BE CHRIST’S LIGHT IN THIS WORLD

February 2, 2022February 2, 2022Leave a comment

The system of this world is of darkness and we are not called to blend with it. We are called to be THE LIGHT OF CHRIST according to how it’s clearly noted in the Scripture of Truth. It is a decaying earth that we live in and we are to be the salt thereof for its preservation. But Jesus spoke of the possibilities of the salt losing its salinity and the light becoming darkness.

May we not fulfill this part of the prophecy, for it will surely come to pass on some and that has been happening since time immemorial. It’s a choice everyone will have to make, which part they’ll fall in.

Have you downloaded Funmi’s New E-book

The truth provided in this book will serve as a great tool in your hand to successfully and with ease navigate your path through life. You will walk in God’s understanding about everything concerning you and never be confused again on any matter of life. All this will always put your heart at rest. So make sure you peruse this book for proper application afterward.

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– Funmi P. Adebayo
(c) 2022

Lover of my soul

February 1, 2022Leave a comment

God is simple, very loving, and understanding. The generations of humans might have made God look hard, inconsiderate, and unloving, yet they can’t change who God is. He is a good God, Who cares for everything He created. He is a loving, caring, and very responsible heavenly Father Who planned the best right from the foundation of the world for His children, whom He made in His own image and after His own likeness. He is ever faithful and good. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He gives good things always to His beloved children. Get to meet with this God for yourself.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
James 1:17

– Funmi P. Adebayo
(c) 2022

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DRIVEN

January 31, 2022January 31, 2022Leave a comment

Before I wrote this, I was watching a YouTube video. Was it the best use of time? Well, I’ll let you be the judge of that.

The subject of this particular video was Elon Musk and if you know much about this enigma of a man, you would understand the awe poured so lavishly into the language that was used.

However, one word jumped at me.

Driven

I have come across this word too many times in my short life and I do believe that it stirs up the same stereotype in most minds – the individual walking as though blind to the world around them. Consumed by passionate zeal, they pursue some goal almost to a fault. When they are successful, they lead humanity to a new frontier and when they are not successful, they become a cautionary tale.

Driven

However, what struck me in thought and compelled me to write this is the more literal iteration of the word.

To be driven in more literal terms assumes one very important thing – the loss of a will.

It implies that something or someone else is in control. Thus, you are DRIVEN by a DRIVER. I believe this concept is not in any sense novel to most people because it is obvious, but I also believe it is so obvious that its essence is missed.

We attribute the word as a descriptor for high-achievers and purposeful people in our society without realizing that if success would be an ideal, then there is a compulsory need for one’s will to be so lost in someone or something that it dictates how their life will be lived.

Driven

I hope this should cost you a moment of conscious thought because most of us would agree that we wish to do something great with our lives. I want that for myself too and in considering this word, I remember that great things come at a cost no less than surrender.

The word “surrender” may feel like old English in this century but I believe it is quite the perfect synonym for “driven”.

To be driven is an act of surrender.

It might not seem obvious in our day because cars do not have a will. Thus, if living things are the only entities with a will, how can we operate as non-living so that we can attain goals that are otherwise unattainable?

At this point, I turn to words I have trusted for most of my life.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:1-2

I find the concept of a living sacrifice to be odd and I cannot claim to fully understand but it does help us, in this case, to give language to the idea of being driven despite having a functional will.

Basically, to be driven is to be alive but to live as though dead. The great thing though is the next verse presents us an action point to being living sacrifices (aka driven) and that is to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Two things to note in this verse include the acknowledgment that this is a transformational process and that the solution is an ongoing activity. Put in perspective, the verse insinuates a need for a change and emphasizes that this change can only happen through repetitive and consistent action.

Driven

Armed with the knowledge that we are not born with the ability to be driven and the need to acquire this status by consistent action, one would assume that I can now go ahead and be the best I can be. The unfortunate reality though is that even though I can, I do not necessarily engage.

I think many would read this and understand how crippling this thought can be. Apostle Paul, who wrote the scripture above actually confessed to this same struggle just a few chapters before this one.

The vicious cycle of wanting to do your best and flaking out when the work comes thus leading to the need again is one that is familiar across time and place. It is why we look at the likes of Elon Musk and say with utmost certainty, something else must be in control.

Driven

We could go down that lane and discover some great gems, but I would like to infer something I think to be quite interesting. Remember that from the portion of scripture quoted above, we know that one has to engage the consistent action of “renewing the mind” to undergo the transformation necessary to become a living sacrifice (aka driven).

My inference is that some activities which we would consider as being driven are in fact how we can get to be driven. By this I mean, that “renewing the mind” can often look like the car (you) is already in motion (driven).

I think renewing the mind is necessary before you are driven, and it is how you stay driven. Let’s call it the fuel.

Driven

I would like to end this with what I believe “renewing the mind” looks like. Glory Aimufua, a dear friend of mine once communicated a concept that struck me as odd. In her words, she believed that to do anything well, one had to “brainwash” themselves by engaging consistently with it. I think this is similar to what I believe “renewing the mind” to be.

To undertake a proper brainwash, one would have to be disciplined enough to regularly have intentional contact with that concept or context. In essence, renewing the mind is providing your mind the opportunity to access the thing you desire to be driven by.

I like the terms “renewing” and “transformation” because it points to something very important and that is as you create these intentional instances of contact, you are in effect giving your mind a newness and/or a different form.

It then makes sense that after making a habit of renewing our mind, you seem to be a different human – one that is possessed by an all-consuming passion.

Driven

I hope you see that to be driven, much like a car there is a very important need to first build the momentum to at least start. I also hope that you are aware of the very real risk that whatever you do this with, will drive you.

This is a good thing because to make the journey to success you cannot drive yourself, you must be driven by something or someone else.

In summary, it is an illusion to imagine you are the driver. I am more inclined to say, you are the car, but you can decide what or who sits in the driver’s seat.

Driven.

– EZEONYEKA GODSWILL
(c) 2022

Book Review: The Shepherd, The Overseer, and The Soul

January 31, 2022January 31, 2022Leave a comment

Author: Funmi Adebayo
Pages: 150
Publisher: The Christ A Poet Concepts, Nigeria.
Reviewer: Adeleye Olaoye, Ubamara Ezenobi, Zoe Ziva, Ebubechi, Clement Victor

Funmi Adebayo, the author of this book, gives us this gem of a book through the light of the Spirit of God penetrating into 1 Peter 2:25 and Ezekiel 18:4. The Shepherd, Overseer and the Soul is a book aimed at building foundational knowledge on the role that the soul of a man plays in the life of a believer. The Author has broken this book down into 7 Chapters to help relate his message.

The author started by making clear that the human soul is eternal. It cannot be dissolved by death, unlike the human physical body. The soul is the representation of a man in the spirit realm. Therefore, what becomes of the soul of man is the reality of that man

He then further compared the mind as a signal analyzer. An example of a signal analyzer is an Oscilloscope, it’s a device that analyzes signals of different forms and has a wide application in different fields and professions today. From the author’s analysis, the mind acts as the signal analyzer while the heart takes the final decision.

If man wasn’t already dead spiritually then God wouldn’t have bothered about giving him a new spirit and a new heart.

Funmi presents a compelling argument by clearly stating that it is not enough to just claim you believe in Jesus Christ. You must also prove that by obediently following Him. If you truly believe in Him, you will hear Him and do His sayings. God’s desire for His children to be tamable and coachable just like the sheep because hardly deviate from the path channeled by the shepherd and are much sensitive of intruders or strangers.

We are not of the world. Yet at the same, that does not mean we are not meant to be in charge. This is quite a salient point made in the book reminding us that we are the light of the world and while we remain here we are to be in charge by and for our Lord Jesus Christ and make known the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities and powers among the celestial ones.

Talking about God as Shepherd, Funmi posits that God is completely charismatic in his leadership; strong communicator, empathetic and relatable, confident, motivational. This in return gives us joy, loveliness and makes resources available. His final words were “As we have returned to the Shepherd of our soul, let us trust Him for the best in life. Remember He is the good Shepherd, Who gave His life, His soul, for us His sheep. (John 10:11.)”

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Gift

January 29, 2022Leave a comment

Gross is the word for it
That pain accompanied by loss
Overwhelming the reality of it all
We would rather take a walk
Better still a break from the fall
The very point where life’s meaning got raked.
Then what?
Stay locked up in an abyss giving access to non

Pain
Loss
A drawn blind obstructing the reflection of dawn’s light
Howbeit take a life jacket
Never walk alone
Of a truth nothing would the eye see in total darkness but through the walls the hand can feel until the candle stand comes to sight.

Sure a stranger in a tunnel lying in the middle of nowhere
Call a friend
Though sanity be raped a million times divinity will come through and would you like a baby wrap with his blanket of love.

Ebube
© 2022

Let Me Judge

January 28, 2022Leave a comment

Let me be your judge
Shhh…. don’t freak out
I’m not here to condemn
I want to reconcile

Two different time zones
In one space
This spaceship ain’t moving at all
Can’t you see?

It’s been a circus
A bit forward at a particular time frame
Then comes a reminder of how much today owes yesterday

Let me be your judge
Let me free you
Says the lamb that rejected not the abattoir
Why the tour?
Come closer
I mean much closer
For my yoke is easier

I know your past
Let me be the one to state if you stand condemned or not, let me be the judge.

Yesterday is in the past
What matters is today
Let me hug away that feeling that makes you think yesterday can stop today

Let me be your friend
Let me in
Let me be you
Be your all

Ebube
©2022

Immortal Daughter

January 27, 2022Leave a comment

Yes I wanna be starting something!
I have to be startin’ somethin!!!

Today, we look at the last day of May 2021. On this day, the 31st of May, at 10:29pm, for no apparent reason that the need to read, I wrote:

I was a child when we started walking
The heights were hid beyond the clouds, I would practice staring
And Father told me face your school work, it more important
And when you’re done with that then facing this won’t be discordant
But what he didn’t say was that we were a fam of peasants
And dreams belong to those who don’t mind being the miscreant

I wonder though about the people who were here before me
We talk of passion now but some of them would find it funny
They live from hand to mouth and yet their stomachs live on empty
There is no height but tables made of meat and something juicy

But that was just a spark of Niel. On this day, Chika brought ze fire. She started at 10:55pm, Chika St. Davnique, goddess of CaP wrote:

So many times we wished to ring the bell of truth.
To dial the phone and say the words that our hearts were heavy with.
To explain the real thread of reason that held our acts together.
To let go of that addiction born of sleeping with our pain.
To yell. …sing along to melody we once loved
Scream at the shape of our frustration. ..
Dance.
Dare.
Dream.
So many times we stopped short.
No right time ever showed,
Until many left and time ran out on
us

St. Davnique

She tagged it #oldiegoodie

She had probably written it a while back. She continued st 11:06pm, so close to the next day, and said:

SWEET BY AND BYE

I came.
I saw
I was conquered. ….
Slain in the arms of total surrender.
Banking on strength beyond my ken.
You held my hands.
Taught me to walk on bended knees.
I did not think equality a gift to be contended over

Why bother?
You are the best part of uncertain tomorrows.

Nothing is sure on this side of time

But You…
You are the pressed down,running overflow,

Flowing from the wells of my existence and essence.

My defined definition, definitely.

Boulders bask beside boulevards be speaking the bedazzling beauty of your magnanimity.

Phew!

Words be dear and rare

Scarce,yet I dare to share
like scarves carved into history as they wrapped a widow’s two mites

As carefully guarded as two fish and five loaves,

let these mine mind meditations mindfully yours truly be more minded fully,
That they be Yours,multiplied fully.
Bringing in a harvest of not just sweet words but lived love

Until I meet you at eternity’s near side.
I remain yours truly Jesus,

the Saint on Your heart’s side

St. Davnique.

The way she signs them, you have to know that she was not freestyling.

11:34pm

Could she have typed so fast in a freestyle session?..

Her last entry for the day:

DRUNKEN CONFESSIONS

I’m feeling one kain
Just a few sips was all I took
I swear down guy!

I’m too tush for slurry talk

See,
I’ve never been but if I were,
I figure I’d be able to tell you that I’m scared!!!

Man!!! I dey fear die!!!

No be say go come,

But na only God know say I dey doubt!

Like I look at my reflection and I wonder,

“Who’s the lair,”

My past wonder or my present pain?

But I’m not at all drunk so I can’t be caught unfresh

I mean how can I let you know I’m a loser?

Yes oh!

I don forget wetin e be like to score goal!

Man, don’t get me wrong oh,

God has been good oh.

But how do I tell you that I struggle to be grateful,

Because the blessings come in trickles where pain is a flood?

My guy leave matter.

I’m probably the biggest fraud you’ll ever meet.

Yahoo girl ni mi!

But wait let me drink small water and see if I’ll be fine.

I’m still feeling…one kain

Yeah, and her writing is fluid. She likes to just play around with delivery and style. I like it. And she called it “Drunken Confessions”. What do you think? Was she writing under the influence?!

I believe that if you had read any of these poems on their own, you would get a part of the picture. Now you see them together, I think it’s a more wholesome picture. Tell us what you think, and see you next time.

Authors:
Niel Quchi
Chika St. Davnique

Hatching Divinity

January 26, 2022January 26, 2022Leave a comment

Hello, My name is Niel and these are the ChristaPoet Freestyle Sessions. This year, ChristaPoet wants to give you a special perspective to our freestyles. At first, some of these poems were published as stand-alone pieces. But in actuality, each poem is an untitled part of the a freestyle session. Each freestyle session is given a topic for the poems to address.

12:23am in the morning…7 days after “You don’t have to be lonely,” the topic is “Epiphany” and the day is 28th of May.

I, Niel, delivered the first spurt at 12:40am:

Missed calls from sleep caused
By laws still anonymous
Godswill asked for prose
Only cams see a Niel pose
Fat girls and slim bros
Body spray and new clothes
I found I can’t boast
Bottle of the Holy Ghost

Pretty brief…meant to be a spur for the others to write. But there was not a single spurt or jot until 7:32pm, when Uba cried:

I hear voices in my head and they speak to me,
I see them standing in this haunted house like scare crows about to plough my soul with their hoes,
I fear they have planted fear now scared that harvest season is near.
This fear, now spreading through my body like stage 5 cancer
I can’t seem to find the answers to these growing thoughts about to blow my mind
Making me bind so I confide in loneliness, converse with sheets
Y’all will think that I’m insane, i have a feeling that my soon to be new resident might be a Mad House.
I sometimes wonder,
This new darkness that I have found myself in, how I got to this place?
How i fell into this base so dim, it seems I’m stuck in this maze doing a merry go round, i am so lost and don’t think i can be found
My eyes shiny like silver surfer searching for escape but I am Galactus slave, it is devouring my happiness and though I patiently wait for dawn
When I once felt like a king but here I am just a pawn, My mind tell me its Check Mate that i can’t find a way out
I can’t fight this feeling,
I thought I was superman but this house is my crib, tonight.
Creaking stairs, Broken Windows
These walls look like clowns even batman would be scared of the Joker in a poker face.
I’m stuck,
My body feels like an Overpriced apartment and these voices in my head are those of a nagging landlord that i have grown tired of running from, so i brace myself for my end.
But how do I return what i never owned?
How do i take what I didn’t give
Cuz I had sieve the truth away and drown in these lies
Let slidering tongue in to deceive
Had lived In dark so much all I recognize is Eve
But I refuse to give into this deceit
The potter’s hand never made a mistake
His air runs through these lungs
This tunnel has light at the end
Suicide can’t be my savior
It isn’t the author and finisher of me
That Job had been done on the cross

Mindsmith came through 47 minutes later, at 8:19pm with a pretty astute presentation:

Look, see the future before you. A year and half ago you hadn’t come this far but now look at you little flower you were a big tree has grown from this mustard seed.

You come out of your revelry, have you been day dreaming? Nope, you had an epiphany. A revelation has come to at first you want to be the realist, the very first critic of your own invention. But you can’t deny the confirmation that burns in your soul. The same confirmation when you pray. Yes, you know what I’m talking about. Let’s end it here. My guy is waiting to use my phone and make call.

But no you were not day dreaming… You had an epiphany.

Mindsmith is in love with the abnormal. And he likes to make it all appear a tad more casual than most. But there you have it.

And five minutes later, at 8:24pm, I began:

Lemme start here

I used write a lot of descripto
Now I only follow the script oh
My aunty told me, “Stop with the crypto!”
I told her, “CBN didn’t say so.”

I realized something this year though
Jehovah Jireh everyday Bro
It’s how I reap where I never did sow
And trusting in his love is the peace oh
That quick maths
The real peace maths

The parable is told of the sparrow
Forked wings, fast thing, but he don’t sow
But me, fasting, I dey harbour
Resentment, when God meant that I lack not
Desires made of greed make me pray more
Recently I found a few of my mates oh
Never really planted from the get-go
They don’t have the speed, or direction
But here we are led, we’re the Lord’s own.
Agidigba

Very Eremi of me, I think. And I continued at 8:58pm:

Ain’t nostrategy that can out-plan
A man freestyling from God’s hand
The winds of life dey blow like fake charger
But nothing offs his stabilizer
Fervent, dogged, steady praying
They will never see him coming
He who sees the end from starting
He will finish what he’s starting

Shey you wanna be starting something

I am Micheal when I jack sin
I’m a son moon-walking
Ain’t no news thriller than this
But there’s no condemning
And the power reels me in again
Hopelessness is impossible
God’s got plans for the things I’ll do
I am free, oh yes it’s true
But only when I admit the truth

Who can separate the two of us
Ain’t no enemy as serious
Since I trust my Jesus
We are one like a Simba song

Though we are many

Only rushing cause it’s fun to run
Can’t you see the way my life is run
When I see my worry level up
I just go and dive into the Word
*Dive into the Word*
And I speak the Word
My confession repetition up
Like the Lady with the thing with blood
I don’t really need a Doctor
And when men lock door
Yeah you know that I win though
Viewpoint made of God’s Word
Still the very best option

At 9:33, Ebube joined the fray:

I testify of a love that satisfy and on you confers the power of sonship
Through one deep did wash so clean With no tip.

I testify of an opportunity to lean where you do not qualify by works but can walk through the door as though you did.

I’m a testimony
Rescued through yawah’s sudden appearance, that entrance knocked the wind off my pipe just like that my way paralysed

Though in clothes deemed fit for a pile of rag without denial he accepted to buy me from the cell where I was dragged and ragged he tagged me

A slave having no decent testimonial
with a heart as bitter as bile
not with money did he but with the blood currency the very reason I can claim decency when from infancy i wrecked of sin

And she popped out a testimony piece. What happened to her epiphany?

I believe that if you had read any of these poems on their own, you would get a part of the picture. Now you see them together, I think it’s a more wholesome picture. Tell us what you think, and see you next time.

Authors:
Niel Quchi
Ebube
Mindsmith
U.B.A.