YOU AND I

In structure and mind we differ, you with your toy gun and I with my doll

Both content in our own world opening only to those we trust.

Time passes and we both thrive, I with my flowers and you with your guitar

Trying to find ourselves while making our own mark

We leave the past to run with Christ

Our giant strides taken in wisdom’s path

We both write, I of my feminine mind and you in your masculine might

Both trying to reach out to grasp the essence of our fights

You seek and I find in the motion of time,

A common ground, a joint hope, a renewed heart

In an unexpected tide we mix our lives

Learning vices and sharing minds

I with my determined heart and you with your focused eyes

Together we turn the tides, growing in love, strengthening all ties

You with your unwavering faith and I with my praying knees

Soaring above sin, we would gladly live, in our master’s creed

We would believe till a point we would become holy within him.

Looking out to the unseen things, I boldly decree

To you I would cleave as a virtuous queen and you as my wise king

Both following as God would deem fit

air3_artluz_051

FAITH; why yours did not work

Have you ever had faith for something and it did not work? Have you ever sincerely asked God for something and it just did not happen? Have you set your heart on a promise you held on to for a long time and used up your faith bank but in the end it seems as if God has failed you? In fact looking at your heart from here I can tell that the only reason why you have not resolved to say that God is unfaithful is because of your fear in His ability to strike you.
Well that is exactly what this teaching is for; let us take a short prayer; Father we ask that at the end of this teaching, we will know exactly why our faiths have failed us at some point, help us in Jesus name, Amen.

Let me start like this; people had often said that they had faith and it did not work but I want to say that faith always works. The bible said ‘let God be true and let every man be a liar’ so forgive me if I have chosen to believe the words from God instead of yours. Plus I know that when He said we could move mountains with a mustard seed faith, He totally meant it.

So before we continue our journey to knowing why our assumed faith did not work, let us pause a little to check what faith is, because most people who have claimed to have had a failed experience with faith simply have never had faith in the first place.

Haven said that, here is the definition; now FAITH is the SUBSTANCE of things HOPED for, the EVIDENCE of things NOT SEEN.
If we can spend some time to re-read that definition, you will realize just how weird it truly is.

Let me leave the EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN for now, because our human knowledge has always taught us that all substantial EVIDENCE has to be tangible, well you can’t touch it if you can’t SEE it, but faith actually says otherwise. Let us go on.

One reason faith does not work is because we have not HOPED, and then some of us will just stop at hoping. That is it, you cannot get it to happen if you do not hope and patiently wait for it. Remember Abraham? Who had hope against hope, I mean hope literally stopped hoping but Abraham hoped on, He believed that He who has promised was also able to fulfill it. Now some of us will just hope or believe for something, but just believing will not get it done it is just a first step. See BELIEVING IS IN THE FUTURE, it is anticipation, FAITH IS IN THE PRESENT. It is like believing I will give you some money, it can come or not but you do not have the money when you believed, you have it when I pay up but faith is God saying He will give you some money, now you have it and then He will surely deliver. ‘ONE REASON WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE FAITH IN MAN’.

Another reason why that faith did not work is because you are not asking right, which means you are not exactly having faith. The bible says that ‘faith comes by hearing, and HEARING the word of God. You cannot be faith-full if you lack knowledge on what you are having faith on. For example, you need to have an unwavering knowledge that Christ died for your sicknesses before you can ask sickness out of your system. The sickness will not respond to the thing you heard in church, in fact; if what the pastor said is all you know about sickness then you will doubt yourself along the line, unless you have allowed the word to sink and you have opened the bible to confirm it beyond doubts in your heart. Let me put it like this, if faith was a machine, the word of God is the grease that keeps it running, so you see? You cannot just stop reading the word or make it seasonal because we do have situations calling us to have faith daily.

Which brings me to the person of Jesus, HE is the word and if that belief is outside of Him, be sure it is not faith.

I will also like to add something here, keeping to the words we say to others will increase your ability to trust in others. If you do not always take your words serious, you will always find it hard to take someone by their words, even God.

The next reason why faith seemed not to work is that faith goes with prayer. I will be very brief here, some people will have so much faith in God, believe with their whole heart, even fast and never come to make a request in the name of Jesus and then I am left to wonder.

Now the last but certainly not least, in fact I will consider it the most important is that you do not love.

Yes I said it, LOVE.

Not the love your friends and kill your enemies love, but the love your enemies kind of love. If we can truly have this God kind of love, most of the things we want to have faith for will just fall in place. Some people seek healing and get prayed for, hands have been laid, they have spent sleepless nights in the word, but their eyes have been closed to just forgiving that fellow who has deeply hurt them.
Read Galatians 5:6 and in 1John 3:14, the word said that Love is an assurance that we have crossed from death to life. Not tongues, not working of miracles, not great faith, but the simple act of true love. I read through Corinthians one time, and I had to stop and wonder when I was told that there is FAITH, HOPE and LOVE but then the greatest is LOVE. You see? Great faith will not only come by great prayer, or greater believing it will work through the golden rule of LOVE.

The only clause that Christ put in the Lord’s prayer was ‘forgive us, as we forgive others’, I am sure someone’s mind is already racing, please do forgive that person if you want to have faith.

So if we can pray, read the word and live in Love, we will have all the right compassion to ask on behalf of others and also build a capacity to exercise for ourselves and then we will see all we want done in Christ come to pass. I wondered why Christ always seemed to have everything going for Him and then the sweet Holy Spirit said to me, well He did love the world before He even came to earth.

I hope I was helpful, this message is not for us to give up or feel condemned, let me mention here that I have actually been disappointed in faith, but now I know better and I have seen that the reason those prayers were not answered was never God’s fault. So be encouraged, and let your testimonies come in,
God bless you

ucTRUTH.

THE CHOICE; YOURS TO MAKE!!!

He just thought of it and out! he went about it.

Just like that? without one single struggle to overcome the thought. I really do not understand it. What exactly was he even thinking?

Maybe , just maybe if he had thought it through, weighed the pros and cons after such a long co-habitation with Jesus,

He could have being able to resist the devil and eventually save himself from being used as a bait for the golden fish.

But really, What was he thinking?

Did Jesus offend him? Or was he angry that such an expensive oil was lavished on Him? probably after the thought of what he could get out of the proceeds once it got to him; No! It couldn’t have been that. Perhaps he was so broke that the only way out he could think of was a merchandise of betrayal.

Hmmmmmmm! I really do seek to know his reasons

But whatever they maybe,was it justifiable? I mean, to what end?

Aside fulfilling scriptures, he could have still avoided being used, but, No! he gave in without a fight!

I guess he was weak-willed and just couldn’t resist the call of greed. And that goes to every believer. The devil plants the seed, the choice to water and grow it is absolutely yours to make.

Chose wisely or die foolishly!!!

Luke 14:10 (NIV)- Then Judas Iscariot, one out of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.

FACING THE GIANTS

Morning all, this write-up is one that is dear to me and yes, it was inspired by the movie: “FACING THE GIANTS “.

” FACING THE GIANTS ” I must admit is one of my favourite movies till date. And before you guys eat me up I must let you all know that I’m not here to talk about the movie. Nah! I definitely won’t be doing that rather it’s the message that the movie passed across to me.

For those that have watched the movie, it has two major characters; “Coach Grant and David” these were two individuals who were facing different challenges and were backing out or should I say were on the verge of quitting but after a divine intervention things turned around for them and their school football team.

Well the message isn’t actually that things turned around for them but the reason why things turned around for them, the major reason is the “G” factor, that is the “God factor “. When it seemed as though the entire world was going to crash on their head they handed it all over to God and HE showed them why He is God.

There is a song by Deitrick Haddon that says “stand still and know that HE is God, there’s no need to fight, for the battle is not yours, the battle is the Lord’s “. They handed it over to God and that’s the reason but mind you, they didn’t hand only their challenges but also themselves to God for God to have worked.

I don’t know how many of you are faced with such a situation or facing your own challenge(s), there is a way out and that’s the way the “coach and his team (David inclusive) ” took. HE’s always there for you. All you’ve got to do is just hand yourself and problem over to HIM. HE’s always ever-ready to help you.

A friend of mine will always tell me that God will only help when you’ve lost all hope and also that the worst comes just before the best. So for those of you already giving up, HE’s there for you, just give it all to HIM, your challenge(s) and life, but most importantly “your life “.

And if you’ve not seen the movie, I advice that you go see it now, it will definitely bless you. And for those of you that have seen it before, please make out time to see it again, just did some days ago and you can’t imagine how much it blessed me.

GRACE!

SOW – WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE?

It always amazes me each time I stumble upon that verse of the scripture that says “many are called, few are chosen”. Brings to mind the reality that everyone is and can never be on the same pedestal in life and it always keeps the mind busy trying to figure out why. What actually makes the difference?

Life could throw opportunities of same magnitude to people, yet it is viewed from various perspectives. So, where some could see hope, others see a dead-end, all based on individual interpretation. Some people know what they want but how to get it is what they are oblivious about.

“Where is she heading to?” you might be tempted to ask, I’ll tell. But, first I will remind you of a story once told by the best story teller ever heard of – The story of the TEN VIRGINS.

All 10 were virgins; all had the same opportunity to make it to the waiting spot; all had a lamp; all actually waited patiently for the groom; but not all eventually made it to the real celebration, not all got their reward for waiting. That stirred up questions in my heart – What actually made the difference? Why didn’t all make it?

We were eventually told that half of them carried something that the other half failed to carry – THE EXTRA OIL. Perhaps they taught it very irrelevant or it could be they just didn’t know that such a thing existed. However, still in my thoughts I refused to remain at ease that it was just some oil. There had to be something more to it than just some greasy shining substance that keeps a lamp burning. Am I stirring up thoughts within you also?

Well, that’s a trip I’m going to be taking you on in the next few weeks – Discovering the mystery behind the extra oil. And application to our everyday life, you’ll finally get to understand why some people ends up with the trophy while others remain at the viewing slot. And as you learn, I pray you don’t forget to PAUSE… THINK… and CONNECT!!!

PauseThinkConnect

#Thatshowerule

BORROWED LIFE? by Clarkson Ikwunze

Over time I have often heard folks say to believers:

‘This life you are living is a borrowed life and if you don’t take care of it…’

I understand that this is often said to challenge folks to line up well and take life seriously and then they will say some other times;

‘Your life is like the borrowed axe..’

But recently it dawned on me, we do not have or live a borrowed life, the life we have is a gift given to us by the greatest giver of all times – Christ Jesus

A simple understanding of that will spur us on to living life to its fullest giving pleasure to God.

Last year, I got a pen as a GIFT from a darling friend of mine, the pen came in a pack, with a refill, looking at it I knew it cost a fortune; it was a gift not a borrowed pen.

Because of my revelation of that pen and its cost and who gave it to me, I cherished it, guess what I never used it until early this year, I just kept admiring it and smiling.

The first time that Pen fell to the ground and sustained a little scratch, I felt bad, I quickly rushed for it as though it was an Ipad that fell, picked it and cleaned it like a baby.

That’s a pen!

How much more will we treat the gift of life, if we really come to know its worth and who it was who gave the gift, certainly that would change everything.

Our life is not really a borrowed life, it is a GIFT from the greatest giver of all times.

One time I asked a fellow:

‘Sow this thing into my life’ and she replied; ‘Someone gave it to me as a gift, I cant give it to you, but I can get you another one’ and I smiled.

Haven said that, please, a gift is given to be used and not just to be admired, don’t keep your gift of life in the shelf admiring it and doing nothing with it, use it!

One fellow once came and whispered to my ears:

‘I was so joyed when I saw you using that particular tie I gave you , I was so happy’

Another one said to me:

‘That stuff I gave you, you know I’ve never seen you use it, don’t you like it?’

And I smiled and said:

‘I am sorry I will used it next Sunday and you will see it’

and joy was stirred up in the fellow

God is pleasured when he looks down and sees you using what he gave you, it thrills the fathers heart to see his sons; working with the gift of eternal life.

Don’t Lock it up, Use it

Let men see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.

Once more its a Gift and not a Borrowed life: we take care of a borrowed item with a sense of fear, saying

‘Hmm let me not spoil somebody’s thing oo’

But when its a gift, we are motivated by love, joy and kindness to Nurture it and use it to the fullness, we just don’t wanna let it go. They remind us of the GIVER and His Love.

What is Borrowed reminds us of the Owner and what he will do to us if we don’t return his stuff in one piece.

God is a Giver not a Lender

What is Borrowed is to be returned, What is a Gift, is given without revocation or repentance (A change of mind)

God Bless You

GRACE
‪#‎ThatsHowWeWin‬

culled from Facebook