Stand Strong

May the peace of the Lord be with you.
May the peace of the Lord guide you.
With ease may you find answers when you seek.
With clarity may you hear when you ask.
The Lord is on your side, it is all the advantage you need
The Lord is your provider, it is all the assurance you need.
He desires for you to be bold, confident, and faithful to all He has put in your hands for the work before you.
Stand strong.
And when it feels like the ground is shaking beneath you, be still and know that He is God.
May the peace of the Lord be with you.

Imani Dokubo
© 2023

Holy Gist

Yesterday was quite cloudy
It felt like the travelling rain
Decided to stop at my terrain to greet
But it didn’t
Flashes of lightning like swords fight pushed through the thick black clouds
It was an intentional scare I thought
And my thoughts slept with me

Now I’m thinking about it
How is a God whose voice is louder than the thunder speak so softly
That you could hear distinctly in stillness?
I remembered a time
I also wondered what lights really is
You know
Stepping into that flash of light as in the lightning
Light in light?
No shadow of turning?
How is that even possible?
How will light so fill a place
That it will cast no shadow

Hold it! what could Holy mean?
All white, flurry, smells like sweets?
Holy!
Set apart!
Yes, I later learnt what it meant
Separated for the divine
Who is actually The Vine
The one from whom we got our alias – the Branches

I was told that the Vine isn’t just a fruit tree
That it’s a tree that creeps
Better put infiltrate
It takes over
Just give it time
It’s so beautiful that after it’s done with the host
All you can see is vine
Branches faithful to the course
Actually bring forth the fruits
Occupy till I come
For you are a chosen generation
A holy priesthood
They are the ones
That become the Light in the light
The ones that there is also found no shadow of turning
God is light, in Him there’s no darkness
You are of God Little Children
The glory of the vine had made us one
As they are one
Abiding in Him as He is in the Father

How did I start this gist?
I hope it still rains today
Who knows it could make me think of another gist tomorrow.

Pearly Thoughts
(C) 2021

Faithful and Holy

I’ve not known many things
The result being many thorns
Many torns
Many turns

The world isn’t ideal you see,
We see-saw every now,
Again,
Between here and hiding
Between there and finding.

And aren’t we all fake fools?
Confessing ideals but rooted in our reels
Our reals
Our ins
Our inch shallow depths

Aren’t we?
Hoping to high heavens that a faith full God stays real.

Stays reeled in
Riveted on showing us what’s real in us.
Even if we never find real in us.

I’ve not known many things,
But I’ve known Him to be true.
To be ALL, absent none,
Faithful and holy.

St. Davnique
(C) 2021

Not Perfect, Worthy

I’m human.
Trust me, I am.
I wear my pants one leg at a time.
And, believe it or not.
I cry. I fall. Yes, I even fart.
Ew.

Sometimes I feel worthless.
Like collateral damage. Expendable.
But, come on. All said and done.
We all know an Old Shot’s a Nigger.
Once every day; twice on Sundays.

Barbarians and Predators
See them threaten to Terminate us.
But as imperfect as we are,
Our God don’t use no erasers.

Perfection is not me.
I’ve never claimed it.
But He who called me?
Come on. Dude’s on Fleek.
Faithful. Holy.

Nonso John
(C) 2021

THE YEAR


It started from January
Without a salary
We ate from hand to mouth
Our Landlord sent us out

We spent a lot during Christmas
Now I can’t buy ordinary slippers
My children had to go to school
So I had to sell my working tool

Next month, I lost my job
I was attacked by a mob
I lost my only car
And was constantly in a bar

Next month, my house got burnt
I went to the village and began to hunt
Because of pain and shame, I cried
I lost hope and my spirit died

Until the fourth month
From the grave we came forth
I and a man familiar with suffering
He wasn’t rich but he was so caring

He said, “I’ve taken away your sorrow
Don’t bother yourself about tomorrow
I was crushed for your iniquity
I’ve taken up your infirmity”

He taught me joy in suffering
With hope as his last offering
Now my life has totally changed
The way I see things have also changed
Now my new house is completed
All my children have graduated
I have brand new cars
And I no longer visit bars

I began to act different
Now I don’t need to pay rent
My house is very charming
And I still indulge in farming

I had nothing
Yet I possess everything
To the world I was a fool
But in him was my wisdom full

All because I believed
I definitely achieved
I was also faithful
And that was fruit full

From January to December
There’s a lot of disaster
From January to December
It’s not easy, you grow stronger

Charles Young
©2021

Grace

Only you know the house I built
It’s your love that erases guilt
Humans point fingers past the point
But it is to you that we are joint
Faithful

Raise me up from the dust of my work
It’s your grace that makes me work
Life is like the sea to my boat of breath
But it is for you that it all exists
Selfless

After the storm you are still King
It is said that there is God in everything
I have faith and I’m counting results
But it is as Son that I walk the soils
Adventurous

No one heard the messages
It is us that forget things we’ve seen
Safety is vain for the immortal
But if I have family it’s one for all
Responsible

God over everybody
Leg-over the enemy
Laughter on my family
But sacrifices set the scene
True

Every time I trust in you
You seek me above the flu
Silence isn’t you ignoring
But I will listen to your echoing
Predestined

Niel Quchi
© 2020

AGAINST ALL ODDS

Since the days I learned to write my ABC’s I have always known that E effortlessly came before the Gs and Hs and with eyes like mocking jays’ ears I watched as this routine set to educate with Greek elements taught me that the Es Extraordinary will always exceed the N’s Normal that the best B-E-S-T only referred to people who constantly applied Basic Excellence to Supersede every Trial that dared believe possible is not a closed universal set with only such elements available but an ever growing individual set only bound by the extent to which we stretch so we stretch till our limits no longer exist we stretch till our breathes cease and we lay hold on eternity as we be physically transformed to who we truly are saints. We stretch cos we are sent.

So Hello Reality,

My name is Godswill Ezeonyeka and I have decided to not be bound by your rules. Trust me, it is not my intent to come off proud or maybe arrogant; but I just can’t fit into the boxes you house me in anymore. You claim the odds are against me that I can never beat this and fitting in seems the best option, but then I would be lost. So what sense does it make when the struggles of my life gets me fighting for my life? Do I live by the sword only to die by its side?

My name is Godswill Ezeonyeka; and don’t be mistaken, this is no identity crisis. I could join ISIS and show you how real this is but Christ is my Choice, it goes way deeper than what eyes see. This is my decision― to leave like Abraham, eat like Daniel, give like Solomon, to preach like Paul; to only appear normal yet be free so you can see that you’ve been barking up the wrong tree. I am certain you do not know who these people are because the last you heard from them is a letter like this as they dared realms unseen; stomping impossibilities. Their lives all but lost.

Yes― you can call me ‘Unreasonable’, but I make Reason able to find roots on solid― Word. God’s words. So I don’t make thoughts of the pains to come if I fail the shame and repercussions I dare to challenge for yet my rod will still stretch out above these waters, my knees will not yield your command, listen I skate on storms and though a giant may charge at me, you will not want to miss the next news headlines “greater is He that lives in me”.

My name is Godswill Ezeonyeka, and I am sorry― No― I do not agree that things go one way. That fate holds all cards to play. That I am helpless. Too many lies. Do you know who I am? The known world was called forth because of me, so don’t tell me of a ‘real world’, I decide which is real― the world my eyes see or the world I see in His eyes. I call the shots, Reality. You owe me, Reality; so pay attention.

My name is Godswill Ezeonyeka, and I may not be as brave, see this is not about a thorough plan. Your fire may burn me, my friends; the King may not stretch his sceptre for my safety, this boiling oil might be the last of me, these walls so thick may not give way to my victory still His faithfulness makes me faith-full ― Yes! No matter the stakes, I stay high on His intoxicating Word no matter what you bring my way, Reality. Hope you are still listening?

Cos I know for a certainty that aside fairy tales, animals can talk, water can stand tall as walls, the sun can take a pause on its journey and hungry lions can get selective with their lunch. Fire can defy the laws of gravity, a valley full of death can rise to become a mighty army and a man can with God as a son speak. So it doesn’t matter what you think, I just want you to know this much

I have chosen to right my perspectives; to redefine my reality

Like others…and others yet would, I have chosen Him over you and me.

I am broken from your rules.

In Jesus I live. True.

 

Yours sincerely…

 

By Ezeonyeka Godswill & Henry ‘Glofame’ Okoli