Watch Out World, I'm Coming Out! is more than a collection of poems, motivational stories, and inspirational revelations based upon the word of God. It is a compilation of stories that will make you smile, laugh, shout, dance, and even shed a few tears of joy and sadness. This wonderful, inspirational volume can be used as a study guide for the important morality lessons that are taught within this book. It is a handy devotional and motivational companion for all to use. The author has compiled a variety of stories with very important morals that are based upon the teachings in the Bible. Every story ends with the pertinent Bible verse to insure that the reader is touched by the motivation for each piece that is included in Watch Out World, I'm Coming Out!
Watchout World, I'm Coming Out!
A Collection of Short Inspiring Christian MessagesBy Michael Kalu OgbaaTrafford Publishing
Copyright © 2010 Michael Kalu Ogbaa
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4269-1506-2Chapter One
The Chinese Bamboo
I'm always encouraged each time I remember the story of the Chinese bamboo Tree.
You take a little seed, plant it, water it, and fertilize it for a whole year, and nothing happens. The second year you water it and fertilize it, and nothing happens. The third year you water it and fertilize it, and nothing happens. How discouraging this becomes!
You continue to water and fertilize the seed through the fourth and fifth year and then ... Take note, sometime during the fifth year, the Chinese bamboo tree sprouts and grows NINETY FEET IN SIX WEEKS!
Jesus Christ after He was born watered His life for thirty long years and it seemed as if nothing happened! However, after the Holy Ghost had come upon Him, He started turning dish-water to wine, healing the sick and raising the dead. Spoke to the wind and the wave, the tree and miracles happened!
I don't know where you are in your life, I don't know what situation and circumstances you may be passing through, but one thing I do know is that if you keep watering your bamboo tree of faith, regardless of how long it takes, your reward, your result, indeed your testimony will be liken to that of the bamboo tree-NINETY FEET IN SIX WEEKS!
Galatians 6:9-And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
The Violinist
There was a boy that dreamt of becoming the world's best violinist. To achieve his life desire, he sold all his belongings and traveled to a faraway land where the renowned and best violinist of all time lived.
The apartment he was directed to was in a solitary place, old, and unkempt. There was no evidence of life whatsoever. The young man was disappointed and turned to leave. Then he heard someone coughing from within.
The renowned violinist was very old and dying. He refused to teach the young boy, who also refused to leave. The boy played the old man's violin at midnights, and this he did for 3 nights till the old man could not bear it any more. He came out on the fourth night and began to coach the boy.
Fast-forward. It was the biggest violin competition in the world. The young man was amongst the hundreds of contestants. The event lasted for days. On the day he played, everyone was in tears. First, the boy was so young, but no violin master of all times could have played better. Second, the boy was focused on empty space and never looked elsewhere till he finished. Third, only tears came down his focused eyes and he was not distracted by it.
He was crowned the champion!
Only the boy knew the reason for his success. Apart from learning from the best violinist the world ever knew, the old man had come in person that day and had directed him from the gallery even when it wasn't obvious to anyone around. The old man died few days later.
Hebrews 12:2 - Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Camera
I worked in a photo lab for six months before my current place of employment. Though I was the Manager of the head office of the company, I trained myself to be one of the best photo printers in the company.
It was during this period that I learnt how cameras work. They operate with the principle of reflection. The image you focus the camera on is what is reflected on the film stored within the camera. This is exactly what is developed in a dark environment and printed as pictures (or photos). Isn't life a big camera? Think about it, all the products, all the services, and all the companies around you - COMPAQ computers, First Bank, Zenith Bank, NIKE, Microsoft, CNN, MTN, SONY, Redeemed Christian Church Of God, Christ Embassy Church, Mercedes Benz, ETC are the printed images and visions of men and women like you and I! The only difference is that the people who had these visions within them at some point loved the pictures they saw in their minds so much that nothing stopped them from bringing them to reality! What picture do you see in your mind? Can you let the world see it?
The reflection principle is not any different from the mirror principle found in the Bible ...
2 Corinthians 3:18 - But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Sound Barrier
God is awesome. Anytime I have the opportunity of flying, I'm humbled by the awesomeness of God. As any frequent flyer will tell you, the plane passes through the most turbulent phase when it is breaking through the sound barrier to enter into the smoothest part of the flight!
How come it is darkest just before the break of dawn? Why did the devil tempt Jesus immediately He finished fasting in the wilderness and was at His greatest spiritual high? The answer is simple. Our patience and our faith are always keenly tested just before our victories and miracles!
Are you passing through the most turbulent period of your life? Are the circumstances around you becoming unbearable? Then, you might as well start popping champagnes and praising God because your miracle is a step away!
Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces faith - James 1:2-3.
Remember that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!
The Law Of Gravity
Just want us to meditate on one of the oldest and yet easiest-to-prove laws of nature - the law of gravity - anything that goes up must come down! You can drop anything you have in your hand right now, and most assuredly, it must obey the law of gravity!
But as universal and powerful as the law of gravity is, man, yes, mere man has introduced higher laws and principles that have defied and invalidated the law of gravity! One of such laws is the law of aerodynamics - the law that makes an airplane to disobey the law of gravity; it's the law that takes man to the moon. How about a small balloon, even the ones people use at weddings, once you fill them with helium, they start disobeying the law of gravity.
Now, read the laws of Jehovah (which supersedes every other law)!
John 16:33 ... but be of good cheer,' I have overcome the world.
1 John 5:4 - For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1 John 4:4 - Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Brothers and Sisters, these things are not difficult to understand or to believe, if ordinary inert gas makes a balloon to rise above the law of nature, what do you think the Spirit of God, mixed with faith in God will do in the life of a man?
Unlimited
The last time I checked, only one company in Nigeria had the title "unlimited" before its name - Mobil Unlimited.
Very instructive. What this means is that the shareholders of Mobil have so much trust and confidence in the company that they are saying that their liabilities (the extent to which debtors to the company can go in recovering their debts if the company is liquidated) is unlimited! Wow!
I would have been overwhelmed by such confidence, but after Titanic sank, after Enron collapsed, after Arthur Andersen went into oblivion overnight, I now know better than to trust the words of men.
There is only One Person whose powers are unlimited, whose love is beyond comprehension, whose grace is sufficient, whose words can be trusted without questions - His Name is Jesus!
Psalms 118:8 - It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
Proverbs 3:5 - Trust in the LORD with all throe heart; and lean not unto throe own understanding.
Opportunity Cost
I spent four years in the university studying Economics. One of the basic topics every economist must learn to obtain a BSc certificate in Economics is the principle of "opportunity cost".
Opportunity Cost is defined as the forgone alternative. Due to limited resources, the real cost of our choices are the things we need to forgo to have the ones we choose. If a man has $4 million which could either build him a bungalow or buy him a BMW car, the real cost (opportunity cost) of buying the car is the house he has to forgo and vice versa. In the same vein, if you want to know how valuable you are to God, then look at Jesus Christ hanging at the cross of Calvary! God wants me to inform you today that the real cost (opportunity cost) of allowing His begotten Son to die (the only time They were separated) was because of you!
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Layin Aside Every Weight
I have often wondered why athletes wear as little dress as possible. Then I read the following verse of the bible and understood why ...
Hebrews 12:1 - Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Brethren, when you are in a serious race, every little weight defeats your aim by weighing you down. The weight that might deny you heaven might be your friends, your family, your job, your hobbies, and your education. Anything whatever! Please, lay them aside, nothing can be better than spending eternity with Jesus!
The Last Order
One of the main reasons why I like the military is because of their discipline - the ability and training of military men to obey orders.
There are no excuses; they only obey the last order from their highest-ranking officers.
The Bible tells us that we are soldiers and as soldiers, we have a Commander In Chief Whose last order we (as faithful soldiers) must obey!
Our Commander In Chief is Jesus Christ and this is His last order to us ...
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" - Matthew 28:19.
Mighty Soldiers, let's obey the last order!
2 Timothy 2:4 - No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who bath chosen him to be a soldier.
Intel Inside
Cloned computers are very common these days as many people don't really see any difference between cloned and branded computers. But let the truth be told, when heavy duty assignments are required, when tons of commands are given to the computer within a short period of time, the differences would become obvious.
The most reliable computers, I have come to observe are the ones with "Intel inside". These are computers with Intel microprocessors which are the most reliable in the whole world!
Is it not the same in the spiritual world? At a bus-stop, a man dramatically falls to the ground and suffers from epileptic seizure, all the "cloned" people run away, but the "Intel inside" person walks up to him and heals him through the Holy Ghost.
When all the "cloned" staff are running helter skelter calling for first aids, doctors, ambulances etc because a colleague has fainted, "The Holy Spirit inside" colleague will rise up to the occasion lay Holy Hands and revive the staff!
In your neighborhood, it is 1 am and everybody (cloned people) is crying and wailing, calling the hospitals and the mortuary because a six-year old child has just died. You, with "The Holy Spirit inside" will come out, having been endued with power from on high and revive the dead child!
You would not need the power of the Holy Spirit in heaven; you have been empowered to influence your world!
Acts 1:8 - But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
1 John 4:4 - Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Turn To the Wall
Isaiah 38:2 - Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD.
Certain situations require certain actions. King Hezekiah was told by God (through a prophet of God) that he should prepare to die! The Bible says that he turned away from the whole world, from every other thing in life, faced the wall and settled the matter with God! His life was prolonged!
Elijah understood this principle of separation when he put his face between his knees (away from everything else in the world) and prayed for rain. Rain indeed came!
Now the biggest one. The Bible records that Jesus Christ prayed alone when he had serious issues to settle. He separated Himself from everybody else!
I don't know what serious matter you want to settle, maybe it's time you turned to the wall!
1 Kings 18:42 - So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.
Expert Opinion
The world is full of experts in all 1 walks of life. Since the beginning of time, we have never had these experts in short supply.
Isaac sowed in a land in which experts believed could not produce anything, but Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him-Genesis 26:12.
Field Marshals, war Generals and experts concluded that it was impossible for the Israelites to take their enemy territories, but "inexperienced" Joshua and Caleb believed God rather than the experts. They were the only ones God spared when His Word came to pass.
Elisha prophesied, "Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria". The Finance Minister of Israel, the countrys best financial expert explained to the King that it was financially, fiscally, economically (considering all the macro and micro economic indexes), impossible for Elisha's prophesy to be true. He died as an expert while the Word of God came to pass.
Simon Peter was a disciple of Jesus Christ. He was not just older than Jesus; he was also an expert in fishing. He knew that it was impossible to catch fish at a certain time of the night and at certain places ... "we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net". Against his expert opinion, he had the most amazing experience of his life as a fisherman that day by subduing his expert opinion to God's Opinion.
Then the biggest one! It is medically, scientifically and biologically impossible for conception to take place without the fusion of an egg from a woman and a sperm from a man. Mary knew this; Joseph knew this and when God (with whom there are no limitations and barriers) wanted to alter the course of nature, He knew that "experts" would deceive Joseph, so He sent an angel to him to prepare him! Then the biggest miracle of all times took place - a virgin had God's baby! God's Word was the "sperm".
Brothers and Sisters, I don't know what financial, psychological, medical, economic, social, political and other experts might have told you regarding your situations and circumstances in life, but this very thing I know and believe: Jehovah is God's name which means "causes to become". With God, all things are possible! Even if the solution to your problem has never been heard of before, Jehovah will create it!
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Watchout World, I'm Coming Out!by Michael Kalu Ogbaa Copyright © 2010 by Michael Kalu Ogbaa. Excerpted by permission.
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