For about
two months in the year 2002, I visited the La Pleasure Beach Resort every Sunday
afternoon with my uncle and cousins. It was there that I had the opportunity of
being taught the difference between swimming in a pool, and swimming in the
sea; against tides actually. My cousins and I would change into our swimsuits immediately
we got there and plunge into the blue-or-green ocean [I learnt that the colour
of the sea depends on the intensity and position of the sun, the kind of ‘quality’
food one eats, the clarity of the eyes inter alia…but I’m not properly placed
to give an expert view on that…lol]. We would only come ashore when we were signaled
that our time was up!
In one of
our numerous trips there, I decided to show some ‘big boy levels’ by sitting
with my uncle and his friends. My uncle then beckoned some ‘dread lockers’ with
instruments to come and give some reggae renditions. It was there that a
life-long relationship with Robert Nesta Marley was birthed! After nodding my
head, snapping my fingers and tapping my feet for a while, I felt like
springing up from my seat and doing the ‘reggae dance’ amidst the occasional
shouting of ‘Jah Rasta far – I’, but I ‘refused’ to behave like a ‘sheep being
led to the abattoir’ and keep the dignity I have. Truth be told, there was a
very beautiful girl sitting opposite our table and so I didn’t want to make a
fool of myself.
This new-found
love with Bob Marley aroused some deep passion in me to listen to get his
records and soak them in. However, it was a particular song that caught my
complete attention, and me thinking real hard up till now; Redemption Song! A
particular phrase seemed to jump out of the song every time I heard it received
airtime; Emancipate Yourself From Mental Slavery!
As humans,
and more importantly as Christians, one of the greatest battles we’ll get to
fight is that of the mind! The devil will always try to pump fear into the
mind, and the ability to drive those ‘filthy’ thoughts out depends on the kind
of stuff one is made of. Oh! It’s a serious battle! He’ll feed your mind with
fear of the sickness, fear of losing out on that juicy contract you’ve drooled
over for the past six months, fear of death, fear of an unsuccessful marriage
etc…. In fact, the devil’s fears are innumerable. And when one actually dwells
on these fears, without doing the necessary thing a believer ought to do, there’s
a 99% chance that he’ll force that fear from eternity into reality.
According to
Joel Osteen, Nick was a very hardworking middle-aged man who was admired by his
superiors, colleagues as well subordinates. What nobody knew was that Nick had
been entertaining lots and lots of fears from the enemy which would sometimes involve
sleepless nights. Nick was working in the refrigeration unit of a large machine
when management issued a communiqué to all employees that they could close
early to catch the Super Bowl which was going to be on air later in the day.
His luck ran
out when a colleague a colleague, on his way home locked the door which led to
the refrigeration unit. He screamed his lungs out for help but to no avail. The
devil then went into motion….”You are going to be frozen to death”…”You are
going to be frozen to death”….”You are going to be frozen to death”! Nick also
concurred! When the door to the unit was opened the following morning, Nick’s
dead body was found inside. Indeed, the coroner’s report confirmed the cause of
death as being exposure to a very cold temperature. He had been frozen to
death!
Now here’s
what’s interesting. When the unit was checked again, it was realized that it
was not even plugged in. Indeed, the temperature in the unit was measured as 60°C!
This begs the question of the actual cause of Nick’s death! Simple! He thought
that he was going to be frozen to death just like the devil so audaciously put
in his mind. Remember, one becomes a slave of whatever he chooses to give
attention to! To liberate ourselves from this type of slavery, we need to know
our identity.
How can we
drive these Machiavellian fears out? The antidote to fear is faith! How do you
acquire faith to win this mind battle? Romans 10:17 has the answer: “So faith comes from
hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” And
what is the ‘good news’ being spoken about here? It’s the fact that God sent
His Only begotten Son to come into the world to take away and bring to naught
the evil schemes of the enemy….To pay the ultimate price so we will be free!
So when next
the devil feeds your mind with sickness, Yell to him saying ‘Jesus bore all the
sickness of the world on the cross, so I can’t be sick!’ When he says you are
going to fail, just say ‘With Christ in my vessel, I’ll smile at the storm’!
When he fills your mind with death, simply say ‘I shall not die but live to
declare the works of the Lord’! The Bible is a book that tells you who and what
you are! To be able to know our identity and purpose, we need to consult it and
find out who and what it says we are!
LET US
EMANCIPATE OURSELVES FROM THIS MENTAL SLAVERY…NONE BUT OURSELVES CAN FREE OUR
MINDS!!!
