| Where the pain hurts the most
Where the tendons have stretched taunt And finally snapped into two Where the greenstick fractured occurred And left nothing but permanent destruction with no remedy That’s where the mending begins That’s where the callus is formed That’s where healing is to be strong That’s the point that will be thicken And made stronger by the pain Yes, the bone is stronger at the broken place It’s at the point where you broke down and cried It’s at that path where you thought you’ll never walk along again That’s where he makes you strong Cause you will never at that point be broken again “My strength is made perfect in your weakness”
– bukola soremekun |
I WRITE UNTO YOU, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
I WRITE UNTO YOU, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I WRITE UNTO YOU, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I WRITE UNTO YOU, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1 John 1:12,13
Suppose you grew up as an orphan in an orphanage and you never knew who your real parents were. In fact, you had always thought the people running the orphanage didn’t know, too. And then one day, you are called and told, “Here is a letter your parents left for you. They asked us to give it to you whenever we felt you were mature enough to appreciate it!”
Would you be interested in reading such a letter? I bet you really, really would!
Well, you’re no orphan, but the Bible is God, your Father writing to you. His expectation is that you will take its message just as seriously as you would take a personal audience with Him in which He literally speaks to you.
When you think about this deeply, you will have an ever increasing desire for the message of the pages of this book. You will be able to say with David, “… I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.” You will always approach your copy of the Bible with more excitement and interest, than our hypothetical orphan would open his letter.
– jide lawal
The way successful men are applauded and celebrated made me to desire to be successful, right from the time I was a child. I used to feel good when I pass my exams. I feel on top of the world when I gain admission into a competitive school. I had, however, discovered that the excitement does not last. That very thing that brought joy to my life sometimes brings sadness later. I then began to ask: which achievement in life lasts. How am I going to get that success which would bring joy all the days of my life? If I discover that, I was determined to get it.
Wealth! What amount of riches would guarantee this desired lasting joy? Would a car and a house do? I have come to understand that the more your wealth increase, the more your desire. Who knows? You might one day desire to possess the entire world.
Would fame and power bring joy that would last? I was taught to learn from others’ mistakes. So, when I heard the confession of an influential politician, I bit my lips. I came to understood that power and fame can as well ruin a man.
In his dead-bed, he confessed: “…I would have loved to die a saint rather than a hero.”
If power, fame and wealth would not bring lasting joy in life, what then? In my search, I came across another confession of a man whose death was near.
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith;” II Timothy 4:7.
With this, I discovered that some men in the past did achieve this lasting success. I then knew I was nearer to finding the source. Then, I came across this.
“This book of the law shall not depart from thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1:8.
That was all I needed to know. One can achieve this greatest success that lasts, if and only if he is a friend (obey the laws) of Him that gives success.
What would such a man gain? Peter once asked Jesus that question.
“And Jesus answered and said…he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” Mark 10:29,30.
Such a man has everything now, on that day and forever.
– okenna obi-igbokwe
When I was growing up, I was made to believe that it was God that provided money for people. And that you had to pray hard enough so that he will decide to bless you. So men prayed earnestly for years. Prayers like “open the windows of heaven” and songs of ‘showers of blessing” were very regular in church. When I however grew up and was taught of God I was surprised to realize I was already blessed and all I had to do was appropriate and “lay up treasures” by my seeds of faith and wait for the showers/harvest that was sure to follow. The scriptures cannot be broken. If you must receive you must give. If you want treasures that will endure and surpass every season you must lay it up.
So this is how we lay up our treasures
- GIVE TO THE CAUSE OF THE GOSPEL: our number one task on earth is to be ministers of reconciliation, to take the gospel to the uttermost part of the world. That cause is capital intensive. But a wise man will give to the gospel and receive a hundred fold blessing in return. Whether it’s in offerings, support to missionaries etc you must just ensure your money goes directly into the propagation of the gospel. When you give to support the gospel in whatever form you are paying directly into your heavenly purse and that purse does not fail or wax old. To crown it all up the interest it pays cannot be mathematically explained.
Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for God’s sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive a hundred fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
- GIVE TO THE POOR: the ministry to the poor is very important and very good investment ground. Understand from today that it is very wrong not to have a budget for the poor. “And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God” (Lev 19:10 KJV). Always leave something for the poor. Job’s treasures failed not because he understood this well. Job 29:12-20 revealed that he was blessed, his roots spread out by the waters, his GLORY WAS FRESH and his bow was renewed because he gave to the poor. So if you haven’t found a safe investment yet, I recommend one to you. The poor will always be with us so we have every opportunity to lay up treasures for ourselves. Remember Jesus told the man in Mk.10:21 to sell whatever he had and give to the poor AND HE SHALL HAVE TREASURES IN HEAVEN. Why not put a smile on the face of a poor one today. They don’t need much. They only need the little you take for granted and the many things you no longer have need for.
- GIVE TO MINISTERS OF GOD: there is such a thing as a prophet’s reward. (Mat 10:41). When the disciples were sent out to preach the gospel in Matthew 10, they were told not to take anything along. Men were expected to bless them and in return they were to leave prosperity behind. “And when ye come into a house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace (prosperity) come upon it: but if it be not, worthy, let your peace (prosperity) return to you.’ (Mat 10:12-13 KJV)When you give to ministers you receive their blessings. Friends it is a little thing for someone who ministers things of eternal value to you to partake of your carnal possessions. “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1Co 9:14 KJV) There is a portion that should always be set aside for the ministers. And those that labor in the teaching of God’s word deserve a double portion. When the flock of God is fed, ministers must eat of the milk the flock produces.
ENJOY.
– emmanuel aladenusi
| Have you ever been in a room that has been left for a while without use? The first thing you’ll notice is the stale air and dust. If you’re like me the first thing you will do is sneeze on entering and run for the louvers in order to take in some fresh air and expel the dust.
This description is what fits a number of Christian homes today. Mummy and Daddy are not on talking terms, and instead of obeying the scriptures by not letting the sun set on our anger, we let it set and rise for many days. The devil steps in and capitalizes on the space left and before you know it, a once sweet song has stopped playing.
What’s the situation in your home like? Is the air in your home stuffy? Do you have a well ventilated home? Do you keep the windows open to let stale air out and allow fresh air in? Do you remember to close the windows at night?
Remember, Love keeps no record of wrong; Love does not seek its own. If you really love your partner as much as you said then, you need to forget about who is wrong and work on creating an atmosphere to correct the wrong. Forget about how hurt you feel and try to make things work again.
This is not denying that the other person has done wrong, it is avoiding, killing an ant with a sledge hammer. If you lose the trust of your spouse in a bid to make a point, you will never make that point. In a matter of time you will find out that you have only succeeded in widening the gap between you two.
I can almost hear someone say I am sure you don’t understand Lola; you can’t imagine what he/she did. Whatever the person has done could not be as bad as what you did to the saviour before you met Him and even after you got to know Him. And you know what God commended His love towards us while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Can you follow in His footsteps by forgiving even without hearing a sorry?
Marriage is a call to live the Christianity we profess. We need to take the words of God just as they are. Your actions will never gain popularity with men, quit getting counsel from people who don’t belong to same redemption plan as you. Bible says ’Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly’ Psalm1:1. Submit yourself again to the Holy Spirit, forget about pride and yourself, think about the kind of marriage you want and work towards achieving it by converting all this stumbling block to stepping stones. After every disagreement with my spouse I try to achieve some goals
Please let this words flow freely as often as they need to be said
God Bless you as you let love win always. – omolola ezeifeoma |
Ever-increasing Desire Bible Reading: Psalm 42
I will always be grateful to God for one of the fellowships I attended while in the university. We gave persistent tribute to the contents of the bible. We saw it as a manual for our lives and we read it day and night. We advanced to a point where we could quote nearly every part of the bible offhand. At a time, we started reading the bible in the original languages – Greek and Hebrew. So if for example, you quoted I Cor. 14:4, “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself”, we could say something like … The word edifieth in that verse is from the Greek word “oikodomeō ” which means to build up. In short, we were called “word men”. But as we continued along this word journey, I noticed two sets of people …
Some set felt they had arrived as far as the word was concerned. They believed they have successfully torn the word into pieces and digested every part. Pride and arrogance started gaining foothold in their lives and as time went on; their lifestyle could not match the word; their prime ability was to be able to accurately tell when someone misinterpreted the word.
The other set of people reminded me of one key attribute of a believer that is growing spiritually – they had an ever-increasing desire for God and the things that facilitate spiritual growth. The more they knew God, the more they wanted to know him. The more God’s power and virtues were evidently displayed in their lives, the more they appreciated the fact that they were just touching the fringes of His power. The more they studied the word, the more they realized they needed to always stay with the word.
Whether in that my campus fellowship or not, the truth is that we see this kind of stuff almost everywhere. When a man thinks he has finally arrived as far as spiritual growth is concerned, and stops paying attention to things that facilitates his growth, he is already backsliding. The man who wrote majority of the New Testament books once made this statement in one of his books – “My friends, I don’t feel that I have already arrived. But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead” Philippians 3:13 (CEV). What about you? Have you arrived yet?
– tope aladenusi
| Powers of Discernment Factor Bible Reading: I Timothy 3
It is no longer news that life is not a game of chance. It is becoming very obvious that man make choices, and his choices end up making him. Who we are today is a reflection of some of the choices we have made yesterday. The choice of friends, profession, school, business partner, spouse, church etc., have affected who we are more than we can imagine. Many Christians are very aware of this and so it not surprising to see them going for counseling sessions or reading various materials on making the right choices. In the last one and the half years, over 95% of the requests for counseling we have received on this website have been centered on making the right choice on a particular subject. I have been opportune to read counsels by most of the Lifeline Counselorsand I know they have been of great impact to the counselees. But this will not be our finishing point. We know that as believers, we can find ourselves in a position where we require a quick counsel from another believer, but we are to grow to a state where we make the right choices by default. This will come effortlessly if we all continue to grow spiritually. Hebrews 5:14 (ALT) sheds more light on this – “But solid food is for [the] mature, for the ones having, because of practice, their powers of discernment having been trained to discern [between] both good and evil”. Matured believers have their powers of discernment sharpened to make the right choices because of their continual practice of the word of God. It comes habitual and natural because they are growing spiritually. It is not only the so called big choices (e.g. career, marriage etc) you make that affect your life. Every choice you make on a daily basis steers your life to a particular direction. That is why you have to consciously gyrate to the point where your powers of discernment send the right signals to your life. You have to constantly give yourself over to those things that will facilitate your spiritual growth. – tope aladenusi |
In recent weeks I have been continuously flooded with calls and enquiries about money. Various groups have requested to be taught how to either get money or access loans. To them the most important thing was just to get money. The truth however remains that even though we always prioritize money, spiritual understanding and wisdom is key to abundance and they must be taught FIRST.
In Luke 12. Jesus was surrounded by two groups. His disciples on one side and an innumerable multitude on the other. He however turned to His disciples FIRST OF ALL and began to teach spiritual lessons. The crowd had patience for sometime before a man interrupted. (Luke 12:13) “And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me”. Let’s draw 3 lessons from this man:
- THE NATURE OF THE HUMAN HEART. It has always amazed me that Jesus was talking deep spiritual truths to his disciples and was even just saying that “the HOLYGHOST shall teach………..” but that was of no importance to the man. What he wanted was a way to acquire wealth and not all the “spirit talk”. That’s true of many today. We are bored by spiritual truths and excited by money talks.
- THE LESSON FOR THE MULTITUDE. Jesus however corrected that; i. Beware! Your life quality is not a function of what you have and what you have physically does not qualify or disqualify you. ii a man that is not FIRST RICH TOWARDS GOD is foolish.
- THE LESSON FOR THE DISCIPLES. And Jesus turned back and addressed his disciples saying “I warn you not to think and act like this. Your life is much more than money! Money!
Money! I take care of things that are by far inferior to you. How much more you. I understand perfectly well that you need money to acquire those things the multitude worry about constantly. But Fear not, it is the Fathers GOOD pleasure to give you those things. BUT THE KEY IS HAVING TREASURES IN HEAVEN THAT FAILETH NOT.
Treasures that fail not. Eternal and continuous flow of resources. How do you get that?
You lay it up. 1 Tim. 6:19 “laying up in store for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they might lay hold of eternal (continuous) life”. Luke 12:33. “…Provide For Yourselves bags which wax not old…treasures in the heavens that faileth not” You don’t stumble on wealth, you don’t go about looking or asking for it, you lay it up for yourself. And you must lay it up in heaven. How do you lay up treasures in heaven?
To be continued …
– emmanuel aladenusi
Start enjoying your privileges now!
Catherine Kuhlman was a woman who was mightily used of God in her time with many outstanding miracles. It was reported that over 200 people stood up from wheel chairs at the same time in one of her revival meetings. There was a particular controversial trait that was noticed in her. It was discovered that her lips were always moving as though she was always muttering some words even when she was walking or all alone. When she was asked why she is always fond of that, she said that she is always praying in other tongues and that is the secret of her outstanding Christian success.
I once read of a man who traveled to a town and lodged in a hotel room. After sometime, he began to pray and in his words; he spent time praying in other tongues. Some few hours later when he got out of his hotel room, he was shocked to hear that a baby just came back to life within the same hotel premises. This baby belongs to a woman who also lodged in the hotel but suddenly found out that there was no more life in her child. After she raised an alarm, people around implored all medical skills to raise the baby to life but it was to no avail. Just after it was concluded that nothing else could be done, the baby came back to life. The man who was in another room never knew that raising of the dead child was one of the issues he was moved in the spirit to address.
There is this experience that took place in the days of my high school that I can never forget. In the early morning hours of the day, a lady was challenged by another student who accused her of halting their operations the previous night. Though she was astonished by such accusation but when asked what she did during the night, she replied and said she can’t remember except that she was moved by the Spirit to pray in other tongues.
Friends I encourage you to keep strong in this Christian faith of ours and make good success of it. There are so many testimonies that can be shared but I desire that you will also share yours next. Pray in other tongues anywhere, anytime, and in any posture. When driving, walking, meditating, about to seal a contract, bathing, etc. pray and pray very well in other tongues. It is a privilege and honor accorded us by God.
– adeyiga awomuti
We were slaves to sin
We were incapable of living right
We were drenched in captivity
We were misguided by our frailty
We were never partakers of divinity
We were utterly lost
He came to find us
He paid a ransom
He set us free from sins
He gave us the capability to live right
He set the captives free
He has made us partakers of divinity
Yes, it is redemption (Titus.3: 3-7)
-emeka ofia