Jesus found Philip in Galilee and said to him, 'Follow me' and he did. Now Philip found Nathanael and said unto him, we have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.(John 1, verse 43-51)
Hearing that, Nathanael must have thought, 'Oh, please! *laughs* the same Joseph! the carpenter? and Nazareth of all places?. The description he got of Jesus did not match up in any way to his expectations, so he asked Philip the famous question, 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?'.
Philip replied him saying, come and see. Nathanael had an encounter with Jesus and immediately, he had a change of heart because he did see, that indeed, something good had come out of his least expected place, Nazareth!
Today people judge us based on our background, our ethnicity, our parent's set-backs and limitations, our history. They say things like, 'Oh! it's a family trend, they never grow old!'; or, 'This setback has been in her family for generations'; 'He can never make it, his father didn't!'; 'The people from that town are not good at anything at all'......
We need not be moved by what people say, but the truth is that often times, the things people say to us become a vivid picture in our minds, and so triggers all sorts of imaginations. Thats why the Paul says we should cast down all imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corintians 10 verse 5)
When we come to Christ, we become new creatures and old things are passed away (2 Corinthians 5 verse 17). In Christ we are not condemmed (John 3 verse 18), so it doesnt matter what your history, tribe or gender is. We come under a new convenant, Hebrews 12 verse 24 says 'Jesus is the mediator of the new convenant and his blood speaks better things'..
The easiest way the devil can get to us is through fear, because with fear comes imaginations and high things but it is your responsibility to bring such thoughts into captivity because if you dont, those thoughts will take you captive! For every situation you go through, there is a word of God for you. You have to make a choice, to believe and confess the report of God concerning you, always.
I was listening to a message this morning and the preacher said, 'only Jesus can tell you the things that are most true about yourself, he said any contrary thing people say is just their opinion and opinions are cheap. I agree with him, totally! Make a choice today what you want to believe, opinions or the truth!
A friend of mine shared her experience with me recently. She had a boss who never had anything good to say about her and always seized every opportunity to qualify her appraisal with every low word he found. She almost started believing she was a no good herself and she found her self esteem declining. She had to leave the organisation and she just left in faith holding on to the word of God. Today she is a successful entrepreneur. Thank God she stopped believing nothing good can come out of her Nazareth!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your friend's testimony with us and I pray that someone reading this today will also find strength, one she never believed she had, so she can hold on to the word of God no matter the contrary opinions that surround her.
DeleteThis is just what we need esp at times like this. God bless u ma
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment and God bless you too.
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