Hello there! God’s very own. Did you know you were carefully created and crafted to reflect the beauty and glory of the great I AM? Likeeee, the very same God who created the clouds in unique fashion, the twinkling stars at night, the vast skies and waters, and the heavens took His time and saw it beneficial to create you? It’s not some random thing we say when you hear “you were made in the image of God”, it actually means just that. He modelled you after Himself 😮💨, and like that was not already a great honor, He gave Himself to dwell within you and I, by way of the Holy Spirit!
Basically, Our great God – creator of heavens and earth, King of Kings and I AM is FOR you, WITH you , ON you and IN you. Listen, I don’t know about you but that pushes hard against every feeling of self-doubt that lingers in my heart and mind. There’s a great boost of confidence that comes from knowing the Undefeated One is all around me, in me and FOR ME! If you’ve been feeling low, I hope that you will find solace and strength in this truth, He is for you, He’s for His kids. And if love Go and are called according to His purpose, then He will cause all things to work for your good(Rom 8:28). That’s His Word. We already know how this story ends and if you don’t, spoiler alert!: We win!(Rom 8:37) So cheer up, and fight from the awareness of your victory in Christ. You’ve got this.
Okay, that intro was new … but I sense someone really needed that encouragement. The devil be fighting us so hard y’all, it’s crazy!!! I’ve heard it said that the enemy will either try to wear you out or wear you down … and yeah, I concur. The discouragement can be so real at times. Short-sightedness blinds us from seeing the adversity is really not even about us. Those blows from the enemy and his cohorts ( the ones we label as ‘life’ lifing sometimes) are to force you to miscarry or abort! The enemy wants you so discouraged, tired, worn out, afraid, intimidated and insecure that you choose to either abort the mission or to stop feeding and nurturing your seed to force a miscarriage. The warfare my dear, is not about you! It’s so much Bigger Than You! The easiest stage to kill a plant is in seed form and the devil is after your fruit! hjkgckadfdgkajgffadkj!!(keyboard tongues 😂… nah for real, that had me with a holy stank face). Anyways, didn’t see any of that coming but it works because one of the ways we abort or miscarry is by choosing convenience over obedience.
Let me start here – plant moms and plant dads, I applaud you. I’ve tried having plants before… other than my snake plant that is super low maintenance, let’s just say I couldn’t quite keep up. Having to carry out my commitment to water that little thing, and feed it nutrients on a consistent basis is not the most convenient, especially on a busy schedule. Same thing with having a pet, if you don’t feed that thing, it’ll die.. or eat you lol. And having a kid?…Feeding that baby consistently to sustain it is not the most convenient thing, but it’s necessary for survival. We do it because we recognize the value despite the temporary inconvenience + we recognize the benefit afterwards. We could draw this analogy on and on to encapsulate everything that is of some value in your life. Down to the non-living things like your car… if you do not take that thing for maintenance, which will cost you time and money, it’ll likely give up on you prematurely. We all recognize the need to endure inconvenience for things that are of worth in our lives, but some are more obvious to us than others.
Unlike many of the evidently obvious investments, being a child of God walking by faith means we are not always privy to the reward of our obedience; however, we can always be informed of the nature of it. The reward of obedience will aways be good. Maybe not the definition of ‘good’ that you have in mind, but God’s ‘good’. Obedience will aways provide safety. Maybe not safety as you view it in a specific circumstance, but safety in Christ. Obedience will always attract blessings and favour because God’s hand will aways be on His will. All of this to say, whether or not you know the details of what lies on the other side of your obedience to God, we ought to know it’s a worthy investment because we know the nature of the One who sent us, and we know the nature of all that He gives and does.
Being a child of God walking by faith means we are not always privy to the reward of our obedience; however, we can always be informed of the nature of it. The reward of obedience will aways be good.
Okay, I’m pretty excited to dive in so let’s pick right back up from where we left off in our last post;
Apparently, I’m not done writing about convenience cause the Lord ain’t done speaking about it. I know that this is a thing that is keeping many believers captive from walking fully in the territory God has called them into(Hey, I can humbly admit : me first). It’s making many rebel against the very first instruction the Lord gave us – Be fruitful, multiply and have dominion(lightly paraphrased- Gen 1:28). How exactly can we be fruitful and dominate when we keep chickening out of the planting stage and the burden of leadership? We’d much rather have everything God has for us without the turmoil of the process.
Now come on, I knowwww I ain’t the only one constantly wishing I’d just win the lottery! I would LOVE to just have my finances set overnight so I can do all the things I desire without all the stress of investment, work, etc. Now that’s a scenario I would still love to happen lol, but I’ve learnt that while shortcuts may get you to the same destination, they often leave you unequipped to last … the process was meant to prepare and equip you. Without it, longevity is usually compromised. Speaking of, quite literally I was having a conversation with a friend a while ago and she was telling me how most lottery winners ended up in debt not long after they won. It actually blew my mind cause… like how?! Millions of dollars gone just like that? I suppose that proves my prior statement – shortcuts can leave you unequipped to last. Here’s Bible for ya;
“Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time.”
{Prov 13:11}
My phone wallpaper for a few months now has been Prov 21:5… how interesting. I had no idea I’d be sitting here writing this post at the time but ain’t that just like God? I guess my mind has subconsciously been brewing on this for longer than I thought. It reads;
“Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.”
{Prov 21:5}
‘Hasty shortcuts’ sounds very much like convenience to me. Our working definition of ‘convenience’ here is “involving little effort”. Convenience cannot be a substitute for seasons where hard work is a requirement. God honors work. He assigned work in the beginning, it is by design and produces much fruit when the Lord’s hand is on it. I’m reminded of Deut 28:12 which says – “The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. ” and the words ‘Give God something to bless’ light up in my heart. Your hard work is a deposit that yields return, you’ve got to do the work.
I’d love to run through a few revelations I’ve been gifted with lately on why we must dethrone convenience in our lives. (Disclaimer: This means convenience ought not to be ‘Lord’ or the deciding factor of everything in your life. It does not mean that one should never choose a more convenient route. The question is ‘why‘ and ‘at what cost?’). Let’s go! Here’s 9 things about convenience that highlight why it can be so dangerous to your destiny;
- Convenience is an enemy of accountability: I feel like this point doesn’t require elaboration but I will say this; when you are choosing shortcuts and skirting around what you know you ought to do and HOW you ought to do it, there is the tendency to do that in secret. People hide from accountability when they do not want to be held to a standard they know they are boycotting. Why this point? If you need to commit to an assignment, a goal or a strategy – be accountable! Get yourself people to spur you on to good works and to call you out. The Holy Spirit is the OG for this, but you need other people too through which He will speak at times. That’s God’s design. Consider joining an accountability group today.
- Convenience encourages stagnation: The reason why you have not moved on that unction may be because it’s more convenient to stay in the comfort of what is familiar. Familiar feels safe even though it isn’t always. Or maybe it’s more convenient to not deal with the responsibility that would come with execution. Whatever the reason may be that you’re immobile, obedience to God will always be safer than convenience because you’re promised His presence.
- Convenience bypasses process: Just like the day-to-day things in life that require a process for a desired result, you and I need the process in order to be fully equipped to properly steward the destination. Remember Joseph and all the trials he endured after the dreams God gave Him? Psalms 105:19 lets us know that his character was being tested and refined. No government allows their civilians to be drafted into the military and fight for their country without due process, none! They are fully aware of what is at stake and the value of what they are defending. Therefore, they invest in preparation, tests, training, etc to ensure that the enlisted personnels are ready for the mission. How much more you – a soldier of Jesus Christ Himself? (2 Tim 2:3-4). The process is to safeguard your future.
- Convenience quenches commitment & consistency: Listen, no matter how much we try to boycott the process, convenience will never produce the commitment required to inherit the promise. Heb 10:36 says “Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.” (I’ve been quoting this a lot lately, so if you’ve been following the blog, you probably recited that before reading lol). In Rev 2:5, Jesus said to the Church in Ephesus : “Do the things you did at first.” They started off right but consistency waned and so, He pointed out this offence. Don’t start strong and stop, your consistency and commitment to run your race is what will enable you finish strong. Keep on going and commit to finish.
- Convenience rebels against discipline: Hmm, anyone that has lived long enough understands that discipline is a non-negotiable for sustainable growth and results. Even with physical fitness, though some of us are delusional enough to look in the mirror and expect results after a single session of abs training(Don’t judge me 🥲), we know it takes repetition and discipline to continue even on the days we don’t feel like it to see lasting results. The same thing applies to spiritual disciplines like fasting, prayer, fellowship of the saints, etc. I don’t always feel like praying, and be honest, neither do you. I’m not sure I ever feel like fasting. I certainly have moments where I do not want to engage in gatherings with my Christian brethren( I felt so KJV typing ‘brethen’ 😂). However, all of these things are necessary for our edification and the Lord admonishes us to do them for our benefit and spiritual growth. So yes, discipline – An ‘I may not want to but I will anyways‘ mindset.
- Convenience rebels against healing: Whether it’s therapy, surgery, medical treatment or even setting up boundaries, creating an environment that is not only conducive for, but supportive of our healing is key. Getting wise counsel on a situation often requires that you expose yourself to a degree. Digging down to assess the roots of trauma is anything but pleasant. Committing to medical treatment like chemotherapy is far, farrr from exciting. The healing process is never convenient, but being healed is often worth the cost. If you choose convenience, you may be voting against your wholeness. That is a heavy price to pay for momentary satisfaction.
- Convenience can kill a healthy appetite: What to even say here?…. Have you ever experienced a change of cravings that come from a change of diet? I had a period of time where I was on a pretty healthy eating streak, and during that time, I was off all added sugars. I got to the point where I would crave apples and pure peanut butter as a snack, or bananas, or carrots and hummus .. basically, ‘healthy foods’. For a while after I got off this streak, tasting anything with added sugars was incredibly sweet and hard to tolerate, but over time, the more I indulged, my tastebuds adjusted. I was back to craving chocolates, fries, burgers and all the junk stuff that I’d been repulsed by just 2 weeks prior. Fast food is convenient and gorging on it cost me a healthy appetite. The same applies outside of physical food. If all you do is feed on worldly entertainment at the expense of your communion time with God, gradually your appetite will adjust. This is also why we must force-feed ourselves spiritually regardless of how we feel. That’s a topic for another day.
- Convenient revolts against investment: My my my. Financially, and in general, the whole principle of investment is that you give up something now for a reward later. Unlike convenience which boasts of short term comfort at the expense of long term reward, investment boasts of short term sacrifice FOR long term reward…. which perfectly segues into our last and final point today.
- Convenience will never permit sacrifice: Sacrifice, as mentioned in the previous point, is the investment for growth. Romans 12:1 admonishes us to offer ourselves as a holy and living sacrifice to God because this is true worship. Convenience can obstruct your worship, and it stunts growth – our growth, the growth of our career, the growth of that business, the growth of your spiritual life, etc.
There is so much more to say but for time sake, I’ll leave you with this : In Mat 16 vs 24, Jesus said “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.” Our frenemy ‘convenience’ revolts against sacrifice, discipline, diligence, hardwork, patience endurance and sacrifice. It bypasses process, can kill your drive and rob you of a healthy appetite. Instead, convenience endorses instant gratification, selfishness and laziness. In other words, convenience can be an enemy of discipleship because following Jesus requires that we pick up our cross. So, we must be very intentional about reassessing our choices when it comes to choosing a more convenient way. As I disclaimed earlier, the more convenient choice isn’t always your enemy, but many times it is. Evaluate what’s at stake, there’s more to it than meets the eye. Don’t be one to trade your future for a singular moment of convenience.
I hope this blessed you or at the very least, enlightened you. The Lord is our strength, choose well.
Thank you for reading! Love you! and remember,
God Loves You More 💕
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