Thank You’s – you knew I would do this didn’t you?

On the 7th of March, I boarded a BA 083 to Nigeria, Abuja to be precise. The trip was the culmination of about five months of work on a series my father wrote. The ‘God Wants You’ series explores God’s plans for different aspects of our lives and guides on how we can live out those plans and promises.

Working with Lordbanks, my friend and Chief Technical Officer of CC Consulting, we coordinated the proofreading, cover  and website designs, concepts for the books and the launch, and a bit of logistics too. Lordbanks flew in and was a great help on the day, and I’m just so grateful for friends/business partners that have become family.

I’m also very grateful to the Local Organizing Committee for being such pillars of support to my parents. For attending meetings, fundraising, being literally at this beck and call, you won’t ever lack people to stand by/for you o! I will err if I started mentioning names and miss out on any so can I express my thanks to the Chairman of the LOC for everyone? God bless you richly!

To everyone who came in on the day of the launch, from far and wide, you are all amazing! I’m so grateful you turned up to honor and support your own. To my foster grandparents, Papa and Mama Diai, even in your frailty you made it down… Just remembered the tears that flooded down Momma’s face when I led Papa Diai into the hall, precious memories. Thank you Mama and Papa for loving us, we love you too!

To my Pastor and Father in the faith, Pastor Goodheart Obi Ekwueme, God sent me to you/you to me. Thank you for every word of encouragement, every word of prayer; you are the definition of the word ‘shepherd’. And thank you for writing that very powerful foreword! God bless you and your family richly!

A very big thank you to my friends who stood by me when there was so much to do it nearly drove me mad! Thank you for being ever-present sources of warmth and encouragement. To my darling Wumi, the best friend anyone could ask for, the one to whom I am ‘Ada Obosi’, and to Ace, thank you!

To my sister (Inne), brothers (Kizaro and Qintaro), and our #Ogaatthetop himself (Boo Boo), we’re such a team! You guys are the lights in my sky, thank you for being there and helping out (in person or in spirit, or by just being the reason we smiled at the end of really long days)! There’s only one way people – UP!

To my Momma, nne m oma! The glue holding everything and everyone together, our prayer warrior (with direct access to God’s hotline), thank you for being you! For smoothening all the rough edges, cooking all those wonderful protein based meals for me (team rock hard body), and for worrying (the way only you can), you did a lot more to help than you think you did. And we love you to the moon and back! We do!

To the Patriarch himself! The author of the first six in the ‘God Wants You’ series (Boss! Who else writes six at a go), the ‘builder’, and the best father anyone could ask for, we did it! They can’t hold you back! You’re bigger, better, and this is just the beginning! (Thank you Daddy for running the generator a lot more than you’d do normally so I wouldn’t die from the heat, and especially for coming into my room every night the power came back on just to switch on my air-conditioning.) You’re a star! Love you plenty!

To God, for life, love, family, and all the beautiful things in-between, receive all the thanks, praise and adoration; today, and forever.

Whoop!

Engaging the Power of Faith….

Welcome to church!

The message for today’s drawn from a service I attended in February which I can say I enjoyed thoroughly. As always, I saved it so I could share with you. Quick prayer now – Lord help me take in this word, and let it bear fruit through my speech and deeds. I trust you for help, trust your Spirit for understanding, and thank you in advance because you love me and are awesome! In Jesus name, Amen.

Bible, notepad and pens ready?

The Pastor started by saying, “when faith is at work, man begins to experience only what God can command; it takes man from humanity to divinity”.

He followed that quickly with, “the secret to a life full of triumph is the force of faith”.

What then is faith?

Faith is a supernatural trigger that induces the miraculous. It is committing the integrity of God to perform. Luke 1:45 says “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil His promises to her!”

Why should we have Faith in the Lord?

One reason – because He never fails. Never ever.

Numbers 23:19 – “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that He should change his mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?”

3rd John 1:2 – “Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”

Deuteronomy 15:6 – “For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.”

Ephesians 3:20 – “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us…”

Faith doesn’t only believe what God has said but it drives the believer to performance.

Please note 1 Corinthians 8:9 which says, “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.”

Our actions give credence to our faith. So for example, giving is a vital key for prosperity as evidenced by Proverbs 11:24 – 25 (One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed).

Faith in that word means you won’t slack on your givings to God. Simples! James 2:18 says, “But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”

Work is another vital key for prosperity as seen in Proverbs 14:23 (All hard work brings a profit but mere talk leads only to poverty).

Faith here again means you put in the hours and not just be content with praying for hours on end without getting any work done.

How To See The Fulfilment Of Prophecies.

1. Rejoice in the Lord
2. Be at peace. Exodus 14:14. Psalm 46:10. 2Chronicles 20:17
3. Remain steadfast in faith. 1 Corinthians 15:5-9.

 

Let’s wrap with this popular scripture, Hebrews 10:38 – “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”

Will you engage the weapon of faith this week? God bless you as you do!

 

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What’s up with your New Year Resolutions?

Hello you!

So, six days into the third month of 2013; where are you with your resolutions? Did you make any? I didn’t, I think I’ve grown past that phase of promising myself to do stuff different only because I need to ‘fulfil a tradition’.

Also because I haven’t done very well with keeping a lot of them! With different resolutions, there were years I didn’t go past the first six days of the new year, years when I mentally kept adjusting the resolution (because I couldn’t stick with it), and then years I even forgot I made any resolutions!

What do I do now? Plan. Concrete, achievable plans that I can evaluate periodically and then either move forward with or discard them.

Not talking about me a lot today though. Looking through my moleskin today I found a sermon from a service I attended on the 6th of January at House  On The Rock (HOTR) The Refuge, Abuja where Pastor Goodheart Obi Ekwueme talked on ’7 Musts For The New Year’. It lifted my spirit, and I just thought to share the notes I took on the day.

Ready? Welcome to church!

Pastor started with all of us reading Isaiah 43:18 – 19. It says:

“Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

Then he said not to dwell in the past, but to live in today, stay alert, and expect great things from God.

Philippians 3:10 – “ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death”.

The scripture above was explained thus – one of the best ways to flourish/prosper in this Fast Track year is to simply find out what way God is going and go that way. Why? It is more profitable to ask God for His plan for your life than to present your plans for Him to bless. Amos 3:3

John 2:7 tells the story of the first miracle Jesus performed, when He turned water to wine at the wedding in Cana. The obedience of the servants was implicit, no questioning, no second-guessing; Jesus said to do, and they did.  ”Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim”.

My Fast Track is on the other side of my obedience. 2013 is the year to be wholly submissive to the will and direction of God for your life without question.

Proverbs 4:13 says “Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life” while Proverbs 4:18 says “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”

So, what are the seven pointers for a beautiful, super productive 2013?

1. Recalibrate and take stock of the past (in this case, take stock of the first two months that have passed)

2. Make quality decisions for this year. Some of the decisions he talked about include:

• decide to invest rather than spend/waste
• invest time in things that make for eternal consequence
• invest in quality relationships, alliances, and alignments
• decide to serve God and humanity
• decide to please God at all costs
• decide to be the best at whatever it is you do

*looks like a lot of deciding to do right? That’s why we have the Holy Spirit, always there to help, all we need to do is ask*

3. Purpose to forget the past

4. Plan and programme strategically for the year. Where do you see yourself in March, in June, by August? What do you hope to achieve? What do you need to do to be able to achieve them?

5. Count the cost of Fast Track 2013 and be determined to pay the price.

6. Make God first/numero uno/The One – establish the law of priorities and stick with it.

7. All through the year, review your progress. How far? Are we on the way to the things we want to achieve?

May God bless the reading of His word, and prosper that same word in our hearts, amen.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Hugs!

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Unveiling the Mystery of Sanctification…..

Welcome to church!!

Sorry this category hasn’t been populated in a little while, doesn’t mean I haven’t been going to church. Ok I’ll be honest and say I have missed a few services in the last few weeks, but we’re back on track now!

Message for this week is titled: unveiling the mystery of sanctification and it was sometime in October 2012. Bible and notepad out yet?

He started by saying that the priority of God for everyone is sanctification. I Thessalonians 4:3-4  ”It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable,”

2 Timothy 2:19-21. If we are of God, we should be like Him in all things, including holiness. How else are we to walk/work with Him? Amos 3:3 says “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?”

Note that the righteousness we get by salvation can only be maintained by sanctification. Isaiah 59:1 Zechariah 3:3

Holiness is an observable trait, not a hidden secret; people should be able to see your righteousness in the way you speak and act. 2 Timothy 2:10

2 Thessalonians 3:3-7 There is a war waged against our righteousness day in, day out; that war is waged against our destiny.

In Luke 22:3, we see that “Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve”  and are reminded of the need to always remain too hot for the devil and his cronies to ‘settle on’. The same way flies never settle on steaming food, we should remain too hot for every appearance of evil!

Instruments The Enemy Uses to ‘Paralyze’ Our Lives

1. The spirit of this world. 1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
2. The lust of the flesh; the lust of the eyes
3. The pride of life. Please read Proverbs 6:16 and  2 Chronicles 6:19. James 4:6 says “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
   

What Has God Given Us To Overcome All Three?

1. The spirit of love. Romans 8:37. In order for us to please God our love for Him must never be in doubt. Romans 5:5

The commandments of God are only grievous to those who don’t love Him, and Philippians 2:13 posits that this deep love only comes via an encounter with the Holy Spirit. Next time you get an instruction from God and you feel yourself murmuring or complaining, ask yourself if your love for God is still ‘on point’.

2. Keeping right company. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” The easiest way to miss it is to follow someone not headed in your direction.

How Do I Engage With This Spirit of God?

1. Have a hunger and a thirst for pleasing God. Isaiah 55:1-2
2. Engage your faith. Matthew 11:12

The major reward/result of sanctification is favor. Do you want to enjoy God’s favor? Please Him, by being like Him!

Have a super productive week!

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HE IS LORD, YES HE IS

“Christ alone, corner stone, weak made strong, in the Saviour’s love, through the storm, He is Lord, Lord of all”

Above was one of the worship songs we sang at Hillsongs, Dominion Theatre this morning. I sang every word of the song with all my heart! Want to know why?

Apart from the fact that I really love this church, and missed it terribly, at the end of the day, Jesus is Lord of All. Whether it’s raining or snowing, He is Lord, if you’re hungry or fed, sick or well, poor or rich, white or black, He is, and remains Lord of All, including you.

There seems to be so much evil going on in the world right now; sickness, hunger, wars, horrible leadership from even more horrible leaders, and people are suffering – almost difficult to acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ through all this. But, He is Lord.

Your name is higher

your name is greater

all my hope is in you

your word, unfailing

your promise unshaken

all my hope is in you

That’s another song we sang.

Very quickly, think of a World Leader you admire and imagine you were given a choice of whom to serve/work for; that World Leader, or the person who sweeps your street. Who? I thought so too – I’d choose the world leader in a flash, no doubt there!

In the same way, we’re all better off serving Jesus, surrendering our thoughts, worries, and desires at His feet, and living for Him everyday. We’re better off casting all our cares, fears and burdens on Him, because He’s more than able to turn things around for our good, take out pain away, and keep us wrapped in His love.

We need to make Him Lord of all though, not Lord sometimes. So He’s not Lord of the weekdays and we’re in charge of the weekends; He’s either Lord of all, or not Lord at all. Our decision.

Have a super productive week!

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The Medicine Of A Merry Heart

Hello! And welcome to church!!

Today we’re going back to a service I attended in June. Venue: House On The Rock, The Refuge, in Abuja! I found it in my notes and at this time of the year when we start to evaluate what we’ve done with ourselves, the failures and successes, its instructive that we don’t become gloomy.

Ok? Pens and notepads out? Lord help us internalize these words today, trust you to help us, heal us, and take all our sorrows away. Amen.

Ok, so Pastor Goodheart Obi Ekwueme taught on ‘The Medicine Of A Merry Heart’; I have adapted the first part of the message to suit my purpose. We start with a few scriptures:

Proverbs 17: 22 – “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones”.

Proverbs 4: 21-22 – “Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. (Referring to the scriptures and the instructions from the Lord)

Psalm 11: 3 – “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

Psalm 107:20 – “He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.”

We need to learn to enjoy our today on the way to our tomorrow – Joyce Meyer. I like it when Ministers of the gospel reference other ministers of the gospel in their sermons, makes me feel like they acknowledge they are not the only ones out there, that they seek knowledge themselves. Pastor Obi Ekwueme is like that, bless him!

Here’s the gist: regardless of what you achieved or not, there is a reason to be merry, especially this season. You don’t have a job? Thank God you even qualify to be job hunting in the first place! You’re not married? You qualify for a partner, they’re not just here yet! If you were resident under a bridge, starkers and out of your mind, would any of the two questions above worry you? So be merry!

Good and perfect gifts come from God, the Father of light, in whom there is no partiality. That God is your Father, and the number one reason you should be merry! For the gift of life; January to December, we’re still here! Even if we got sick, we got better. Even if we got broke, we got better. There’s so much evil going on around us that we’ve been spared, all these are reasons to be merry!

As we enter a new week and preparations for Christmas and the New Year start to peak, let’s always remember that we have a good God who loves us and wants the best for us. And let’s stay merry!

Mwah!

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PICKING THE PIECES

When God created Adam and Eve, one of the things He told them was to replenish the earth (that’s the only portion of the Bible people who have seven or more children read in my opinion). Seriously though, He told them to have dominion over every thing that walked, swam, crawled, or flew. We all know the bit about Adam falling, and Jesus dying on the cross to save man from his sins, reunite us with the Father (God), and guarantee us a place in heaven. Following me up to this point?

Jesus death on the cross also restored our dominion to us, restored the ability we had (and Adam lost) to take charge of his surroundings, situations around him, etc. That’s why children of God can speak to issues around them and they obey.

Same thing happens today. When we make mistakes, when we fall, God sits and waits for us to come back to Him. He sits and waits patiently for us to bring our battered, bruised selves back, and He receives us each time. He sanctifies us, forgives us, and then releases grace for us not to fall into the same mistakes again. Do you know the marvelous bit? Even if we fall the very next day, He’ll do the same thing for us all over again, picking up our pieces. Why? Because He is God, greater than the greatest, the most terrible and yet the most merciful. What else can He do but love us, feed us, and never leave us?

We are warned however, not to abuse that right so we don’t lose it. A little story here: so I have a seven year old nephew, and I adore him. When he was younger, say about five, he loved to come into my room without knocking on the door. He’d do it every time. And each time he barged into the room, if he noticed the frown on my face (cos sometimes I’d be frowning and the little one wouldn’t even notice), he’d apologize, go outside and knock before coming in again. Guess what? Give him 15 minutes, and if he had to come to me for anything, this scene would repeat itself.

One particular day I was on the phone and the little prince bounced into the room. I gave him ‘the look’ so he smiled, left, and knocked before coming in. I hugged him and then asked him to go bring his homework. Of course he forgot to knock. He apologized, and we started on work. When he went to get his eraser, he forgot, and tumbled in again. By the time he forgot the 300th time I told him not to bother apologizing.

When I started writing this post I remembered that day and how at some point I snapped. What if God snapped and literally told us to stop with the apologies and cries for forgiveness? What would you do? Are you thanking God that he’s not us?

Do you think of that when someone offends you and you think you’ll never forgive? Or you’ll forgive but you’ll never forget? I doubt we’re thinking of God and how He forgives us when we’re seething with anger, sobbing in disappointment or shaking our heads in pain. At that point all we’re thinking about is how to exact immediate revenge, or plan towards it (since it is a dish best served cold)….

Unforgiveness is like picking at a sore you have every morning; it won’t heal, and you won’t feel better. When you bump into the person your heart starts doing cartwheels because you have ‘ought’ in your heart for them. So unhealthy!

Let’s take a minute, and tell ourselves, ” I forgive….. (put in their names) who offended me. I realize that harboring unforgiveness in my heart is harmful to my health (physically and mentally), and I value my well-being more than this altercation. Whether or not I will give them another chance will be purely based on if I think they will hurt me again and not because I am upset with them. I love my life, and I will be happy. So help me God.

Did we mean what we just said? Are we confident that we’ve forgiven them? Well done!!

Hugs!

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IN CHURCH WITH @garyjamesclark!

Yay!! My Pastor is on Twitter!! The Pastor of Hillsongs Church, Tottenham Court Road branch is now on Twitter! Whoop! Go! Follow! He’s a great guy! By the way, he’s on Instagram with the same handle. Funny but I didn’t know his name till he said during the service about his new subscription to these platforms.

So I attended the 11am worship service on Sunday the 2nd, and it warmed my heart to hear that there were a lot of activites lined up this Christmas season so people don’t have to be alone.

That’s what church should be, isn’t it? Yes, if you asked me. Church should be there for you when you’re lonely; church should fill the gaps in our lives. Trust me, I’m not saying don’t work, isolate yourself from your friends and family and then become a charity case for the church; I’m saying churches need to wake up to the fact that people don’t care what Word of God you preach till they know how much you care.

On to the service now. @garyjamesclark taught for the third week on the Holy Spirit, was very instructive. Some scriptures for ya:

Luke 3:22 “and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

 

John 20:19-22 “ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said,“Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

²¹ Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

He said, the same way God breathed the breath of life into Adam and Eve is the same way the Holy Spirit brings life to our everyday circumstances. He turns our ordinary into extraordinary.

He also said that sometimes we see the Holy Spirit only as the third person in the Trinity, and not as the fountain of help, comfort, wisdom and strength we can draw from.

I loved the prayer he had us pray at the end of the sermon: what do you want to come alive in your life? Have you asked the Holy Spirit? Can I throw that at us today? Anything in our lives  needing resurrection? Anything we’ve battled with all year and feel like we’re about to give up? Could it be a relationship, family, an issue at work?

Have you asked the Holy Spirit for help? Go on… Ask Him…

Amen! Just in case you want to attend any of the services/activities Hillsongs has this season, find them here! I hate to say it but I won’t be attending the Christmas Live at Wembley event billed for the 21st cos I’ll be in Nigeria!! Wish I could stay….

 

 

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HILLSONGS! Whoop!

So I’ve been hearing of Hillsongs Church, especially the one that holds at the Dominion Theatre, just outside Tottenham Court Road underground station. As a matter of fact, @Tomi_Ola and I talked about it on Saturday night, details of the conversation I cannot reproduce (he he he). I mentioned it to  Momma, and she said, ‘let’s do it! Services are 11.15am, 1.15pm, 3pm, and then 6pm.

I bought the tickets online (just in case, South Eastern has some fabulous prices you can only get online – thank me later), and then we went to bed. Early this morning I got up, did my chores, and then we got ready. Train was for 9.48am, we were at the station for 9.30am, only to hear a PSA that the train had been delayed, and just as the staff was telling me it wouldn’t be delayed for too long, we heard it had been cancelled.

Next train came at 10.18am, we hopped on, and of course, because we needed to get there real quick, the train was crawling. Yep, the work of our enemies, lol. We got to Charring Cross, changed trains, and eventually got to Dominion Theatre at 11.30am only to be told, “the theatre is too full and for health and safety reasons we cannot let more people in. Would you please wait and attend the 1.15pm service?” What? We made this really long trip just to wait two hours to join another service?

Most annoying was the fact that people were coming out from the theatre to take people inside. The same place they said was packed to capacity? Nepotism in the house of God? SMH. I found one of the workers, a lovely called Jonathan (God bless you), and explained that Momma had really looked forward to this service and I was happy to find a place to chill outside (I was eyeing the Burger King or the Dorothy Perkins) if they’d just get her a seat inside.

He left, came back in a few minutes, took us in through a service entrance, and led us to the auditorium. Not only did we get front row seats, there were unoccupied seats around us! Why keep all those people outside in the cold then?

I quickly forgot all of that, we got enraptured by the worship team almost immediately. It was the joy on their faces, the spring in their dance, the excitement on their faces, and of course the absolutely f-l-a-w-l-e-s-s production!

Kai!! I can imagine praise in heaven sha.. Or maybe I can’t imagine… what would better than this be, what would it sound like? Oh Lord!

Then the Minister got on stage, don’t even know his name, but he spoke to my heart. And he was so real, without the pretentious words or parables you hear in church these days. It was real, it was 2012, and I had a wonderful time. A few bullet points for y’all

*Human beings have a tendency to ‘humanize’ God; fit Him into our human lives rather than adapt ourselves to His instructions

**Our weakness is an open door for us to see God work in our lives, for us to even get closer to Him rather than something that separated us from Him. Don’t ever be deceived that God doesn’t want to help us in our time of weakness, we just need to reach out and accept HIS help. It’s always available!

***God is bigger than we can ever imagine. It’s ok not to be able to grasp the expanse of His Majesty, He created the world and everything in it; He is big!

Scriptures included John 14:16-17, 1 Corinthians 6:19, John 4:13, Isaiah 55:8-9….bring out your Bible!

Service was over at 12.42pm, and it was like people weren’t going to leave, Momma and I included!!! Was the delay, the long trip, the wait in the cold, the inconvenience worth it? YES! I totally loved it! And I’ll be back next week!

Whoop!!

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RISING ABOVE….

Hello, and welcome to church! Bible and note pad in hand? Great!

Let’s start today’s teaching with a popular scripture. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says that “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

The reason why Christians today are not rising above/experiencing the power of God is because we have one leg inside the church and the other leg outside. That’s what my Pastor says and I agree with him. He said it stops God from blessing us because He (God) doesn’t want us to ever think it’s our naughty ways that make us succeed so He steps back, and that’s all the devil needs to inflict suffering.

Another poignant note from the sermon was that regardless of the prophecies God has placed in the  mouth of my pastor for me, I will not receive anything till I war with those prophecies. In other words, we all have a part to play in ensuring that God’s words for us do fall to the ground.

I AM NOT MEANT TO STRUGGLE. Amen! (Don’t just say it though, work it)!

Genesis 26:12-14 says “ Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. ¹³ The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴ He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.”

Very simply, what the passage above is saying is that regardless of the prophecies, we need to do our bit. You want to be a doctor but you don’t want to study? I don’t care who prays, you will NOT be a doctor. You want to be wealthy but you’re content to pray and then loaf around? Darling you will be poor!

How else do we rise above?

Revelations 1:10-11 says, “It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. ¹¹ It said, “Write in a book, everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

This is the Lord’s Day. I must be in the spirit (rightly positioned, my obedience being complete) so I can Hear Him. We all know the positions that resist or hinder the move of the Spirit of God, can we work towards staying away from those? Seriously? The Holy Spirit is always there to help!

Amos 9:8-15

We also need to stay in the place of prayer, it is the only way to remain connected to God. Jeremiah 37:17 – “King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him secretly in his house and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah said, “There is….. “ What is God saying about your situation?

Then, sow! The house/work of the Lord is the most fertile ground I could sow in. Let your seed speak for you. Note that seeds do not refer to finances alone, even greater seeds are our time, deeds and resources!

2 Chronicles 15:2, starting from verse 1 “The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. ² He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

Verses 3 and 4 talk about Israel being without a teacher and the law at the time but as soon as they repented and sought the Lord, He was found of them. Will you seek him today?

Build a strong relationship with the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 3:7-8

Write down the vision. Habakkuk 2:2-3 What’s the point in asking God to bless something you don’t even remember? Take notes, jot down ideas, research, put it all down!

That’s it folks! Enter this week confident of the grace and abilities of God in you, and have an extra productive week! Hugs!!

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