The Sign-Watcher:

It is midnight and you are ready to go. People call you a sort of "watch-man," but your job is really not to stay at the top of a watch-tower waiting for boats to pass by or arrive at your seaport. You, on the other hand, are a different kind of watch-man! Your self-assigned task is to watch for signs & wonders without anything such as a blink. Every single night as the clock hits 12:00, you pick up your indispensable tools: an old opaque magnifying glass, a crinkly torch-light, an ancient telescope, and a worn-out fall jacket. It's an obsessive compulsive routine that you've gotten used to at this point in your life. You can't change it. It is who you are, and it is what they know you as.

And so you walk out on your porch and put on your crinkly torch-light. You proceed to position your ancient telescope in such a way that you can see the brightest star, and finally you begin to watch for the move of God's mighty hands. Two weeks ago you spent your time studying the clouds; last week it was the darkness around the clouds. Tonight, you will spend your time waiting to catch the sunrise. You must not sleep if you want to see exactly when the sun rises. No man has ever caught the awakening of the sun, but what is impossible with others is possible with you. You know it. You can just feel it in your veins. You're an unstoppable watchman!

You are a sign-watcher. And that's just who you are.

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My mission this morning is to tell you that it's not all about the signs. Sign-watchers are those ones who actually miss the signs. I was talking to a friend last night and she said that many times we're waiting for the mighty and great works of God to prove that He exists, meanwhile He has already moved in the smaller things around us, but we didn't catch His movement. Sign-watchers usually, most times than not, miss it.

There were three young Hebrew boys who didn't miss it: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. These three were at the risk of being thrown into a very hot burning fiery furnace, just because they chose not to bow to the King's non-living statue. But it is what they said that shows that they understood that it wasn't about the signs: "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O King. BUT IF NOT, let it be known to you that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up."

But if not...

What in the world? What kind of boldness was that? So what if God did not come in a whirlwind to rescue them? Honestly speaking, they didn't really care. They had already been previously convinced that God was real, so they didn't even need Him to show up at that point.

What if God doesn't rescue you today? What if when you speak to Him you get silence for words? What if your prayers haven't been answered yet? What if instead of perfection it seems like everything is spiraling downwards? The answer is that He may not give you a sign, but He sure does know what's going on. And He said that He will do it...so He will. Stop depending on signs, just be someone who can bask in His presence...no matter what you're going through.

Copyright: Photo by Redbubble

When Sleep Becomes Invigorating...

I heard something inside me that caused my blood to boil and my spirit to get excited.

Sleep could be sweet. Sleep could become invigorating, just like little drops of water eventually become a stream, and a stream eventually becomes a mighty river. Slowly, but surely. Maybe unexpectedly. When I sleep I tend to stretch my muscles, pulling the fibers into sheer relaxation. I am not a static sleeper...sometimes in the middle of the night, I twist and turn sideways, and then I turn back to my original position. Sometimes I hug my fancy pillows, but at other times I throw them far away from me...maybe even on the carpet...or maybe on my bedside table, kicking everything therein away.

Sleep could become really invigorating, maybe even intoxicating. Like a drunkard who knows what alcohol does to him, but still will take a wrack the next time he sees a bottle. Sleep is very tempting. Not just physical sleep, spiritual sleep. It starts with a doze. A little doze won't hurt, a little snooze won't kill. Then surely, the lures of deep sleep take over...making you unconscious of the happenings of your surroundings. But when sleep becomes invigorating, you can always wake up. You can shout and say, "heyyyyyyyyyy...it sure ain't my time to sleep yet!"

This was probably Fela Durotoye's thoughts when he quoted Isaiah 60 and verse 1, "Arise, and shine, for your light has come." Whose light? Your light? Yes, yours. There's something burning inside you and it has been caught by invigorating sleep for a long time now. There's something just waiting for the cock to crow so that you can open your eyes and see the first drops of sunlight...or maybe the fresh early morning dew on the soft green grass outside.

I don't know what that thing is, but the Holy Spirit has told you, and the vision has borne a witness inside your heart. You totally concur because you've been waiting to shine all these years. It is your time to shine, it really is. I'm not saying this because it is the gospel. I am saying it because if you take one look around you, there's darkness all around. When God saw darkness, He stopped for a second and said, "Let there be light!" And there was light. If you stop for a second and realize that darkness oozes out of the corner of every street, you will say to yourself, "Arise & shine...for my light has come."
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Selah.

Photo by Redbubble

Heal the World:

So many things I want to say. So many feelings in me. So many thoughts, of healing the world. So many people are dying, and not just physical deaths. So many people are suffering, from lack of knowledge. So many people perish...so many.

But each day is a chance...to heal the world. Each morning we wake up is a brutal chance to live...to have life abundantly. Michael Jackson rocked my world, and a part of him also healed the world. In his own way, he did. Now, he's gone...like a candle in the wind. No one can control his or her life, life and death is in the hands of the Master Potter...the One who fashioned the world with His own mighty hands.

But each day we're alive, is a chance to heal the world.

Watch: Heal the world...