Save Your APPLAUSE. -_-

Minister, not entertainer.

“Kwiksie, look, I totally get your point…but we both know that’s not what people like to hear.”

“Seriously? How on earth do you hope to get fans if you keep doing things like this?”

“When you have all it takes to make folks love you, why not just give them what they want?!”

How about, because it’s the exact opposite of what God wants? Eh pal?

My name is Okwukwe Ifediora, generally referred to as Kwiksie. I am a born-again musician. Do you want to know what that means? It means that my musicianship is ALWAYS secondary to my call as a follower of Jesus Christ. Alright? Get it! I am not (and NEVER will be) first a musician and then a Christian. Music will always take the back-seat to my service to my risen savior. Period.

#sigh. Really though, when are we going to stop this?- Living for the applause i mean.

Many of you might be convinced otherwise, but the few (‘few’ because I could probably make a decent book of them) questions I quoted above weren’t even directed at me by those who are foreigners to the faith or ‘secular artistes’, as we like to put it, or folks like that. The people asking me things like this are Christians --- according to them at least. I mean, seriously, do we even listen to ourselves sometimes? When on earth did the focus become what they want and what the fans like to hear and all that garbage?!

Is it the media and the fans who have given us life? Are they the ones responsible for our possession of whatever ‘gift’ we may have that is musically inclined? Did the fans and the public sacrifice their most precious to save every single undeserving bit of us, in exchange for our undivided, undiluted love for and devotion to them?

Think about what you’re saying and doing! There's more to life than folks clapping their hands every now and then when you amuse or entertain them.

Each and every human being has got a purpose for being created (a purpose one just might remain clueless about until he/she chooses to buddy up with Jesus) and for those of us who are members of the body of Christ there is a call on our lives. I am called to minister to others through music – amongst other things – thus music ministry is my primary calling. Now from a study of Romans 12:1-8 in a teaching by Bob Kauflin titled > ‘The Call of The Christian Musician’ (I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU FIND IT AND LISTEN TO IT!!!), I have come to the deeper understanding that my basic call, as a Christian musician, is to:

“Faithfully make music – in ANY context – that reflects a grateful servant’s response to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Before you sniff your nose at this point or close the page, please take time to sit and meditate on this word (and please do get the teaching ASAP…you’ll love it). Ask yourself whom your creator is and for what purpose you were created. Have you seen anyone who’s more stable than God or anyone who loves you more? (If you said yes, I promise you we are not talking about the same person). Do you really want to dedicate your time, energy and LIFE to pleasing the crowd? The world? This fickle, fluctuating, inconsistent, deceitful, confused and oh-so-temporary world?! When did ‘going with the flow’ and ‘dancing to the beat’ become our motto as believers? We have obligations to the person who actually runs things (sorry B, it’s not girls after all) and who demands that every breath of air He’s given us permission to consume be used to honor Him and instead what do we do? We ‘do it for the fans’ (or the vine – story for another day).

It’s just so pathetic.

I’m not saying fans are evil, I am not saying become religious and sanctimonious, I’m not saying you shouldn’t enjoy the gift music is. I’m saying when we take our focus off God and decide to zero in on doing things solely for their ‘commercial’ worth or for the accolades to be recieved; when we get to producing things which are supposedly ‘appealing’ to the majority with zero regard for our Lord; when we do things just because people expect it and we don't want to 'offend' the sensibilities of someone or the other – that’s when we hit the ‘self-destruct’ button. If we don’t serve and praise Him, He’ll get others who will; but if we are honest with ourselves, we’d realize there’s none more deserving of our service and adoration than the Almighty. So why work yourself to the bone for things as temporary as a flash of lightening, and for folks who won’t hesitate to stomp you as soon as they’ve drained you to nothing?

This is the truth; I’m on any and every stage on this earth to perform for an audience of One – everyone else is warmly invited though - but the primary reason I have got to make it good is to please Him.

Folks think I’m naïve, boring or too ‘strait-jacket’? *sighs*

That's just too bad.

xxx, Kwiksie.

I Wonder What It Would Mean To You...

I wonder what it would mean to you

If I promised you I’d never lie.

Never pretending things would be ever peachy

But letting you know I’ll always be on stand-by.

Trust has to be the swaddling cloth

In which our love, most precious, is wrapped.

Instead of letting suspicion, insecurity and doubt

Be the premise on which your actions are mapped.

I wonder what it would mean to you

If you knew your best interest fills my heart.

Would the assurance of my love be convincing-

Enough to let me walk you through every path?

Through the pain that cuts and the tears that burn

Could you trust me in spite of it all?

Or would the faintest sign of turbulence

Cause you to pack up and run?

I wonder what it would mean to you

If you knew I prefer your body to concrete.

That this container of flesh in which you function

Is really my most choice place of dwelling.

I don’t mind meeting and talking with you

Within walls erected by some man.

But if you let me in to clean you up

You’d see you’re the most fitting dwelling for ‘I am’.

I wonder what it would mean to you

If you knew I’d never cheat.

Because with everything at my disposal

You’re yet still my masterpiece.

I couldn’t love you any less even if I wanted to

But my love for you is perfect, no matter what you do.

I’ll always be faithful, can you say the same?

You could get distracted and maybe forget my name.

Faithful, loyal and true; this is who I’ll always be,

And I love you too much to see you hurt so just stick with me.

I wonder what it would mean to you

If you knew I gave it all.

No one else would come to your rescue

But I jumped at the call.

I’ve never felt so much anguish, sorrow, pain and misery

I went through it humbly, just so you could find joy in me.

So their looks could warm and their touches could melt;

But what happens when after your soiling, a cruel hand’s all you’re dealt?

I love you so very much and want you to be mine, forever!

So when will you stop treating me as though I don’t matter?

Thus the single woman prayed...

"Lord, may it be your word that is carved upon my heart and your love that i crave. Open my mind and heart to drink in the word you give me each day. Strengthen me for your purpose. Cast out the 'if onlys' and 'what ifs' that plague me when i think of him – whoever that turns out to be. I don't know what it feels like to be loved by a man. Sometimes i hunger for that kind of loving. Help me to see guys through your eyes Lord, and not through the eyes of a fleshly woman. The person out there you desire I team up with Father, keep him in your way. Bring him up out of every storm, trial and temptation and set his feet upon the Rock." (As modified by Kwiksie)

Amen.

Hi people. This prayer (though modified a bit - or a lot- by me), i coined from an amazing novel by Francine Rivers - "Sure as the Dawn". It's the third book in the Lion Trilogy series (that i love so very much)^_^. I feel this version strikes home better…for many of us ladies in waiting - or me at least. ;) The original prayer’s at the end of the post though…

 Anyway, a bit of the story’s background is that there’s this lady, Rizpah, a widowed believer in the gospel who'd even been somewhat mentored by apostle John (the setting's way back in the period of the early Church, following the death and resurrection of Christ) who gets stuck with Atretes, a 'heathen' German, ex-gladiator who's got temper issues and rightful paternal claims to a child she adopted with the belief his parents didn't want him anymore. Now the story's plenty (i suggest you just read the book) but one out of the thousands of things that really struck a chord in me from the novel was this prayer. See they had been together awhile and there was no doubt that Atretes had the hots for Rizpah and, to be honest, vice versa. Yet in as much as it was the struggle of a lifetime, Rizpah hung on to Jesus and integrity and purity as onto dear life. She didn't try to make excuses for the weakness she felt in her flesh (Atretes was quite a hunk) nor blame God for bringing such a temptation her way and deciding that giving into her lust would be His fault and not hers. She loved him quite alright (though she fought hard against it initially) but was achingly aware of the fact that she, a daughter of the Kingdom, could not allow herself to be unequally yoked to one still lost in darkness and she trusted God to bring a man after his own heart out of the brutal gladiator.

Or maybe just bring her another sort of man altogether.

See too many times we ladies fall into the deception of thinking we can convert a person or change them. It's a hoax. Same goes for the brothers. We can't change anyone any more than we can redeem ourselves! Rizpah knew that. Most importantly (even to her), she knew that Atretes' soul was heavily at stake and her duty as a believer was primarily to God, not her feelings. The guy had suffered a great deal and had a million and one issues; his disdain for the almighty being the greatest, and despite her growing attraction to him and in disregard of her wants or feelings, she put the need for his salvation above all that. She understood fully that him getting to fall in love with his maker was tons more profitable than him falling in love with her (although it was something she desired). Her reaction at every point in time was with God's will and pleasure at the fore front of her mind and i think that's quite a lesson for many of us.

Sometimes it gets so lonely that some are filled with such desperate longing that they're willing to ignore God's will and pleasure, forget his promises and plans for them, all in the hopes of landing a great guy. But we need to remember that a 'great guy' is included in "ALL the good and PERFECT gifts" which come from the Father in whom there's no shadow of turning nor variableness. Finding (or being found by), the ‘ultimate’ mortal dream man can be lovely and should be a thing of joy, but when we neglect to rely on God to orchestrate these findings and refuse to follow his blueprint for a wonderful and fulfilled life, that’s when things get messed up. It’s not about getting fed up with how hard it is or wallowing in self-pity and frustration; it’s about trusting in the one who knows the end from the beginning and the one who’s given you the grace and ability to overcome every temptation that wanders your way.

I found it really beautiful that she subjected the desires of her flesh, her longings, her passions and needs even, to the will of God, knowing that whether or not she got the guy in the end, the most important thing was the guy getting God and her staying in obedience.

Go Rizpah! :) and Happy New Month ladies.

The original prayer: “Lord, may it be your word that is carved upon my heart, your love that I crave. Open my mind and heart to drink the word Theophilus gives me each morning. Strengthen me for your purpose. Cast out the ‘if onlys’ and ‘what ifs’ that plague me when Atretes looks at me. I remember what it felt like to be loved by a man. Sometimes I hunger for that kind of loving again. Help me to see him through your eyes, Lord, and not through the eyes of a fleshly woman. Redeem him, Father. Bring him up out of the pit and set his feet upon the Rock.”

P.s: Get the book(s) A.S.A.P. @ >>> http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/95602.Mark_of_the_Lion_Trilogy

xxx, Kwiksie.