BOW OUT, OLD MAN (PART 1)

BOW OUT, OLD MAN (PART 1)

Bow Out, Old Man! is the topic of today’s The W.I.T.N.G Chat Show. I am your host, Toyin Oladiran, and today, I am chatting with Oby Bamidele, Author, Registered Counsellor and Authenticity Coach. Bow out, old man (part 1)This is a 2-part series so be sure to look out for Part 2!

Oby and I speak quite personally (with some silliness here and there – you know I can’t help it!) and we share from the heart, about an issue that all Christians grapple with during their journey with Christ – the Old Man.
That “false identity” that the enemy tries to keep planted on the throne of your life, convincing you that your commitment to Jesus Christ can never change who you really are. We go deep to unravel and demystify the Old Man, and we give you tools to “bow him out”! Laugh, think, ponder, and let God translate our words to life in your soul.

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Sorry Fear, Grace took your place!

Sorry Fear, Grace took your place!

Brace yourself to be schooled by a 5 year old!

“You have to get mad at fear, really mad. I have started telling my daughter that, and the other day I heard her in her room saying “get lost”. I rushed to her room and asked who she was speaking to and she said, “fear is trying to make me afraid but I told it to get lost, because I am a conqueror in Christ!” – Oby Bamidele 

Haha! Love that! Do you love that? I love it! A brazen 5 year old! A mind being transformed by TRUTH!

Picture me, some years back, racing along the N1 highway, from Pretoria to Johannesburg. My knuckles clenched around the leather steering wheel, my seat rammed so far forward, that the wheel pushed painfully into my tummy. Eyes, brimming with blind hot tears, I sped away from yet another doctor’s appointment. Another recoiling invasion. Another dreaded wait. What will it be this time? My heart tastes like blood in my mouth! Tell me, how much can one soul take? Will I survive another climactic fail?  Isn’t there a cap on pain? Like a maximum threshold, after which one just sputters out and flatlines? Or will I take hit after hit forever and a day?

Then I clicked “play”, and sat, still, at the feet of My Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, waiting to hear what He would say. Out poured rhythms and lyrics, cascading over my soul, a balm for my aching heart! “Hello Fear” by Kirk Franklin. Only, this was not a docile, resigned, “Hello Fear,” that echoed subservience and defeat. No. This was a “Hello Fear,” that etched a line in the sand, rose and stood tall, arms akimbo, and calmly declared, “Hello Fear. I knew I would see you. You have a hard time letting go. See these tears? Take a good look, ’cause soon they won’t fall anymore. God’s healing my hurtful places. That seat that was yours, now is taken. I’m no longer afraid. See, I’m better this way. And one more thing before you leave, never again will I love you. Never again will I trust you. My heart, it refuses to be your home. No longer a prisoner, today I remember, apart from you is where I belong.” (lyrics to “Hello Fear”)

Or in 5 year old Dara Bamidele’s words, “Get lost!”

Whoop! And so for that day, and that particular imminent descent into a deep gulf, Fear got read the riot act and it had no choice but to back up and LEAVE ME ALONE!! And I rose to tell the tale. I  still got afraid many times after that. Gosh, I feel Fear even now, as I write this, possibly every time I wrap my mind around what The Narrow Gateway is going to be about and what I am now about. Fear is one of the devil’s most powerful arsenals against you and I! It immobilises. It spins tales of woe and destruction, with you being the main feature in the mayhem. BUT there is TRUTH. GRACE. Jesus Christ offers you and I GRACE that unravels the most thickly spun quagmires. Grace is power that ENABLES you and I to do the impossible. To be the impossible. Not because we are the power. By ourselves, we will not do the impossible. But when we anchor into that place, behind the veil, where the One who IS POWER resides! WHOOHOO! My oh my!

So I say, “Sorry Fear, Grace took your place!” Because if I do not say that, and if I do not walk in that, then I will remain transfixed in paralysis. And the works God prepared for me to work before time began, will linger around, unworked. And now that I have a glimpse of the God-life awaiting me, I’m sorry, I’m just not having that! Put your hands up if you feel me! And if you don’t, feel God’s unflinching arms tightly embrace you anyway. Because GRACE means, He will not give up on you!

So guys, if you happen on yours truly a.k.a this quirky girl called Toyin, strutting around muttering, “Get lost. GET LOST!” Just nod at me and be like, “Hey yo!” Or more like, “Yes ke! You tell it!” We’ve gotta do this. Fear just has to give up its seat, to Grace.

‘Optional extra’. Be careful what you leave in your sound system, waiting for you to click play. Be careful what you invite into your spaces, when the days are crisp and sunny. Because when life brings on those dark and fearsome tunes, that erupt into chaotic crescendoes in your life, which it will, you will respond in the dance you were taught by the things that take up your spaces.

Check out Hello Fear by Kirk Franklin

I am Toyin, quirky writer of this piece, fully convicted by my own words, and very much under God’s construction. Enter with me through the narrow gateway.

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I’d love to hear from you!

Get in touch! Tell me your story about fear and grace – it doesn’t matter where you are at in the journey.  What are you afraid of? What’s the worst that could happen? How do you respond to fear? Are you ready to jump?! Let’s see where this takes us.

Place your comments below, or send me a private message on thenarrowgateway@gmail.com. Like my page on Facebook (@coachtoyin), follow me on Twitter (@thenarrowgate4) and on Instagram (@coach_toyin). Engage, share and re-share. Let’s get the WITNG message out there!

I look forward to getting to know you better. Keep truth-seeking.

Toyin

 

If my soul must be captivated by rhythm…

If my soul must be captivated by rhythm…

I have songs that make my cheeks flush and my skin tingle. For as long as I can remember, I have sat at the feet of music, my hands beckoning, my heart raised within me, ripe ears tuned to receive lessons and counsel. Lessons on love, affection, commitment, passion, desire, romance…beauty.  For as long as I can remember, my soul would rise to heights of ecstasy and then dive to lows of woe, simply at the convergence  of certain melodies. “Music,” they say, “is an outburst of the soul.” How true.

However, when I renewed myself in my choice to be a Christ-follower, a bunch of years back, the Spirit stirred within me. He knew what music was to me. He also knew that the faces and paces of the music I had rended my heart to up until that time had warped my understanding of the very life He had now breathed into me.

“Your music has to come along for the journey, through the narrow gateway,” He said. But I wanted no such thing. I was convinced it would mean a life stripped of all tingling melodies. I couldn’t have that. I loved my music. I embraced the creative tones and the cleverly strung-out lyrics, even when the words and messages cringed at my newly reborn spirit. I loved to trail into dance spaces and have my feet respond to the soul-rustling sounds, my mood, rising, pulsating, lifting me, just because someone clicked ‘play’.  So I gripped tighter at my seat, at the feet of my old counsellors, my old teachers, my old music. “Take me through the narrow gateway Lord, if You must. But leave my music on the broad way!”

Featured Image -- 648But there was a new Counsellor humming in my inner parts, and He was steppin’ like a boss, strutting from my eternal heart-space to His eternal heart-space, filling me with music, new lyrics and songs that strummed the chords of my spirit, like my old music never had. Life-giving melodies that drew me into a Presence that some have described as the purest euphony bursting forth. “You, oh Lord, are my symphony, perfect in harmony” – Fred Hammond.

So, if my soul must be captivated by rhythm, let it be glorious and heavenly. Let its harmonies fascinate my heart as it re-educates me about love, affection, commitment, passion, desire, romance…beauty, behind the narrow gateway. If my music is an outburst of my soul, and my love for its emotive eruptions compel me to remain seated at its feet, spellbound as it croons its counsel into my ears, then may compel it, my music, to sit, fixated, channeled, composed, at the feet of the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit. “My music, my counsellor, meet the Counsellor. Come along; He’s taking us on a journey, through the narrow gateway.”

Here’s the song that’s fascinating me tonight. It pulls on my heart strings because its lyrics (captured in the feature image) tell of what I have tasted and seen.

Holy Spirit‘ as performed by Kim Walker Smith.

There’s nothing worth more that will ever come close
No thing can compare You’re our living hope
Your Presence Lord

I’ve tasted and seen of the sweetest of loves
Where my heart becomes free and my shame is undone
Your Presence Lord

Holy Spirit You are welcome here
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere
Your glory God is what our hearts long for
To be overcome by Your Presence Lord

Let us become more aware of Your Presence
Let us experience the glory of Your goodness

Critically, I end this by saying I am Toyin, quirky writer of this piece. I am very much convicted by my own words, and I remain under construction.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

I’d love to hear from you!

Thank you for reading and engaging. I’d love to hear from you! What/who were your “counsellors” before your commitment to being a follower of Jesus Christ? Which of them still remain your counsellors and which have you allowed to accompany you on your transformation journey through the narrow gateway? Hey, maybe you have held back from making that commitment at all because you just are not up to bowing out your counsellors. Well, get in touch! Tell me your story.  Let’s see where it takes us.

Place your comments in the section below, or you could send me a private message on thenarrowgateway@gmail.com. And don’t forget to like my page on Facebook (@coachtoyin) and follow me on Twitter (@thenarrowgate4) and on Instagram (@coach_toyin). Engage, share and re-share.

I look forward to getting to know you better. Keep truth-seeking.

Yours in truth-telling,

Toyin

Toyin is a writer, blogger, vlogger, speaker, chat-show host (WITNG Chats) and all round lover of encouraging life behind the narrow gateway. She is the founder of The Narrow Gateway, which is a platform that houses an ever-growing collection of creative resources and materials that are dipped in truth according to God’s Word, geared to trigger us to ask, WITNG? “What is the narrow gateway?” when we encounter life’s events and nuances. Because when we discover the narrow gateway in any given circumstance, we become kitted to be transformed, that is, to bring our thoughts, values and actions in line, so that as we increasingly resemble Christ, we can burst forth in expressing the gifts and callings that God embedded in us, which are designed to be the solutions to many quagmires in our world. (www.thenarrowgateway.com

If my soul must be captivated by rhythm…

If my soul must be captivated by rhythm…

I have songs that make my cheeks flush and my skin tingle. For as long as I can remember, I have sat at the feet of music, my hands beckoning, my heart raised within me, ripe ears tuned to receive lessons and counsel. Lessons on love, affection, commitment, passion, desire, romance…beauty.  For as long as I can remember, my soul would rise to heights of ecstasy and then dive to lows of woe, simply at the convergence  of certain melodies. “Music,” they say, “is an outburst of the soul.” How true.

However, when I renewed myself in my choice to be a Christ-follower, a bunch of years back, the Spirit stirred within me. He knew what music was to me. He also knew that the faces and paces of the music I had rended my heart to up until that time had warped my understanding of the very life He had now breathed into me.

“Your music has to come along for the journey, through the narrow gateway,” He said. But I wanted no such thing. I was convinced it would mean a life stripped of all tingling melodies. I couldn’t have that. I loved my music. I embraced the creative tones and the cleverly strung-out lyrics, even when the words and messages cringed at my newly reborn spirit. I loved to trail into dance spaces and have my feet respond to the soul-rustling sounds, my mood, rising, pulsating, lifting me, just because someone clicked ‘play’.  So I gripped tighter at my seat, at the feet of my old counsellors, my old teachers, my old music. “Take me through the narrow gateway Lord, if You must. But leave my music on the broad way!”

But there was a new Counsellor humming in my inner parts, and He was steppin’ like a boss, strutting from my eternal heart-space to His eternal heart-space, filling me with music, new lyrics and songs that strummed the chords of my spirit, like my old music never had. Life-giving melodies that drew me into a Presence that some have described as the purest euphony bursting forth. “You, oh Lord, are my symphony, perfect in harmony” – Fred Hammond.

So, if my soul must be captivated by rhythm, let it be glorious and heavenly. Let its harmonies fascinate my heart as it re-educates me about love, affection, commitment, passion, desire, romance…beauty, behind the narrow gateway. If my music is an outburst of my soul, and my love for its emotive eruptions compel me to remain seated at its feet, spellbound as it croons its counsel into my ears, then may compel it, my music, to sit, fixated, channeled, composed, at the feet of the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit. “My music, my counsellor, meet the Counsellor. Come along; He’s taking us on a journey, through the narrow gateway.”

Here’s the song that’s fascinating me tonight. It pulls on my heart strings because its lyrics (captured in the feature image) tell of what I have tasted and seen.

Holy Spirit‘ as performed by Kim Walker Smith.

There’s nothing worth more that will ever come close
No thing can compare You’re our living hope
Your Presence Lord

I’ve tasted and seen of the sweetest of loves
Where my heart becomes free and my shame is undone
Your Presence Lord

Holy Spirit You are welcome here
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere
Your glory God is what our hearts long for
To be overcome by Your Presence Lord

Let us become more aware of Your Presence
Let us experience the glory of Your goodness

Critically, I end this by saying I am Toyin, quirky writer of this piece. I am very much convicted by my own words, and I remain under construction.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

I’d love to hear from you!

Thank you for reading and engaging. I’d love to hear from you! What/who were your “counsellors” before your commitment to being a follower of Jesus Christ? Which of them still remain your counsellors and which have you allowed to accompany you on your transformation journey through the narrow gateway? Hey, maybe you have held back from making that commitment at all because you just are not up to bowing out your counsellors. Well, get in touch! Tell me your story.  Let’s see where it takes us.

Place your comments in the section below, or you could send me a private message on thenarrowgateway@gmail.com. And don’t forget to like my page on Facebook (@coachtoyin) and follow me on Twitter (@thenarrowgate4) and on Instagram (@coach_toyin). Engage, share and re-share.

I look forward to getting to know you better. Keep truth-seeking.

Yours in truth-telling,

Toyin

Toyin is a writer, blogger, vlogger, speaker, chat-show host (WITNG Chats) and all round lover of encouraging life behind the narrow gateway. She is the founder of The Narrow Gateway, which is a platform that houses an ever-growing collection of creative resources and materials that are dipped in truth according to God’s Word, geared to trigger us to ask, WITNG? “What is the narrow gateway?” when we encounter life’s events and nuances. Because when we discover the narrow gateway in any given circumstance, we become kitted to be transformed, that is, to bring our thoughts, values and actions in line, so that as we increasingly resemble Christ, we can burst forth in expressing the gifts and callings that God embedded in us, which are designed to be the solutions to many quagmires in our world. (www.thenarrowgateway.com

We go deep. No masks. Authenticity.

We go deep. No masks. Authenticity.

WITNG CHATS PRESENTS…

A Chat With Oby Bamidele, Author, Registered Counsellor and Authenticity Coach, as well as Founder of The Authenticity Club For Women.

We go deep. Hard-hitting. No Masks. Authenticity.

Coming soon. Really Soon.

#AudienceOfOne #JourneyToAuthenticMe #NoMoreFalseSelf #FalseSelfMustFall #FalseSelfMustBow #BowOut #ItsNotWhatYouThink #WatchThisSpace #ComingSoon #Easter #EasterWeekend #JesusPaidItAll #ObyBamidele #ToyinOladiran #thenarrowgateway

Hosted by Toyin Oladiran

Founder of The Narrow Gateway (www.thenarrowgateway.com)