Virtuous Living

The Filter Effect

A woman shared a conversation between her two children, the older boy and his younger sister. I don’t recall the exact incident but in summary her daughter had uttered certain words to her friends that were not particularly pleasant. This had gone on to mar the relationship she (the daughter) had had with them (her friends). She complained about it while at home and her brother went on to remark (paraphrased) “You need to learn to insert a filter between your brain and your mouth!”.

A filter (a noun) is a porous device for removing impurities or solid particles from a liquid or gas passed through it. Filter can also mean (as a verb) to pass (a liquid, gas, light, or sound) through a device to remove unwanted material. I am sure we are quite familiar with the filter concept. Drinking water companies bombard us daily with advertisements on how well filtered their products are. Social media has given us filter options to make our images look better than they originally are. Even car owners are always sure to have their filters cleaned or changed where necessary.

How often do you change/ clean/ renew the filter to your mind/ soul? The filter to your heart/ spirit? “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2 KJV). Many a time the way we speak to others or respond to a situation is pivoted on what our subconscious minds have been ruminating on over a period of time. It could even be a myriad of events that leads to our explosive response to that situation. It only takes that perfect action to determine your reaction and the words you speak. Very often these tend to expose your true thoughts and perspectives on that specific issue. As the word of God says; we speak out of the abundance of our hearts.

There are two main lessons the young lady from our opening story learned the hard way. Firstly, always be swift to apologize when you offend someone. Anytime you find yourself in a place where you take an entrenched position such that you believe the other party does not deserve an apology, pause and keep your ego in check. A posture of self conceit does not win battles. Secondly, learn to be graceful with your speech no matter how right your viewpoint is. “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” (Colossians 4:6 KJV). Many a time it takes humble statements such as; “I am sorry about what I said, it was out of place” or “Pardon me for how I acted, it was inappropriate” or “Thanks for the other day, I appreciate your kindness”, to numb whatever negative emotion our words or actions might have provoked. These simple but powerful verbal gestures go a long way to create a mutually healthy relationship for us and those we supposedly care about. Remember in Proverbs 15:1 KJV the Bible says “A soft answer turneth away wrath: But grievous words stir up anger.” Our ‘ego’ and ‘unguarded words’ however often stir us up to exhibit our subconscious inadequacies, the very nature we attempt to suppress. As children of God, that shouldn’t be our reality.

“”A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.””Luke 6:45 NLT

Notice that prior to Jesus making this statement according to the gospel of Luke, he shared a parable. From the verse 39 of chapter 6, he speaks about the blind’s inability to lead the blind and a servant’s inability to be greater than his master. Jesus admonishes is to take out the beam in our own eyes rather than focus on the mole in our brothers eye. He blatantly calls such persons hypocrites because a tree can only bring forth fruits of its own kind. Now let us pause and reflect: what are the things that we spend most of our time on? On what foundations are our virtues/values built? Let us proceed to observe what Jesus teaches about foundations.

““So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.””Luke 6:46-49 NLT

It is evident what our foundation must be; the precious word of God. When you don’t retain God in your memory you will give room to a reprobate mind. “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.” (2 Timothy 3:8 KJV). If you go after false news, lies, gossip and rumour or just follow frailties because they are trending or in vogue, then you certainly will be feeding your soul with garbage. There is also the other side of this coin where certain persons are the masters of sugar quoting even the deadliest words to make themselves look good, deception in the highest order. Quoting Episcopal Sister Adelaide Heward-Mills, “They often say what is acceptable but what is usually the real motive is hidden”. May Jehovah deliver His children from all such persons.

“Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; For therein do I delight.” Psalm 119:35 KJV

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8 KJV

If you use the above scriptures as basis to filter the kind of information that you expose yourself to, be it consciously or otherwise, you are more likely to only imbibe content that nourishes your soul. Let this be the measure for controlling information that you allow your soul to meditate on and your spirit to thrive on. May it not be said of us ‘outside gentility, home cry’ because men primarily look at the outward appearance but God looks and sees our hearts.

“So teach us to number our days, That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 KJV

“Shew me thy ways, O LORD; Teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: For thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:4-5 KJV

Till the next Holy-Spirit-inspired musing:

⁃ Meditate on God’s word to preserve your peace of mind

⁃ Walk in truth to guard heart (your spirituality and sanity)

⁃ Spread love, kindness and positivity

⁃ Be cautious not only with what you say but also how you put it across

“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, Sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” (Proverbs 16:24 KJV). Never forget to pray and feed your soul with the word of God daily. Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you oh Lord we pray, in Jesus’ matchless Name, Amen.

Love, Esinam.

Don’t Forget!

We live in a time and a season where we are consumed by so many things that take up time energy and all our resources. The subject of Thanksgiving is very often overlooked especially in a Christian walk.

For Thanksgiving to be effective it requires remembrance. Many times we come to God expecting a blessing which is often granted. We see our blessings and are filled with joy. Sometimes we are consumed by the blessing that we often forget the One who blessed us. We are so consumed with the healing we forget the Healer, we are so consumed with the deliverance that we forget the Deliverer. The test of our Love for God is in our resolve and relationship with God after we have received all we have prayed for.

In Deuteronomy Chapter 8 Moses admonished the Children of Israel on the need for remembrance always in relating to the Lord their God.

“Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”

One tragedy of humanity is forgetfulness. If you will forget what anyone has done or what anyone has been to you, do not forget the Lord your God and who He is to you.

“Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;…” Deuteronomy 8:11-14

It is so easy to forget a difficult life one has had when God blesses them and suddenly things that used to be a challenge no longer exists. Truth be told it is human nature to be drawn more to your present realities which bring you some comfort and peace. You will have to be deliberate about remembering things of the past if your present realities and experiences are going well for you.

You see after struggling to get a job after school and the hustle of jumping one trotro to another on a daily basis to get to this job, one would not deliberately remember his or her trotro days or try to relive those days consciously when they have been blessed with a car or two. Please don’t get me wrong I have had some amazing moments and met some nice people on trotros in my earlier years. But the point I am making is that it is easy to forget the experiences and the past realities where you have to wake up at 5am to be able to catch the first trotro (mini bus) to the next station in order to beat the long queue at next station just to get to work by 8am. Now by the Grace of God your life is better, you don’t need to go through that stress on a daily basis, you are comfortable at home, on the road and at work. It is easy to take the blessing for granted. You can easily forget you have gone to bed hungry before when now you can afford any dish. You can easily forget you have been been broke and despised when now you have several bank accounts with substance. You can easily forget you owned only one dress for two years. You can forget how your one shoe had a hole at the bottom when you now have ten shoes to choose from.

To be thankful requires remembrance. Imagine the children of Israel after all God did for them, after all the tangible miracles that brought them deliverance from bondage, do you know after Moses’ absence for forty days they forgot God and went into idol worship. I have come to realize that being entitled will rob you of thanksgiving because you will feel that you deserve everything, and what you deserve you don’t have to remember.

Being thankful requires that you have a reference which you can brought to bear by remembrance. I like to say remembrance is the foundation of our thanksgiving. It is what initiates the process for thanksgiving. In my earlier write ups I spoke about David who is referred to as a man after God’s own heart. The secret to David’s relationship with God Almighty is that he remembered always where God brought him out from.

He wrote Psalm 103 to remind himself of God’s place in his life and the many blessings that cannot be taken for granted;

He writes;

Bless the LORD, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits:

Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

Who redeems your life from destruction,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

Who satisfies your mouth with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The LORD executes righteousness

And justice for all who are oppressed.

He made known His ways to Moses,

His acts to the children of Israel.

The LORD is merciful and gracious,

Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

He will not always strive with us,

Nor will He keep His anger forever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

As a father pities his children,

So the LORD pities those who fear Him.

For He knows our frame;

My God! If this is not remembrance, I don’t know what it is. To remain relevant to the Lord requires us to remember our testimonies and speak of them. By doing so you acknowledge that you did not arrive here by yourself but by the Grace and the help of God. By remembrance you rehearse your past victories that points praise and glory to the Lord Most High.

My top three favorite people who demonstrated gratitude in the Bible and who inspire me a lot are David, Mary Magdalene and Simon the leper (who returned to thank the Lord Jesus)

David remembered his past so much that there are many notable actions he took that brought glory to God. In building his first house he purposed to build God a house first, and though the thought only was enough for God, he went ahead to provide all the materials for Solomon his son to build a temple for God.

Mary Magdalene after she had been delivered from 7 demons by Jesus came to Jesus with her expensive fragrant oil to anoint Jesus. The worth of her gift and posture was a reflection of how worthy she saw Jesus the Christ.

In Matthew 26:6-13

And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”

But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

You see, the worth you put on God will determine your response to Him. Out of the ten lepers Jesus healed only one returned to give thanks. I believe he returned because he saw his state had changed by the touch of this wonderful man. He could not go without returning to say thank you. The ten lepers were all healed but only one was made whole because he returned to give thanks. In those days it was against the customs for lepers to live in the midst of the people. They lived on the outskirts of the city far from everyone because they were considered unclean. Your attitude of gratitude will bring you wholeness.

In summary we have to remember God before we can offer worthy thanks to him. Remembrance then becomes the foundation of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving becomes the stage you put your praise on. God inhabits the praise of His people,

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good;

His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100:4

Shalom peace and life to you.

Pastor Ron Chiarelli

THE DEVIL’S TARGET

Many well meaning Believers always wonder why the devil attacks them even though they are serious with the Lord.

The Bible declares unequivocally that the devil came to steal, kill and destroy ( John 10:10). Why does the devil do that? Why is it that he doesn’t attack everyone?

Beloved, the devil isn’t a fool. He is very intelligent and smart entity. He operates on the platform of deep mystery that sometimes the average believer can’t unlock. In the Bible, he attacked people like Job, Paul, Elijah among others.

These people were God fearing people like you and I. When I was in secondary school, I personally wondered why the enemy didn’t or doesn’t attack unserious people. I envied these ungodly people till the Lord directed me to the Psalms 34: 19 (Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all). Glory! Many are the troubles of the spirit filled Christian and not those who are not serious or unbelievers is what the Bible is saying.

The choice of God is always the target of the devil. You don’t need to annoy the devil before he attacks you. Just have a great destiny and he will be attracted to you but rejoice for you are more than a conqueror.

The enemy doesn’t fight a family with poverty because he needs the currency like Apostle Joshua Selman says. He does that just to make sure you are unable to empower the family with your finances. He is aware that if you get the finances you need, you will do a lot of things that may hinder the performance of his activities in your life. A case in point is that if you get money, you will send your child to a Bible school so that he can become a minister of the gospel and such a child will later be a threat to his kingdom. Given that, the devil will make sure that you never get any means of getting that school fees, let alone sending your child to school.

Apostle Joshua Selman says: “ The devil never comes around you to play or for a session of counseling for you. He comes to steal, kill and to destroy.” Demons from my family really fought me from my infancy but that has been put under the footsteps of God and will remain forever there. So shall your case be in Jesus name!

He never gives up easily. You’ve got to fight him with spiritual intelligence till he gives up on you. You don’t have to give up until he gives up on you.

The first person he targets may not necessarily be that father, but the strongest person in a family. He may torment such a person with illness, frustration, pain, late marriages,barrenness, setbacks etc to make sure you are spiritually down. He usually chooses to strike anyone that has been or will be a hindrance on his way to fulfilling his catastrophic mission.

He knows no man has ever resisted him from your background and you are the one to do that. So when you see battles you aren’t responsible for in any way, know you are a serious threat to the devil.

Make up your mind to stop that devil through consistent prayers and fasting, sacrifices of any kind(provided they are godly), and the prophetic. I see you winning that age long battle. Don’t ever say why me? You are a threat, that’s the answer.

Forget about people who may not be attacked now. All the devil is doing is trying to deal with those who are a threat for him before he attacks those who have no covenant with Elohim.

He knows if he deals with his threats first, he will later finish those unserious people easily. Otherwise if he doesn’t deal with you first and deals with them before coming to you, he knows you will pray for them and deliver them from his hands.

Don’t give up because many lives are connected to your destiny. You can’t afford to disappoint them and yourself. Even if you want to give up, remember your children.

Who will stand for them? You have that mantle so please set the fire ablaze. Scatter the devil and his cohorts and you will experience paradise on earth.

May the path of your enemies be dark and slippery in the name of Jesus!

God bless you!

Dr. David Tobi Ogoudou

Overwhelmed!

Do you feel overwhelmed? Is your to-do-list bursting at it seams making you feel inefficient and unproductive? Could it be work deadlines, unmet targets, family wahala or even boredom? That was me last week super overwhelmed dealing with a number of issues. Whew!, life can just feel like a ‘mumbo jumbo’ sometimes causing a lot of frustration and anxiety.

I went seeking counsel from a woman I look up to who confessed that she also had apparently felt the exact same way the previous week. She said a prayer for me and offered tips on how she managed her situation and it went like this:

“Every time you feel a tinge of overwhelm, pause and breathe deeply, then rest. Proceed to ask yourself the following questions:

i. What is the most important thing I should be doing right now?

ii. Is it really important to me or it’s a people pleasing tendency?

Ask for help if you can and say no when you need to. You can’t save everyone!

Incidentally, my Bible plan last week solely focused on being anxious and how to deal with it based on scriptures and God’s promises. We’re living in times with so many uncertainties and unpredictable circumstances hitting us pale. There is the likelihood to feel overwhelmed, stressed, worn out or depressed. As a child of God it will be a disaster to give the devil a foothold to manipulate you based off of what happens around you.

Ever so often, we need to remind ourselves of God’s promises to spur us on in our walk with Him. Let’s break these up into six points:

1. Be anxious for nothing; do not worry.

“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:4-8 KJV

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 KJV

“Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16 KJV

2. Hope in Christ: Develop a deeper understanding of God and a richer relationship with Him.

“Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.” Romans 15:33 KJV

“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 KJV

“I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: For thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:8 KJV

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Revelation 22:13 KJV

3. Receive the peace of God: Don’t allow your circumstances determine the level of peace you experience at any given point in time. No matter the storm that you are facing, peace is possible. Your storms reveal your level of trust in God.

“And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Mark 4:37-41 KJV

“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” Joshua 1:9 KJV

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Isaiah 26:3 KJV

4. Have hope even in the darkness

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7 KJV

“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Romans 8:11 KJV

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Psalms 56:8 NLT

“The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:4-5 NLT

“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”” Revelation 21:3-5 NLT

5. Find rest in God

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 NLT

““That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:25-34 NLT

6. Praise through the storm

“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.” Psalms 23:4 NLT

“I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.” Psalms 34:4 NLT

“Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.” Philippians 3:1 NLT

An overload of negative or stressful thoughts can create a general sense of impending doom. But even when admitting your gratitude to God as a forced act of discipline, you will often experience the weight begin to lift. The principle of praising God even through pain is a pathway to His life-giving presence, which offers us peace.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NLT

““I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27 NLT

“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” 1 John 4:18 NLT

““Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”” Psalms 46:10 NLT

Whatever battle you’re facing with anxiety, the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is living in you. And He didn’t give you a spirit of fear.

That doesn’t mean that if you’re struggling with anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, stressed or even depressed you don’t have enough faith. It doesn’t mean that you’re not trusting God enough. In fact, the selfsame situation could be the exact thing that helps you learn to rely on and trust in God. The audio below greatly helped me worship and realign my perspectives. Let it bless you too🙏🏼

Elshaddai-Adonai – Nathaniel Bassey feat. Ntokozo Mbambo Download

I pray for you that you find strength in God’s word to navigate whatever circumstance that may be causing you to feel overwhelmed. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be ever sufficient for you. May nothing cause you to be distracted from His divine will and purpose for your life. Never forget that His love for you is unmatched. Remain blessed.

Love, Esinam.

REASONS WHY CERTAIN MISFORTUNES HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE.

Sometimes, we see a lot of bad things happening to believers and we wonder why such misfortunes happen to them.

We ask questions like why does this bad thing happen to this Holy Ghost -filled brother or sister? Sometimes, we honestly just don’t get it. Some people’s conditions move from bad to even worse. On the contrary, some unbelievers or ‘unserious Christians’ seem to be enjoying life without being committed like some of us. What could be the reason behind this mystery? Holy Spirit teach us your word, please.

It could be His will. Oh yes, I repeat, it could be His will. Remember nothing takes God by surprise. In Psalm 34:19, the Bible says “many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all”. Can u imagine! Many and not few are the afflictions (problems, battles, sicknesses, troubles etc) of the righteous (saved by His blood, Believer) and not the unbeliever but the good news is that the Lord and not (our parents, money, connections) will deliver him (you) out of them all. This means when troubles come, relax and know you will surely come out of it because until He allows it nothing happens to you. He has no adviser nor counselor and does that which pleases Him.

The Bible says Job was a righteous man but God allowed Satan to afflict him with sickness and destroy his family and property. Remember, it was even God Himself who suggested to the devil “have you considered my servant Job?” Before any bad thing happens to you as a Believer, God Almighty must approve it. And it’s always for your good. The disciples at one point asked Jesus; “why is this man blind. Is it because of the sins of his parents or if his own sins?” This suggests that Jesus must have taught them before that some people go through bad experiences because of the aforementioned reasons so they wanted Him to confirm the case before them. And the master replied and said “no it’s neither because he sinned nor his parents sinned, but he is blind because the glory of God must be seen in him.”

You may be suffering from a terminal disease or going through a bad experience now but remember this that you won’t die. God’s glory will surely be made manifest in that situation because God is not a man that He should lie neither is he the son of man that He should repent. His word is yea and amen! At the end of Job’s ordeal God restored him so you too will be restored. Don’t envy the wicked when your are going through a bad experience because their end is calamitous but yours is glorious.

The Bible says “ count it all joy when your fall into diverse temptations , knowing that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing (James 1:2-4). Sometimes for God’s will to manifest in your life, He must allow you to go through the fire so that your faith will produce patience. Without the fire you your faith level cannot be tested and without patience you cannot be made perfect (mature) as a believer. Most healing evangelists like Kathryn Kulman, Smith Wigglesworth among others were familiar with diseases in their walk with God until He anointed them and graced them with healing and miraculous power. There is a gift you always receive through what you go through. You don’t come out empty my dear. Motivational speakers are a product of bad experiences. Prosperity preachers are born sally a product of hardship and poverty and when God brought them out he gave them that message so they can bring others out too. That’s where the glory of the Lord is seen.

Problems indeed bring about patience and patience makes you mature and that’s why the Bible says “count it all joy….”. If you have sown seeds and tried everything but things still aren’t working, know this that nothing is impossible with God and that the devil himself is accountable to your God. If that’s the case, you don’t have to fret at all. Men may ask “When are you getting married for you are growing old? When are you going to have your children? When are you gonna build your house? When are you gonna do A and B?” A loving answer like; “When the time is right, I the Lord will make it happen and the glory of the Lord will be manifest”(Isaiah 60:22), should be given to those who question you. After being barren for so many years, when God gives you children, He doesn’t just give you one but normally twins or triplets so that all may testify to His glory.

As you wait for that glory to be made manifest, continue serving Him with all your heart. Watch videos of men of God who have gone through what you are going through and have been liberated so as to learn from them and who knows, God may just reveal what you need to do in order to also be set free.

The Lord bless you mightily. “Soyez benis!” (Be blessed)!

Dr. David Tobi Ogoudou

Time or Technique

What is your favorite meal? Take a moment to imagine it in all its yumminess. What would you give to have a plate or bowl of that goodness? How does thinking about it make you feel? Now imagine having to make it yourself while you are famished! Would it take too long to be ready or do you have some cheffing skills to pull it off in a jiffy. While you ponder on that enjoy a shot of what my preferred plate may look like.

Rev picked up his daughter and I from an amazing church service. Our campus ministry choir had gone to partake of and minister at one of our church branches. We shared our experiences with him as he was the pastor of that branch. It was definitely an amazing service and different from what we were accustomed to on campus.

As we enjoyed the ride he asked if we would like to grab a bite before he dropped us off but we declined the offer since we couldn’t wait to get to our hostel (we were roomies). We needed to catch some much needed rest and prepare for our busy week ahead. Our conversation progressed to discussing our delicacies and how they were made. Just then Rev asked an interesting question: “Does great food take more time to cook or is it dependent on who cooks it?” We burst out laughing because we were not sure what answer he was expecting (PS: His wife is a caterer and an amazing one at that). His daughter answered that great food does takes time to make. I responded that it depended on the person cooking. He seemed to agree with me (go me✌🏼🤣) reiterating that every good chef had time-slashing techniques up their sleeve.

Our conversation on food ended there on that day but I thought about it again recently and that birthed this post. When you watch cookery game shows like Master Chef, Chopped and Hell’s Kitchen, you appreciate how much employing skills and technique in cooking can save chefs a great deal of time. However if you also watch culinary lifestyle shows you realize that some cultural delicacies like a Greek lamb, a beef bourguignon or Boston baked beans can take a extended amount of time to make, even with great technique.

Food enthusiasts would say that slow cooking certain types and portions of meat give you the ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ effect. Even the most experienced chefs would rather not compromise time in making such meals that require slow cooking . Who doesn’t want their food to exhibit great texture and attain an unmistakable depth of flavour?

Envisage this; a young energetic graduate taking courses and training in fields that are not in the will of God for their life. How about trying to improve oneself for a promotion at a job where you constantly feel unfulfilled. Much worse, how much time wouldn’t you be wasting trying out every viable career path or seemingly lucrative business venture depending solely on socio-economic trends or vainglory.

Wouldn’t you rather plug into the mind of God and discover what His blueprint for your life is through His manual, the Bible. Just like in cooking, using professional techniques no matter how skilled you are requires you to be apt with timing. It’s great to acquire training/skill and to pursue growth and self improvement. We however need to be in tune with Gods plan and will for our lives through guidance from his word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11

Whoa! That was quite a mouthful to spill. All this musing about food sure made me hungry. Okay fried🤦🏽‍♀️ (I meant friend😂😂😂. This actually happened-autocorrect). Ensure that you be deliberate about enriching and nourishing yourself constantly, not just physically but also spiritually with the word of God. Even so, do not forget that great things could take time. When the time is right and your season is ripe, may your turn not pass you by because you were spotted unprepared.

Love, Esinam.

🕊 In memory of Rev. Patrick Opare Obuobisa 🕊

Love the Lord with all your Mind

The mind is a powerful organ in the human body. The mind is the set of faculties responsible for mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thoughts, imagination, memory, will and sensation. They are responsible for various mental phenomena, like perception, pain experience, belief, desire, intention and emotion. Important distinctions group them together according to whether they are sensory, propositional, intentional, conscious or occurrent. Minds were traditionally understood as substances but it is more common in the contemporary perspective to conceive them as properties or capacities possessed by humans.

Loving the Lord your God requires you to love Him with all of your mind. Loving God requires all of your thoughts, your imagination, your memory, your will and your sensations.

Our thoughts are very powerful aspects of our mind. Our thoughts unlike other emotions are impossible to see. It is very easy to pretend to love God when in actual fact your thoughts have no relation to God and your love for Him. Thoughts are unseen to people but the Lord knows your deepest thoughts. In Psalm 139:1-2 AMPC David writes;
“O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me. You know my down-sitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off.

This scripture should make us fear The Lord and have proper respect and reverence for Him. God judges the intents of the heart and the thoughts of our minds.

In Matthew 9:4 AMPC The Lord demonstrated this clearly;
“But Jesus, knowing (seeing) their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil and harbor malice in your hearts?”

We cannot claim to love God if the substance of our thoughts are not what he expects. We are driven by so many thoughts daily and quite often we are consumed by many thoughts other than God. Many think about God only when they are in church, sometimes only for a few minutes because we are distracted by other things even in church.

We cannot love God with an unfocused mind. Loving God requires that we retain God in our thoughts because anything short of this is not acceptable to the King of kings.

We cannot mock God by pretending we love Him. There is a danger to not loving God in the required way. To love God requires us to retain the knowledge of him in our hearts and thoughts. God gave a testimony about Abraham that he can command his house after the Lord God. This requires the retention of the knowledge of God and a transfer of that knowledge to the generations after.

The danger to not loving the Lord with all your mind is that God Himself will deal with you. In Romans 1:28-31 NKJV, the Bible says;
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; “being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;”

In Romans 1:21 Bible says;
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

The list goes on and on. Bottom line is God will have no pleasure in you if you do not honour and love Him . Your thoughts drive your interests, hence we must retain the knowledge of God in our thoughts. Let us now look at the other faculty of the mind called imagination and what its role is in loving the Lord.

Our imagination is the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. Growing up as a little boy, I often looked at creations and wondered how were these made? I would look at the sky and think how did God make these clouds? How did he make it to be able to hold rain? How did he make the sun to shine so bright? How did he make water? How did He make trees and birds? These thoughts would consume me for hours. It would cause me to start imagining how God designed and made these things. Very often when my imaginations were not satisfying my curiosity, I would ask my elderly cousin Soma how these things came to being. I remember on one occasion Soma told me, Kwesi your brain is too small to understand how God created these things and just accept that they are here.

Having grown up, I know how God created all things in the scriptures. With the exception of Adam and Eve, all things came to being though words. God is a super architect because if you look at all that He has created, and consider the intricacy and complexity of His handiwork you can only stand in awe of Him. The first time I was on a flight to London, I booked a window seat on a KLM flight and my purpose was to look at and admire the expanse of God’s creation. As the plane went through the clouds it felt as though the clouds were solid but getting close it was more fantastic than a hot knife through butter. I remember when the plane was above the clouds and looking as the created expanse my heart was filled with admiration and this song just burst out in my spirit “ Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, how great Thou art! How great Thou art!, Then sings my soul, My Savior God to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

You see I believe many have seen these sights countless times but you see my experience leads me to worship The Lord. What does your experience lead you to? To love the Lord your God requires that you do so even with your imagination. God can do exceedingly, abundantly and far above all that we could ever think or imagine. Child of God let your imagination run wild. As a young boy I often would lay in bed in the afternoons imagining how I wanted my life to be when I grew up. The Lord can inspire your imagination so that the outcome is not far from your day dreams. By the Grace of God a greater percentage of the things I used to imagine for myself have come to pass. Let your thoughts and imaginations lead you to the greatness of God.

1 Corinthians 2:9 – but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Loving the Lord requires your will. Will power is necessary in the pursuit of anything worthwhile. The word will is used to express desire, choice, willingness, consent, or in negative constructions refusal. You ability to love God the way He requires demands a deliberate act fueled by will power. Nothing good is done without effort. In the case where the King of Kings is involved being intentional and deliberate is required.

In Psalm 34 an amazing show of will power was displayed by King David; A Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Beloved to love God with all your mind requires your deliberate will regardless of your situation or realities. You see loving God is not confined only to good times. This was a man who was being looked for to be killed and in his attempt to be safe faked madness, and even in this state of uncertainty declared that I WILL BLESS THE LORD AT ALL TIMES…. My God! You are in the comfort of your home, life is happening for you, the lines are falling for you in pleasant places yet you lack the will to love God how He requires. Precious One, the time has come to jump out of our comfort zones and press on to loving God will every fibre of our beings.

The Lord requires all our attention in the expression of our love for Him. Your revelation of who God is Determines your Love! To love God with all your mind requires a renewal of the mind. In Ephesians 4:23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The renewal of your minds affects your thoughts, your imagination, your memory, your will and with every sensation in your being.

Renewal of the mind causes a shift in our desires and attentions, To be renewed in the mind brings about true Transformation in the life of a believer. Your ability to receive new information from the word of God depends on the level of renewal of your mind. Old wineskin cannot receive new wine. New wine is received in new wine skin. The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.

Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

The renewed mind of the believer goes with a regenerated spirit that receives knowledge from the Lord.

1 Corinthians 2:16
For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:11
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

Jeremiah 17:10
“I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.

The benefits of loving the Lord with all your mind;
1. The Joy of the Lord

Philippians 2:2
Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

2. Wisdom and Understanding

Luke 24:45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

Job 38:36 “Who has put wisdom in the innermost being Or given understanding to the mind?

3. Sound Mind

2 Corinthians 5:13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and sound mind.

4. Perfect Peace

Romans 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.

Beloved if there is any plan to make this year, it should be to have a deeper relationship with the Lord God Almighty. The time for games should end and the season of expressing true love to the Lord should begin and continue. The Lord is Good and His Mercies endure forever.

My prayer for you is this: 1 Chronicles 29:18
O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their hearts to You; In Jesus, Precious Name

Shalom, peace and life to you.

Pastor Ron Chiarelli

Love the Lord with all your soul

In Genesis 1:26; Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;

God is Spirit so He created man in His image. We are spirit first and foremost before soul and body. The express image of God.

In Genesis 2:7; And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Adam did not have a soul until God formed him out of the dust and breathed into him the breath of life. Then man became a living soul. That became the template for creation after Adam. The dust became the container (body) for the Spirit and soul.

The soul of a person is the repository of their emotions, their intellect and their will. Your mood at any time is influenced by your emotions which is also influenced by your five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch). So how happy or sad you feel is influenced by the complexities of the various gates to your soul. Yes your read right, I said gates, your emotions (and all it encompasses) your will, your intellect and all that it encompasses are gates to your soul. The body and the soul relate very well that sometimes their union is inseparable. That is how God has designed us.

In Psalm 103 David said “Bless the Lord Oh my soul and all that is within me bless His Holy Name…”

So you see, loving the Lord with all your soul requires every facet of your soul which includes all your will, all your emotions and all your intellect. True love consumes and so love must transcend your will, your emotions and intellect. The will is one thing God gave to His creation that has often worked against Him. If the Lord had not given creation a will, we would still be in the garden of Eden, fulfilling the original mandate God had given, Lucifer would still be in heaven singing praises to God, all the fallen angels would be at post fulfilling their purpose. But not so, God gave all of creation a will so He can tell apart those that love Him truly.

To will to love God is not child’s play. Your will is a great force that influences your decisions, actions and ultimately your destiny. Great achievers have one thing in common, the will to succeed. Any one who has succeeded in climbing Mount Everest must have had some strong will. People who pursue the Love of God have one thing in common, they will to bless the Lord at all times and will to continually maintain His praises in their mouths. It will take will power to seek God and even dare to make Him the object of your affection. Lovers of God are conscious about what enters or leaves the gates of their soul. They are conscious of what they listen to, what they say, what they eat and what influences them. Psalm 1 calls these people blessed!

Psalm 1:1; Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

All these things point to influencers of the soul. And so by being conscious of these you position yourself to be in compliance and obedience to the Lord. A Christian bought by the precious precious blood of Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit of God cannot be like the world. Your resolve always is to be pleasing to the Lord. To please God requires you stay away from all that displeases Him.

The soul and the spirit are powerful influences in the life of every person. God is Spirit and so loving him requires us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. There is this inner conflict between the soul and the spirit. The evidence of this is our outlook as Christians.

“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh—and these are contrary the one to the other—so that you cannot do the things that you would. But if you are led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (of sin that appeals to the flesh) Galatians 5:16-18

Our yearnings and desires often comes from our soul. In the case where our spirit is not in charge of our being our body and soul will drive and lead us. We need to master the soul and body in order for the human spirit to lead. God relates to us through our human spirit. This He created in His image and likeness. So in order to please God as the object of our love, our soul must be directed and inspired by our spirit where we can command our soul to bless the Lord.

At another opportunity we will look at duality and how it affects our love for God. Loving God requires loving Him with all your soul.

Shalom!

Pastor Ron Chiarelli

Love the Lord with all your heart

The Bible has often related love with treasure in many instances. For where a man/woman’s treasure is there is their heart also. So the treasure of your heart is the object of your love. To love God requires us to value Him above all else. A song writer wrote “something more than Gold, I found something more than Gold, if all I have is Jesus, Jesus is more than gold”.

You see treasure is hard to find. People work in mines to seek for treasure in deep places sometimes for months. To love God requires seeking Him.

With all my heart I have sought You; Psalm 119:10

Seeking the Lord goes beyond association. Many times many believers like to belong as a sign of their worship for God. You cannot seek God with your family or your friends or your mates at church. Seeking is a journey for self discovery. Because when you find God you find yourself and your purpose on earth. Seeking goes beyond searching, a search can end when you don’t find what your are looking for, seeking however will not end till the object of love is found. Seeking goes beyond your comfort zone and pleasure, seeking requires all your heart, all your soul , all of you. Seeking God guarantees Him being found.

The assurance we have in seeking God is that He has promised that if we seek Him we shall find Him. The command is after you have found God, love the Lord with All your heart.

“With my whole heart, with my whole life, and with my innermost being, I bow in wonder and love before you, the holy God!” – Psalms 103:1 TPT

The relationship between the Spirit and heart is the heart is the gate to your spirit.

God is spirit and they that worship (love) must do so in spirit and in truth. The only way one can access your spirit is through your heart. And so what consumes your spirit is what your heart is attracted to (the object of your love). For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

It is therefore important for us to guard our hearts from things that become treasures. We should beware of things that can steal our affection.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

The amazing thing is you can actually measure the content of your heart. By considering what consumes your heart, your get to know where your treasure is and where your heart is also.

Overwhelming feeling will express itself in speech; originally with biblical allusion to Matthew 12:34, ‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

If your affection is on God, if the object of your love is God, if you have sought Him and found Him it will be evident in your speech.

Shalom; Peace and Life to you!!!

Pastor Ron Chiarelli

What is Your posture?

I have often wondered how a man could be called a man after God’s on heart.

And how it is that God can give a testimonial about how He (God) has searched The Whole earth and found this person.

For a man to be found in this position must have meant David was doing something really exceptional that the creator of the universe liked.

A spiritual father of mine once said in order to please God you must find out what He likes and try with all your being to do those things, the converse should also be done ( stay far from any and everything that The LORD dislikes)

Today I want to share with you one of the mysteries why David was a man after God’s on heart.

Let’s start our journey by looking at what God requires as far as loving him is concerned. I have discovered that when it comes to what God likes He gives us hints and most of the time He is explicit about what is required. Let’s look at one instance where the Lord was explicit and concise with the requirements for Loving Him.

“Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul “

Deuteronomy 10:12

In Matthew 22:34-39 GNT, The Bible says;

“When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came together, and one of them, a teacher of the Law, tried to trap him with a question. “Teacher,” he asked, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and the most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’”

I believe many of you reading this post have read or seen or heard about this scripture at some point in your life. But you see very often we read the scriptures and leave it at that without searching to find revelation.

From the discourse above, the lawyer came asking a very important question that pertained to how to relate with God. He thought he was tricking Jesus but how fortunate for us, because Jesus revealed to us the greatest relationship mystery of the Kingdom of God.

Starting from what Jesus said, because truthfully that is where this kingdom mystery is revealed.

Jesus said “ Thou shall Love the Lord your God

1. With all your heart

2. With all your soul

3. And with all your mind

4. And love your neighbour as yourself.

I believe many of us have at one point in our lives sang love songs to God declaring our unending love for Him, sometimes with tears in our eyes. Oh boy! What an awesome feeling that brings.

The subject of love always has an object of love and there is the giver of the love. For God (the Giver) so loved the world (The object of love) that he gave (action leading to sacrifice) His Only Begotten Son(The Sacrifice)… John 3:16

Love both as a noun and verb has to do with great affection for someone or something. Simply put a great interest and pleasure in someone or something.

You see loving the Lord Your God requires more than emotionally expressive words. To love the Lord your God requires knowing the object of your love, the pursuit of love is hinged on relationship. To know God involves having a revelation of who He is. Hebrews 11:6b Anyone that comes to God must believe/know that He is…

Believing that who God is depends on your revelation of who He is.

A few years ago while in church during a time of worship I realized there were some congregants sitting and on their phones while others were standing with lifted hands praising God. The scene disturbed me quite a bit, so on the drive home I was asking God in my heart why some of His children are some way. I had passengers in my car so all this was going on in my heart. Immediately after asking the question the Lord spoke and said “YOUR REVELATION OF WHO GOD IS DETERMINES YOUR WORSHIP”. This made me fear God the more, reason being until you know the object of your love and worship, your love is misplaced. In order to love someone requires you knowing them. Loving God involves effort in doing what pleases Him, it also requires staying far away from things that displease Him. Love requires effort, it requires looking beyond oneself.

There are some who have spectacular experiences as far as revelations about God are concerned, but for the average person who has not had any encounters and is seeking to know God, the only source of reference for God (His nature, His attributes, His words, his actions etc) is His Word, the Bible. It is required of creation to love the Lord our God, loving requires knowing, knowing requires seeking, and those that seek God find Him, love is always directed towards an object of love.

Let us look at what it means to love the Lord with all our hearts. Quite often when we love someone there is this feeling of always wanting to talk to them, and be around them, always trying to do things that make the object of our love happy. For some it’s a real emotional journey with a feeling that only those who have been in love can explain 😀

Let us look at this scripture which I believe shows the basic requirements to loving God:

Deuteronomy 11:1 “You shall therefore love the Lord your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.

The proof of your love for God is in keeping His Charge (His instructions). If you claim to love someone openly but you disregard their instructions and do the opposite of what they like then you don’t really love them like you claim. If outwardly we declare oh! I love you Lord, and do what he doesn’t like, where is our love?

The primary test for our love for God is in obeying His instructions and having proper respect for the things that He likes and dislikes.

The proof of your love for God is in keeping His statutes. The statues of God are law. The things decreed by God are law which we need to have a proper respect for. The subversion of any institution or decree by the Lord Almighty is a breach and a show of lack of proper respect for Him.

The proof of our love for God is in the regarding His Ordinances. The God of the Bible has a way of doing things, The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob …. and now of Ron does not change, His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are highly exalted above ours. We cannot expect the same results the people of old got by doing things differently. He said I AM THE LORD and I CHANGE NOT.

The proof of our love for God is in obeying His commandments. Obeying commandments and instructions is hard work and often requires a conscious attempt to obey. Our love is tested each time the instructions of the Lord are concerned. A few years back I was in between jobs and my bank accounts were empty, I was strategizing my movement and eating and living by Accra plan😂😂😂. As a bachelor then, anything that came in was for sustenance. Someone gave me GHC50 as a gift and I had the money in my wallet as I went for a Sunday evening service. During the service as my custom is I like to worship God and say thanks, while singing some love songs to Him. I believe I had said thanks to God for the gift of GHC50 that night. While the preaching was ongoing I heard the LORD say to me “GIVE ME THE GHC50 IN YOUR WALLET”

This, dear reader, was the first test of my love for God. Imagine all the stews I can make with that GHC50, oh like my the fave corned beef stew and spaghetti? But you see I had been fasting and praying for months for God to show me mercy and take me to my next appointed place. And God had heard my prayer and had spoken from eternity into time to test and prove my Love for Him.

Deuteronomy 13:3b

“…for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul…”

I obeyed the voice of God instantly when He spoke, I took my precious GHC50 put it in an envelope and got up to drop it on the altar. Now this is the amazing part. I didn’t realize that the GHC50 I had was my sacrifice, I didn’t realize that by putting it in an envelope I was packaging it, I didn’t realize that in dropping it on the altar, I was presenting an acceptable sacrifice as a proof of my love because I obeyed the voice of the Lord. Immediately the envelope touched the altar the preacher stopped preaching and came straight to me and Said “God said to tell you that for being obedient I will settle you with a job and that multi nationals will come looking for you”. I said Amen. In three weeks I had four recruitment agencies from four countries informing me of a position available in a company starting in Ghana. Long and short of it is that God settled me and the salary was exactly 💯 fold of what God had required.

Deuteronomy 19:9

If you carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.

Lessons I learned from that experience were that whatever you have that cannot sustain you is a seed or sacrifice, give it to God. Secondly obedience to the instructions of God guarantees hundred fold blessings. Thirdly the outcome of every test from God if passed is glorious.

Shalom; Peace and Life to you!!!

Pastor Ron Chiarelli

¡Be Vulnerable, Again!

“The events that make your blood boil reveals what matters most to you. Anger rises when your core values are in jeopardy. With reflection, it becomes a mirror for seeing your principles more clearly. With action, it becomes a map for making change to protect what you hold dear.” Adam Grant.

The world has many perspectives on how to deal with anger, how to manage your emotions, 3 steps to do this, four ways to make that and so forth. Many mask their decision not to forgive with tales of protecting their peace of mind or the most popular one lately, “Self-care”. Have you however taken the time to understand what the Bible says about anger and unforgiveness?

“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil… And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. – Ephesians 4:26-27;32

I had an incident with my 3 year old during our bedtime routine; she kept crossing my path while chattering and trying to get my full attention. I pushed her aside in order to grab a pair of socks she had dropped in the process and she suddenly exclaimed, “Mummy you pushed me! Why did you do that?” I responded saying that we had to hurry and get to bed so we can have enough rest for the next day and continued on to apologize. She came closer, patted me gently on my back and said: “that’s alright mummy”, and then instantly continued her conversation from where she stopped as though nothing had happened.

It might seem like a little incident that is almost meaningless but she made me understand why our Lord Jesus endears us to be like little children. Be like a child. They forget that they ever got hurt and go right back to playing, sometimes going right back to doing the same thing that caused them the hurt or pain.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” – Hebrews 8:12

Being backstabbed or disappointed by friends or even family can be a pain. And if they side with an external party against you that cuts even deeper. Abusive words and hurtful actions have the potential to scar us only as deeply as we allow them to . As the saying goes, “to err is human but to forgive is divine”. It is essential that we learn to let go as fast as we can before that state of being upset and hurt grows into bitterness and resentment.

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. – Matthew 18:21-22

When you habour unforgiveness, it is nearly impossible to love again or show kindness again if you don’t intentionally become vulnerable again. Learn from the hurt and pain to be wiser but do not let the pain harden your heart and damage your ability and willingness to love as God has commanded us.

In the Old Testament of the Bible, the 10 Commandments given as instruction can be split into two parts. The first 3 commandments admonish us on things to do/not do towards God. The remaining 7 suggest things to do/not do against our Neighbour. Jesus makes it easier for us in the New Testament by firstly asking us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls and minds. Love your neighbor as yourself is the second instruction that our Lord Jesus summed up the other half of the 10 Commandments into.

You will not abandon yourself just because you made one mistake. That will only mean letting yourself down while you forfeit achieving your God-given mandate and purpose. Be gracious to others because you are neither perfect. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide.

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins. – Proverbs 10:12

The message today is simple. Be like that little child. LET IT GO! Drop that weight of unforgiveness. Quit depriving yourself of love you could so readily give and also enjoy because you have built walls to shield yourself from reliving past pain. Remember seventy times seven. If you indeed aspire to be like Jesus, He gave a glaring example by washing away your sins into the sea of forgetfulness. As far as the east is from the west, He let it go never to be remembered again. He has given us the grace to do same; to love without restrain, to be vulnerable again!!!

Love, Esinam.

HOW TO EXPERIENCE GREATER POWER AND GLORY (3)

Calvary greetings to you precious ones. In my last write- up, I spoke about 3 keys that can make a believer have access to greater power/ glory in this year and beyond. These keys were, prayer and fasting, very rich and consistent word study life, and fellowship with the Holy Spirit via the instrumentality of intense worship (music).

What’s the fourth point? It’s the sacrifice of a pure and a holy life.

1 Thessalonians 5: 22 declares “ Abstain from all appearance of evil”. This means any man or woman born by a woman on this earth has got a will which is so powerful to the extent that Jesus Christ Himself respects it.

That’s why He said “ I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I‘ll come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” Revelation 3:20 KJV.

You see, our will is so powerful to the extent that until we open the door He (Jesus) won’t be able to enter. If you really want to be powerfully used you will to do things that will attract God’s glory upon your life. This has nothing to do with the five fold ministry dear children of God. This is about believers.

By sacrifice, you may have to cut off some things which may not be wrong like some associations, outings, addiction to social media among others. You know in biblical days, men of God didn’t appear any how. You didn’t see prophets in town any how. You could only see them when they had a message for a people or an individual. Where were they? The were always hidden, seeking the face of Elohim. And by so doing, He was manifesting Himself to them.

It’s not an easy task believe you me. But if you make that sacrifice (for example sacrifice to always spend an hour or two in God’s presence in word and prayer before you come out and create boundaries) you’ll see a giant rise out of you. This giant can rise up in you in any area of life.

Make relevant sacrifices in marriage, relationship, finances etc and you will see how things will turn around. Push God and see his Hand at work within your life in a way you have never experienced before.

The Lord bless you.

Dr. David Tobi Ogoudou