A thing about Faith pt1

November 13, 2017November 14, 2017Leave a comment

Faith for the believer is natural.

As it is natural for our bodies to breathe in air without our consciousness so also it is natural for our spirits to live by faith without struggling. Faith is a result, a result of gaining the kind of knowledge God has. The idea is like watching the hopeful but yet imaginary 2018 world cup final of Nigeria Vs Argentina. Its the 89th minute of the game and still goalless, extra time is called upon and in the 2nd half of the extra time Argentina, through the craft of Messi scores, all the heart of Nigerians have dropped to their small intestines but still the game goes on and from nowhere Mikel Obi shoots a ball equivalent to a lightning bolt and it tore through the Argentine defense and net. Its five minutes more and Nigeria’s morale is sky high, almost palpable, the Christians are ‘tonguing’, the Muslims are ‘chanting’, the Babalawos are ‘Babalawoing’ (like you may have noticed I speak English and Swahiligbo quite fluently). The average Nigerians heartbeat at this time is well over 120 beats per minute, the Super Eagles are shooting and making attempts left, right and center, time is counting down, blood pressure is rising up, and then it happens 10 seconds to go, Nigeria’s newest sign-in from the under 17 squad notices a loose thread in the Argentine defense, he quickly is on the run for a through ball, the ball meets his leg, his leg meets the ball, there’s pitch silence in stadium, the players stands mouth agape, the commentators choke on their words in disbelief, the net rattles, the referee whistles, its all over, Nigeria wins! and history is made again. Strange things happen that night; PDP members hugged APC members, Mark, the dog,wore a suit and bow tie, the Nigerian University gave all its students free ‘Okpa’, everyone’s blood pressure returns to normal, three business women got engaged, like I said real strange things happened that night.
Alright, everybody come back to bible study and lets glean the story for truth, the point being made is this; after watching that match, should a recorded version be played again you would watch it but this time without the high blood pressure, without the anxiety of how it turns out, without the heartbreak when Argentina scores the first goal, why? Because you already know how it ends, you know, something beautiful (at least for Nigeria) happens at the ending, and this knowledge will keep you smiling, such that if someone else, watching it for the first time sits by you, you would tell the person with an assurance, “Don’t worry” (except of course if the person was from Argentina), that assurance based on an inside information is what we call faith, its not a guess or a wish, it is a reality sponsored by a special kind of knowledge.

As has been said Faith is not a leap in the dark, its a leap on the Word, thats it; Faith is the assurance and certainty based on what God has said.

You see when Peter walked on water that stormy night, many people thought he walked on h2o, water, actually Peter walked on the word. The word spoken by Jesus when He said come became the substance on which his foot stepped, for it is not possible to walk on water, you can only walk on the word. That’s why when he stopped looking at the Word, he stopped walking on the word and when he stopped walking on the word, he started walking on water and like we said, its not possible to walk on water, so he began to sink.

In my teenage age I did quite a bit of fasting and was warned by my parents the possibility of Ulcer by my lifestyle. I was hungry for God and fasting was like the only way I knew how, so I kept at it. One afternoon, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach region, and the thought came to me that’s ulcer! I refused to agree, with the pain there I went out of my house and began to run. I ran round my neighborhood till I was drenched in my own sweat, I had rejected it and this was how my faith expressed itself, because I knew sick people don’t run like that, by the time I had reached my house, the ulcer had also it reached its end, I never felt that pain again, till forever. That’s the point my faith to do that was sponsored by a knowledge I had that by His stripes we were healed and if we were healed, we are healed, so I said sick people don’t run like this only healed people do and so because I was healed, I ran like healed people.
Now perhaps you understand more why scriptures says All things work together for they that love God, because God is not just looking at the one minute period of the match where you conceded a goal, He’s looking at the entire match, and He knows you’ll win. So if you catch that sight God has caught, all of a sudden the scripture “Peace that surpasses all understanding…” will become flesh to you, so while everyone is crying for you that you failed that exam, you’re at peace because you know (you have inside information based on the Word) that your end is peace, that no weapon formed against you can prosper. That knowledge from the Word that makes you smile when all are crying, that makes you declare there’s a lifting up when your bank account says you’re casted down, that makes you declare I’m healed, when your body is shaking from a fever like a leaf, that knowledge that is more than information that alters your mood and emotions and makes you rejoice always, that knowledge is what we call ‘RHEMA’: the alive, spoken, for the moment Word and it is that which sponsors Faith.
So you see, that’s why there’s no place in scripture that says that we should pray for Faith, rather the Word says Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God, that is, when you from the word get inside information of how the match of your life, your business, your academics, your marriage, your tomorrow will end you NATURALLY have Faith. You don’t have to struggle to get it out, it just comes out, as long as the True Word of God goes in, the True Faith of God will come out. This is why throughout the Pauline epistles, he keeps praying that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened, that you may grasp what is the hope of his calling, that you be filled with the knowledge of God and so on, because it is in seeing how God sees, you gain Gods insight to things and are filled with the God kind of faith.
– William Udousoro

See

November 10, 2017November 14, 2017Leave a comment

The morning, cool and convenient enough for a park. Buses parked in order of arrangement as passengers grooved in. There I was, patiently sitting in an opened bus void of passengers. Straight towards me came a young girl, couldn’t be more than ten years. Saliva dripping from her mouth, wet hands bagged a polythene bag as she begged. Her voice, faintly blocked and salient and her hands stretched horizontally.
Perhaps,a sort of childhood illness or an accident or maybe a birth abnormality could be the reason for the saliva dripping mouth and voice quality loss.

Away from me she went, towards the market lined up with shops. With same pose and similar gestures, she begged as she strolled down hawkers, buyers and passers by. Quite noticeable were her feet. One of it, swollen and partially bent towards the east. Lifting both legs was an obvious difficulty for her. I hoped silently, maybe, just maybe, she would find succour.

Even closed eyes see the needs and struggles of these not so fortunate children, but attitudes towards them becomes a choice we make.

Every child deserves more than just existing or surviving, but really living. Sadly, comfortable living is unheard of for such kids. A beautiful future is only actualized in their day dreams. Their reality and major concern is a means of surviving daily, securing head spaces at night and food eaten enough to hawk the next day.

You can lend that hand of love. Hospitable hands of faith for their survival. A heart so big to accommodate hawking children and young adults. A heart that sacrifices for the needs of a child who daily dreams of the classroom, but finds himself hawking from sunrise to sunset each day in sweaty rags. Tomatoes and pepper sold in the morning, vegetables and fresh fish takes it’s turn in the afternoon, while banana and groundnut rounds up major sales in the evening.

Let your heart see the tears and unspoken dreams of these young ones. And may your heart stretch your hand to meet their needs.

Michelle Okonicha

It’s all in your head… Everyday Jesus

September 27, 2017Leave a comment

As I stood at the bus-stop waiting for a vehicle, a lady with shaved head approached me and smiled. I smiled back and returned my gaze to the direction I was expecting a lift to come from. On turning around, the lady was still smiling at me. This time, I raised one of my brows in a fashion that indicated I was asking non verbally if I could help her. Her smile broadened even more. Getting a little uncomfortable with the weirdness I shifted further away from her but she followed suit. I then decided to ask her, ‘can I help you?’. Her face turned red immediately. She broke down on her knees in tears. Before I could figure out how to react to this sudden outburst of emotion, a man came from behind and spoke in low comforting tones to her, massaging her shoulders. He pulled her up, looked at me and apologized for her behavior. I asked him if she was alright and he said his wife was going to be fine one day. On probing further I learnt that the first time she behaved in an abnormal way was a month ago when she beat their 2 years old daughter and ran out of the house half naked. She was chased and brought back to the house with the effort of at least five men. She was abnormally stronger than a woman can be. Since then it has been from one weird behavior to another. They had been to psychiatrists and after series of experiments and tests, the doctors couldn’t diagnose exactly what was wrong with her nor a cure. They only gave her pills for sedation.

Now the man was close to tears and I asked him if I could pray for his wife, he said he didn’t mind. I laid my hands on her and commanded any insanity spirit in operation in her to leave. She started laughing. I spoke in tongues for some minutes and commanded the spirit again to flee in Jesus name. The lady started sobbing, then turned to her husband and in her sobs she was muttering, ‘i’m sorry. It happened again’. I told her it won’t happen again. I collected her husband’s number to keep track of her. For 6 months I called atleast 8 times to check on her and she never had any other attack nor crisis.
As I finished the testimony and believers were screaming ‘glory’, a man told me it’s all in my head. I asked what he meant and he said it’s very much possible that the series of drugs administered to the lady started taking effect then. I laughed and told him it was hilarious it waited till I prayed for her. We left it at that.
Yet in another cell meeting I had another testimony. In my work place it was a struggle who got promoted and who got increment of salary. Staff used everything within their disposal to fight for higher positions. They lied against each other and set traps for their colleagues. Amongst the staff with the same qualifications as me, an interview was to be held for the position of the head of our department. We went for the interview on the scheduled date and at the end of the interview I was congratulated as the new HOD of my department. As I was swerving in my new seat in my office overlooking the roads through a fine glass, one of those colleagues I took interview with came in and asked me who I was and what I did. I was confused and asked for an explanation. She said she drugged my drink the morning of the interview with a strong sleeping pill and watched me drown it yet I didn’t bate my eyes. All I could say was ‘wow’. I was shocked and yet amazed. Turned out I was impervious to poison.

The same man from the last cell meeting stood again amidst the joy and said ‘it’s all in your head’. He said body systems react at different degrees to soporific drugs. I told the man that ordinary tea in the morning make me drowsy not to mention strong sleeping pills. I’m a believer and things like neutralizing poisons are in my nature.
Then comes the most recent one which I look forward to testifying about. My nephews that were left in my care fell seriously ill at the same time. They were throwing up and running high temperature. Imagine the fear that grabbed me. Their temperature was so hot, it was impossible to hold them for long. I hugged them tightly and prayed in tears like I had never before. It happened through the night and I spoke in tongues through the night. By the early hours of the morning, tiredness defeated me and I slept. Some time later I was woken by stamps on the bed and on opening my eyes, it’s tiny feets jumping on the bed. Hallelujah!

So of course the man would tell me ‘it’s all in your head’, giving me another feeble reason why it’s all in my head!
But glory!!! Let it get into believers’ head and be not only in our heads but also in our bodies and minds that we have power to cast out demons, heal the sick, speak in new tongues and be neutral to poisons. Let it be all in our heads that everything has been put under our charge. It’s all in my head and it works!!!

ChyD

SHUV.

September 22, 2017September 22, 2017Leave a comment

Returning to our root is the most important journey of life. The place where we carefully look inward daily and receive a permanent change, a change that can only come from the most sincere core of our being.

We all must seek to know God, the one who makes things work without human consent, without our permission.

Our Divine Centre the source of all creation whose existence and faithfulness cannot easily be denied.

The importance of this turning in, far supercedes our knowledge ( gnosis) of right and wrong, good and evil, history and name calling, revelations of men and sojourners of relative truths, For all these things are but factors in our pursuit merely because of the human senses. What we see, feel, smell, taste or perceive to be ideal.

But consider a man born deaf, blind and mute with no feeling on his fingertips, a man locked out of this physical world, in it, yet devoid of its infiltration, shall he too not have the privilege of finding His Maker within? Surely God is not unjust, for such a man will find Yahweh without ever having to rely on definitions of society, culture, assertions and self.

For Adonai is NOT Religion.

The real life is the one within. The one unseen. Where such a man though he be in the world finds he is locked out from it, he will become subject to the real life he sees and in it he would either find Perfect peace, or turmoil and disease. For God is not unjust, HE will never take a man for Himself devoid of Shuv ( A conscious choice. a turn/ answer to the call of His Love).

To dwell on the frailty of this existence, savouring its empty promises and hoping in vain glory is to remain subject to the human senses. Like the four elements of the earth are strong but without the fifth, their true potential can never be realised, so also the answer to Yahwehs inward call is for one reason alone, a journey to know the fifth. A journey to know Grace.

Grace to grow, grace to love, grace to continually shun outward circumstances and believe.

To find Him, this pearl of great price is where death ends and life for man begins. But it all starts with a searching soul,

As the deer pants for the water, the soul must lung for Him.

For desire, a burning hunger that cannot be satisfied with anything but Him is the beginning of the journey.

Never the less, in the physical realm, the soul must constantly set its lungings on the eternal, for only spirit with spirit can meet.

True desire begets surrender

No sooner than when the soul hungers and thirsts after righteousness from the very depths within ( Christ the living spring) , he begins to see that there is so much more he can do without.

There is a powerful pull within, a gnawing for oneness, an intercourse with Divinity Himself. The purest of Depths calling to depth.

Surrender will beget power. The three fold chord of the Divine that cannot be broken for all eternity. There is power in the alignment of Spirit, Soul and Body. Only He is Spirit. He is the life of man.

This is the salvation of man.

Not his ability to enter realms beyond his five senses, but the privilege of recognising true Light.

From here onward to eternity, omnipotence takes over, causing fruitful multiplication of true Light!

He shall bring forth sons (epignosis), not only in His Image but after His Likeness.

And the Truth of His Light will arise and do what Light does best. Shine!

Dominion… Everyday Jesus

September 11, 2017Leave a comment

Dominion physically speaking means equilibrium; and by equilibrium, forces must be involved. According to Genesis 5: 1&2, the NIV Bible says: this is the written account of Adam’s line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them “man” ( ie adam in Hebrew).

Dominion is when man ( male and female joined together), face the lion, soar like the eagle, rule the ox and plants his feet on the serpent. This is dominion.

Can two work together unless they agree? The thug of war between male and female must cease so that “man” might have dominion. The male must cease to be dominating and the female must not be controlling.

By Favouromeje; September 2017.

Everyday Jesus: what is Dominions

September 10, 2017Leave a comment

The Hebrew word for dominion radar means subduing,ruling. Circumstances in life tend to subdue us instead of the other way around. We forget who we are,what we have,what we are made for and roll with the tides.

Fear and anxiety are meant to be subdued and ruled. Most often than not,we let circumstances determine who we are and how much we exhibit our God given authority.

Fear and anxiety are mere faceless faces that pop up while trying to achieve,acquire and fulfil one’s dreams.

We have all it takes to overcome them,to rule and subdue them.

Know that we are more than conquerors and that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens u .

By Mitchell Okonicha; September 2017.

Everyday Jesus does not Promote Mediocrity

September 6, 2017Leave a comment

Christianity has celebrated mediocrity to the point that I now feel that Christians can’t be more than mediocres.

They burden me with how wonderful the choir of saints in heaven would be

Then give me a hay’ven cacophony to soot my soul

Deeply longing for a good music.

They tell me that it’s the heart I sang with that mattered

Forgetting Martha and her service

They want me to stop listening to melodies the so-called sons of Lucifer made

Yet travel the same circle of shouting, pouting the name of Jesus

As though the dissonance their producer made could

Be made whole by the name

( Jesus has a mighty name we know).

But hiding under the tent that you are shouting Jesus

Disturbing the peace of my ear drums; would never turn salt water fresh.

They are inspired by the holy Spirit

But never have they tried to inspire their talent…

At least by getting more than vocal training.

Few names have decided not to follow their lead.
Christians have told me to drop my goals at the alter

To never mind how good or bad my academic performance is.

They told me that all that mattered is Christ having an expression in me

As I seat leisurely in my seating room praying and studying the Bible alone

While Chinese that know little of him develop the fastest computers

And Indians showcasing their literati on YouTube

As they flood us with tutorials on virtually all spheres of knowledge.

They told me that all am meant to offer YouTube is Just Jesus through his words

No need to mention things that are of no heavenly values.
They said I should not have my pastime with romance and fantasy novels

Yet only have ages old Francine Rivers’ and a hand full of few other good writers to

Present to me.

They expect me to read Paradise Lost till I become born again again

Then push Paradise Regained as soon as the deed is done

But have no new poets outside the Americans that I barely hear

To quench my taste

(Christ will quench my taste they say)

They would make me an outcast for reading The Da’Vinci Code

Call me demonised for reading Inferno

Make me feel that I have no sense of direction for reading Ellen Hilderland’s

And expect me to patronise their poorly depicted last super

Which they have decided to leave as bland as it has always been.
They told me nothing else matters except singing in heaven

Leaving with the the assumption that I would end up useless in heaven.
They told me that leaving my name on the sand of time like Naymar

Is worthless

But still recount the stories of David and Goliath

Forgetting that it was the goal-ie-heart

Of David that made the story there.
Dear Christian,

You are called to be more than this poorly edited version of yourself that you have kept at.

Look around you and maybe I would have no need trying to convince you that he, whom you serve is perfection…

So, be ye perfect like him

Everyday experiences may not be Everyday Jesus

September 2, 2017September 2, 2017Leave a comment

You are owing God if you don’t pay tithes and there are dire consequences to be paid, the preacher man said. So the next week I calculated 10 percent of the amount I have made monthly since I started working and ran to the church to pay it. I was indignantly moved by how I thought I had annoyed God. I couldn’t have that. It was a pretty big chunk of money to me. The next month I got a call that was a game changer. As a result of the call, I started getting paid without working. I had stopped work to go back to school. I was paid for the previous months that was skipped and the money never stopped coming. Yes! Imagine that!

That must have been as a result of my tithing right?

So I went to church and testified and brethren were so moved i’m sure they started tithing too for returns. I would use that experience to preach at all times to show people how real God is. It was working for me. I got a study scholarship. God’s faithfulness was lit! But something happened along the line. I stopped tithing at a particular time.
I stopped because I wanted to see if God was in the business of trade by barter. Was I supposed to give the church money to avert mourning? Was it an eye for an eye? The rain didn’t cease for me, a reaper while it fell for sowers. Even Jack the ripper had the blessing of both sunshine and rain.
I can’t be dictated to, how much to give monthly or annually and to whom, because i’m no longer under siege. After the ‘undertaker’ took the power of the law of sin and death and buried it under the law of the spirit of life I waltz through life without misunderstanding my stand in the kingdom of God. Turned out my blessings weren’t as a result of my tithing.
But I started experiencing breakthroughs immediately after I started tithing! True. However, my experiences doesn’t define how God works nor who he is. Old covenants doesn’t apply to believers. It’s like carrying a yoke someone already told you not to worry about.
That I met a man that married me after nights of vigils, when I stopped wearing jewelries and started tying my ears alongside with my hair doesn’t mean God prefers nuns to other ladies that do not conform. No! Don’t confine God’s personality in that manner.
God’s person is only revealed in the scripture. A doctrine can only be established through the word of God. Halt those teachings relating to what you call your walk with christ if it doesn’t conform to the liberty we have in christ Jesus.