MASTER THIS IF YOU WILL AMOUNT TO ANYTHING IN LIFE…

One of the things I wouldn’t say I liked while growing up was the annual twenty-one days fast. As a pastor’s child, it was our annual convention month. We were encouraged to fast. Well! It is not as though there would be cooked food anyway. It was always tough, so I came up with a “strategic fasting plan.” As a teenager, the food was more important than anything else. 

My first option was our neighbour’s house. They always had some loaves of bread to snack on in their kitchen. While playing there, I would have eaten at least a full meal of bread with butter. 

My second option was the ever-available and reliable ally- “Garri”. I would pour some in my pocket and then stroll from the house. I made sure I pulled the last grain from my pocket. 

When we get to church in the evening, you must find a way to appear like you also fasted, but you knew you did not. 

First, anyone who would amount to anything in life must be able to master his appetite. Daniel mastered his appetite in Babylon. He would not just consume the king’s delicacies- it was real food at the start, promotions and gifts were shared with others while he stayed content, and he turned down a great part of the Kingdom. If you will go far, dethrone ‘King Stomach’. Let the weight of your destiny mean more to you than the pangs of that temporal hunger. 

It was food that became the trap for the young prophet. The day he attained national prominence was also the day he was buried. Why? He went back to eat. Discipline your appetite. Brother, Sister, do not lose guard because you see food!

Second, God will always train a man for his future. I did not know then that I would end up in ministry. Now, I must take time to fast and pray. Do not let your emotions deny you your training. Fight that limitation. 

Third, do not deceive yourself. If you stay in self-deception, the future will unravel your folly. The day of reckoning will always come, and your readiness will be revealed. 

The day the disciples had to cast out a demon from a boy, they struggled with it and ended up asking Jesus the Lord why they struggled. His response was simple- “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Build your spiritual muscles before the day you will need them. Why? If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. 

May you pass your tests. May I pass mine also.

temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa.