that this is not just another religious celebration but that all the commemorating actually brings change and adds value to our lives.
The Lord died to save us from sin. Why though? When we sin, does He stop being God? Does that tamper in anyway with His Divinity? Obviously not, however sin changes us. It weakens us, draining us of all authority and confidence. It taints our spirit, thus rendering us vulnerable and susceptible to all kinds of evil attacks. Sin becomes like a virus in our spiritual system, weakening our spiritual immune system, our faith. Just as most people die of opportunistic diseases when they have HIV, the same applies in our faith.
When storms and challenges rise in our walk of faith, you find giants of faith fall before what seems to be small situations, all because of the sin in their heart. And what could easily be faced by faith becomes an enormous mountain, because the spirit is tainted and one has no confidence to put up a convincing fight. Sadly, they cannot even convince themselves that God is with them, how then can they convince their challenger.
As we remember the last week of our Lord beginning this Sunday, perhaps we need to analyse our attitude towards sin and take advantage of the grace offered to us through His sacrifice on the cross, because the truth is, it is indeed for freedom that he set us, and we should not let ourselves be bound again by the yoke of sin. Meet you at calvary, my dear friend, where one sign from God will definitely change all our lives!!!!
The Lord died to save us from sin. Why though? When we sin, does He stop being God? Does that tamper in anyway with His Divinity? Obviously not, however sin changes us. It weakens us, draining us of all authority and confidence. It taints our spirit, thus rendering us vulnerable and susceptible to all kinds of evil attacks. Sin becomes like a virus in our spiritual system, weakening our spiritual immune system, our faith. Just as most people die of opportunistic diseases when they have HIV, the same applies in our faith.
When storms and challenges rise in our walk of faith, you find giants of faith fall before what seems to be small situations, all because of the sin in their heart. And what could easily be faced by faith becomes an enormous mountain, because the spirit is tainted and one has no confidence to put up a convincing fight. Sadly, they cannot even convince themselves that God is with them, how then can they convince their challenger.
As we remember the last week of our Lord beginning this Sunday, perhaps we need to analyse our attitude towards sin and take advantage of the grace offered to us through His sacrifice on the cross, because the truth is, it is indeed for freedom that he set us, and we should not let ourselves be bound again by the yoke of sin. Meet you at calvary, my dear friend, where one sign from God will definitely change all our lives!!!!
Generations
If you live in South Africa and you know the popular soapie Generations, you already know how Sibusiso blew a fuse when he found out his son was gay. It’s interesting that the same Sibusiso, was ready to dig dirt on Zachariah, to blackmail him and force him to give his blessing for Senzo to change his surname. What’s wrong with this picture? A crime lord, with a record of all kinds of disturbing crimes is suddenly righteous and disowns the son for being gay?
And worse he is hailed as a real man for doing that. Talk about a classic case of trying to remove dust from your neighbour’s eye when you have a full log in yours. And all this in the week where we are celebrating Human Rights in our country? What’s with the double standards really? Your right to have an opinion should never infringe upon the right of choice of others. I find it even more disturbing when you find people disguising their intolerance, lack of love and total disrespect of others with religion. When they see gay people the talk of shame, disgrace, hell and punishment suddenly becomes a passionate issue.
The same people, however, do not get as passionate about such when they themselves are lying, stealing, abusing drugs and alcohol, robbing, abusing children and women, cheating on their spouses. You find people who are having sex before marriage, fraudsters, murderers, haters, with multiple grudges, whose hearts are smelling of all kinds of deceit and impurities, sneering at gay people and treating them like the scum of the earth. What gives you the right to judge? Because regardless of whether you live by God’s law or just the law of your conscience, or whatever you choose to call it, you have no right to elevate yourself above others as if you are God’s perfect gift to this earth. Simply because your shortcomings are not in everybody’s face does not make them any less.
Perhaps in comparison to you, the gay person you sneering at; never lies, is loyal to his loved ones so much so he would die for them, will never abandon his responsibility, never rapes others let alone rape children, doesn’t hate, would never kill someone for their belongings…in short he lives every waking minute of his life for the betterment of others. And yet you, sitting in your seat of judgement, will never even be half of the human being he is even if you lived a hundred lifetimes.
I wonder what happens when you or your family member need any kind of emergency assistance, when you are trapped in a burning house or car and only the professionals can rescue you, does it still matter if they are gay or straight. What happens when you need a life saving operation, do you even ask if the Dr is gay or straight, does it even matter…would not even want to imagine what happens should you need blood transfusion for whatever reason…lets not even go there…perhaps you have ‘gay blood’ flowing in your veins as you read this….who knows?
Let’s stop trying to make ourselves feel better about ourselves by putting others down. Never forget that there might be two ways of doing things, yours and mine, but God’s way is THE only way. It is constant and never bias…..
And worse he is hailed as a real man for doing that. Talk about a classic case of trying to remove dust from your neighbour’s eye when you have a full log in yours. And all this in the week where we are celebrating Human Rights in our country? What’s with the double standards really? Your right to have an opinion should never infringe upon the right of choice of others. I find it even more disturbing when you find people disguising their intolerance, lack of love and total disrespect of others with religion. When they see gay people the talk of shame, disgrace, hell and punishment suddenly becomes a passionate issue.
The same people, however, do not get as passionate about such when they themselves are lying, stealing, abusing drugs and alcohol, robbing, abusing children and women, cheating on their spouses. You find people who are having sex before marriage, fraudsters, murderers, haters, with multiple grudges, whose hearts are smelling of all kinds of deceit and impurities, sneering at gay people and treating them like the scum of the earth. What gives you the right to judge? Because regardless of whether you live by God’s law or just the law of your conscience, or whatever you choose to call it, you have no right to elevate yourself above others as if you are God’s perfect gift to this earth. Simply because your shortcomings are not in everybody’s face does not make them any less.
Perhaps in comparison to you, the gay person you sneering at; never lies, is loyal to his loved ones so much so he would die for them, will never abandon his responsibility, never rapes others let alone rape children, doesn’t hate, would never kill someone for their belongings…in short he lives every waking minute of his life for the betterment of others. And yet you, sitting in your seat of judgement, will never even be half of the human being he is even if you lived a hundred lifetimes.
I wonder what happens when you or your family member need any kind of emergency assistance, when you are trapped in a burning house or car and only the professionals can rescue you, does it still matter if they are gay or straight. What happens when you need a life saving operation, do you even ask if the Dr is gay or straight, does it even matter…would not even want to imagine what happens should you need blood transfusion for whatever reason…lets not even go there…perhaps you have ‘gay blood’ flowing in your veins as you read this….who knows?
Let’s stop trying to make ourselves feel better about ourselves by putting others down. Never forget that there might be two ways of doing things, yours and mine, but God’s way is THE only way. It is constant and never bias…..
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Whose will really...yours or His?
Every time we say your will be done and not mine, do we ever stop to really process what we saying? Because many times people say that and yet wait, hoping for things to turn out the way they are playing out in their heads. If we claim to believe in the God of the Bible isn't it high time we trusted Him completely?. We cannot live our lives trying to manipulate Him into revenge, or to do things in our lives just so the others can see He is with us.
The next time you are tempted to say your will and not mine, be prepared that His will might not be the same as what you expect, since He is God Omnipotent, Omniscient and ever present.However His will for our lives is perfect, was recorded in the Bible before we were born. All we need is to trust it wholeheartedly. He is love, holy, pure,and completely perfect. There is nothing evil in Him. He has our best interest at heart...truth is His will and purposes prevail, always...His will and His will alone endures forever!!!!
The next time you are tempted to say your will and not mine, be prepared that His will might not be the same as what you expect, since He is God Omnipotent, Omniscient and ever present.However His will for our lives is perfect, was recorded in the Bible before we were born. All we need is to trust it wholeheartedly. He is love, holy, pure,and completely perfect. There is nothing evil in Him. He has our best interest at heart...truth is His will and purposes prevail, always...His will and His will alone endures forever!!!!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
A thousand identities...
One of the things most of us struggle with is having a defined identity, you know, knowing exactly who you are and what you stand for without wavering. Truth is, in this world not even one of us is perfect and from time to time, we all need guidance, correction, teaching and molding. However for that to happen effectively one needs to know exactly who they are, to make sure they do not run the risk of having a chameleon personality...ending up having such an identity crisis, that out of the thousand identities they are trying to emulate they find that they actually have absolutely no idea which one is who they are.
An unfortunate truth is, in their quest to teach, some people can get it wrong, and can misunderstand a trait in your personality, misunderstanding your drive, read your actions wrongly, all in all assume the worst about you completely. For an example, say you are a front sitter, in every meeting or class you attend you always sit in the front, or perhaps you are always taking the initiative to get things done, whatever the task, you always are in the fore front, always having ideas of how things can be done better and faster.Or perhaps you are a person that has a specific way of dressing, always making the effort to look prim, proper and presentable at all times.
Now to some people this can be read wrong and you can find yourself confronted about it or sidelined for it, all in the name of humbling you. Now what will be a shame, is if you do not have a defined identity, and you start questioning your own motives. In life comes a time when you have to trust your intentions, as long as you know that they are right as far as the Word of God is concerned, that your actions come from a pure place, and you are in complete with peace with God, don't change who you are to be accepted. Stand by your faith, and God will honor it with time.
This has absolutely nothing to do with being stubborn, with refusing to change bad habits, all in the name of THIS IS WHO I AM. All I'm saying is why change what is good in you only to please others, they may not understand you today, but if you stay true to you, one day they will, even if they don't, your tomorrow depends on the seeds you plant today anyway, and never on other people's opinion and assumptions about you.
An unfortunate truth is, in their quest to teach, some people can get it wrong, and can misunderstand a trait in your personality, misunderstanding your drive, read your actions wrongly, all in all assume the worst about you completely. For an example, say you are a front sitter, in every meeting or class you attend you always sit in the front, or perhaps you are always taking the initiative to get things done, whatever the task, you always are in the fore front, always having ideas of how things can be done better and faster.Or perhaps you are a person that has a specific way of dressing, always making the effort to look prim, proper and presentable at all times.
Now to some people this can be read wrong and you can find yourself confronted about it or sidelined for it, all in the name of humbling you. Now what will be a shame, is if you do not have a defined identity, and you start questioning your own motives. In life comes a time when you have to trust your intentions, as long as you know that they are right as far as the Word of God is concerned, that your actions come from a pure place, and you are in complete with peace with God, don't change who you are to be accepted. Stand by your faith, and God will honor it with time.
This has absolutely nothing to do with being stubborn, with refusing to change bad habits, all in the name of THIS IS WHO I AM. All I'm saying is why change what is good in you only to please others, they may not understand you today, but if you stay true to you, one day they will, even if they don't, your tomorrow depends on the seeds you plant today anyway, and never on other people's opinion and assumptions about you.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Why I don't have kids?
Been asked this question too many times, and perhaps its about time I set the record straight regarding this matter....as you read this , please bear in mind that this is why I (Zanele Mofokeng) do not have kids....
I believe children deserve to grow in a stable environment, that allows them to feel secure about who they are always, and where all their needs can be met every waking minute of their lives, which just happens to be the direct opposite of the environment my hubby and I live in or signed up for.
Ok, ok, before you start wondering what in God's wonderful earth am I talking about, allow me to explain. My husband and I are missionaries. Soldiers in a spiritual war. What soldier in his right mind would take a child to a war zone? I do not have a say over my own life. I go wherever the Spirit of the Lord sends me, whenever the need arises. Sometimes I can live in two different countries in a year. Imagine my child having to be the new kid in school all the time, never making any real friends, or never able to spend time with family, neither mine nor hubby's.
I was called to serve God. I made the decision to give my LIFE to God for Him to do with it as He pleases. I personally believe that it would be very unfair to drag a child into my sacrifice. I love kids, love them a lot, sometimes I stare at my cute hubby and wonder how cute our kids would be, yet it is the sacrifice we both decided to make, under no compulsion, but at our own free will.
A very dear friend of mine just had a beautiful baby boy and he sent me his picture. I was joking the other day that I like that picture so much I'm practically stalking it. Thats just how much I really do love kids, but believe me I do not regret the decision of not having any of my own. Every time I see people giving their lives to God through our ministry and growing with Him right before our eyes, I know right there that I have more kids than my tummy could ever carry and for them I'm ready to give my life, anytime.
I believe children deserve to grow in a stable environment, that allows them to feel secure about who they are always, and where all their needs can be met every waking minute of their lives, which just happens to be the direct opposite of the environment my hubby and I live in or signed up for.
Ok, ok, before you start wondering what in God's wonderful earth am I talking about, allow me to explain. My husband and I are missionaries. Soldiers in a spiritual war. What soldier in his right mind would take a child to a war zone? I do not have a say over my own life. I go wherever the Spirit of the Lord sends me, whenever the need arises. Sometimes I can live in two different countries in a year. Imagine my child having to be the new kid in school all the time, never making any real friends, or never able to spend time with family, neither mine nor hubby's.
I was called to serve God. I made the decision to give my LIFE to God for Him to do with it as He pleases. I personally believe that it would be very unfair to drag a child into my sacrifice. I love kids, love them a lot, sometimes I stare at my cute hubby and wonder how cute our kids would be, yet it is the sacrifice we both decided to make, under no compulsion, but at our own free will.
A very dear friend of mine just had a beautiful baby boy and he sent me his picture. I was joking the other day that I like that picture so much I'm practically stalking it. Thats just how much I really do love kids, but believe me I do not regret the decision of not having any of my own. Every time I see people giving their lives to God through our ministry and growing with Him right before our eyes, I know right there that I have more kids than my tummy could ever carry and for them I'm ready to give my life, anytime.
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