NAVIGATING THROUGH LIFE

By Akin Ojumu

Fear of what tomorrow holds makes people vulnerable for exploitation by dodgy characters. Uncertainty about the future makes us easy pickings for fortune-tellers and soothsayers out to make a quick buck. 

Religious impostors professing to have esoteric knowledge, and boasting of supernatural insights, like to prey on people’s hunger for miraculous intervention.

These fraudsters exploit our desire to be relieved from the crushing weight of the burden that life puts on us. This yearning for a way out of the misery of existence is the reason religious hoaxers fester and prosper.

Prayer houses are packed because people are searching for answers to their innumerable problems. Holy Ghost Nights, Power Must Change Hands Hours, and all manners of Special Anointing Services consistently draw hundreds of thousands of people because living in a fallen world is ruthlessly bruising and relentlessly grueling.

Much has been made about hearing from God outside of the pages of Scripture. Receiving a “Word” from the Lord has been merchandised by charlatans of all sorts. In fact, a vast cottage industry is built around “Thus saith the Lord.”

It’s a highly profitable thing to be able to release a fresh message for the season. Pseudo-spiritual entrepreneurs who claim to receive direct revelations from the throne of God have gone on to become multi-millionaires. Prophetic utterances, which are nothing but divinations, are goldmines from which unscrupulous fellows reap inordinate fortunes.

Professing Christians who turn to these charlatans in order to know what God is saying concerning their situation reveal a deep-seated lack of understanding of the God they claim to worship. Those who hop from prayer houses to prayer houses or dash from Holy Ghost Nights to Special Anointing Services to receive divine impartation from self-styled anointed men of God do so because they don’t really have faith in the Word of God.

If they actually know God, they’d have realized that trials and tribulations are part and parcel of life. Whether you are the most pious Christian that ever lived or the most ungodly pagan on God’s earth, everyone partakes of the afflictions of this world, and no one is spared from the troubles of life.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12)

If they really have faith in the Word of God, they’d have known that the suffering of this life is only temporary, and it’s nothing compared to the eternal glory that God has in store for those who diligently seek Him at the end of the present age.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18)

Those who pursue after specially anointed men of God in order to hear what God is saying concerning the future do so because they erroneously believe they themselves don’t, or can’t, hear God’s voice. But the fact is, God speaks to all of us all the time. God’s voice can be heard by anyone who cares to listen. And all it takes is to pick up the Bible and read.

For those itching to know what tomorrow holds, simply look into Scripture. If you who want answers to life’s thorny questions, pick up the Bible and study. If you are confused and don’t know what to do, go on, examine God’s Word.

Don’t let anyone deceive you with false claims of “Thus saith the LORD.” The Bible is the only sure means by which we hear God speak to us today. And it’s never wrong (i.e., inerrant) because it can never be wrong (i.e., infallible).

Divine guidance on everyday issues of life does not come by way of esoteric mystical experiences. When your heart and soul become saturated with the Word of God, His Word becomes a lamp that shows the way and a light that points in the right direction.

When the Word of God dwells in you richly, you have no need for mystical navigation systems to guide you through life. As you go on your way, you instinctively make decisions that are in perfect harmony with the will of God. This is what a Christian life is meant to be.

A heart marinated in God’s Word is in sync with the God’s Spirit. Such a person navigates life circumspectly, prudently, and purposefully. Because his thought, will, and desire are yielded to God, anxiety about the future fades away and fear about tomorrow disappears.