Nodeep title today! 😄

One of the biggest frustrations a lot of people endure is their inability to control what they wish they could control: And there are quite a number of such things. You simply cannot determine whether a person whom you like, would like you back: What skin colour you show up in: How other people drive on Lagos roads: Or if Messi would ever return to FC Barcelona… 😄

There are too many things in life we possibly cannot control: Things we otherwise wished we could be able to control. I’m sure you’re thinking if you could control everything to simply do your bidding, you’d be so happy and satisfied… right?

Why is AI such a thing today? Why are there increasing rates of ground breaking innovations and disruptive technologies with Smart Phones, Smart Houses, Smart and Driverless Cars? What’s driving all these massive disruptive innovations and inventions? I’ll tell you: the enthronement of Self at the expense of everything else. That’s what’s driving everything into the “smarter” dimension. Machines can now predict the needs of man in nanoseconds. Smart things programmed with AI have been wired to do exactly what you please as the user. The more responsive you want a machine to be to your will, emotions, routines and preferences, the more AI has to be wired into it.

Why do we so desperately feel the need to control everything in the first place? Why do we wish we could make things and people do what we want?

Well, we humans want control more than anything, so that these things and people could serve our WILL. We want to have what we want to have at the time we want it and how we want it… So that in the end, Our Will can be satisfied with its desires.

This is why Money is one of the major tools of deviation the devil uses to distract people from relying on God. The devil uses money to create an illusion of control, since money can get you literally almost everything you want in this world. If the money you have, cannot afford what you want, more money added to what you have will afford you what you want: Such that at a level of wealth, all your wants are duly satisfied with no exceptions. Just think of it, then swipe the card and there it is! Solomon got to this dangerous zone, where there was nothing more he could “want”, that he didn’t already have… Well, except that which he really needed; the One Being that truly satisfies. No wonder he kept labelling all things as vanity upon vanity! He had seen the vanity of the endless pursuit of esctacies, and had come to a conclusion you would hope many people will take a cue from. But what do men continue to do? We want to explore the vanity for ourselves and further and further away from God, we go in desperate search for control and all its promises.

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. — I Timothy 6:17 NKJV

The real problem with money is not that it’s bad to have, not at all! After all, God gives us all things richly to enjoy! So, money in and of itself isn’t the problem: But money is a really dangerous thing to place one’s trust in! Because riches are uncertain! And those with a lot of it have the highest tendency of trusting in it even more blindly. Money’s best role is that of a servant: Once you make it Lord, then like Solomon, you will be thrown into an endless downward spiral into meaninglessness! Money is too weak a substance to hold up the pressure of faith that man bears, only God can!

Money gives an illusion of trustworthiness and the rich run the greatest risk of trusting it. Please don’t get me wrong, we are covenant bound to be wealthy and we shall! But first our trust must be so locked into God that even when we become wealthy and God says to give it all away, we can do so without a sense of grief or loss, because God is our sufficiency. Remember the rich young ruler? He went away sad at the instruction of the Master, because he had gathered so much material possession. Even though he seemed to want to do God’s Will, the pull of his net worth wouldn’t let him. Our hearts must be given to God before it is given to the perpetual, never ending quest for wealth acquisition. It’s not always about receiving instructions to give our money away: We also show submission to His Will when we wait on Him to give a go ahead about how to spend “our” money.

Our desire to want to control things is first a product of the Mandate of God over our lives and a direct consequence of the fact that we were created after God’s image as Free Moral Agents. But that desire was never intended to be indulged beyond the scope of God’s Instructions. The devil enticed Eve by giving her the impression that once she ate of the forbidden fruit, she would be like God and have limitless knowledge and power whilst possessing the same corrupt and independent will that is apart from God. The devil’s propaganda to Eve; you can have The Power of God, without submitting to The Will of God. Eve fell for the bait of Absolute Control without Absolute Submission!

Till today, the devil keeps pushing this agenda: You can have all you WANT , simply deviate from the ordained protocol of Submiting to The Ultimate Will. I can tell you what to do to make the lady like you back: I can give you the money you need in no time: I can make everyone follow you on social media: I can give you all you ever dreamed for: simply stop depending on the Will of God! You know what you want, why wait on some distant and aloof deity who can’t “vibe” with you? Crown your own will as King! Your will is Lord! The devil yells!!

Don’t listen to him! See where his own independent and rebellious spirit has led him.

We have been so wired by God to never find satisfaction in no other thing apart from His Will. This is why there is futility in crowning ourselves as our own gods, with our will sitting on the throne of our hearts. As much as we have a legitimate desire to control things, that same desire ought to be a reminder of our need for submission to a higher Will that is able to make all things work together for our good.

So here is how it works; you submit your will to The Lord in prayer, The Lord makes the best sense of your prayer and creates a prophetic strategy for solution. Afterwhich He informs ALL THINGS concerning that matter: Then ALL THINGS concerning that matter begin to work in your favour as though you were the one controlling them.

You will win more battles as a submitted man to The Will of God than you will as a man who crowned his will as Lord.

Prayer is our instrument of submission to the Will of God. Through prayer, we are able to surrender our nagging need for control, hand it over to the One who really can handle that pressure, while we take on the peace and joy that comes from having God take care of our business.

It’s beautiful the way The Lord shields us from the potential consequences of our own folly. An all controlling Will only makes sense if that Will is also all knowing. That way, it knows all the possible combinations of inputs that give the best outcomes. It is with this knowledge, He then orchestrates the dynamics of His workings to make things work in our favour. This is why when a man has that kind of absolute control without the requisite absolute knowledge to go with it, he would inevitably end up in misery.

Prayer is powerful friends! I encourage you today, even if you cannot control everything, you can always decide to pray. That prayer can put the control in the right hands and you ought to just watch how things begin to work their socks off just for your good!

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. — Romans 8:26‭-‬28 NKJV

Prayer is what guarantees the working together of ALL things in your favour. So when you cannot control what you wish you could control, resist the urge to cuss, nag or complain… I encourage you to pray! Pray that God’s Will be done! And the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard and garrison your heart against anxiety and vain thoughts.

This my friends, is the path to true meaning and lasting peace.

Have a meaningful week ahead.

Dami Oguntunde