DO A FINAL CHECK

We needed a hotel to use for our guests during one of our major meetings. We decided to check out one that we had never used before. We went there some days before the conference to do a random check. We concluded that it may not be the best but we could at least manage it. 

However, just before we made the payment a day before the commencement of our conference, the team decided to do a final check- this time around, it would be at night. 

It was not the same place we saw as manageable during the day- something had changed. The entire reception had the thickness of smoke. There were topless young men smoking from pipes and tubes and it was not even the weekend yet. We knew we would never use that place. We moved on. 

It is the same with commitment to new friendships, new business partners or any other thing in life. Do not be in a hurry to commit yourself to anyone or anything without an adequate revelation of who or what they are. 

One of the sincere prayers you must pray before putting your all into anything or anyone is “Lord, reveal this person to me.” You cannot bank on your physical senses alone. It is a scriptural warning not to know any man after the flesh. 

So, from now on, we refuse to evaluate people merely by their outward appearances. 

2 Corinthians 5:16a TPT

You must exercise spiritual caution before you commit to anything or anyone. Let your discernment wake up. Even in friendship, you must exercise caution. Do not let excitement overwhelm your discernment. 

A righteous person is cautious in friendship…

Proverbs 12:26a WMB

The righteous choose their friends carefully, 

Proverbs 12:26a NIV

Before you commit to anything or anyone, never joke with that restraint you sense in your spirit. Do not take the red flags for granted. If indeed, you are a child of God, do not be in a hurry out of excitement. He who believes does not make haste. When anyone is putting pressure on you to do it now, buy it now, say Yes to their proposal now or whatever it is, do a second check to confirm if indeed the hand of divine favour is on it. 

There is a concept that the previous generation calls “buying a night product in a night market.” It means you bought it in a hurry without an adequate check. When light dawns, you realise that what you bought was really “trouble.”

If it unsettles you, check again.

If you are disturbed about it, check again.

If you sense a restraint, check again. 

May the Grace of the Lord keep you from terrible mistakes that cannot be corrected. 

temilOluwa Ola.