Friday, February 24, 2017

Will You Be My Donkey?


Will You Be My Donkey?
 
Donkeys! Donkeys!! Donkeys!!! This is the issue on my mind today.
 
Donkeys are animals that feature very prominently in the Bible. In the Old Testament, we read about the fact that Abraham and his son rode on the donkey on their way to the mountain of God when he was going to sacrifice Isaac. And of Samson who killed thousands of Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone, we also read of the famous talking donkey on which Balaam road and who saved him from certain death. Also, King Saul had gone to look for his father’s donkeys, when he met Samuel who anointed him as king, and our Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey - one which had been saddled up waiting for him.
 
In Bible Times, donkeys were a popular mode of transportation. Various kinds of people from ordinary men to kings rode on donkeys. Donkeys were also used as a way of estimating or depicting a person’s wealth.
 
For many months I thought about the symbolism of donkeys in the Bible but try as I might, I was unable to come to a consensus that would tie the significance of donkeys together under one principle.
Well rightly so some would say that they are only animals, why go looking for principles? Yes, they are only animals, but as with everything in the Word of God, there is always some sort of significance inferred when certain objects or subjects are used or referenced repeatedly.
 
However, in the most unlikely of places - having lunch with friends, (no we were not eating donkey meat) it suddenly hit me! Donkeys were beasts of burden, modes of transportation in Bible times and even at times weapons of war as in the case of Samson. From what I could understand, donkeys represented carriers, Weapons, or tools that were used that had no clean to importance apart from helping to bring glory, honor, and salvation to whoever used them. And one of the major things that characterized the presence of donkeys and the Bible is the fact that even though they were major players in the situations in which they featured, they were never the objects of, participants of, or recipients of any of the glory and accolades accorded to the people who had used them, even though they were used for their good.
 
And in all of this, the question that came to me was: "do I want to be a donkey?" And my first answer was a resounding no! I do not want to be a donkey. I do not want to be the one who will bring about good, salvation, and riches without being a participant. And even though my answer sounded good to me, it felt wrong and did not really sit well with me. Then as I thought about it more, the question came to me in another way. This time I heard The Lord say to my heart “do you want to be a donkey for me? Do you want to be one whom I will use for my name, for my fame, and for my glory? Would you be the one who will carry me wherever I want you to like the donkey I rode into Jerusalem? Will you be a weapon of warfare in my hand, like the donkey’s jawbone in Sampson's hand? Will you be the one who will see what no one else sees and who will declare my counsel to save men’s lives, like the donkey did for Balaam? Will you be the one whom I will use as my herd in man’s search for the anointed king as I did when Samuel anointed Saul as king? Will you be my donkey? For better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, till Life do us unite?”
 
Will You Be My Donkey?
 
My answer was a resounding "yes! Yes!! Yes!!! I will be your donkey!"
Yes, I will be your donkey. I will be any donkey that you want me to be in any form that you want me to be from this day forward, I pledge my troth to you… I will be your donkey! And we live victoriously, joyously, sacrificially, lovingly and committed now and forever more. Amen.
© AdePero Mettabel, 02.24.17.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Love? What Is It?



Love? What is It? We know it’s not merely a feeling, but WHAT is it? Is it just Goosebumps and excitement? That perfect mate, moonlight and kisses, primal explosive, passionate consumption? We all know what is not, but WHAT exactly is it? Some say it defies complete definition; others have the profundity to convey that which they touch, taste, smell, hear and feel. BUT is it merely sensual? Even if what is can only be expressed in gasps of incoherency… This is what I say: you may differ in opinion, or very well have more to add for love the definition of love paradoxically has no beginning and never dies. It resurrects when crucified, rebounds if stretched to its limits. The eternal Word says it all: “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.” If a (wo)man would give all the wealth of his house for love, it would utterly be as vile to him as dung.
Love – It is the greatest and yet the most terrible force of existential expression. Love can make one do anything and everything, and it can also make another do absolutely nothing at all. Yet, for all its’ complexity in internal workings and definitions, it can be incredibly simple in expression – A kiss, a hug, a look, a simple apology, a refraining from, amazing togetherness, or just simply a ‘being’… There is a reason why it is said to be the greatest of all… Unquenchable, Indomitable, Formidable, Cataclysmic, yet gentle, tender and enduring… Many waters cannot quench true love, and once It knows, It knows, and when It is known as It knows, Reversion, Retreat or Rescission is IMPOSSIBLE… These three things abide – Faith, hope, and love and the greatest? L-O-V-E.

PS If I say I love you, realize this: I do not know what the heck I’m talking about. But, as long as It lives in me It will tell me all I need to know, all I need to do, and all I need to be to you, through you, for you and forever with you.

Saturday, February 11, 2017

The 'Me' I'm Meant To Be.






Who would I have been if I had not been me?
How would I have grown? What choices would I have made?
Would I be looking at myself now wishing I were me,
Or would I be thankful I never was this...
 
Where would I be if I were not where I am? Here, there and everywhere? Or quite simply nowhere at all. Would I have climbed many mountains? Met people great and small, Or would others have come to me, at home right where I was?

When would I have met you I hadn’t met you yet? As mundane as when grocery shopping on a Saturday morn, Or as glamorous a Belle meeting her prince, at an evening ball? Would I have loved you a bit at a time? Or totally, fully, completely, as I now do.

How would I have known to choose which way to move or go? Open wide the door or turn away, rejecting truth or dare? I think that I will never know, what will or was to be, And you know what? Standing right where I am, That’s really quite alright by me.

I am me, incontestably me, THAT will never ever change, And whether I am this me, or that, The Truth remains I'm the 'me' I'm meant to be,
I am and will always choose to be,
The 'me' I chose to be.



©AdePero Mettabel - The 'Me' I'm meant to be. 02.11.17.

And I, The Fourth Man, Arise!

Why did Jesus raise Lazarus on the fourth day? Why did He not heal him before he died? Why on the fourth day? Why not on the first, the second, or the third day. Why the fourth day? Well, this is the answer: The Kingdom of God is a timeless kingdom, and because Jesus Christ had already been crucified from the foundations of the world and had risen on the third day, He had become the Resurrection and the Life since the foundation of the world. So Jesus could not have raised Lazarus on any day before that which he, Jesus had risen. Because of this, he was raised on the fourth day - he was raised on the fourth day because Jesus rose on the third day!Jesus wept. He wept because He was about to demonstrate the reason why he had died and risen again - That in Him all who were dead in sin, may be resurrected! He wept as a loving father would, witnessing the birth of his first child. What an awesome God we serve!
In Christ, we are the fourth member of the Trinity, accepted in the Beloved, and because He rose, you can rise… and because a day before the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day, whatever may be happening in your life, TODAY IS YOUR FOURTH DAY!, and because He rose, you can rise… and because a day before the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day, whatever may be happening in your life, TODAY IS YOUR FOURTH DAY!
So TODAY every stone that has sealed you in is removed. Jesus calls you out today, and He says "... (Say your name) Mettabel! Come forth!!" And I, the fourth man, arise! I rise out of deadness, decay, out of filthiness, stench, disease, destruction, and any name that is named on earth, above the earth, and underneath the earth: Today is my fourth day, and at his command, I rise!!!
Selah.
Mettabel Okulaja 02.11.17.

◄ Revelation 13:8 ►
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world

◄ John 11:24-25 ►
Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

◄ John 11:35
Jesus wept.

◄ John 11:39 ►
Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

◄ John 11:43 ►
And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

My name is Mettabel Okulaja And I Used To Be A Junkie


I used to be a junkie... That was my life. Much like any drug addict, I would wait for my next fix which would be when the next man or woman of God was in town. What was my drug of choice? My drug of choice was prophecy. Every time there was a special program, a visiting man or woman of God, that was my opportunity to get my next fix. I would wait anxiously or rather sit anxiously fidgeting nervously here and there desperately waiting for my word. If there was an altar call, I was the first in line. If it were a healing line, I'd be there too. But my ultimate fix was PROPHECY! I lived it!! The 'thus says the Lords' were my crack and LSD - my means of transportation to another world. A world in which I was queen where I was the one to whom all answered. The more outrageous the prophecy, the better, after all, it was always preceded by "Thus says The Spirit of the Lord." I just had to have my prophecy! I would surreptitiously push people out of the way edging my way to the front to get my sip of divine ambrosia. Right about this point in time, I would begin to have palpitations; my breath caught somewhere between my belly and my head. I would wait, and wait patiently and then finally the hand would come upon my head in the words I have waited to hear would finally reach my waiting itching ears: THUS SAITH THE LORD! And just like that the 'spiritual cocaine' would flood my system, word after each 'grandiose image infusing word' when the words were done, I would float high upon the clouds of spiritual intoxication back to my seat. This futile exercise I exerted myself in, time and time again. But unfailingly after each meet, approximately three days later to be exact, the withdrawal symptoms would start to set in as the euphoria slowly faded leaving the tattered rags of disappointed hope, of stark, cold reality. But in spite of all these disappointments, the prophecy-induced highs and chicken skin lows, and the ups and downs, I never gave up on wanting to hear the 'perfect prophecy'. Then one day I went to a meeting desperately craving my next fix; The man of God did not disappoint. Glorious stories of fame, fortune, and fanfare. Through all

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Listen: Dr. Maya Angelou Recites Her Poem "Phenomenal Woman" | SuperSoul...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeFfhH83_RE



Giiiiiirl you are PHENOMENAL!
Phenomenally real
Phenomenally beautiful
Phenomenally giving
Phenomenally amazing
And Phenomenally you!

God created you phenomenally, fearfully and wonderfully, to be you:
PHENOMENAL WOMAN!