The Elevation Church

Tag: Udochi Anokwu

  • Overcoming Fear: My Frightful Flight

    Overcoming Fear: My Frightful Flight

    I lie down and sleep and all night long the

    LORD protects me.

    I am not afraid of the thousands of enemies who

    Surround me on every side.

    Psalm 3:5-6

     

    One fateful morning, while travelling from Lagos to Port Harcourt, guess who sat beside me? That creepy, miserable, attention-seeking, lying beast called fear. Innocent me, I did not realize this until it caught my attention.

     

    This was what happened.

     

    I boarded the flight and sat in my favourite spot, a window seat. While the plane glided in the clouds, I began to admire God’s creation; that particular day, the clouds looked like they were on a fashion parade, I don’t remember seeing a more beautiful scene. The clouds looked like a pack of cotton wool, at some point it looked like snow in winter, then like a flock of white sheep; it felt like I was watching the Milky Way, a spread of white curtains… I could go on and on. It was so beautiful that I was almost breathless! Honestly, everything God created is beautiful, including you reading this.

     

    While engrossed in my galactic show, with the aircraft moving at different altitudes; the miserable attention seeker nudged me and whispered, “what if this plane crashes?”. Startled, I replied; “Huh?” (I wish I did not give an answer). It repeated its gimmick and added; “can you not see how this aircraft is moving in between the clouds? Is it normal? You will just be lost in the clouds when the crash happens”.

    Then I looked up and saw one of the flight attendants smiling and engaging in a discussion with the passengers seated by the emergency exit. Fear hugged me tightly and whispered slowly, “that’s what I’m saying; the attendant is telling them what to do when the plane crashes, they will make use of the emergency exit… I wonder if they will survive, how much more you that is seated farther away from the emergency exit”. At this point, fear had engulfed me and I had also gripped fear; we were locked in a very tight embrace like lovers. My focus had shifted from the beautiful clouds to the expectations of a plane crash. I thought of my family, regretted my trip and started praying in my heart like never before.

    Throughout the flight, fear and I held onto each other and I refused to let go. It was whispering into my ears saying “sweet nothings” while I prayed (in fear) silently the whole time. We were still locked in our tight embrace when the plane landed and taxied along the tarmac for a while, but I did not realize it would no longer “crash” or that it did not even crash at all.

     

    The irony of this story is that, nothing happened… I mean, NOTHING HAPPENED… the plane did not crash, and the flight attendant was actually having a friendly conversation with the passengers when I looked up earlier. In fact, the flight arrived 10 minutes earlier than scheduled and the pilot jokingly apologized for arriving early. My goodness! I felt stupid and robbed of my beautiful “Cloud Fashion Parade” experience.

    I told myself the next time the creepy liar comes around, I would not give it access to my thoughts. However, as a human, it takes a lot of effort and consciousness.

    Sometime later, I saw six missed calls from my sister while I was in church and concluded that something terrible had happened at home to warrant her calling me six times repeatedly. When I eventually spoke to her, she said she just wanted to discuss a minor issue.

    Fear is always hanging around, looking for who to deceive. Here is my advice on how to tackle fear:

     

    • Speak-Up: When fear says something, you counter it with the opposite of that thing and tackle the situation with the word of God. Being vocal helps to silence any other voice.
    • Train your thoughts: In the multitude of voices you hear daily, train your thoughts to hear only your Heavenly Fathers’ voice. The voice of God is soothing, calm, and removes any form of fear.
    • Confess God’s Word: Keep declaring what God has said over your situation. Find bible verses and encouraging messages concerning the situation that makes you afraid.
    • Be cautious & learn to separate fear from reality. Sometimes what we fear is not real; they are mostly figments of our imaginations. Whenever fear comes, remember the acronym for FEAR – False Accusation Appearing Real.

     

     

    Written by Udochi Anokwu

     

  • Is It Wrong to Have Nice Things?

    There are times I realize that some things I really longed for become obsolete and unnecessary, then I ask myself; why did I ever struggle to get this? Other times I realize that I eventually do not use or need some things that I struggled to get.

     

    Have you ever felt this way?

    Now, if you’re a lover of nice things, you will know that it takes a lot to keep your desires in control in the midst of this ever changing world we live in. Let’s take a look at the cars we see today compared to the cars our parents drove. I remember how my dad would boast of his brand new Mercedes Benz 200. Believe me, I haven’t seen that model of Mercedes in the past five years (not even as a scrap). I also recall that growing up, government officials drove Peugeot 505 and 504 cars and I loved the look and feel of those cars; I was so in love with the Peugeot cars to the extent that I chose my career path based on my love for Peugeot and believed that I would have one to myself if I became a government official. I eventually studied Public Administration in the university in a bid to become a government official. This car analogy is just one of the many examples we all know.

    My dad told me, “good things don’t finish” and from personal experience, I’ve come to realize that there will always be something better than the previous one of everything you have. This brings me to the focus of this post: should you have earthly possessions? Yes! Is it wrong to have nice things? No!

    However, everything God made available on earth is for our good pleasure and we are expected to take a measure of what we need at every point. Here are five tips to help you:

    1. Be content: There will always be new and nice things, don’t destroy your life because of something you cannot afford at the moment. Contentment is the key to being happy and enjoying life.
    2. Don’t take it to the extreme: Be happy with whatever stage you are in life but strive to be better in a modest way. Don’t mistake being at ease and complacent as contentment. Work hard and the good things of life will be yours for the taking.
    3. Put your emotions in check: Pay attention to how you react to life as we are constantly faced with all sorts of ravishing pictures and news of the possessions of people around us and on social media. A lot of times, we tend to become envious and depressed when it seems like we cannot have the same possessions or even something less.
    4. Follow the right crowd: You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. The more you spend time with people, the more you are like them.
    5. Focus on the right things: Where your heart is, that’s where your treasure will be. If you keep looking at a particular direction, sooner or later, you will find yourself there. Be careful, it is easy to get trapped in the things we focus on.

    This brings me to one of my favorite fairy tales that has stuck to my memory since childhood – “The emperor’s new clothes”. It tells of the story of an emperor who loved beautiful new clothes so much that he spent all his money on being finely dressed. The only interest he had was to go to the theater or ride about in his carriage where he could show off his new clothes. While other kings were in court, he was always in his dressing room. One day, two swindlers came to the city and claimed to be weavers who made the finest clothes anyone could imagine. They claimed that the colors and pattern were beautiful, in addition their fabric had an amazing property that only people with high intellect could see it! Stupid people would not be able to see it. The king thought that it would be nice to have the cloth so he could know which of his officials were stupid and incompetent. In summary, the swindlers made the imaginary clothes and everyone including the king claimed to see the dress for fear of being termed stupid. When they finished, the king wore the imaginary cloth for one of his processions and everyone said it was fine, except a little girl who screamed “the emperor has no clothes on!”.

    The emperor was not content with what he had, he took his desire for beautiful clothes to the extreme, he surely had the wrong people around him because they couldn’t tell him the truth and finally, he was swindled because he focused on the wrong desires.

    Having read this, I believe you will make better decisions when it comes to material possessions. Remember, it’s not about having nice things; it’s about how you allow the idea of having them influence you negatively. Be wise and make the right decisions.

    Written by: Udochi Anokwu

     

     

     

  • Road to De-mask Us

    Road to De-mask Us

    I am the guy you see all dressed up and arrayed with fine clothings. That flashy car is mine, you see that beautiful house and a lovely family? They belong to me too. But, I am also that hooded guy you see all bent and weighed down with worries of fear and pain wishing that life could be better than it is right now.

    I’m the lady you see with the rosy cheeks on a lively face, laughing eyes, bouncy hair and flowing gaits. I seem to have the whole world at my command. But, I am also that lady covered with shame and sorrow. My pillows soaked at night as I think of the unbearable pain I go through and wishing that life could be better than it is right now.

    How long can I hide it, I paint false pictures and pretend that everything is well. My friends and family have no inkling of what I go through.
    Stop… I can hear what God is saying to me,

    “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God”.

    Yes, I am His child, specially crafted and made for His pleasure. I am nothing less of what God has declared; beautiful, wonderfully and fearfully made, I am like HIM, led by His Spirit, conquering my world, lighting up the darkness, building cities.

    It is time to take my masks off and stay true to who I am because God loves me and He has given to me all that pertains to life.

    I can and I will let go of the coverings and let my light shine.

    Written by Udochi Anokwu

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