Surprise Jesus

Happy New Year! 

It's our year of Advantage. The word Advantage means benefits or profits.  It is a year to stop certain old sinful habits like murmuring, complaining and insulting God for one excuses or another. Instead, it is time to speak about the goodness of the Lord. 

Our Patriarch of old knows this secret. The secret of acknowledging in order to draw God's attention. No wonder, King David was never defeated in any battle! The Book of  Psalm 99:1-5 (NLT 2013 ) says. 

The Lord is king! Let the nations tremble! He sits on his throne between the cherubim. Let the whole earth quake! The Lord sits in majesty in Jerusalem, exalted above all the nations. Let them praise your great and awesome name. Your name is holy!M King, lover of justice, you have established fairness. You have acted with justice and righteousness throughout Israel.  Exalt the Lord our God! Bow low before his feet, for He is holy!

The time is right for us to also speak about the good shepherd who will leave the ninety-nine to go after the one. This can be found in the parable of the Lost Sheep in the Holy Book of Matthew (18:12-14, NLT 2013) 

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.

Again, It is time to talk about how much you love Jesus. Thanking Him for coming after you in order for you not to perish. Many people are ungrateful. They won't remember all the price that Jesus paid to set them freee from eternal destructions. In fact, many of us too have stopped praying intercedingly  for souls to be saved.

Remember, Jesus made a very important promise that He is coming very soon. He is neither lying nor delaying or late in coming. He is coming back very soon. His words cannot be broken. Uptil now, many wish He comes and end it all while others are asking "How soon is Jesus returning? The book of 2 Peter  3:15 (KJV) says "And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation..."

That means, If Jesus endured and waited  patiently for someone to be born again. Likewise, He is waiting for you and others to be born again. In otherwords, there is still one more losts soul out there that need to be saved. Let us look for them and share the gospel. This will surprise Jesus to see someone like preaching to others about Him.

May you be a touch bearer in the darkest places. 

Psalm 23

 

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.  

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.  

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.  

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.  

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. 

(Psalm 23 KJV)

Another translation by NLT

Psalm 23 

A psalm of David. 

1. The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.

2. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.

3. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.

4. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

5. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.

6. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

(c) NLT 2013

True friendship Is Missing

Our forefathers enjoyed what we called true friendship. At that time, a true friend genuinely and tirelessly "...loveth at all times..." (Proverbs 17:17). Infact, Francois de La Rochefoucauld was not less right when he said "A true friend is the greatest of all blessings". If you have friends then you have everything. But what can we say of friends in this dispensation?

Sadly, it brings tears to my humble eyes to note that true friends are rare and a nightmare on the Earth we both love and share. 

Nowadays, it is those we called friends that can easily kill us. While some enemies are easily known.  Some friends  are like rats. They will be fanning and  biting you at the same time. 

Oh Earth and it's dwellers! Where are the true friends that offered shoulders, hope and love as of old? I mean like in the days of our forefathers

Come back to the community we built and let's drink herbal cocktail, sing, crack jokes and dance together. 

The blazing waves of this world has taken you away. When would you come back to our father's land? 

Before betrayals, greed, selfishness and corruption  alteredo bonds and the amount of time we spend together. Leaving only loneliness and broken walls 

We were like the seimese twins. We were like songs and the heart. We can't do without  each other. Today, the world like the roken fence to our garden where we sing beautiful songs stands to exposes our ignorance to mockery

I remember lucidly, how we used to go hunting fearlessly in the thick forests. Not minding the harsh weathers. Be it rainy or dry seasons killing 8 to 10 wild games per day. I remember when we used to chase phytons in the forest. Simply because we are two walking together

I won't forget how we used to dive and swime at River Ocheche. How we used to do hide and seek game at Aji-Suki and Ega River. 

While growing up, we were meek like the dove

Choosing our high and low at will 

Not knowing the ills of the society

I remember those days when you and

 I would sits in my father's compound dragging who will scratch the under  pot of left over food warmed by my beautiful mother

I remember how we were wondering why food cooked during meetings or festivals where sweeter than ordinary days. We used to wish it would be cooked daily.

Since our friendship has failed and bond broken due to betrayals, greed etc. We no longer offer one another love, trust and hope. A little we try to do will be breaking news. Showing we are rich and those you grew up with as paupers. A thousand naira help will be posted on social media handles and topic of discussion at every joints

O friendship has deserted our nation long long time ago. In retrospect, we are friends but no more. Now we are friends in chains of hatred and will detests seeing others rising more than us. 

I long for the old days where we will sit looking at the moon and drinking local tea. 

If you are ever alive and we meet me again. I'll love to  drink tea with you. Even if it's 1000 years from now the memory of our true friendship will never die

Begin to Pray

 Child of God, 

What made you cry between January to December this year? Don't shy away from this question. Something must have caused you terrible pains and left you heart broken or wounded. Could it be death, business failure, under-achievement or betrayals from a trusted friend or loved ones? I do not know that situations but God knows and sees everything. He is the solution provider only.

If you are facing too many untold hard situations. You are not alone. In otherwords, such cases are not peculiar to you alone. Evidence abounds in many homes. These are signs of the battle of the ages.  I can tell you solemnly to take heart! These are end time battles. Such could be inherited, transferred and personal battles. They can be easily sponsored by demons to frustrates your efforts this year, 2022. Hence, as we approach the end of this year, let's courageously handled them now before it raises it's ugly hydra-head again in 2023 or are you not tired of  facing or repeating the same statusquo year in and year out? The Holy Bible says "Nahum (1:9 KJV) "...affliction shall not rise up the second time." Then it's time to disallowed all negativity as you pray with a Holy anger. 

Don't forget, you are responsible for the positive or negative situations around you. As we anticipate a better 2023. Don't give up on prayers. Begin to speak in tongue right now! God bless you

Where do you prefer?

A well known man living at the centre of his world once said " I  don't want heaven. Let God give me the grace to enjoy this Earth only." Today, he is wealthy, lodges in any trending hotels and carry all types and sizes of women. Wow! That's surprising. 

Sweetness of the Earth comes with it negative consequences especially if you allow Satan to rule your heart. Those that ate it can testify if you meet them in another world.

Eternity is Everlasting while our time time on Earth is but a while. Why would he think this way? Is it that he doesn't fear what will happened to his soul after death? 

The Earth and it's enjoyment will soon become history. Hence, the grace to leave beyond this earthly world should be our prayers!

Prayer Altar is the Key

 One of the wonderful gift and privileges given to you and I as believers is unending prayer life style. Scriptural prayers is given to us by God to communicate or talk to Him in order to change any life threatening situations. This change is unlimited and is for good.  God knows that our portion and experiences as human beings is going to be diverse especially in this perilous times. 

Oftentimes, this variations maybe depressing, suppressing or even comfortable. These could be caused by the enemy for their ill, or at times allowed by God for corrections. Believe you me, whatever the circumstances is, the Bible demonstrates that those negative situations are for our spiritual direction and benefits. Importantly, it's only prayers that can help sustain such favours. 

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14|NLT2013)

Jesus enlightened us that prayer is a spiritual exercise that is not time bound and that it can be done anytime, anywhere, and any place in order to have communion or intimacy with God. Giving rise to the reality that Christianity lies in the heart. One can relies on the prayer altar in our hearts and pray anywhere. 

God delights in having a love relationship with mankind. This walk of obedience can't be completed without unceasing prayers. This is because, prayers helps to build and strengthen our trust and reliance on God. He is also desirous of fellowship because it helps us to become a coworker together with God in administering the Earth and charting the course of human kind.