Who told a lie
God or yourself,
You’ve been told
You could fly
If your heart masters
The art,
To be still and just
Fly.
Who told a lie
God or yourself,
Since your wings
Soar not
And your head
Lift not,
Who told a lie
God or yourself
For the mountains that
Move not,
And the storms that cease not
For the wealth foretold
And the beautiful future
Unseen,
For the health promised and
And the peace assured
For every promises
Unfulfilled,
And every delay suffered
SUE YOUR UNBELIEF.
Ebubechi
© 2024
Be better salt
The unique taste you bring
Even in your smallest unit
Make a huge difference
Don’t try to compromise it
Just because fools don’t see your worth
You are good for more things than nothing
You are the salt of the earth
Without you, even in your smallest form; the earth lacks some form of taste.
Be a light, be the greater light
Don’t hide your light under a bushel
Just to look cool
Don’t keep your flames down
Because you’re afraid others will get burned
You are a light, and yours will light them up
You are the light of the world
Your presence reveals the beauty of creation
Be the one
Creation gets excited to see
Be the one
That gives it hope
You are the ‘I am’ on earth
Pearlythoughtz
©2023
Hello Friends!
It’s been a hot minute since we did this, and how I’ve missed hanging out with you on this space. In that time, a lot has happened on the team and with us individually, but more importantly, there have been a few Freestyle Fridays we haven’t shared with you. Let’s catch up shall we?
Once again, my name is Miracle, and I hope we have a fun ride together!
Day: The 12th day of May, 2023
Topic: Gambling, The Word and Word of Knowledge
Host: The talented, pun-flinging, passionate Niel
And as is his custom, he opened the floor with this lovely poem:
Spear tip got embarrassed by the handle
Throw down, news keeps melting the candle
Found my lines in the abstract
How we drink souls when we contact
Dirty days till the weekends
God first only on the weekends
And the rope has no weak ends
Just handshakes where the grip ends
Dead Calm interior
My senior is the King and a Savior
Cry Terean
Jesus is the Criteria
He soon chased it with another one:
I heard like a sentence
Knew it like in past sense
This one no be pretense
Holy Spirit snitched this
At the moment of impact,
Choosing to trust the God pact
He said it would happen
But the voice was deep in
What I read about this?
Can’t believe it happened!
Jéh Jéh
Learning to trust what we call the leading
Few years in not as blunt as the beginning
Sometimes I relate what it is I been living
Good to see someone send a nod in
Ministry moments in the dip like Jonah
The Word confirmed being the crux of the matter
But what it looks like?
The pain is locked tight
My skin it hungers
For cream and tundras
The river still flows
To glitch to limbo
I take that One Speech and Gilgamesh things
Then our Captain Sir Godswill Ezeonyeka sent this beautifully loaded piece in:
#word #word #word
and pastor don slap person pikin unto deliverance
but we cannot question spiritual authority abii
#word #word #word
we gamble our freedom on man-made altars
because our souls are cheap enough for miracles
#word #word #word
Is it no longer spectacular enough that Jesus died
Must we travel to the next big event to hear the Spirit within
#word #word #word
God forbid I speak against men of God that minister
But be careful not to exchange God for those men that can fail
#word #word #word
You have the exact same access as any minister of God
The Word is still available, the Spirit is still with you
And then Eremi came in a little later with this:
I see into the future
I see into the past
20 ahead
20 behind
What can I say;
I was born with a 20/20 vision
And I have seen that
The story of a future
Is just as important as his-story
Counting backwards
Aren’t we all living the past in our future
No, not the past you think you remember
The past that was established before you breathed earth’s oxygen
That was the beginning of forgetting who we are
So I looked ahead and saw what it is
In a universe that defeats matter
My days still matter there as it does here
So when I take a step
And talk about it
The blind ones call it gambling
The not so blind ones call it gambling with faith
Only those that see, call it words of knowledge
Then the beautiful Damaris sent in this short, but beautiful piece:
Cards are dealt, bets are made
A rush of adrenaline, a price to pay
The odds are stacked, against my favor
But hope springs eternal, like a savior
30 minutes later, while we were still reacting to and interacting with the pieces sent in, Ini Brown sent in this beautiful poem, pledge, promise:
I’m all in,
I put my chips all on the God for I’m one who believes.
Never ignorant of life’s cards, even the ones up Satan’s sleaves
My odds are chances of mountains being cast into the seas
But faith is a rigged bet, it’s more than the eye sees.
I say again, I’m all in, I stake my life on the God head.
Devil asked to play Russian roulette, but the gun on his head.
My life is hidden in God hand, so I can stake it on his cred.
Now watch what God did, cos I believe what God said.
Apparently Niel wasn’t done, because he came back a few minutes later with this:
I take that one speech and Gilgamesh’s themes,
My conversation hinges on the least of extremes.
Foolish to dyings, apologies abound,
In my red jotter, planning thoughts I’ve found.
I hide, attempting to secure a good thing,
My conversations sway on the slightest string.
Foolish to dyings, some prey on the priest,
Father, father, and mama, the church drama, our feast.
In the dance of conversations, subtle and grand,
Where ideas intertwine and viewpoints expand,
Within discourse, visions take their flight,
Philosophy merges with contemporary might.
Yet I’ve discovered arguments don’t help preaching’s aim,
Except when shared with the boys, Bibles open, aflame.
The tugging of thoughts, a beckoning call,
A glimpse of wisdom, embracing one and all,
For in the fusion of old and new,
True meaning emerges, perspectives imbue.
Is it a gamble, this quest we pursue,
To seek understanding, with eternity in view?
Intertwined in the tapestry we have sewn,
Balancing tradition with a forward glance, we’ve grown.
In the realm of knowledge, a delicate dance,
Bridging the gap of ages, taking a chance,
Molding our thoughts for a world from the Word cast,
Where the challenge is embraced, open minds steadfast.
Weaving threads of insight, where synergy thrives,
Ancient and modern together, truth survives.
Uncovering wisdom that allows us to be,
In this gamble we agree, from silence to the scream, we see.
Stuck in the voting, facing the T,
We will call on him, for in him we’re set free.
Then this session ended with Ebube who always delivered her poems with such gut punching honesty, and grace:
Capital city property site
A bunch of estate men would love to buy.
Who would possibly beat this high price, Oh please say no more
That these ones who sit on rock clefts and cry no cash!!!
Would beat the price,
For I know they won’t.
I know they walk by sight, citing obvious references instead of the word point blank
A pinch of faith they won’t risk their lives for and hop in, on the swings of doubt they pull left to the right
Mehn….nnn are they blind to light, deaf to true faith birthed by the word.
The exact faith that comes by simply hearing the word,
A value loaded currency you trade with by disbelieving the world
Word of knowledge to the mud, they never believed a plot could sell for a million naira.
Phew! And that was it for Freestyle Friday Recap of May 5th. I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did making it. Have a beautiful rest of your day!
Authors:
Niel Quchi
Ezeonyeka Godswill
Damaris
Ini Brown
Ebube
Eremipaghmo Pearl
The book of Luke chronicles three very famous parables of Jesus in its 15th chapter. These are the parable of the Lost Sheep, the parable of the Lost Coin and the parable of the Prodigal Son. In case you don’t know, a parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels (Oxford Dictionary). These 3 stories were brilliantly arranged by Luke to tell a concise and consistent story. The main message is the subject we will be discussing with some references to the parables but I highly recommend that you read the entire thing in Luke chapter 15.
In the first two parables, Jesus uses a word that is sadly becoming unpopular today: “REPENT”. In the past, the word was associated with the archetype of the angry preacher yelling damnation at people. However, seeing that our Lord used this word Himself, it will do us good to separate the word from this stereotype and understand as Jesus meant for it to be. The Greek transliteration of the word is “metanoeō” which means to change one’s mind. It means that the repeated phrase Jesus made in verses 7 and 10 can be rewritten as “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that changes their mind”
This change of mind is said to be something that Heaven rejoices about. I take this detour from our line of thought to establish a point. The sinner’s repentance or change of mind is something that is not in the control of Heaven or any supernatural force. This is why there is rejoicing. This change of mind is completely controlled by the will of a man. Therefore, Heaven’s best efforts will only present a compelling argument to the man but he or she can reject that argument no matter how convincing. In the event that someone, anyone makes that change of mind, Heaven rejoices. The third parable illustrates this perfectly.
The parable of the Prodigal Son has some odd bits that can help us in understanding this dynamic. For reference, the Father represents God and the prodigal son represents the Sinner. In this parable, the son asks his Father for all of his inheritance and the Father gives him. We know nothing about how the Father feels about this until much later but we do know the Father does not try to stop him. The son squanders his wealth and becomes painfully aware of his need. All through this experience, there is no interruption from the Father. Finally, the son makes a decision. He changes his mind about living on his own dime. In other words, he repents!
How did this happen? What caused repentance? How does a sinner come to change his mind?
The key is in verses 17-19:
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home, even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ (Luke 15:17-19 NLT)
At this point we see a very important action the son took: he said to himself. This is important because the bible tells us that Faith comes by hearing and for that to happen there must be a preacher (Romans 10:14-15). Consequently, 1 Corinthians 1:21 (NLT) says:
Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.
This means that the ordinary human cannot just think through repentance; we have to have it preached to our minds – even if the preacher is ourselves. In some supernatural situations, the preacher is supernatural like in the case of Paul before he became an apostle in Acts 9. Somehow, every sinner will hear the word of God, every sinner will have the chance to change their mind, to repent. The prodigal son preached to himself and glory to God, he repented.
In verse 20, we see two important things that bring our discussion to a sweet close. First, a change of mind naturally leads to a change of action. Once the prodigal son was convinced of his state and what he needed to do, the next verse opened with “he went and did it”. Many people in our present day cannot reconcile this transition with their lives because we assume that these steps happened speedily. While I cannot make any inference as to how long each phase lasted, I can say from experience that the “preaching” phase is the longest one. Our minds are not quick learners, it takes persistent and consistent preaching for our minds to change. Think of how long it takes for a child to start speaking fluently – Years! It takes even much more for an adult to learn a new language, yet all these are systems that we are naturally inclined to. For a spiritual lesson, our minds reject it but the key is to keep on preaching. Sometimes, we assimilate things intellectually but our minds do not budge. We agree but we do not believe. This is tricky but from verse 20 we learn that the clearest proof of a change of mind is a natural inclination to want to change your actions.
Secondly, we see that in verse 20, the Father responds early and massively at the instance of his son’s repentance. From His response, we can infer that He had been waiting for this moment. We can now see that He considered His son lost and dead when He left. This cannot be easy for any Father. It is not easy for God either. So when His son made that crucial change, He was overjoyed. As great as this joy is, the best part is that the Father took over the responsibility for His son’s restoration. The son did not have to work for His father’s favour or earn his way into salvation. His Father welcomed him immediately and set up a system for the son to be restored. This is what distinguishes Christianity from every other religion in the world. We believe and God does the heavy lifting. Where every other religion gives you a list of things to do, Christianity gives you a list of things to believe, to be convinced about, to change your mind, …to repent.
I will close this off with a very important lesson. It is our job to preach to ourselves or expose ourselves to the word of God. God will not do that for us. However, what we expose ourselves to is now more crucial than ever. Self-help motivations won’t do. Tips and tricks will not work. Our minds are very hard to convince and it truly takes something out of this world to convince them. This is what Christians say that it is the Holy Spirit that does this work. I agree with this notion but the bible actually tells us that the Holy Spirit convicts us by reminding us of the words of Jesus. On this premise, I can boldly say that the functional element for repentance is the Word of God. The Bible puts it this way:
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. (Hebrews 4:12 NLT)
This means that if you can diligently expose yourself to the preaching of the word of God either by yourself or others. It will only be a matter of time and your mind will cave in. When this glorious event happens, Heaven will rejoice. Even you will notice that something has changed because your desires will switch and what once looked like an unquenchable thirst will be replaced by peaceful satisfaction. The best part is that God, your Father will take responsibility for your restoration. Like the Father in the parable, He will set it all up and you can just rest in His embrace. It really is that simple.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus Chorus by Helen H. Lemmel
Grace and peace family.
Ezeonyeka Godswill
(c) 2023
Time’s refreshing there’s a threshing hand are pulling off
I’m uncertain as I set it there’s a shaky thought
First the focus was the process and out of the box
Then we grooved into the tracks that they warned us about
Who hasn’t had to fake forgiveness cause Love is the boss
Weld my hands to them ploughs and comot the noise
Yah my Jireh and the dark is in both of the testaments
Both of the testaments
And my brethren are runners from different walks
Sparking through the throng, Jesus with the miracles
Jesus with the miracles
Zero till he did it
None till he gimme
Sometimes it hurts, but chasing is fun
Faith say he will finish
Blind to the seeming
Sound the horns, let the Word Ones wake
Time to wake the message in the hearts of many men
What was hard before can eat the ease of acumen
Born to start infernos, tongues of fire on their heads
I said Take the full armor, they said Take your meds
Weld my hands to them ploughs and comot the noise
Yah my Jireh and the dark is in both of the testaments
Both of the testaments
And my brethren are runners from different walks
Sparking through the throng, Jesus with the miracles
Jesus with the miracles
Niel Quchi
© 2023
What’s on my mind?
The world can’t do without You,
You color it so nicely
The strokes of your
Carmel brush so gentle
But tickles the world
Until it cracks up.
On gloomy days,
Sad lonely nights
With starless skies
You color the world
Courage,
Your humour the most
Friendly face on hard, rocky days.
The world can’t do without You
Light,
It’ll be so dark without
Your shine,
The world can’t do without You
Salt,
It’ll be tasteless without your savour.
The world needs you to
Shine,
The world needs your
Flavour,
Do the world a favor,
Be who you were sent
To be.
Ebubechi
© 2023
He has a complete pharmacy,
Unlike the fancy stores
Across your streets and
Mine with those fancy billboards
In front,
On it could be
crested
bills pharmacy,
where you go most times
And they tell you we don’t
Have Combantrine
We’ve got oral drip though,
So much for an immobile
Medicine store,
Expect disappointments
Once….once,
Next time it could be
Lumefantrine who took
A month leave,
Man’s ways leaves around
So many loopholes
It’s fair to admit
man’s methods
Can’t make anyone
Completely Whole,
That’s the exact reason
CHRIST came in
Form of man,
That by his stripes
We’re made whole
Complete and without deep holes
God is a mobile pharmacy
He came in form of man
We didn’t fancy,
Went about healing people
Of all kinds of infirmities
Not for once did CHRIST say
I’ve got no miracle for a
Leprous man and many others,
Rather he laid hands on
Men and got rid of their diseases.
God is a mobile pharmacy
In him there’s no SOLUTION
Lacking,
While the doctors cure
He heals and makes
Whole completely,
God is a mobile pharmacy
In him comes all emergency
And of course they get their
Required attention.
Ebubechi
© 2023
Hello Friends!
Welcome to another Freestyle Friday recap. It’s my honour to serve as your guide today. My name is Miracle, and let’s go!
So Friday was a special day for one of our team members, Chiamama The Mindsmith. It was his birthday, and as we were wont to do, we celebrated this brillaint artist by celebrating his words. This session was led by our host Niel, and it was titled A Man’s Way.
As expected, Niel started with this wonderful piece;
Just one day in a lifetime
Overthinking the answers
Haven been saved and taught and studied
Never saw the drip not coming
Melt your heart with the heat of my passion
I get cold when I see the deception
Need no hugs, I am Brook with the ‘Frozen’
Dose of Madness, Niels’s ‘too-department’
Seep sips simply but as no Simp
Made of God and Biafra
I have used his wrapper
True, he has also played ‘rapper’
Halt the versus, none more Chiamaama
So low morns, but the nights are high
Owe the wake to Sapa and cane
Lots of PTSD
Only One turns it to good for me
More! I scream at Antagonists
Ònye gá asi na adịghịm bad
Nigga still ripped like Simbad
Then the birthday boy didn’t disappoint. He told a beautiful story with this;
A man’s wayward wiles was once wisdom in a man’s eyes.
It took a man time, like forming himself from clay, a lack of knowledge his foremost delay.
A man thought fire and brimstone a bed hot enough to lay his complaints
A man thought iron and whetstone a blade sharp enough to engrave his first name.
A man thought flowers and tombstone a lane quiet enough to live in solitude.
But a man reached out, amidst the untoward movement of of violence where it was boldly en scripted ‘no piece here’
A man taught him to fight on black and white squares till his hand spelled a signature move ‘no piece here’
A man sang tunes all night, forcing the man to hum a beatbox along the ‘we won’t’ mantra.
A man lived, a man died, but a man was not alone… his only one wish as it had seemed.
But he did not know that a wish for solitude was a wish of folly… a man was rescued from himself.
Almost a defendant of Odin the way the battle field of his mind screamed Valhalla
A man knew how to tear things down… spell hazard backwards and you have wahala.
And it continued till a man grew, and understood what growing could feel like.
A man learnt that ‘head first’ did not translate to intelligence. And though he still went head first, he learnt to delay gratification and appreciate thirst.
A man is born… a man will be great. A man has a brother a man didn’t regret.
A man’s secrets laid bare, but the other man auto tuned it like the pied piper.
A man saw a singer and a bad rapper… a man saw a user and a sly tapper. And a man loved it!
A man has found family in the lives in his head, but only because there are voices outside to help him differentiate.
A man is unworthy, yet a man is called. A man was angry, now he can sleep out a storm
And when it wakes him, he can slip out a storm from the bag that smells alien stormy Omartian.
There’s a reason we call him the Mindsmith afterall.
Niel Quchi came back with an encore of sorts;
A man lived, a man died. A man peeved? A man cried.
But the people heard a roar whenever a man tried. ‘He’s going over the edge again’ a town cried. The whole city a’gong’
They tried to chop a man eye but a man never lost sight. A man could see and hear, but he knew sign language and braille.
A man was drunk on occasion, messed with fornication. But somehow God had maintained calculation so a man’s dreams remained his holy grail.
A man was GOATED, knew it, believed it, yet somehow for the life of me not once had he ever achieved it… not until…
A man was revived, spirit within and upon, pocketed Christs eternal coupon. Knew he was more than a son, he was dead, but had been reborn.
But though a man knew the truth, yet still a man was curious. A man had heard whispers, seen landmarks that he swore he knew.
So a man trod into the valley of the shadow of myth. Asking the stars why a man still felt incomplete.
A man sought to know why he had awakened a dream, a dream that shut his eyes to his side of the coin that read go ye.
A man still pretended he didn’t see the calling, hear the loud pictures of ministry painted in his head. But even in his sleep, a man could repeat what He said.
A man is obstinate still, but a man knows it’s futile. His cards were laid bare against this opponent who had seen it, not once, but two times.
Tell me why a man fights, a man cannot say. But is a man confident that God will find his way? …hear all the nay sayers go away… the I’s have it.
That was something!
Now if you’re a frequent reader, or part of our larger community, you’re not a stranger to Ebube’s beautiful words, and she always comes through.
Thus says the prophet,
Wait for it oh
Hillary son of
Graham celery
It’ll come
A miracle awaits you,
By May?
I know not
How it’ll be
Shall it come?
The route it’ll take.
How it looks
The closer it maybe
Maybe, maybe not
Will it come?
Hillary son of Graham celery shall not know too
Thus says the prophet,
Oh Hillary son of Graham celery
Anticipate still!
How long it’ll take
How much it’ll cost you,
Wait for it.
For man’s own ways differeth from God’s own ways, it may tarry,
ANTICIPATE STILL
It may come in MAY
And then Eremipaghmo Pearl sent in this piece just before the end of the day;
Man’s perfection is his best imperfections
It only makes sense to him
When it’s satisfying
Funny how there is nothing really as a line that’s ‘perfectly straight’
But man will argue
We’re born to debate with nature after all
But how can I trust the same voice
That makes statements like
‘The way to a man’s heart is his stomach’
Or ‘the earth is flat’
Nah ‘it’s spherical’
‘Pluto is a planet’
‘Oh no it’s not’
Egg is good for you until it isn’t anymore
When the arm of flesh fails
Could God be referring to human hands?
Man’s ways are altered with potholes of imperfecions
And his best fix will leave the road with bumps still
I am the kind of man that is human
I embrace my imperfections
I doubt my spirit gets to deal with such imperfections
But my flesh has a way of adding it’s arm to the plan
It’s just man’s way
But I’m not depressed by this
I’ve never really trusted my perfections
Even when they are audible in my voice
However, I know a better way~
To trust God who helps my imperfections.
And makes my way much better than I ever could try
And with that we ended a very eventful Freestyle Friday with contributions from some of our best and finest. Please take a moment and say a prayer for Chiamama if you can, and I hope you had a fun time today!
It’s been my pleasure to do this with you. Have a blessed day!
Authors
Niel Quchi
The Mindsmith
Ebube
Eremipaghmo Pearl
Christ a poet 