I remember the day of my union with Christ
I call to mind as He shed His light upon my life.
Lost I was;
But direction He brought
Dirty was I;
But cleansing He did
Sin held me and death was my reward
He died and rose again
And a newness of life was my gift
A whole new beginning
A beautiful and glorious one like that
I am spotless, without blemish, wrinkle or reproach
The bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh
Today I’m in total surrender to Him
Oh you that is married
Behold my union with the savior
The couple out there
Fix your gaze on this “wedlock”
Love and submission – TOTAL
– funmi aina
It is uncommon to see people who are troubled in mind comporting themselves, rather, they move about with gloomy and moody faces. As a matter of fact, it’s difficult to find such people comforting, encouraging, or attending to peoples’ needs.
When Jesus met the multitude of people after He was told of the beheading of John the Baptist, He did not send them away giving the excuse of His mind state. The fact that His forerunner (John), who proclaimed His coming and also doubles as a relation has been beheaded, was enough a reason to dismiss the crowd. Rather, He was moved with compassion (Matthew 14:14) and healed their infirmities. He didn’t need to go for days of fasting and prayer to reposition His mind, but He knew He was made for such occasions. Jesus did not only heal their sicknesses, but also put smiles on their faces by feeding them all.
Does the thought of putting smile on peoples faces cross your mind when troubled, or rather people should put smile on your face? Don’t forget that the Christian is a packaged solution to the world’s problems. Discharge your duties faithfully, even when you don’t feel like doing it, remember it goes beyond your momentary feelings.
adeyiga awomuti
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me” Psalm 23:5
Who is a leader? There truly is no perfect definition of the word in my view. However, certain traits can be observed in the life of a good leader. These have been rightly categorised by John Maxwell (an expert on effective leadership) as what gives shape to any establishment – the SHAPE of the leader.
The SHAPE of the leader implies his or her
People will often follow a leader because they are attracted to some of these traits the leader possesses. However, every good leader needs to respond to them by use of the rod and staff of leadership. The Psalmist in the twenty-third Psalm tells us what makes him laugh in the face of danger: He gets comfort from his Shepherd (The Lord God) whose leadership was with a rod and a staff.
Shepherds use the rod to hit the sheep and get them moving. As an effective leader, it is indispensable that you ensure firmness and discipline amongst your followers. This must be lovingly done with a desire to see the goal of the organisation realised. People appreciate a leader with a strong voice. They just often wouldn’t tell you they do.
Next, shepherds use their staff to give the sheep direction as they advance to the front of the line. The best you can give to your folks as a leader is a sense of direction. You must know where you are heading. Sometimes you may not fully know how to get there but you must know where ‘there’ is. Only fools follow an aimless leader.
How pleasant it will be to hear your folks say of you ‘your rod and staff give us comfort’.
– david sanda |
| Greater than my Achievements and Ailments
Greater than my Beauty and Bitterness Greater than my Crowns and Cry Greater than my Diamonds and Dirt Greater than my Excellence and Emptiness Greater than my Fortunes and Failures Greater than my Glory and Grass Greater than my Honor and Heaviness Greater than my Ingenuity and Inadequacies Greater than my Jewel and Junk Greater than my Knowledge and Knots Greater than my Loftiness and Lack Greater than my Medal and Mountains Greater than my Nobelity and Nothingness Greater than my Opportunities and Obstacles Greater than my Pearls and Problems Greater than my Quest and Queries Greater than my Riches and Rage Greater than my Success and Sorrows Greater than my Trophies and Troubles Greater than my Understanding and Undermining Greater than my Victories and Vileness Greater than my Worth and Worries Greater than my Yearnings and Yelp Greater than my Zenith and Zeros
God indeed is Greater There is nothing I desire compared to Him All that bothers me I lay at His feet God forbid that I glory in anything other than Christ. In all things I see Him as my Priceless Possession and Sufficiency My Present Help in time of Trouble and Difficulty. God indeed is Greater.
– funmi aina |
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart…1
Welcome to a time of enlightenment as we delve into God’s word to see what to do when faced with some life situations in the family.
The Christian family is not immune from the everyday issues of life and living. The assurance we have is that of VICTORY over all that might come against us in the world. However, for a victorious walk, we need to display wisdom, Godly wisdom coming from the one by whom every family in heaven and earth is named.2
We cannot afford to neglect God’s offer of wisdom by His word and turn to worldly means for solving problems; God’s word contains the complete and perfect solution for anything you might be going through as a family.
This week, we’ll be considering ‘what to do when you have a disobedient child’.
Disobedience is simply a willful decision to go against orders. It can also be described as non-compliance, defiance or breaking the rules. In our context, disobedience is when a child deliberately does the exact opposite or a variant of what his /her parents instructs. We see disobedience at varying degrees and extents in the lives of our children, but what do we do about it as Christian parents?
You need to first be able to say if your child is born again or not. There was a physical birth that made this child yours, then, there ought to be a spiritual birth which makes the child that used to be natural, God’s own NEW creation. He that is born of the flesh is flesh and he that is born of the spirit is spirit3. It will be wrong to assume that children born into Christian homes are automatically born again, the new life is not inherited, it is only by faith in Jesus Christ and the work of the cross.
Do not expect the same behaviour from a child who’s born again and one who is not, because disobedience is natural to anyone who has not partaken of the new birth (see Ephesians 2:2).
These few steps are generally useful when giving instructions to children:
- State clearly what you want your child to do.
- Give the reasons for your instructions or desires. (Don’t just expect compliance because you call the shots, Children these days want to know why and they deserve to know. It kills your child’s individuality when you just give instructions and the only reason it has to be obeyed is “because I said so!”)
- Entertain questions or suggestions (if your child is old enough for this)
- Agree to a reasonable punishment for disobedience with your child.
- Reward obedience, but do not bait your children!
You would notice that interaction is key to achieving compliance or obedience in children. Disobedience needs to be punished in order to discourage future occurrence. Remember, obedience can only be complete in the new creation; So, if your child is not yet born again and it’s not due to the constraints of age or understanding, log in next week when we’ll be discussing ‘Ministering the New birth to your Family’ and you’ll learn to apply God’s panacea to disobedience.
(Scripture references: 1-Psalm 197-8, 2-Ephesians 315, 3-John36)
– Dr ifelayo ojo
| Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as dove. Mat 10:16
He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him Ecc 10:8.
There’s a burden that I have carried for a while now about Christian relationships, because of a trend I have noticed. In recent times I have seen quite a number of Christian relationships break up. And this trend really bugs me and makes me wonder why? So many questions come to mind. I ask myself what did they do or didn’t do? Is it that God isn’t speaking any more? What exactly is happening to us? I think there is something we are not really getting right about Christianity and Relationships. I have found that in some cases the problem is that either or both parties are too carnal or appear to be too spiritual about issues. I have heard it being said many times even by Christians, that when it comes to relationships, there’s nothing spiritual about it. But you know what; in my life I have found this to be false. I have come to realize that not heeding to God’s word really is the problem we face.
Let me share this story with you. Sade is a nice Christian girl. She went for a Christian program recently and she met Jade a brother there. After the program, addresses were exchanged and both parties kept contact. Soon Sade realized that Jade was into pornography and porn wasn’t a torn in the flesh he was dealing with, but a lifestyle he enjoyed. The friendship was maintained and soon Jade began to ask Sade to marry him. Sade was confused; she didn’t know what to do. Somehow she’s been emotionally attached to this guy and now with all the new discoveries, she’s confused.
Let me stop here so we can analyse this together. Sade didn’t do anything wrong by meeting a brother at a Christian gathering and exchanging details, keeping in touch wasn’t wrong either. But when she found out that this so called brother was into Porn and enjoying every bit of it without any form of remorse, what should she have done? How did she get friendly enough for this bro to be asking her hand in marriage and to top it all, how did she get emotionally attached to an unbeliever? In the first few articles I posted on this site, we talked about love, if you haven’t read it, I think you should because it will help you understand me better. How come Sade did not take to her heels when she found out about Jade’s Porn troubles? Didn’t it tell her that Jade wasn’t so much of a Christian as he claimed? Another question is how come Sade a Christian babe could be attracted to a sinner man? The truth is that someone reading this article will be quick to say Sade was not a Christian in the first place but you know what, when you meet Sade you’ll admire her Christianity.
Lets say Sade was trying to help him be a Christian, good but did she forget that passage where Paul said “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted”. The latter part of that passage is what Sade forgot to take note of. The first part stuck so much. That takes me back to the two passages I started with where Jesus explained our situation to us. We are sheep amongst wolves; we should be cautious with unbelievers because we are not of this world. We need to be wiser than the serpent himself (the devil). He knows no matter how spiritual we might claim to be we are human and he is just looking for that little space to creep in.
Sometime ago I was in my room and God just gave me the opportunity to see what the danger of breaking the edge is. Because of the snakes nature he needs only a little space to be able to get through a hole. It is able to cunningly squeeze itself through a little space to get to the other side. So God began to show me how I have let the enemy have space in my marriage. You may have fallen into the same mistakes too at one point or the other in your life. He showed me how I gave the devil space by allowing arguments to drag for so long? How I try to absolve myself from any mistake in our marriage? How I see myself as the perfect person when I have issues of my own? How I allowed the devil toy with my mind, explaining my husband thoughts to me? And so on. I could go on and on.
You know what? I think you should meditate a little on these things, especially the scriptures and see how they affect you. We do experience similar issues here or there Remember the only way to keep our way pure is by heeding to God’s word. See you soon.
Love omolola ezeifeoma |
Exercising the virtues of faith and obedience
Bible Reading: Acts 8:26-40
In June 2005, God gave me an instruction concerning something he wanted me to do in 2007. By my own projections, I felt it would be too early to make that move and I tried to express my fears. But He said, first obey what I’ve said and after that you will see why it is necessary and you will get to know the next step to take.
Sometimes the way God leads us is similar to driving a car in the dark with your headlamp on. You are able to see only about 100 meters clearly. It is after you’ve moved further that you can then see the next 100 meters. However, some believers do not like it that way. They want to know every tiny detail of what will happen to them from now till they leave this world. But God will always give us the privilege of acting by faith, believing in his ever-present support even when we have no definite word about the end result.
Sometimes God reveals something that will happen in the far future and it is left for you to take steps of faith daily in order to get there. When He led the Israelites out ofEgypt, the best they knew was that they were heading to a promise land. They were not aware of the red sea, the drought, or how they would react when they meet other nations on their way.
Other times, God tells you the next step to take to a destination you may not be fully aware about. A typical example is shown in the verses below (Acts 8:26-30 – MSG)
“… God’s angel spoke to Philip: “At noon today I want you to walk over to that desolate road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza.” He got up and went. He met an Ethiopian eunuch coming down the road … He was riding in a chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit told Philip, “Climb into the chariot.” Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”
Phillip had to pass through a series of obeying God’s leading till he got to the point where he knew exactly what God wanted him to do. Verse 35 says “Philip grabbed his chance. Using this passage as his text, he preached Jesus to him”. God will always present us with the privilege of exercising the virtues of faith and obedience even as we desire to recognize the will of God.
– tope aladenusi
Using circumstances to label God’s will
Bible Reading: Acts 8:1-8
A brother once came to me for counseling. He said he was convinced God wanted him to embark on a particular project but all his efforts to actualize it had yielded no result. He then asked this very common question: If it is God’s will for me to do it, why am I experiencing difficulties along the way? Many Christians have found themselves in similar situations. They throw away God-given projects just because they experienced some difficulties along the way. In fact, I’ve noticed that when some believers share their difficult experiences in the projects they have embarked upon, the next suggestion you will most probably hear is – “may be it is not God’s will for you to do it”. Adversity is now popularly regarded as an indication that you are walking out of God’s will. Usually, this is not true.
Favorable circumstances don’t always mean you are walking in God’s will. For example, things went well initially for the prodigal son – His father granted his request; he traveled safely abroad; he met nice friends as soon as he landed in another city. But what was the end of his story? Similarly, Jonah was having a swell time until he found himself in the belly of a fish – he had a safe trip to Joppa even though God instructed him to go to Nineveh; when he got there, a ship heading to Tarshish was waiting for him; while on the ship, he was having a sound sleep in the midst of a raging storm. So the fact that things seem to be going on well now is not a sound basis for confirming that you are in tune with God’s will.
In like manner, unfavorable circumstances may not necessarily mean you are out of God’s will. Sometimes they even accelerate the fulfillment of God’s will in your life. The brothers of Joseph were the ones who attacked him, though they indirectly hastened his advancement towards the throne. Apostle Paul suffered betrayal from some of his closest pals in ministry. When the early believers were preaching, Bible recorded that they ‘faced a great wave of persecution’. Sometimes such circumstances are necessary to show and strengthen our conviction even as we walk in the will of God. Proverbs 24:10 says “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small”.
May be you should look back into your life to identify those areas where you easily chickened out from divine guidance/projects just because you faced a difficulty. If it is not too late, get back on track. Refuse to be a victim of circumstances. Instead, let the word of God be a lamp to your feet (Ps. 119:105) and ‘the peace of Christ guide you in the decisions you make’ (Colossians 3:15).
– tope aladenusi
Like a coded note
to the one my heart desires
So my lips flow
uttering messages too deep
for you to follow
It’s language only for the initiated
I and the father sharing a moment
like none other
The world and its deepest technology
can’t decipher the boundaries of the matter
So deep is the message
You can’t be involved lest you are introduced
You can’t know unless by an interpretation
By the one who started it all
Only then would you discover
that praise like none other can well up
from the heart of one who is one with God
Join me in the glorious flow with the
one who owns my soul
Flowing what I ought
and not what I feel
Saying what is meant
and not I guess
It’s coming from the heart of one who is one with God
– bolaji akanni
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” – Psalms 90:12
In every nation of the world the most identifiable factor remains her currency. In America it is the Dollar, in Europe it is the Euro and in Nigeria it is the Naira; however, the currency we spend in life generally is ‘time’. Every leader that seeks relevance, significance and excellence in his sphere of influence must master the art of ‘Time Management’.
If we follow the medical counsel to sleep 8 hours a day in order to stay healthy and we follow it through for 60 years, we would have slept for 20 years at the 60th birthday. This is because 8 hours a day means a third of the day since a day has 24 of those hours.
Customarily, time is never enough for all of us. There is always so much more to be done and our best bet is to prioritize our events and activities. Concentrate on the most result and goal oriented items and leave the rest till time permits.
A wise man once said, “I have so much to do today that I cannot afford not to pray”. How about that! Trust God for wisdom and guidance in your decision making and be the best at your chosen priority. Teach us to number our days, Oh Lord!
Never waste your currency for earth’s course. Use it wisely, use your time well by applying your heart to wisdom.
– Rev. David Sanda