Desperate For Change (1)

THIS morning we begin with the story of the frog stuck in the mud. Every attempt to bring it out failed. The animals left to bring food for it. Not quite long, they saw the frog running after them. On inquiry, it was discovered that a truck was charging towards it. Thus, the emergency forced it to run for its life. Today, the word change is the most brandished word in the lexicon. The nation needs a change, the church, the family and the individual. The need for change is overwhelming in every area. The question is: why do we need change? Do we have what it takes to effect the change we desire? Candidly, change takes more courage and gut than we can think. 

  In Deuteronomy 1:6-8, “The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbours in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.”

  The Israelites had the whole land set before them. But they preferred to camp on the Mount at the other side of Jordan. That was their comfort zone, where they stayed and rehearsed the exploit of the past. Those that live for past victories never have testimonies of future grace. The fear of the unknown and the giants clogged their wheel of progress and rendered them frozen. 

Judges 15:9-11.

  Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” 

Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.”

Four reasons for change

 Status-Quo Is A Great Killer: Status quo is being satisfied with what is or being afraid of changing the existing order. Many people are operating below their installed capacity because they are simply satisfied with who and where they are. There is no desire to improve. The largest room in the world as they say is the room for improvement. Yet many don’t feel they need it, or they feel they are too old to change.

 Expand: It’s time to expand our life, our dreams and our passions. We must begin to dream bigger than what we are otherwise we will be overtaken. As the world moves on, the improvement of yesterday becomes anachronistic. People that reign in life are those whose guts push them to make the leap even before others get there.

Battles: Change of status needs battles. Land of Amorites and all the other inhabitants will not allow you to ride on their backs. You need to fight for every inch of the land. Prepare for conflicts. The level of change determines the quantum of battles. The size of your dream is the level of the sacrifice expected. -29

 We don’t have to die the way we are. There is the need to shake things up. Tell your brain is time to think again. 

• Pastor Duruigbo, General Overseer, The Gospel House, Okota, Lagos