lessons from the year 2024
Hello, welcome here are a few things God taught me in the year 2024…
A lot of people don't look like what they are going through be careful before you envy
Some of the things you are going through in fact a lot of them are things you prayed for. wisdom, discernment.
It will help you to focus on your own journey rather than the journey of your peers on social media. This is wasting your precious limited time.
Allow God to leverage that weakness to your advantage, Let Him leverage every situation in your life to your advantage and to His Glory.
Maturity is produced in utilizing the power God put in your mind, not your emotions.
God is a God of the love languages and He displays them to us physically. You don’t always need a man to experience the five love languages.
Ok so, hey hey. Welcome to another blogisode. I believe by the Grace of God that blogs will have a steady come back in Jesus Christ Mighty Name. I think it would interest you to share some little life lessons I picked up in the year 2024 as well as reflect on things the Lord is still bringing me through to overcome.
Envying People (Don’t Try It)
I think the first major thing I learnt about this year is authenticity. I struggled and God is still bringing me through and delivering me through the need to always lean to social media for validation. I don’t know if this is everybody’s testimony but yesterday (28th December 2024). God led me to talk about the core settings that are within a person. There are some things no matter how much you try. And no matter how much you fast and pray you cannot ‘fix' about yourself. I mean legitimate things not like sins and bad character ok! My own struggle happens to be that I like oversized t-shirts and plaid pants and not the traditional pink pyjama set. And therefore you get the point. I like mix and match prints but everyone is wearing pink. I like braids but we are all laying our lace front edges. And then I struggle with the things I like and enjoy because in my head. I think as people we should be one dimensional. But sometimes we can just like more than one thing. That’s the first lesson YOU ARE NOT ONE DIMENSIONAL. You serve a God who is dynamic and unending and so why wouldn’t you?
Ephesians 2:1010“For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Lock-In on Your Destiny
The second thing I struggled with and God is still bringing through this. The avoidant attachment style.You see I come from a family that struggles greatly with communication…just wow.Lol a story for another day. Then add emotional dependency on social media on top of that. And boom! In a season of isolation it happens sometimes that you find something to “close” the gap of loneliness that God has created. God created these seasons on purpose, might I add to teach you something. Combine that with an avoidant attachment style where you just hate confronting uncomfortable feelings that come with isolation. (One of the primary reasons God creates isolation on the way to destiny, is to expose your weak areas. To change and transform you so that you are ready and healed for your next assignment). And voila, a recipe for emotional issues galore. I guess that was a confession more than the lesson but hey this THE COST.. Focus on your own destiny, people are focused and locked in on their own.
Let God Leverage Your Weakness
Lesson three, well since I am just pouring out my struggle on social media dependency on the internet. I want to share with you something I learnt, any gap, any weakness, anything you are going through in a season. The bible tells us that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Allow God to leverage that weakness for His Glory. How by surrendering it unto Him. If you struggle with loneliness let God leverage that by giving you an intimacy with Him like never before. If you struggle with pride or gossip let God leverage that by giving Him an opportunity to be at work in you and expose the roots and sources that are bringing about that fruit in you. You can also leverage those things but in a society where we are being encouraged into #selfhelp, #selfthisselfthat. It would be good if at Coffee Table Evangelism we push God on the agenda. If you endeavor to help yourself, the saying goes "heaven helps those who help themselves (it's not a bible scripture i looked it up)..Just make sure to include God in the ”self help process”. Become a partner with God not trying to be a master over God.
Barely Touching the Surface on Maturity
They say maturity is staying in on Friday. I disagree . Maturity is applying your spiritual grace in utilising the power God put in your mind. It is guarding your heart. The bible in the book of reads
Proverbs 4:23-25 NIV. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
If you analyse this scripture you realise that these are traits of a mature person, moreover a spiritually mature person. Pray over your heart is key because there are depths, ebbs and flows to maturity quite like spiritual growth. Maturity, spiritual maturity that is, is proportional to your revelation intentional ,exposure and relationship with God.
God and Love Languages
Romans 8:35,38-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Last lesson, this is a drop in the ocean. I know you probably skimmed through this blog or the the wonderful Grace of God led you this far.Amen. I already told you about how you should allow God to leverage a weakness or a gap in your life. One of the things I have learnt in my single season which took me a long time to realise is that, God is a God of love languages. My love language happens to be acts of service primarily. And I have seen God use my sister, mom and people in my life love me through acts of service. I will recall one night when we had a night prayer in church. I had been so busy throughout the day that I had not eaten and I still had plenty of duties to serve in the church. So, my sister came and said I packed a lunch for you at home when I was packing for myself. I was so touched by that act of love that day, but now I can see that it is God. Another example one day a woman vexed me so much that I think I almost cried or I was about to lose it as I was complaining in a corner by myself (with my avoidant attachment, socially awkward self). She came back with a note and a gift inside of it. I know for a fact that was God that day, I just know. You cannot tell me otherwise, I don’t believe in coincidences anyways.
I have so many examples. But God knows your primary love language and He even further demonstrates His love to you through the love languages , you just have not opened your eyes to notice yet. If you sit and recall over time in your life you will see His demonstration of different love languages in a plethora of your testimonies and answered prayers. God is always reaching out to you in your primary love language. Oftentimes in our single season we rush to have a man, not because we really want the person and their flaws (let’s be honest, you aren’t thinking about morning breath as much as the next sister with baby fever is thinking about the poop diapers). We also don’t rush because we want to pour in the best version of ourselves into a vessel of God, a son of God. Usually you aren’t eager to get married because you see it as quite the generational assignment that it is, with great gravity and weight in the kingdom of God. You rush because you want your love languages to be soothed. You want to be held, to be kissed, to be bought flowers and get a good morning text with some princess treatment sauce on the side (Omo,tell the truth, shame the devil). You know that this is me telling all your business. So..I say that to say. If you look at the interconnectedness of what I am writing here you can see from a larger scope that a season of loneliness and isolation have been the main teacher. But God is present in each and everything. There is a scripture in the bible that expresses how God wants to love us.
Isaiah 55:3 NLT
3“Come to me with your ears wide openListen, and you will find life.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you.
I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.
Allow God to love you and shower you.Allow God to princess/prince treat you. I haven’t been in many relationships but I can vouch for HIm on any given day. God’s love is better than ANY love you have ever received. And I can put money on that ok!
Lastly the bottom line here is that Jesus Christ of Nazareth loves you. He came sent by God and died for you on the Cross of Calvary (a whole lesson for another day). Ask God to open your spiritual eyes and help you to see Him. Accept Him. Let Him in and even if you are, estranged and in a weird place with God. Make amends with Him. He stays waiting to love on you. In 2025 will you do that for Him? Here is a simple prayer:
I WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND THE INVITATION TO YOU TO ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR AND TO RECOMMIT TO HIM IF YOU ARE FAR
LORD JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH I ACCEPT YOU INTO MY HEART SOUL SPIRIT BODY AND MIND TODAY. I ACCEPT YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH AS MY LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR. I BELIEVE THAT YOU DIED FOR MY SINS AND YOUR BLOOD HAS PAID AND WASHED SHED TO REDEEM ME OF ALL MY INIQUITIES. FROM TODAY ON WARD I AM NO LONGER THE SAME I AM NOW A CHILD OF GOD. I AM FREE IN THE MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. AMEN
GOD BLESS YOU AND WELCOME HOME ❤️
losses and gains as you walk with God
One recurring thing that has been going on this week in my life has been reflecting and confronting at hand the scripture in which the Bible speaks about if you lose life you will gain it.
Matthew 16:24-27
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done
That has a lot to do with sacrificing, losing something or letting go off something so that God can have His way and ultimately His Glory will be made whole in our lives. You see in life you cannot fully attain one thing without letting go of another. Jesus exemplifies this on the cross when He lost His life so we can have redemption. THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE OF LOVE.
To have a good healthy relationship you lose the “freedom” to flirt and mingle with other singles as before.
In order to get a degree you lose out on your social life and sleep life (it gives like losing your mind a little too..ok).
But for anything worthy something is lost along the way.
LETS STOP AND JOURNAL
Imagine God is asking you to open up your heart, take a deep breathe. Now lets look grab a magnifying glass and zoom into areas of your life…..
What is a gain that has been attached to a loss in your life lately ?
What losses are you struggling to let go off for the greater gains God has for you ?
What is a gain the other side of the loss that you are struggling to submit to and embrace?
How can you submit to God more in the process of loss resulting in gain as you walk with God in your daily life?
This also has a large bearing on eternity...if you seek out the worldly pleasures then you will lose out on your spiritual life and thus everlasting life.
I think its important to discuss this dichotomy between loss and gain as a cost of following Christ, because people will make you believe that if you lose something or suffer a loss in your christian walk, then it must be false.
The contrary is true, when you walk with Christ loss is actually what legitimizes you in God’s Kingdom. The walk is authenticated by your scars and your losses.
ON WRONG RELATIONSHIPS
This week I wanted to share one of my own losses. In full transparency I am a very guarded human. Extremely guarded I think I was born this way. But I have been forced to grieve as the year ends, the reality of greivng an idea and a dream I had at 15 years old. When i was just 15 years old i got into a relationship, in high school we were best friends. Ultimately we worked our butts off, during school holidays, to get into good college so we can build a dream life. The idea was to have two kids, maybe a few dogs ( I was protesting). I was going to go off to further my studies to PhD level and join the UN and be a force to be reckoned with. And he was going to be a businessman in engineering. We were going to start a company and eventually give our kids a life we could not have. The rest of the story is to be told at a later stage. I was in this relationship for 6 years. No abuse, no cheating but it was not the Will of God for me. Look at this “life and dream” I created with someone without God’s stamp and approval. No purpose just steezing, for who and for what? I have had to sit and confront this, this week. I stared at this page for a few minutes before writing because the loss of the idea of building that life with someone is very painful. Its the idea and the hopes lost that pain us, almost 14 years later. But what I want to tell you is that this blog was born out of it. My life, my ministry. I am so grateful to God for the loss. And i hope my little stint of grief in this season…as I by the Grace of God completely finally let go. Will encourage you to lose “your life”. Lose an idea, lose a job, lose a relationship that does not bring you closer to the Will and Purpose of God for you. I pray for you may this small testimony give you strength in Jesus Christ Mighty Name.Amen
A LITTLE MORE ON THE MANDATE OF COFFEE TABLE EVANGELISM
Let me have a moment to digress before I get to the main subject at hand, my goal in blogging which I believe is probably most people's task when called into ministry these days is to try and be as authentic_which translates to "as relatable" as possible. Coffee Table Evangelism is an initiative to really move beyond the traditional scopes of church. Depending which country you are from we only spend but a fraction of time in church. Where does that leave what God wills for us daily ? In your lifestyle the daily things of life.I absolutely love youtubing and the idea of content creation especially people's journeys or lifestyles. Something about it just hits my warm spot. So I say this to say while that is not my assignment I don't believe. To share as transparently as possible in that sense is what I am doing here.
AN INVITATION TO COME BACK TO GOD
I WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND THE INVITATION TO YOU TO ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR AND TO RECOMMIT TO HIM IF YOU ARE FAR
LORD JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH I ACCEPT YOU INTO MY HEART SOUL SPIRIT BODY AND MIND TODAY. I ACCEPT YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH AS MY LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR. I BELIEVE THAT YOU DIED FOR MY SINS AND YOUR BLOOD HAS PAID AND WASHED SHED TO REDEEM ME OF ALL MY INIQUITIES. FROM TODAY ON WARD I AM NO LONGER THE SAME I AM NOW A CHILD OF GOD. I AM FREE IN THE MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. AMEN
GOD BLESS YOU AND WELCOME HOME ❤️
Trust in the Lord with all your heart Lean not in your own understanding
It all begins with an idea.
I greet you in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Just like in church I mention, my name is Lindokuhle Bhembe and I love the Lord and I Thank God for my life. Here on the cost I discuss nuances of being called. You see many people look at someone and envy them. We don’t know that there is a cost and a cross to being them. That is what I want to talk about on this platform.
Do you ever wonder does God even love me ? Was God even sure when He chose me ? How about the actual loneliness and being deathly afraid that comes with the calling and the journey of the calling ? No, I am just narrating to you my life circumstances I guess. You see sometimes I look at a lot of young people like me on Tik Tok and now Instagram I guess and wish to be like the. You see I love YouTube couples, they are just so cute. And don’t get me started when they go on beach vacations. But there is a cross that comes with following God. You don’t get to be like everybody else. You don’t get to just ‘parabolate’ like everyone else. There is a cost and a cross to this walking with God. And while it's so rewarding the bible in Hebrews 12:11 says
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it”. (Hebrews 12:11 NIV)
Sometimes you are unsure. God gave you a promise and instruction but the reality of it. Like this blog and movement. Yes, movement. Is not yet looking like what God told you with would look like. If you are like me you just wish a group of anointed people would just come and lay hands on you…I get what Paul meant when He said “pray for us”.
Well, since its festive season I want to encourage you to trust the Lord with all you heart (all of it, meaning with all areas and people that occupy your heart. Your heart is like a house with rooms in it. Let God into all the rooms). This is Proverbs 3:5-6. The bible says submit your ways to Him and He will make your crooked paths straight. Amen
You see bro or sis, Mary had a promise from God about who Jesus was going to be but when He looked at Him clothed in probably raggedy cloths
Luke 2:7 (Focal Scripture)
7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.
You may have a vision in your heart and mind and what God told you it was going to be. For now and for w while it may look like Jesus in raggedy old clothes. But bay, I want you to keep in mind what God told you it was going to be because..baby..honnneey. At the end of the day, when its all said and done ITS GOING TO BE WHAT GOD TOLD YOU IT WAS GOING TO BE!
My announcement to you…if we were in church right now, I would tell you to touch your neighbor and tell them “Neighbor,the baby (which metaphorically a seed) you have in your hand is going to be a King”. Touch your neighbour (or yourself) and say your name and say “self the business, the idea, the vision, the child, the dream, the marriage, your family, the book, the story, the movie, the conference that you have right now is going to be a king”.
Prayer Prompt
Heavenly Father God Almighty grant me the Grace to lean not on my own understanding as you proclaim that the seed you have given me is King. Lord grant me the Grace to trust in the Lord in all my ways even as I endeavor to see the process as you turn this baby I have to a King in the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen
I WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND THE INVITATION TO YOU TO ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR AND TO RECOMMIT TO HIM OF YOU ARE FAR
LORD JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH I ACCEPT YOU INTO MY HEART SOUL SPIRIT BODY AND MIND TODAY. I ACCEPT YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH AS MY LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOUR. I BELIEVE THAT YOU DIED FOR MY SINS AND YOUR BLOOD HAS PAID AND WASHED SHED TO REEDEEM ME OF MY INIQUITIES. FROM TODAY ONWARDS I AM NO LONGER THE SAME I AM NOW A CHILD OF GOD. I AM FREE IN THE MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. AMEN
GOD BLESS YOU AND WELCOME HOME ❤️