The Watchers

Brother's Keeper

It seems to me that most times people are waiting in hope for our failure than for our success. How do we explain the glee and speed with which they spread our failure stories?

It is common to hear people say “From the beginning, I knew she would fail” or “I knew he was taking a wrong step.” My question is if you knew they were making a mistake, if you knew that the step they were taking would lead to pain and loss why did you not tell them, especially when you were in a position to do so?

Personally, I do not know which is worse to deal with, the failure or people (especially close friends, church members and family) telling me that they knew I was making a mistake or taking a wrong step in the middle of my pain. You knew I was going to fail? You knew I was taking a wrong step? Why didn’t you say something? Why wait until I have failed to share your great wisdom? If you feel so free to tell me now why did you not feel free before?

This needs to change. We have to learn to be our brother’s keeper. Any wisdom you did not share before a person makes a wrong choice should not be shared after the individual fails because the wisdom is useless at that point. You are only making matters worse.

Giving is not all about money. You can give your wisdom. You can share your knowledge. You can give counsel. One strong reason offered by the bible for the destruction of man is ignorance. “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6, NIV). Anyone who commits to sharing godly wisdom and counsel is stopping unwarranted and needless pain.

So this season, I implore us to open our spiritual and physical eyes to watch over those in our circle of influence. There are so many shaky emotions out there this end of the year largely due to unmet goals, desires and dreams. Many may want to medicate their pain with casual sex, drugs, alcohol, uncontrolled partying, speed, food etc. Watch out and give gentle counsel and encouragement. I tell you that you would be saving a soul from destruction and needless pain. I am not saying be a busy body. I am not saying we should poke our noses in other people’s private business, but if we feel free to share our great wisdom after the fact, we should actually try to do so before the fact. They may not take our counsel, but at least God would be privy to the fact that you tried. And you too would sleep peacefully knowing that you made an attempt to save.

Open your eyes. Look around you. Many are disturbed and troubled, but wearing Armani and Gucci labels. Do not be deceived by ‘packaging’. Be prepared to save a soul this season and let us stop watching silently on the sidelines waiting for people to fail.

Complements of the Season!

The Family Altar

Dealing with delays

Grateful Heart

Have you ever felt gratitude well up in your heart? Have you in the course of a seemingly ordinary day felt your heart strings pull with inexplicable gratitude to the living God? I had this experience this morning as I gathered with my family in worship to the Lord. I looked around my sitting room and saw nearly every member of my household in the early hours of the morning worshiping and praising the Lord and I was just so grateful to God.

Some of us take going to church for granted, but there are many locations in the world that this is no longer possible. Even in some regions in our country, Nigeria, Christians can no longer hold formal Church services. These locations are fear ridden because of the oppression and bias against Christians. But we can. Any day of the week, we can worship God, formally and informally. This for me is a reason to be grateful to God.

Our children are in private schools where they lift their hands and bless the Lord at their assembly times. Our toddlers come home from school humming songs of praise and worship to the Lord. Songs they learnt at their schools! This for me is true blessing. Too often we take for granted the very important issues of life and get depressed about minor matters. That we know the Lord is a priceless gift to be grateful for.

Have you seen a spiritually lost man lately? Have you noticed how oblivious and dead they are to the things of God? Have you noticed the fact that they have no conscience in the way they treat other people? Have you noticed how unscrupulous some business men are? That they can do just about anything for money? But you are not like that. Do you know that the fact that you have a working and vibrant conscience means that you will not miss God’s ways and His instructions? You, as a believer do not have a reprobate mind, but the mind of Christ. Is this not worthy of praise and worship? When you catch the revelation of what I am talking about you would bow your heart and knees in worship right where you are!

Anyone can buy a car and build a house. You do not need to be a born again Christian to do that. Look around the world, millionaires are one a dozen! Anyone can be a millionaire. But to be saved and heaven bound, to be a co-heir with Jesus Christ, to have a recreated spirit and be in union with God, this my dear friend, is true blessing and true riches. When you have the mind of Christ there is nothing that you cannot create or have in this world, if that is your desire. But those who truly have this blessing at the end of the day do not really want to inherit the earth for their pleasure alone but for the good of mankind. A great man of God once proclaimed, “I have vowed to be a blessing to mankind till I die” This is coming from one of the richest and leading servants of God in our generation. Some of the greatest faith feats in Africa today were done through him, yet his desire is to continue to be a blessing to mankind! The higher we climb in God, the less important material and financial blessings become because at that height we get to see what is truly important in life and to God. May we get there in Jesus name!

So, to see my family gathered together in worship each morning is a reason for me to be grateful to God. You know why, once upon a time we could not do so. It was a major struggle. We had just too many activities and it was not just practicable much as we desired to, but today God has supplied grace and all those so called activities have taken the back burner and we are able to gather daily to worship the only true God who has given us life and gathered us together as a family. It is a dream come true and an answer to prayers. And so joy and gratitude wells in my heart for this living God who reigns forever more! To some this may be trivial, but to me it is a big deal. As a matter of fact it is the deal of all deals!

To teach and establish my children in the fear of God cannot be compared with any car or house that I may acquire now or in the future. Dear friends, let us track our priorities and when we do we would realize that God has been faithful to us. Be grateful! Peace.

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REFERENCE: All graphics on my blog besides my personal photos are courtesy www.rgbstock.com (rgbstock free stock photos)

Joy is a Choice.

Joy is not a feeling. It is a spiritual force active in the heart of the believer. It is not predicated on the happenings around us. It is constant in all seasons. It is the strength of the believer. Sadness and sorrow is a focus on self. But Joy is a focus on God! Joy stems from a working knowledge that God can never fail.

To live in this realm you must be deliberate in stirring your emotions in the direction of God’s word. Do not let your emotions have a will of their own. Control them! Joy is a decision away from you.

When we think about what we are thinking about we would be able to arrest depressing thoughts and boot them out of our hearts before they take root and become strongholds.

Sadness, depression and discouragement tell the world that our God is small and incapable to deliver, but joy is a shout of testimony to the world that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the only true God and that He never fails!

When you choose joy, you choose God. Joy is a choice!

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls—Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

A merry heart

I Will End Well

Conduct in Austere times

The Watchers

Sometime in February this year, I was at a Pediatric hospital with my daughters and met a commotion! All the medical officers were frantically running from one end to the other. We were kept waiting for an unusual length of time and when I inquired, I was informed that a 2 year old child fell off the first floor balcony of a building! The doctors did all they could to stabilize that child but eventually referred him to the teaching hospital in the city.

Again yesterday, we were at the hospital and met with another emergency that kept us waiting long hours. This time a one year old child was left unattended at home and fell off the second floor balcony of a building! The hospital was teeming with friends and relatives of the family as the doctors worked frantically to save the child’s life!

The question is who was supposed to be watching over these children? Children are a heritage of the Lord. They are a gift and blessing and when we have been entrusted with them we must keenly watch over them spiritually, emotionally and physically.

Watching is an integral part of life that is why we have eyes. Anything of value must be watched over otherwise we may lose it. We must be in full awareness of our physical and spiritual environment. No wonder Jesus instructed His sleepy disciples in Matthew 26:41 to “Watch and pray…” Life must be watched over carefully. But the sad reality is that many pray, but not many watch! This is the reason many of us miss the answers to our prayers. We are expected to watch with our physical and spiritual eyes after praying to discern the move of God in our direction. Someone once said that spiritual things are very slippery. And I agree. If you are not attentive spiritually and physically the blessings of God which are constantly coming towards us as believers may slip by us unnoticed. Also when we walk through life with our eyes closed we would soon enough fall into a pit of trouble! Jesus’ full instruction is, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41)

Many do not watch in the spirit and so have embraced enemies as friends and antagonized true kingdom friendships. Apostle Paul understood the place of watching, especially with our spiritual eyes that was why he prayed in Ephesians 1:18 “that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened…” When we have these “enlightened” eyes we will see as God sees.

I have come to the realization that many Christians who pray do not actually expect to have answers or if they do they most often than not believe that the answers would take a long time to come! So they never factor in the watching element in prayers. It is common in communication to expect feedback from whoever we are in dialogue with. It is no different with God. That pause in prayers when you give Him room to revert to you is the ‘watching space’ in prayer. Pause and listen to the Lord because He is longing to have a conversation with you.

In Acts chapter 12:1-16, we see a clear illustration of my point. Herod the king had persecuted the early church and killed one of the Apostles. He further locked up the Apostle Peter who was a pillar in the church. Whilst in prison, the church offered fervent and ceaseless prayers to God for his deliverance. God answered that prayer in one of the most supernatural records in the New Testament. Eventually the supernaturally freed Peter got to the house the Church had gathered for prayers and knocked. A young girl named Rhoda heard the knocks and then Peter’s voice! In her excitement, she forgot to open the door for him, but ran into the room where everyone was praying and announced that Peter was at the door! Guess what? Nobody believed her! They practically told her that she was mad! When she insisted that she was not making up the story, they concluded that she may have seen his angel and not Peter! My point is why pray if you are not expecting God to answer? Many of us are like these brethren in Acts Chapter 12. We are full of prayers, but no expectations! Every day of the week, we gather to pray and some of us even hold all night prayer meetings, but our answers do not equal these prayer activities. Why? We are not watching for the answers!

The moral here is that we have to start to balance our prayer activities with the element of watching. The prophet Habakkuk understood this important fact. He said, ”I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what He will say to me” (Habakkuk 2:1) Those who watch are those who are expectant. I implore us today to be expectant and 'open' our eyes. If we do we would be pleasantly surprised how close God has been with us.

Please kindly join me in prayer for the blessed children I earlier mentioned in this article. Pray that the Lord will grant a perfect and supernatural healing without brain damage or physical deformation of any kind! Pray for peace in their homes and come against the spirit of guilt and condemnation that may alight on those who were responsible to watch over them. May the Lord answer us with a mighty deliverance in Jesus name. Amen.

Peace to you in Jesus name. Amen!

Conduct in Austere times

Episode five

The Old Balance Scale

I was recently reading Kenneth E. Hagin’s book, “How You Can Be Led By the Spirit of God” (Legacy Edition, 2006) and came upon a testimony that was recorded in the book. It was about a female missionary on a foreign field who had contracted chicken pox. There was no vaccine at the time and there was a great possibility that she could die if there was no divine intervention. She was then put in isolation so that she would not infect other people. In isolation, she began to pray with all her heart. As she prayed she had a vision and in this vision, she saw an old fashioned balance scale. One side of the scale was labeled “prayer’’ and the other side was labeled “praise”. In the vision she noticed that the side of the scale labeled “prayer” was really stacked high and it sank low because of the load, but the other side labeled “praise” had just a little stack and was raised high up because there was no load on it! Then the Lord said to her, “When your praises equals your prayers you would be healed.” And so this missionary praised God for the next two days with all her heart. It was recorded that she had little or no sleep for those two days. Guess what, she was miraculously healed with no trace of chicken pox, after two days of praise!

Many believers pray, but not many really praise God or thank Him. This may be the reason for some of our delays. God is good whether our prayers are answered or not. But even our ‘unanswered prayers’ do not necessarily mean that they will not be answered tomorrow. We need to develop a thankful and praiseful heart no matter our circumstances. This really pleases God.

However, it is difficult to praise God or be thankful without joy. When you have joy in your heart praising and thanking God becomes a lifestyle. Joy is a fruit of the recreated spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) That is why it is impossible for those who are not born again to have joy. This is the reason for the suicides in the world today. Joy is beyond happiness and mere positive thinking. It is constant in your spirit irrespective of what happens or does not happen. Joy is not a feeling. Joy is the strength the believer needs to draw from the well of salvation. When you allow the devil steal your joy, you have allowed him steal your strength and your praise! So resist him and keep your joy on!

I remember many years ago, I was going through a very fiery trial, the worst in my life to date and I just could not find any reason to be joyful or thankful. I was saved and I loved the Lord, but hanging around me was no fun. I carried around a heavy and depressed spirit. I was always praying but I was a sad believer. Then one day, on a queue in an anointing service in Church, the man of God got to me and laid his hands on me. Then he said, “Sis Ebiye, rejoice in the Lord, but remember that rejoicing is a choice” What he was saying to me was that I need to make the conscious choice to be joyful in spite of what I was going through and until I made that choice I would always carry around a rejected and sad spirit. Thankfully, I eventually made that choice to deliberately rejoice in every situation.

There are so many believers who are not activating the joy of the Lord in their spirit so their balance scale is stacked low on praise.

In Luke chapter 17: 11-19, we read of ten lepers who were healed by Jesus, but only one of them, a stranger returned to thank the Lord and for his trouble was made whole! Praise and thanksgiving are deliberate acts of our will and they have a way of clinching the deal for us. They put the icing on the cake in our kingdom walk and ensure that we are always in the thoughts of God.

Another reason some Christians are prayerful, but joyless is because they are constantly fighting demons. The only fight that the believer is instructed to fight in Scriptures is the fight of faith! (1Tim 6:12) We are not called to fight demons, but to cast them out in the name of Jesus! When we are too demon conscious we would be drained of joy and praise. Jesus has done all the fighting in our behalf, but our responsibility is to fight the fight of faith to enter our rest in Him! And to successfully do so we must read and meditate on the word of God daily because faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.

So let us arise and give the Lord the praise and thanksgiving that is due Him! Let us bless His holy name for we are nothing without Him. He is our God and there is none like Him. He is good and His mercies towards us are new every morning and they endure forever. Hallelujah!

The Good Heart

The Quest For Relevance

One of the quests of man is to be relevant. We all want to be recognized, to be wanted, desired or sought after by people. Sometimes, when we do not have this, we become envious and jealous of those we think are more relevant than us. In offices, people go through lengths to be favoured by their bosses. Some may even resort to lies and backstabbing of fellow colleagues just to be in the good books of their managers. It is no different in the church. The Church ‘fights’ have been the most painful to witness because naively we expect the Church to be a place of refuge, comfort, etc. And yes, ideally it should be. But if man is part of a system, church or otherwise, the ugly head of our imperfections and carnal nature will show up soon enough. When we remember that the Church is like a hospital with sick people at varied levels of healing, we would be more tolerant of some of the issues in Church.

Relevance cannot be attained through fights and carnal struggles because it is a by- product of contribution. When you add value to the lives of people, you will automatically be relevant to them. They will seek you out whenever they have a need or counsel or just a listening ear. They will follow you because they know you care.

Why do you think Jesus is so revered and evokes so much love and worship from humanity? Why is He needed so much, especially in continents like Africa where leadership has failed? It is because He is the only One adding value to our lives. People know that He cares. He saved us from eternal destruction and He is with us even now in our daily lives on earth. He is forever present with us, when we pray, when we are driving in our cars, when we lie down to sleep and when we wake up. He is nearer to our hearts than our best of friends and the most loving and doting of spouses. Jesus is relevant because He is beautiful for all situations. The widows and orphans testify of His love as well as the married and those with parents. Through thick and thin Jesus is forever present, loving and helping us.

We also become relevant when we do what God asks us to do. When you work on His assignment for your life, you will become relevant. All Jesus did was to obey His Father’s call to save mankind from eternal damnation. Was the call easy? No, but He obeyed nevertheless. The love and relevance He enjoys today is the fruit of His love labour. “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb 12:2, ESV)

However, relevance should not be the motive for our obedience or contribution to society. We obey and serve because it is what we are called to do and then we allow God to determine how we get paid. Actually, most people who enjoy influence and relevance today were actually surprised when they got it. And because it was not their goal or motivation they are unassuming about it all.

Jesus was so relevant that His followers wanted to make Him an earthly king! What an irony. They wanted to make the King of kings a ‘king’! Learn this truth, most things people offer you when you are relevant have already being provided for by God. This should prevent us from being carried away by gifts and praises. The key is to have a sound knowledge of your call. Jesus understood His call very well and so the deceptive offers that came His way were not a temptation in the least.

A note of caution. Do not seek to be relevant to man, but seek to be relevant to God. Seek to do His will. Seek to go wherever He sends you and do whatever He asks of you. Remain humble as God has no use for proud people. Glory will come. Praises will come, but be careful to return all back to God. Until Jesus finished His earthly ministry He remained relevant to God because He made God, His Father relevant to man in all situations. The moral here is this, if you can make people see God’s place and relevance in their lives, you will always be relevant to God and man.

Shalom!

The Thorny Heart

The Stony Heart

Alone With God

Quite a number of people are afraid to walk alone, but I have come to discover that Christianity is a walk alone with God. Yes, there are collaborations, but it is more of a lone walk with the Master. This fear of walking alone is what has caused many not to live their dreams or fulfill their divine purposes. Yet others have been driven to partner with the wrong sets of people to their pain. Truly, we cannot really be faulted for wanting to ‘click’ or 'belong' with people. It is the way we are wired. We are primarily relational beings. However, when destiny calls we need to learn to separate from the ‘clicks’ to walk alone with God. By walking alone I do not mean living an isolated life. No, that is impossible as no man is an island. We are a sum total of the people we’ve been with and the experiences from those relationships. What I mean is having the courage to identify and own your unique voice, dreams and purpose in God. I have also discovered that the best people to collaborate with are those who have found their uniqueness in God and are confidently walking in that position. These people are strong contributors and they bring much value to the table.

When destiny called on Abraham, he was specifically asked to leave his father’s house to the land that had being prepared for him by God. But Abraham being human had issues disconnecting completely from his extended family. He chose rather to take Lot, his nephew with him. On the surface what he did looked noble. It looked like he was a caring family man, but he was in disobedience. Jehovah God never spoke to him again until he summoned the courage to separate from Lot. His lack of courage in telling the likes of Abimelech that Sarah was his wife stemmed from his fear of walking alone through the shadowy valleys of life. I admire the "woman with the issue of blood" in the Scriptures. This woman bled non-stop for twelve years and was impoverished by this disease. She lost everything she owned trying to get cured, but to no avail. Eventually, she had enough and with her last feeble strength she took the bull by the horns and stepped out to get her healing in Christ. No one escorted her and no one wanted to be seen with her in public as she was ‘unclean’. She could have been stoned to death for daring to step out, but she damned the consequences and walked alone to meet Jesus for her healing.

We all have to come to that place in life where we learn to walk alone. This is a place where we take our destinies in our hands and trust God that it would be well with us. People have their own issues too. How long do we think that friends and family would be around to hold our hands? We have to arise and be strong to take those tough decisions that would propel us forward. When David's people threatened to stone him to death in 1 Samuel 30, it was not a problem for him. Naturally he must have felt hurt that he was blamed for everyone’s misfortune, but he could take it. He was used to being alone with God and so his first thought was to ask Him the way out of the trouble. When you learn to walk alone with God His presence becomes more of a reality than the physical presence of man. Singles, take advantage of your season and learn to walk alone with God. Those who walk well with Him walk well in marriage.

In our present times, a lot of people have resorted to asking friends and family for financial and material support. There is nothing wrong with this, but for how long? If your friend gives you $100 today, will you go back and ask for more tomorrow? If your uncle pays the tuition of your children today, what about next school term, would you go back and ask him to bear that same burden knowing he has his own responsibilities? Whatever hand life deals us we need to summon the courage to seek our individual solutions in God. Seeking help and comfort from man is only going to delay the flow of God’s grace into our lives. God is a jealous God. We cannot trust in Him and trust man at the same time, too. Here is my stand in Christ. If Isaac planted and harvested his way through famine, we can. If Jacob got a revolutionary idea for animal husbandry, we can do better now. Recessions or famines are not designed to impoverish God’s children but to unleash our best potentials. So let us stop running helter - skelter seeking whom to ask for favors. Rather let us make a resolve to quiet our spirit and seek the Lord in fervent prayers. May the Lord guarantee your permanent lifting in Jesus name.

Bible References: Genesis 13: 1-18 Genesis 20: 1-13 Mark 5:25–34; 1 Samuel 30:1-19 Genesis 26: 1-14 Genesis 30:25-43 Genesis 31:1-21

The Heart Without Understanding

The Seed

People fail to make a difference in their communities because they think that they have nothing to offer or what they have is inconsequential in comparison with the need at hand. But Jesus did not think that way. When faced with feeding a multitude of more than five thousand people in a remote region, He asked for a seed. His disciples scouted amongst the crowd and found a sower. He was just a young boy, but he was willing to offer his five loaves and two fishes (probably his lunch). Jesus gratefully received this seed and lifted it to God in thanksgiving and asked His disciples to share amongst the people. As they stepped out in faith sharing the broken pieces of bread and fish it kept supernaturally multiplying until everyone ate! Not only that, after all had eaten to their satisfaction they gathered twelve baskets of left over bread and fish! (John 6:1-14)

The seed is powerful. Jesus never thinks of anything offered to Him as too small as long as it is given willingly and cheerfully. That was why the widow with her mite enjoyed His commendation. (Mark 12:41-44) Everything in life is a seed. Our smile is a seed. Giving a helping hand to another in need is a seed. A bottle of soda is a seed so is a small pack of biscuit. Playing the drum or guitar in church is a seed as well as cleaning the church. Helping an old lady accross a busy road is a seed likewise giving up your seat in a crowded bus, train or waiting lounge for a pregnant woman. Volunteering at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter is a seed, also.

It does not take too much to be a blessing. For instance, my articles and posts are my seed. When I write, I write with a hope that someone may be encouraged and blessed. Many who visit my blog or read my posts on social media never ‘like’ or make a comment, but I push myself to write anyway. I do what I do because I have a burning desire to encourage and give hope through God’s word. More than five thousand people ate from the five loaves and two fishes that young boy offered to Jesus, but how many sought him out to say, thank you or well done? None! The lesson here is that if we are unduly concerned with recognition and praise we may never make a difference or touch lives. You may not be aware, but life is tough for many. Everywhere you turn there is a need and a concern. The world is in dire need of encouragers and hope givers. The good book says that whatever a man sows he shall reap so join me and let us begin to sow good seeds. Shalom!

You Will Get There!

The hand of the clock finally crept to 4:30pm. Hurray! It was Friday evening and I was really looking forward to going to Church for prayer meeting and then home to my family. It was raining as I left. Nothing new there as it’s been raining nearly every day for a while now. I got into my car and set off, very sure that I would be at church give or take 45 minutes considering traffic, of course. Alas, that was not the case! A journey that ordinarily would have taken 30-45 minutes took approximately four hours and thirty minutes! Pretty much of the way we were crawling at snail speed and the rest was long stand stills. To crown my frustration, my phone battery ran out and my battery charger was not in the car! I knew how concerned my family would be and I wondered what they were thinking. There was no way to detour as everywhere was blocked! I felt trapped! Initially I was at peace even though I was not happy that I missed Church especially as I was on duty to minister. I may have been at peace for about an hour or so when I felt the frustration and anxiety mounting within me.

In that situation, I could not help thinking of God’s people waiting to be helped or rescued from one situation or the other. I could not help thinking of the couples waiting for a child, the singles waiting to be married, the college graduate waiting for a job, the sick waiting for healing, families waiting for a miracle to save their homes. And the community of believers persecuted and massacred all over the world waiting for deliverance. I could go on and on. Waiting is not easy. When waiting understand that we will experience different conflicting emotions before we arrive at our desired end. In the early stage of the process, it looks like a walk in the park. “Yeah, I can do this!” we tell ourselves. Then we wait and wait and there is no visible change.

The pressure begins to mount and we begin to ‘hear’ the silent creeping steps of doubt, frustration, anxiety, anger, despair, depression and discouragement. If we are not spiritually and emotionally intelligent the enemy may easily hijack the moment and shipwreck our faith. Satan knows that he alone cannot destroy our expectations. He needs our collaboration. Why he keeps succeeding is because we have given him too much credit and are ignorant of the workings of the waiting process. The key is not to agree with the emotions that creep on us, but agree with the word of God. These emotions are natural, but we must step up to the supernatural to make it through. Your faith in God and His word in you act as an impenetrable wall of defense around you. We must never let our faith wall down! That was why Jesus interceded for Peter that his faith may not fail. (Luke 22: 23) If our faith does not fail our miracle would be sure. In that traffic, I discerned the different emotions dancing around my heart. I recognized frustration, anxiety, irritation, anger, self-pity, sadness, loneliness and despair. I recognized them because once upon a time they were my constant companions. And I know well that their company does not lead to profit. Just as we disconnect from toxic human relationships we must be intelligent enough to disconnect from these toxic internal companions that flirt around our hearts.

Remember that God comes through always. If there is a seeming delay it is because of the conflict of interest between God and us. We are interested in the destination, but He is more interested in the journey i.e. the process. So, I decided to align my interest with His interest, the journey. I became grateful for every crawl that took me closer to my family and decided to maintain my peace. Waiting time is word time so I busied myself listening to gospel music and sermons on CD. It took longer than I expected, but I made it home with my faith intact! Friends, my waiting may be trivial compared to yours, but the lesson is the same. I am here just to assure and encourage you that you will get there in Jesus name! Peace!

A Supernatural Experience

It was 7 am in the morning when the call came in. I picked up the phone on my bed side stool. ‘Hello!’ I answered, and I heard a female voice on the other end. It was a woman that I knew and respected. I was wondering how she got my number, when she said, “Sis Ebiye, Good morning! The Lord asked me to give you One Million Naira (i.e. approximately $2,500 today). Could you see me at my office this morning? 'Excuse me, ma?!', I asked in shock. “See me, today, if you can.” And she hung up. I cannot tell you how long I held that phone in my hand or how long before I closed my mouth that was hung open. All I could utter was, ‘Oh my God!’ I sat on my bed with my head in my hands and the tears of joy rolled down my face. It was just yesterday, I thought, just yesterday when I had a nudge in my spirit to sow a hundred dollar seed into the life of a very notable and influential woman of God. I struggled sowing that seed even though I was certain it was the Lord nudging me to do so. I obeyed, but it was a struggle as it was the only money I had at the time. Now this strange, but pleasant phone call! I realized then that God did not want my money. He was only testing me. I got the money later that morning and my walk with God changed forever. It’s been nearly fifteen years since that fateful phone call, but I remember it like yesterday.

Since that experience I have never withheld anything from the Lord, especially if He specifically asks for it. God does not need our money as He owns everything in the world. When He asks it’s because He wants to do something good for us. Some may ask, does it mean that we have to pay for His blessings. No, but what I do know is that before we can experience testimonies in our lives we have to go through tests. And before a harvest there is usually a planting season. Sometimes, we are led to give because He wants to test our faith in Him. The bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) At other times, He tests us to enable us experience Him from a fresh angle. In my case, He wanted me to experience Him as Jehovah, Jireh, The God who provides. Today, I am very thankful that He supplied the grace for me to do so. In a relationship, trust is everything. I have been made to understand that you can take thirty years to build trust, but destroy it in three seconds! Trust is fragile but the backbone needed for a relationship to thrive. Whether it is a marriage relationship or a business partnership, trust is needed for continuous growth. That is why adultery is the worst kind of betrayal in marriage. It usually takes divine intervention for spouses to forgive their partners when this happens. Even when forgiveness is given, the relationship is never the same because trust has been broken. A relationship without trust is a suffocating environment to live in.

God needs to know that we trust Him. He needs to know that we sincerely believe that He will never leave or forsake us. When we trust God, we will wait on Him and there would be no desire in our hearts to disobey Him or seek alternative gods. In a time of severe famine, a widow in a city called Zarephath was asked to give her last meal to a prophet of God. It was a tough decision to make as she also had a son to take care of, but she obeyed. Miraculously, this widow and her son never lacked for food throughout the famine. Her son who took ill was also supernaturally healed. (1Kings 17: 8-24) Like it or not, we would be tested by the Lord and when He does it is so that we too may experience the supernatural on earth. There is a whole new level in Christ awaiting your entrance. It is my prayer that you would be discerning when your next test comes in Jesus name. Amen!

The Winners Attitude

The journey of life is not always smooth. If the truth be told it is marked with bumps and holes! But life must be lived and progress made. We must therefore learn to program our hearts for the tough times, for the rough rides that none of us want but inevitably happen. The mere fact that others are making progress in spite of the obvious odds is a pointer to the fact that we can too. For instance the fact that some couples celebrate 50 years in marriage is a pointer to younger couples in marriage that their marriages can make that number and more if they apply their hearts to make it work. When a woman that had waited for twenty years for the blessing of a child finally conceives and brings forth it should assure others in waiting that their miracle is possible too. Life is about perspectives. It all depends on what you see. Sadly, we all do not see the same pictures and so our results in life are different.

Mark Zuckerberg during his famous visit to Nigeria pointed out that the first quality of an entrepreneur is an unquenchable passion and ‘a never give up’ attitude. He suggested that if you are hungrier than other dreamers it is most likely that you would be the one to make it in the end! This is true for nearly all aspects of life. We must approach life as entrepreneurs. As an entrepreneur must make profit from whatever goods or services he is selling, you too must make profit out of your existence on earth. The trick is to dig your feet into the soil of life and force it to work in your favour. When you are a person that gets easily discouraged and gives up at the sign of trouble you will never see the beauty of life nor experience the miraculous power of God. We must understand that troubles are the raw materials for miracles and tests must come before testimonies can be reported.

No matter the number of persons that give up on you or your cause, you must never give up! The moment you do, the devil has you for dinner! Job was dealt a cruel hand by life at some season in his life. He lost all his business investments and all his children in one day! As if that was not enough he was struck with some strange boils and skin infection that made life a living hell. His situation was so pathetic that close friends who came to empathize with him could not speak for seven whole days! They just starred at Job. Once upon a time, he was the wealthiest man of his day, but here he was reduced to a bag of bones, and what flesh was left on his bones was ravaged by disease. Job must have stunk, too! What a pathetic sight to see, but here is what Job said, "...All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes” (Job 14:14, NKJV) Job was not in delusion. He knew his condition was bad and the circumstances bleak, but he resolved to wait on the One who has power to make impossibilities possible. Job must have realized that he would be required to give account of how he spent the life that was given to him. Would he give a report of woes, sicknesses and failures or would he give a report of impact and glory? Job yearned for a good report. He could not die defeated after starting out so powerfully in God. He refused to succumb to the lies of the devil after tasting of the love and mercies God.

Somewhere in his sufferings, Job made a resolve in his heart to wait on God until there was a change in his situation. He refused to give up and began to hope expectantly in the Lord. His faith blossomed and we know that nothing pleases God like faith. A man who calls those things that are not as if they are is a man that is irresistible to heaven. That is a man that operates in the class of the IAM THAT IAM, Yahweh, The Almighty God! Expectedly, Job’s turnaround came gloriously. “Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning, for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters…After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of years” (Job 42: 12-14, 16-17, NKJV) If Job had given up, he would not have experienced this glorious restoration. He lost all his children at some point but God gave him more children and grandchildren too. This can be your end and mine too, if we make up our minds long before the trials of life to hold on to the promises of God. “Indeed we count them blessed who endure…” (James 5:11a, NKJV) Peace!

A Fellowship Indeed

My husband and I had a much needed time out this past weekend to the chagrin of our children. They could not understand how we could be so ‘selfish’ to go out alone without them, but hey, we really needed to. We had both been working so hard that we had neglected our “we time.” At the restaurant, we chose a quiet table at the far corner of the room and allowed the ambience, soft music, drinks and good food wash away all the cares and weariness of our busy lives. Our conversations were the high point for us. We talked and talked…heart to heart. And we laughed. We shared our future goals and visions…things the Lord had been saying to us individually that will affect and impact on our future. To crown it, still at the table we held hands after the dinner and we prayed committing our plans, family and future into the hands of the Lord. It was a great evening. It was a fellowship. There were no distractions. We were really there for each other physically, emotionally and spiritually. We came away from that evening lighthearted, free and with a deeper commitment to love and support each other even more. And we resolved never to play with our “we time” again.

Isn’t this akin to what fellowship should be with the Lord? A time we set aside to commune with God and pour our hearts out to Him and hear Him speak to us in return. A time of intimacy and deep love when we tell Him how much we love Him and hear Him assure us of His for us. A time when He instructs us about His Kingdom and what He would want us do for His people. But how many of us really have this kind of deep fellowship with the Lord on a daily basis? A number of Christians have become too busy for God now. The cares of life have practically squeezed fellowship out. And even when we do, it is perfunctory- nothing deep, nothing memorable. Most times we do it to assuage our consciences that we’ve been to church or that we’ve had a ‘quiet time’ with Him, but not that there was any profound outcome from it. One lesson I came away with from my date with my husband was that physical presence does not necessarily mean emotional connection. So many couples live together but they have drifted apart. They live together, but they do not share their lives with each other, anymore. It is so easy in marriage to drift apart without the awareness of both couples. The deception here is that you may not be fighting, but you could be drifting. It is important therefore for us to spend quality time away from the children, work, bills, etc to reconnect on a deeper level. This is guaranteed to keep the romantic embers burning in our marriages.

Same way, fellowship with the Lord is not necessarily our physical presence in Church or at our personal devotion closets. It is also not in the number of times we attend church or how frequently we pray, but it is more in the connection of our hearts to the heart of God. We need to be there for real when we say that we are with Him. Our God loves fellowship and He has created us for fellowship. In the Garden of Eden, He was the One that initiated fellowship with man(Gen 3:8-9). That is why Hebrew 11:6 promises to reward those who diligently seek Him. This message is for everyone but especially for those of us who have being born again for a very long time and also those in ministry. If you are not careful to tend to your relationship with the Lord, you will become like an ‘old couple’ with Him and run the risk of becoming ‘too familiar’ with Him. Sometimes, we become too busy like Martha, full of ministry works, but may have drifted in our personal fellowship with Him. It is time to reassess our walk with Him and make amends where necessary.

There may be the need for some of us to actually take a prayer retreat to re-connect with Him. The Psalmist kept his hunger and thirst for the Lord alive. “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? (Psalm 42:1-2, NKJV) It is my prayer that we would be wise to do the same. It is the only way to have a meaningful walk with the Lord. Shalom.

Salvation Prayer: Lord Jesus, I thank You for speaking to my heart today. I repent of all my sins and ask for Your forgiveness. I believe that You are the Son of the living God. I believe that You died for my sins and resurrected on the third day. Lord, I give You my life. Come in and be my Lord and Savior. Baptize me with Your Spirit and lead me to a Church that is rich in faith and Your word that I may grow in You daily. Amen

What is in your hands?

The story is told of a certain widow in the bible who was in dire distress. She was in distress because her late husband’s creditors were after her for his unpaid debts. They had threatened to take away her sons as slaves if she did not come up with the money. She was very poor and did not know what to do. So, she ran to the prophet in the city hoping for some divine counsel. After listening to her tale of woes, the prophet asked her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?”

I am sure this woman was not expecting this kind of reaction from the prophet. Why would he be asking her what he should do for her and what she had in her house? Was he not listening when she was telling him her troubles? This man must be insensitive, she may have concluded. But she held her peace and responded “Your maidservant has nothing in the house, but a jar of oil” (1Kings 4:1-2, NKJV) And that was enough! The jar of oil was all God needed to change her story. All the prophet was trying to do was to draw her attention to the fact that she was not as helpless as she thought. He was trying to let her see that as a child of God her troubles have been anticipated by God. And that a man cannot serve God and be forsaken and put to shame.

Many times we look for answers outside of ourselves. We run to people without first running to God in prayer. Every man is endowed with a gift. We have rich untapped potentials lying dormant on the inside of us. We need to start looking inwards. We need to ask God in prayer to show us our gifts and talents. All you have desired of life is buried within you. Some of us have actually discovered a talent or two, but we make light of it and take it for granted instead of working on it and sharpening it for greater effectiveness. Some hide their talents too. They lack the courage to step out for fear of being ridiculed, misunderstood or persecuted. Either way, we short change ourselves because God has deposited that gift and talent in you to enable you create your Garden of Eden and be a blessing to mankind.

The widow in our story did not consider that jar of oil in her house as anything useful other than for cooking, probably. But the prophet saw differently. Thank God for prophetic eyes that see into the realm of the spirit. If you are blessed with a genuine servant of God, please value and respect their godly counsel. “Then he said to her, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbours –empty vessels, do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons, then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones… Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.” (1Kings 4: 3-4, 7b, NKJV) What more can I say? A poor widow in debt and distress was saved by what she already had in her house! What do you have in your hands? Just as this widow poured her jar of oil into the empty vessels that she gathered, our profiting will come from pouring our talents and gifts into the lives of people who need them. Prosperity is assured those who add value. Prosperity is assured those who offer service to mankind.

The great Prophet Moses was also clueless of the power in the rod he was carrying. He thought it was to guide sheep into formation, but to his amazement that rod brought water out of a rock and wrought miracles too numerous to count! In this present economic recession, we’ve got to look beyond academic qualifications and nine to five jobs if we must thrive and not merely survive. A surviving man may not be able to help anyone besides himself but a thriving man or business would be able to carry many along. God wants us to thrive so that we may be His channels of blessings to many in distress, but before we can do that we must discover His gifts and talents within us and work them effectively for results. This is your time in Jesus name. Amen!

Salvation Prayer: Lord Jesus, I thank You for speaking to my heart today. I repent of all my sins and ask for Your forgiveness. I believe that You are the Son of the living God. I believe that You died for my sins and resurrected on the third day. Lord, I give You my life. Come in and be my Lord and Savior. Baptize me with Your Spirit and lead me to a Church that is rich in faith and Your word that I may grow in You daily. Amen

The Grasshopper Mentality

The greatest disservice you can do to your self is to look down on yourself. Many times we think that other people are better than we are. We feel that we do not measure up. We constantly measure our progress with theirs and we panic. Oh, they are better than I. They have more degrees and certifications than I have. They are from a rich home. They have a bigger house than I have. They have children and I do not. They are married and I am not. My nose is too big, I am not pretty enough, etc. When uninhibited, these ‘not good enough’ thoughts can damage our confidence and self esteem.

Gideon, one of the judges of the nation of Israel had issues in this regard. When God came calling on him to lead the army of Israel against the Midianites who had oppressed and impoverished them for years, he sold himself short. He said “Oh my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” (Judges 6:16, NKJV)) Like some of us, Gideon celebrated his weaknesses or disadvantages a little bit too much. His clan was the weakest and he was the least in his immediate family. Surely this is not the kind of lineage that the stuff of deliverers is enlisted from, he may have thought. In that moment he may have compared himself with the likes of Moses, Joshua, Prophet Samuel etc, and concluded he was unfit for the role. We must remember that anytime we enter the ring of comparison we will come up short. It is written, “But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding” (2Cor 10:12, ESV)

Also Gideon was tired of trying. Anytime they arose to rebuild their lives, their enemies came in their droves and destroyed it all. They take one step forward and the next minute they were pushed backwards by ten! When you have been knocked down by life too many times, staying on the ground becomes a temptation. When your past failures and seeming disadvantages join forces in your mind, a bright future would be hard to conceive. That was why Jehovah God had to help father Abraham. One day, He told Abraham, “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are – northward, southward, eastward and westward, for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” (Gen 13:14-15,NKJV) Basically, what God was saying to Abraham was, “use your imagination.” Imagination is “the ability to form pictures in your mind” (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus (Cambridge United Press) Until you “see” or imagine a bright future, you will never live it. How far you see is how far you go.

The world is full of success stories and failure stories. You and I have to make up our minds on which side of the divide we belong. At the threshold of inheriting their promised land, Caleb and Joshua made up their minds to take all that God had promised in spite of the obvious difficulties. On the other hand, their colleagues only saw their weaknesses and disadvantages. They saw themselves as grasshoppers in comparison with the strength of the inhabitants of the land. (See Numbers 13) This is the story of our lives. Every day we will be faced with the choice to trust God or trust our circumstances. No matter the disadvantages and negative experiences we’ve had in the past, we need to lift our eyes to the Lord and believe in Him for a better future.

I know what it is like to fail. I know what it is to be rejected. I know what it is to be dis-favored and disadvantaged. I know what it is to be looked down by people. I have suffered esteem destroying thoughts and I’d been buried under the garbage of misunderstandings. I have also been through shame, disgrace and embarrassment. What a heap of dung! When we allow these experiences and thoughts rule us, we develop a defeatist attitude. This is what I call the grasshopper mentality – the crippling feeling of being too small or unworthy for anything good. Breaking free and loose was not easy for me too, but the Lord helped me. Like Abraham, He showed me His plans for my life and the impactful life I could live if I agreed to partner with Him. Thankfully, I agreed and here I am with you! What a joy! This is the beauty of being in relationship with Jesus. I just love the way He uses all our experiences as raw materials to recreate a better life for us. Today, Jesus, my Lord is reaching out to you too because you are worthy to be loved. He wants to save and deliver you. He wants to help you see the beautiful future He has planned for you. All you need to do is to open your heart and ask Him in. God bless you.

Salvation Prayer: Lord Jesus, I thank You for speaking to my heart today. I repent of all my sins and ask for Your forgiveness. I believe that You are the Son of the living God. I believe that You died for my sins and resurrected on the third day. Lord, I give You my life. Come in and be my Lord and Savior. Baptize me with Your Spirit and lead me to a Church that is rich in faith and Your word that I may grow in You daily. Amen

The Ticking Clock

The year is coming to a close now. In a couple of days we would enter the “ember” months. Usually in these last four months of the year there is increased activity in all kinds of work – both good and evil. It is at this time that pressure mounts up in the hearts of men as they reflect on their achievements or lack thereof. Based on these appraisals, they increase the tempo of their activities to catch up lost grounds. Those who do not have faith may lose hope and fall into depression.

The "ember" months are usually the most depressing times for singles who are waiting for life partners or married couples trusting God for the fruit of the womb. Seeing the curtains of another year draw to a close without your expectations in your hand can be tough on the heart. I have been there, on both counts, so I understand. The common trend is to be in high spirit, full of expectation at the beginning of the year and be downcast towards the end. It is time to break this cyclical trend. Personal evaluations should not only be done when the year’s curtains are drawing close, but daily. At the end of each day, as we retire from the world, we should reflect and review our work and actions. That way, it would be easy to quickly stop any steps we have taken that are unproductive.

Time passes by so quickly. We are here today and gone the next day. We say, ‘Happy New Year’ today and with the blinking of an eye, we are at the ‘Cross Over Service’ waiting for yet another year. So we must be careful how we spend our days. We must take stock of them and track our use of them because once they are gone we cannot call them back. One of my favorite portions of scripture is Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to realize the brevity of life that we may grow in wisdom” (NLT) Life is short. No matter how long we live, life is short compared to the promise of eternity. Here we are today at different levels of growth and success. How would you evaluate your life? Would you say that you have lived for God or lived for yourself? Take a momentary look at all your achievements. Are they rich towards God’s kingdom or earthly? Sometimes, we think we are doing well, that we are successful, but in the eyes of God we may not be. In the bible, the story is told of a certain rich man whose agricultural business prospered. After taking stock of all his achievements and prosperity, he decided to consolidate his holdings by expanding his storage houses to accommodate his bountiful harvest. Sadly, the same night he decided to expand his holdings, death visited him. He did not live to realize his dreams of expansion. At a glance, this man had all the trappings of success, but he was not a wise man. He kept working and planning, but never considered the brevity of life. He took stock of possessions, but did not take stock of his own life. He was not a blessing to man and neither was he a blessing to God.

I believe this man and so many like him today are not rich towards God because they never consider rapture or the day of their death. The subject of death is taboo in some cultures, something not to be mentioned or talked about. It is the reason many Africans die without preparing wills that would have guided the administration of their estates. However, when we come to understand that death is an inevitable reality of life we will learn to count our days and live ready for God. Our lives belong to God. We are created to worship Him and be used by Him to reach perishing souls. We are not on earth to serve ourselves but to serve Him. It is time we take our attention off what we have achieved or not achieved and focus on what He wants done.

The clock is ticking. The time is short. The days are fast spent and the Lord Jesus is coming soon. How many lives have we saved in His name? How many have we encouraged to keep the fire of our faith burning? This should be our daily pre-occupation. This should be at the center of our self appraisals in this season and beyond. Peace!

Watch your Motives!

Peer pressure is not a malady suffered by teenagers and children, but also by adults. Many people would be shocked if they take an inventory of their motives. They would discover that a good number of their actions have been motivated and influenced by pressures and not necessarily by personal convictions.

Three years ago, I started a line of business. I was working, but decided to open another stream of income and I did. I shared my business idea with a friend who also desired to own her own business. Months later, this lady opened a shop next door to mine with my ideas! I must have done a wonderful job at selling my ideas!

Most of us live life without personal convictions and direction. We are easily influenced by external factors. When we see our friends selling gold, we jump in and sell gold. When our friends send their children to schools abroad we follow to do same without counting the cost. When we see that a particular church is ‘trending’ we leave our old church families. How long would we continue to live like this? What is the difference between a parent who behaves this way and a son who ‘sags’ his pants and shows off his boxer shorts to the public in the name of fashion? In Acts Chapter 5: 1-11, the bible records the story of a couple called Ananias and Sapphira. This couple belonged to a congregation that was made up of people we commonly call ‘dangerous givers’ today. These were people who gave their entire possessions to the church! By virtue of these selfless men and women, the bible records that all had things in common and no one lacked. Everyone ate from a common purse. Glory to God! Also their financial and material support to the early church ensured that the gospel was preached and lost souls were reached and saved. Amongst these dangerous givers was a man called Joses who sold his land and brought the entire proceeds to the Apostles. The Apostles named him Barnabas which meant “son of encouragement” (Acts 4: 32- 37) He was indeed a son of encouragement, one everybody needs in their team.

There was such a heavy activity of giving at this early church that Ananias and Sapphira did not want to be left out. They decided too to sell their land, but not out of a pure heart and definitely not out of a personal conviction. They sold the land and kept back some of the proceeds and presented to the Apostles a certain sum claiming to be the entire proceed from the sale. If you read the story, you would discover that this couple died as soon as the lie came out of their mouths. My question is did they have to sell their land? Was the lie necessary? No! Then why did they do it? It was the pressure of all the generous activities going on in the church. They wanted to be like others, act like Jose Barnabas, son of encouragement. Perhaps they too wanted to be given a special name by the Apostles. Probably, they wanted to be known as one of the rich people in the the church. Their schemes, manipulations and lies in the end cost them their lives. Was it worth it?

Everything we do in life must be done from a pure heart and a pure motive. Do not get into things that you are not convicted in your heart to do. It cannot be overemphasized that we must be led by the Lord before we step out to do anything. There are paths in life that look right but in the end lead to destruction. That is why copycatting is dangerous to your destiny. It is good to give. I give always to the Lord because without Him I am nothing. All that I have today came from Him so when there is an opportunity to be a blessing I step out and do what I can within the limits of what He has given me. God will never make a demand if He has not made a deposit. If He has not given you a million dollars, He will never ask that of you!

Please do not go and sell your property and give to a church if you are not led to do so. Ananias and Sapphira were not convicted to do what they did. They did it because everyone else was doing so. If you let people pressure you to give your entire life savings when God has not asked you to do so, you will suffer. Do not give out of pressure, but give out of love and out of a pure heart. Give because you are convicted and persuaded to do so by the Lord. Give because it is good to be a blessing to those less privileged than you, but do not give out of a competitive spirit or a desire to show off. May God guide you always in Jesus name.

May the Lord return a bountiful harvest for every seed you have sown for the furtherance of the Gospel. May He give you inspired ideas that will create wealth. For every poor, needy, orphan, widow and fatherless etc that you have been a source of blessing, may God Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth open His heavenly treasures to you. Wherever you are experiencing dryness, let the dew of heaven come upon you. May the Lord protect you and your family and may He fight your battles. May His grace and peace be multiplied to you in Jesus name. Amen!