#EVERYDAYJESUS…loves you

Leave a comment

This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you. No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends.

If I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God’s love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).

Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God’s love in me), I gain nothing.

Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) anddoes not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy orfretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

It does not rejoice at injusticeand unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

Love bears up under anythingand everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled andpass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].

For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect).

But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish waysand have put them aside.

For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fullyand clearly known andunderstood [by God].

And so faith, hope, love abide [faith—conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope—joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love—true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.

Spread the Love, not just today…

…because #EverydayJesus…loves you

#EVERYDAYJESUS…refreshes us

Leave a comment

So here I am beside this damsel
We’re in distress, this isn’t Disney
And today marks a year
A year since we’ve had to bear
This mauling of our consciences
I’m much stronger than she is,
But her scent curves around her
Telling my nose to tell my eyes
To tell me formication must rise.

But look beside to the east
Where Iyke lounges, a worn beast.
He married young with an old dream
She loved him and paid to redeem
To redeem his mistakes and name
To redeem their seeds from shame
But she forgot to forgive him
And he forgot to teach her him
Fast forward forward to the present
When pain is the distance
Between their pairs of tied hands…

Let’s not forget little Sonia
Looking up at her hot Mama
So Sonia’s father isn’t so near
Why do people still stare
Like we are spilled ice-cream
Like I might be a mistake?
Like Mama’s been naughty, wait!
Why does Mama cry so helplessly?
Who will save her hero, who is he?

So here I am beside this damsel
We have prayed, that’s why I’m smiley
No emoticons can signify my jubilation
My joy, my strength, my obvious salvation
I took these pills and they pealed away
My weakness my sickness my decay
And Iyke laughs as he dances
He’s run out of second chances
Wifey needs these pills he takes
So he’ll read this till he wakes
Sonia… knows the Artist
He drew a grin on Mama’s lips
He doesn’t live in cement clinics
So he painted one pill, one prescript.

For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things…but…looking away to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God’s favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must [so it is necessary that] the Son of Man be lifted up[on a cross], In order that everyone who believes in Him [who cleaves to Him, trusts Him, and relies on Him] may not perish, but have eternal life and [actually] live forever!

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.

He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation—he incurs no damnation]; Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.

For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame,deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice]…

…let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.

…seeing as Everyday, Jesus refreshes us…us…that look, us that took his Word, like pills whose bottle…we now are.

And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

Hallelujah!!!

EVERYDAY JESUS sits unafraid

Leave a comment

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear)…

Yet fear lounges somewhere in our constitution.

Jesus…said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Yet grace (God’s unmerited favor) was given to each of us individually [not indiscriminately, but in different ways] in proportion to the measure of Christ’s [rich and bounteous] gift.

 [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him,

By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),

And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength,

Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places],

Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.

May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].

May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,

That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];

[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!

Love? Yes, Love.

So be bold, For it is not you who are speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be afraid of Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna).

Are not two little sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s leave (consent) and notice.

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Fear not, then; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Don’t forget the meaning of ‘Eternal Life’… And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent. For God so greatly loved and early prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvationand be made safe and sound through Him.

He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation—he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ’s name.]

Now, God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality. And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I should not lose any of all that He has given Me, but that I should give new life and raise [them all] up at the last day.

For this is My Father’s will and His purpose, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up [from the dead] at the last day.

So…what’s left? BELIEVE!!!

It is the Spirit Who gives life [He is the Life-giver]; the flesh conveys no benefit whatever [there is no profit in it]. The words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life.

[He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.

You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as presenting all that I Am], He may give it to you.

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

FAIL OR CHEAT?

Leave a comment

In the last episode, I tried to throw a little light on the impact of easy way outs, short cuts and bypasses on results and outputs. Building on that, I want to bring a concept that envelopes these subjects to the fore. I want to deal with CHEATING! You are free to get indignant, but I will go there.

There are a number of ways to define and describe cheating. In my opinion, cheating is a breach of process. When results are gotten in ways that are contrary to the right process, that’s cheating. It does not matter how you try to look at it, CHEATING is CHEATING! Do not get yourself all beat up now, I have been a culprit sometime in the past. I have experienced the devastating effect of cheating on my person and mind set. Hence, I developed zero tolerance for cheating.

In my personal research into the reasons people cheat, I have come to realize that the most profound reason is fear of failure.

The fear of failure is the beginning of cheating.

People cheat because they want to be seen as being successful, even if they have to cut corners.

One of the things I discovered about cheating is that it reduces your self-worth. The more you cheat, the less your worth. For every result you get through cheating, you will lack the boldness to talk about it. It dampens your confidence in your ability to do things the right way. Cheating makes you a prey to destiny predators.

I want to challenge you today to make a firm resolve to disown cheating, even if you have to fail. It is more honourable to be a chronic failure than to be a successful cheat.

#THE PROCESS

Please share with others and let it bless them as it blessed you

Stay blessed.       
  

©TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES
(Transforming the World through the Word)
http://www.transformingwordseries.wordpress.com

GO THROUGH IT…

Leave a comment

Often times I hear people talk about the easy way out, short cuts and bypasses. As a matter of fact, the majority of the populace desire a life where all things are made ready and easy. I hear people say that they are suffering to make so much money now so that their coming generations do not suffer. Interestingly, statistics show that 70% of these wealth transfer plans fail. You get to see families who the bread winner left with so much wealth turn to beggars few years after the bread winner is gone. If you are in the category of people who depend on the wealth amassed by their fathers, I only feel sorry for your future.

Everywhere I turn, I see young men and women wasting their parents’ hard earned money on frivolities simply because they can always get it just for the asking. They live reckless lives and indulge in lasciviousness with someone else’s money. They are not ready to work and do something worthwhile with their lives. Sincerely, I feel pity for their future.

If the result must be a great and lasting one, then there are no easy way outs or short cuts. There is a popular saying that short cuts will always cut short your life. If you bypass the process, you can never get greatness as a result. As a matter of fact, bypasses are potentially hazardous. It kick-starts a chain of reactions that terminates at destruction. Great achievers go through the process of great achievement. If you need a great result, go through the process.

The road might be rough, GO THROUGH IT! The road might be long, GO THROUGH IT! If you’ll have to stumble at times, it’s okay rise up and go THROUGH! There might be disappointments along the way, do not be deterred, GO THROUGH IT!

If you do not go through the process, you’ll not be able to fix any problem associated with the result. This is what I mean: There is no guarantee that the result will always come out good, but the process makes it easier for you to know why and where something went wrong, and that makes fixing feasible.

Friends, whatever it takes, GO THROUGH IT!

“Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the road is spacious that leads to destruction, and many people are entering by it. How narrow is the gate and how constricted is the road that leads to life and there aren’t many people who find it!”
Matt. 7:13-14 (ISV).

#THE PROCESS

Please share with others and let it bless them as it blessed you

Stay blessed and have a splendid February!
  

©TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES
(Transforming the World through the Word)
http://www.transformingwordseries.wordpress.com

DESTINY-ATION 4

Leave a comment

image

THE JOURNEY

So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him
Genesis 12:4

So I know you want to fulfil destiny. I hear all the amazing things God has told you, the promises, the plans, the strategies and yet I’m wondering

“Why on earth are you sitting on all of this, acting like you’ve got no place to go? I mean few minutes ago, one would think you had no clue what the word destiny even meant”.

Now how on earth do we end up here?
Sure too many reasonable and unreasonable reasons would pop up but hey I’m not interested in that, there’s not enough time to discuss that. Get up and get going!
Abram heard the call and I tell you, he didn’t wait till months later or till he saved up enough capital for this travelling business; He just up and went.

“Wait up now dude, are you saying we should not prepare?”

Ummm. YES. Seriously, I know it sounds kinda unreasonable but better put I’m saying the moment you get instructions you should start acting on them. I tell you if Abram had spent a day between God’s speaking and take-off, any passer-by would only have to see Abram to know he was about to travel.

Look like where you’re going

I’ll tell you what delays people into ever achieving their dreams: EXCUSES (and I tell you this from first-hand experience). Now many people would associate excuses with laziness but in reality, excuses are basically anything reasonable and unreasonable, commendable and otherwise that stops you from getting results.
So basically if you’re ever going to look for an excuse you’re going to find one. Always. If you’re still wondering what your sustenance would be I’ll tell you Abram’s, he went based on the word from the Lord. So it’s simple…

GO ON THE WORD…it never fails.

And please, please, please, start NOW, not tomorrow, not next week, not when you have a partner, NOW…NOW…NOW! Seriously, right this moment, NOW! Don’t wait another second, start the journey to your destiny. The journey of a thousand miles they say starts with a step. Make that step today.

Read on… its totally gonna be worth it!

Book Review: OBSESSED- By Ted Dekker

Leave a comment

image

Book Reviewer: ANI, BEATRICE

Obsessed, a novel by Ted Dekker, was published in the year 2005 by WestBow publishing company. The novel centres on events that took place at the time of the Jewish Holocaust. Themes such as courage, determination, sacrificial love, and of course Obsession, were covered. Dekker presents this story by switching between 1973 and 1944 to project both past and unfolding events in the characters’ life. The storyline goes thus: Stephen, later referred to as David, is a young real estate agent based in the United States with his foster Father, Chaim (also called Rabbi by Stephen). He later finds out about the death of his biological mother Rachael (real name Martha), a survivor of the Holocaust and also one of the richest Jewish women in the United States at that time. Her death sets off the exposure of several things to Stephen including events that occurred during the Holocaust and the story about his birth. The familiar but depressing era of Nazi Germany and the second World war forms the backdrop: the Jews are being rounded up by the Nazis; Many of the Jewish men are executed immediately while the women are sent to death camps. One of such camps has in it a bloodthirsty German commandant called Gerhard, whose cruelty is horrifyingly mindless and grotesque.  His little son, Roth Braun is a steady visitor of the camp, also partaking in his father’s blood drinking ritual. In that same camp are two women, Ruth and Martha (also known as Rachael), who arrive the camp already pregnant. Other women in the camp are terrified for these women’s lives; most pregnant women were sentenced to instant death. But against the norm, Ruth and Martha are allowed to live by Gerhard on the condition that their babies will be left with him after the war. A few days after Ruth is delivered of her baby girl Esther, Gerhard’s red scarf, a symbol of death, is seen on Martha’s bed- Martha and her unborn child are condemned to die. However, Ruth decides to hand her baby over to Martha while taking the scarf from her. This sacrifice is driven by Ruth’s belief that their children are the true “Stones of David” and saviours of the Jews. This act makes little Braun (Roth) see his father as a weakling and promises to restore his father’s power by killing Martha, her son, and little Esther in future. Martha on the other hand who gives birth to a boy named David, becomes a personal servant to the commandant because of Ruth’s sacrifice, and is separated from her son because men are not allowed in the camp. After the war ends, Martha runs away from the camp with Braun’s loot and precious stones of David (the stones were assumed to be the ones selected by David to slay Goliath). This makes her the most wanted person on Gerhard and Roth’s list. She relocates to the United States but changes her name to Rachael for security reasons. She never contacts her son, just to keep him safe from their predators, Gerhard and Roth, until her death. 
The author likens Gerhard and Roth to Lucifer, the god of this world, while Ruth represents the sacrificial love of God. He also portrays obsession as a virtue that is easily exhibited by God and man: God’s obsession with man; Lucifer’s obsession with Himself; Humankind’s obsession with God on the one hand and with themselves on the other hand. Most of the characters exhibit this too. Gerhard was obsessed with power and wealth, Chaim was obsessed with his faith and in getting Stephen (David) a good Jewish wife, Ruth and Martha were obsessed with keeping their babies, David and Esther and making sure they get married in future. Stephen (David) was first of all obsessed with knowing his background; when he discovered his mother, he became obsessed with her existence, her wealth, and later, with the stones of David and finally with his betrothed Esther.
The climax of the novel occurred when Roth Braun succeeded in capturing Stephen (David), Esther, Ruth and his father. He hung them, killed his father first, got prepared to kill the three Jews because he wanted to harvest their souls in their anguish. Instead, they were hopeful of a glorious end and were never angry or scared of dying. On page 372, we see the event unfold:

“Roth!”
the sound of his name cut through his heavy head. “Roth, oh, Roth, you have a problem.”
It was the Jew. Stephen. What was he saying? Roth turned around and stared at them blankly.  “You’re drunk on your father’s blood, so you may not realize it yet, but you have a very significant problem,” Stephen said boldly. Too boldly. “Your plan to harvest souls in anguish has failed.” Roth’s mind started to clear. The Jew was trying to sabotage this glorious evening! “You have not killed our hope, you can’t”…this couldn’t be! He couldn’t hang them while they were in this frame of mind. It will undermine his whole plan. Anguish! He had to return them to a state of anguish.
This could be likened to the devil’s plan for us, to be sorrowful in our travails. However, God’s word for us is to be strong, cheerful and to have faith in him because He has overcome the world. Dekker’s final note was culled from Matthew 13 Vs. 44- 46: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.  
“Unless you too, obsess after God’s Kingdom, like this man did over his treasure, you will not find it. Knock and keep on knocking, seek and keep on seeking. When they send you away again and again, come back and seek still. Then you will find the treasure that you seek.”
Dekker’s diction was precise but somewhat challenging for average readers. Nevertheless, this novel is a good one, especially because it gives us a perspective on the Gospel that is quite easy to grasp. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that, being a means of conveying the message of truth, it follows the “parable tradition”. Somewhat.