Hebrews 4:16 - Click to Read

It has always been my deep conviction that the prayer for help; the “Lord, help me” prayer is one of the greatest prayers that can be prayed. Sadly, it is also a prayer prayed only by a humble few. Pride and Self confidence are usually vices that stand in the way of the believer and prevent him from reaching out to the Lord for their much needed help.

Where I come from, there is a proverb which says “It is only when a child willingly lifts its hands up to its parents that it is carried.” For us to receive the help of God, we must show willingness to be helped by him, for “the Lord resists the proud but gives his grace to the humble.”

Crying those three simple words: Lord help me, in earnest and simple faith acknowledges our challenge and also expresses our confidence in Gods ability to save and deliver us; regardless of the circumstance. I am reminded of Peter and how as he began to sink in the turmoil and waves of the sea, he cried out these same words. Immediately, the Lord reached out to him and delivered him. It is also important to note here that it was only after the Lord delivered him that he scolded him for his lack of faith.

If we will cry to the Lord in our distress, we are assured that the Lord will immediately reach out to us with the help we need. It is my sincere prayer that we will not let sin, guilt or pride keep us from receiving Gods help. We however have to humbly ourselves and ask him for it.

In conclusion, we are encouraged by the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews to boldly come before the Lord’s throne to seek his mercy from our sins and shortcomings and also to seek his grace (divine ability) in such times of need so we can overcome. I am confident that as we humbly ourselves and cry out for his help, he will come swiftly to our aid.

Pray this prayer, asking for his help:

Lord, I need you. I need your help, mercy and grace to live my life for you. Help me Lord. Just as Peter did, I reach out for your help. Please rescue me so I can live a life pleasing and joyful to you. Thank you for hearing and answering, In Jesus Name. Amen

We live in a busy world. A world ruled by the quest to attain success and superiority; almost at all costs. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is sometimes easy to get carried away with the hustle and bustle of the affairs of life and forget the true purpose of our presence on this earth; to do and accomplish the will of the Lord for our lives.

It is also quite easy to “wax cold” in our love for the Lord and for his work. Almost unconsciously, we begin to place work, family and in general things that actually are important before He that is most important. I believe that the Lord is calling us back to him; to his feet. I believe he is calling us to spend time before him in worship and loving adoration, forgetting the cares and troubles of the world. It is time for us to heed that call.

If we get carried away with the affairs of this life; which are important but not to be placed before our God, there is the tendency for us to believe we have all we need. We begin to say in our hearts: “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing”, without realizing that there is nothing we have received that was not given to us by the Lord in the first place (1 Corinthians 4:7). In Revelations chapter 3, the Lord called this mindset and spiritual attitude an attitude of being lukewarm (vs. 16). He also went on to point out to the Church of the Laodiceans that not only were they not rich and in lack of nothing but that they were infact wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked! What a most pitiable state to ignorantly live in.

Today, as the Lord did about two thousand years ago through John the Apostle, I perceive that the Lord would counsel us to buy from him Gold that has been tried in the fire, i.e. the Word of God revealed by his Spirit, white raiment for clothing and to cover our nakedness i.e. the righteousness that comes through faith in him and not by our works or self righteousness and for us to anoint our eyes with eye ointment so we can see i.e. surrender to him and to his corrections so we can see our wrongs, be washed by his blood and receive his direction (vs. 18).

We must repent from the pride of our hearts. We must repent of this pride and self righteousness and cry unto the Lord for forgiveness; then the Lord will have mercy on us (Joel 2:17-18). Regardless of who we are, our social or economic positions or even the level of our education, we must come before his presence in humility and reverence of his person. Only then will he accept us into his presence (Isaiah 57:15).

We must never become so proud as to think that we have all we need, wanting nothing. If we have everything else in the world and do not have him, we have nothing. Please say this prayer of repentance with me:

Dear Lord, I see my fault. I see how I have sought to live my life without you and the leading of your Spirit. I am sorry for thinking in my heart that I am in need of nothing when in fact I was wretched. I ask for your forgiveness and the cleansing of your blood. Help me buy the pure Gold of your Word, tried in the fire. Help me buy white clothing to cover my nakedness and anoint my eyes with eye ointment that my eyes may be open indeed to your Word and direction. I ask this humbly, in the name of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen

Confession:

Lord, I believe this Word you have spoken to me today. I believe that a New Season begins for me today. Therefore, I step out in faith in that area I am looking to you for help. I know I will not lack, I know I will be promoted at my place of work, I know I shall walk in financial abundance in this new season, I know my walk with you will take on a new dimension, in Jesus Name. I believe and therefore I will act in obedience and I know the results shall come speedily in Jesus Name, Amen.

LESSON 4:

Praise is capable of moving God in ways that nothing else can. Time and time again across the pages of scripture, we see how God was moved to do literally mind boggling things simply because man worshipped or praised him. Psalm 22:3 further buttresses this point by explaining how God literally inhabits the praises of Israel; “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel”.

It is important for us to note this because although the entire Chapter 2 of Jonah is devoted to the Prophet’s prayer in the belly of the fish, God only commanded the fish to throw Jonah upon the land when he promised to pay his vows of thanksgiving and praise. God is not moved by our tears, complaints or even our well thought out arguments. However, when we engage the power of praise in our petitions to God, he attends to our requests personally because he inhabits i.e. literally lives in our praise.

Another lesson we learn from Jonah is that there is no situation too devastating or problematic that can deny God of the praise and worship he deserves. We do not thank God for bad things that happen to us; rather, we thank God despite the bad things that happen. We must make the choice to follow the admonition given in scriptures: “In everything, give thanks.”Notice however, that it doesn’t say for everything. So we thank God in the good and not so good times. And when there seems to be nothing to thank God for, we can thank him for who he is. This is the very definition of worship.

LESSON 1: God’s purpose or specific assignment to a man will never deny him of his free will to choose to or not to obey. God gave man the right to free will and will never violate or take away that right. It is important to mention here that this is regardless of how spectacularly that assignment was relayed. The apostle Paul made mention of this severally in his letters to the Corinthian church where he emphasized the need for balance between orderliness and the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the public meetings of the church (I Corinthians 14:26,40). We therefore understand that when the gifts of the Spirit are in manifestation, it is possible for the message to be held till the appropriate time when it can be delivered for the edification of the church. This is an occurrence we sometimes see in churches where a member of the congregation, perhaps genuinely inspired by the Holy Spirit to give a message in tongues blurts out these words in other tongues during the pastors sermon. This is definitely ill timing because it divides the attention of the church from the message of the pastor and is definitely not in order. Alternatively, a good time to share whatever the Lord has laid on your heart would be during the worship session when the eyes and hearts of the members of the congregation are on the Lord.

LESSON 2: From the above quoted scriptures, we also come to understand that just as man has the right to make a choice regarding the revelation of the will of God to him, God also has the right to act or make decisions based on man’s actions (Jonah 1:4). In the beginning, God took certain actions as a result of man’s failure to obey his injunction not to eat of the tree of good and evil. Man was thrown out of the Garden of Eden and forbidden from approaching the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24). However, it is important to mention that God is a God of love and his actions are always an expression of his love. Hence, every time we take a wrong step, God always acts in such a way as to turn our eyes back to him and to obey him. The bible likens these chastising moments as an act of mercy and love from God in Hebrews 12: 6-11 and admonishes us to endure them even though they may be painful because in the end they will yield “the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11).
Therefore, we understand that man has the right to free will and is 100% responsible for his obedience or disobedience to God’s Word to him. We also understand that God regardless of man’s disobedience is free to act in such a way as to turn man’s eyes back to him…even if it requires the help of a giant fish and its belly for three days.
In the second part of this series, we will explore more lessons from God’s dealings with man in the book of Jonah. To continue to the second part of this article, please click here>>.

But in the past months I have be appraising the inefficiencies and deficiencies in my life, especially those having to do with online relationships; those affiliations nurtured by cyber ϋber culture. Just like every other outlet of human interaction facilitated by technology, social networking has proven to be the neo-globalization that makes the economic definition trivial. I have created new friendships, reactivated old ones, facilitated strategic partnerships transcending geography and culture, promoted successful events all through social networking. And we know of course I wouldn’t be wrong if I posit that Facebook is now synonymous with the term social networking. So, most if not all of the above feathers in my social cap were awarded by Facebook. But frankly there lies this little matter that needs to be addressed, and this borders on the nature of cyber social contacts. Have they made the world more closely knit, or simply noncommittal?

So much goes on these online social platforms that it is almost impossible to measure cause and effect. Beyond the basic idea of searching out old friends and connecting with new ones, is the rise of causes, ideas, projects, and initiatives that seem to rally people around a common goal. It would usually take a really committed person to join a cause around their community and work at accomplishing the set goals. But now, it is just a click away. You hit the ‘Like’ button and you automatically support the cause. Not more is demanded from you. After discovering that I had unknowingly join almost 150 groups and pages on Facebook, I had to cleanup my domain and still found that I was still present in over a hundred whose cause I believe in. But beyond the premium I place on what they do, is that I rarely if at all visit up to ten of such pages in a week, neither do I make any concerted effort to advance their agenda. My support is at best a hearty concern.

Before the opportunities to know of and get more involved with great initiatives came around, we were limited to our immediate confines of influence, which required a stronger sense of responsibility and accountability. But with the gradual migration of community resources to the online platform, I find that most people have therefore created an online personality to match through which they interact with anything on the “webosphere”. It is simply the feel good personality who joins a good cause and comment a few times on its wall then hop on another wagon with little or no measurable influence on the former. A few others have decided that it is their own opportunity to make their voices heard by forming all kinds of groups and fan pages, which by the way, a closer look will reveal a similar group, doing a similar thing, in a similar location. So beyond partnership is the desire for ownership. This is by no means a bad thing unless we check to what end.

A few things to note is that first, our society is progressing in stages, and what we have now is that stage where social activism and participation is being sparked by technology. Whether it moves from there is left for social prophets or seers to prognosticate on. Second is that social networks have increase social participation that never existed. Until we had mobile phones and social platforms, our influence remained limited to work, family or our varying flirtations. But now, we can discuss serious or stupid matters with people we have never seen but have a common interest.

Thirdly, many of the people who use these social platforms are lacking in knowledge of the strategic approaches to generating results through these tools. While in some countries, Social Media has already become a curriculum in schools, seeing how the future portends, Nigeria is still lacking in such proactive academic thinking. I remember going to Syracuse University sometime this year and was speaking with a German Professor who was designing a major Social Media study for the Ph.D. level students. I was impressed at the level to which she had created points of power from the concept.

This is an exciting time in human history that we have become so crazily connected in scary ways. But with this comes also the issue of the connections of nothingness or naughtiness. There is an increased capacity for superfluity in transience and this makes it feel like a dangerously big bubble. People now feel that can lend their voices and not their hands, discussing passionately online and reverting to nonchalance and avoiding personal responsibility. Again it is not necessarily bad, at least we can infer from some intelligent assertions, but how erratic these forums have become with no calculable impact on society.

I have worked the social platform, but I learnt never to start one without a matching tangible on-ground structure. So the onus is to take a more quantitative and qualitative approach to how we can translate our online power (potential power) into actual measurable impact. Then we leave some structure for the next generation to flag off their contributions.

Connections are a necessary first step, but for social networks to really deliver on its true value, connections must become partnership. These are the amazing potentials we enjoy today and it presents us with the opportunity to move along the continuum from connections to friendships, from friendships to partners, and from partners to progress.

Personality:
11. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control.
Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don’t over do ; keep your limits
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously ; no one else does
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past.
That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn.
Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away
like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Community:
25. Call your family often
26. Each day give something good to others
27. Forgive everyone for everything
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day
30. What other people think of you is none of your business
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right things
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful
34. GOD heals everything
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
37. The best is yet to come
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least :
40. Have fun today and tell as many as you can to do the same.

God loves and cares for us!

HAPPY XMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR in ADVANCE….

I also strongly believe that this work of salvation mentioned here is beyond what today’s Christianity and Churchianity (as my friend and mentor put it in his work, check it out on http://calabarboy.com/) . It is the great work that transformed Paul from being just one of the great lawyers in the Mid-East at his time, to a man known to have affected millions around the world across timelines. This work has re-created many great minds in the world, enabling them to accomplish great feats, greater than they would have been able to achieve on their own. This is why I believe sufficient justice is not done in church gatherings around the world today, as the truth is not given in its totality. This is not the purpose for my discuss in this writing, but I believe that at the end of this, my position will be clear.

I am of the opinion that many have substituted times of deep reflection and meditation for several activities in our activity-oriented world today. Many times we wake up with our schedule for the new day already set in our minds before the dawning of the new day. So, we really don’t have the 5-15 minutes to reflect or meditate on words that will make the day refreshing and productive. Over the years, work-rate has increased to 16-hours a day, many parents don’t have the time to give their children proper training, they are left at the mercy of nannies, who most of the time don’t know how to take care of themselves in the first place.

Many of us have not realized the power in meditation; let me help you with a little perspective, if you know yoga, it works on the principle of meditation, and try to find out what people have been able to achieve just taking yoga lessons. The law of gravity, we understand to be a product of meditation; the civil right movement lead by Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and many others who have made marks in the world all started from times of deep reflection.

A man I deeply respect, when asked by the press of what he does with his time; he answered, “I read and think.” He has so much to show for that today, after many years of diligently attending to reading and thinking. I took cue from history, understanding purpose and the demand of destiny; I sort for lessons in the ‘school of meditation’ to understand the times, and know what I and my country men must do at certain times to be distinguished among many.

Now I know that for every glitter, a great price has been paid. You’ll only be able to understand the depth of this truth on your knees.

People say it’s difficult, I can’t try it, just because they know what to do, but can’t come to terms with it. So, it’s safer to say “you can’t understand” “I’m going through a lot, just about now” This is better than say “I’ll find a solution” “I must get out of this, and I’ll do that with my head up”
It’s easier to say “I can’t” than to say “I’ll equip myself to face this challenge, because I know I’ve got what it takes inside me.”

Many believe that you are weak to believe that your life is controlled by a high power, and when you say it’s God, they say you’re dumb. But are fast to admit when they lose a bet, I ran out of luck or I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning; think of this why must I set an alarm to wake, can’t I be in control of my body? I guess not, because if you can, then you can command your body to sleep right now and it’ll do just that. If it won’t, then I guess it’s not wise to think that the natural is controlled by the supernatural, much more the spiritual based on scriptural truths.

I learnt that life is what it is, just as it presents itself. But to face its complexities, you have to understand certain truths that can’t be learnt in movies, stories or picture. These truths are discovered in the place of deep meditation. Meditating on the words that refine, “the good news about Christ” that Paul – that blessed Patriarch mention in the passage I quoted in my opening. You meditation on this word refines the heart, enlightens the mind and empowers the brain to direct the body in the right path for development and generational impact.

You can do beyond what you are doing now, you best days are yet to come; the good you have seen is not still as good as the deposit you’ve got inside of you. Get the thinking cap on, get His word, speak it as written in the Holy Scripture, believe it, reflect on it, then take appropriate action in the right direction and you’ll not be able to compare your yesterday with toady and your tomorrow will be greater than today.

We have the deposit for the change the world is desperately in need of. He believes in you! And He wants to speak with you and teach you great and marvellous things….give him a place.

“KILLER” is his name, at least that’s what we know him by, a paramilitary with a God-given talent – his mouth. He made the drills fun and pain at the same time. By the way, my first lesson was GOOD MORNING SIR, even when referring to a lady. I wondered “what the heck? What difference does it make, will that make you a man?” well that’s all in my mind, and my thoughts can’t change a thing; I just had say it or say the opposite in my mind, when no one would join me in saying it.

I ran into him the previous day, he was wired and had on ‘scorpion slippers’; he was the commanding officer for my first drill, “jacking the bow … I do like this …. I do like that…. I balance well…..” Just as I said, I had the combination of fun and pain. I thought that was all and I would have some time to get back to bed, I didn’t know there was more! The military officer-in-charge had to register his presence – it was time for lesson two, “pré…pré-tion” “stand a-high” (what’s it these guys? Can’t they just complete their statements?) Parade attention, stand at ease; “why does people….” (English doesn’t just come easy). “Pre-remove-head-dress…., pom….., three heart cheers….., drums……, pre-to-replace-head-dress……., pom!” I think I missed all the commands on the first call; I guess you know what to expect for that “OTONDO!” “…what in the world is that?” I had to learn that in their world there are unpublished dictionaries; that word is one of the many words in that dictionary.

After head-dress exercise, we were dismissed. Seriously, I thought that was for the day, but it wasn’t so at all; we would be having lectures! “Here too?” thank God for my roots, it’s a privilege to understand the dynamics of ‘stabbing’ the mind had already calculated the number on site, and figured out that “….no way can this hall take all these bodies….” Since I had to understand my new environment, out-right ‘stabbing’ might be suicidal, so I decided to be among the ‘unlucky lot’ who couldn’t make it into the hall. The difference is mine was a choice; good for me! I didn’t miss much as the lecture was boring – “I’m not surprised! Did anyone actually expect anything different?” Lesson 3 – stabbing is very possible, but it must be done with wisdom. HOORAY!!!

I only failed Lesson 3 once, when the main actors peeped into the script of the minor actors. Seeing Lesson 3, they provided an amendment to their strategy. When it was lecture time, they blew the ‘biggle’, got us to the meeting point and marched us to the lecture hall. “Nice amendment” I thought, but it didn’t take long for the minor actors to do re-amendments. Thank goodness I was part of the few with “A¯” in dynamics of ‘stabbing’ from the roots, I only failed that Lesson once. There were better things to do than boring oneself in a lecture hall where you sleep through most of the lecture. Sleeping on the arrangement of metal rods (my mattress) would be better than sleeping on the chairs in the hall. It was my last lecture though, and some other stuff suffered the fate of stabbing, “I can’t kill myself now” at least I choose not to, since I have a choice here.

Match time…….Slow match………Quick match………. Lesson 4, I didn’t need this, “with all the stress I’ve been through….., this again? NO!!!” thank God I didn’t get into the selection, even if I did, I’m sure I would have ‘knifed’ it. I still have a great future ahead, to have it mortgaged by stress? “….no way” God bless the guys on the matching squad, I was lifted watching you perform. Thank you.

My crew was the second to get on the ropes and mine was not a funny story! As I tried to slide down the slanting rope, I tipped over – the result of my not listening to instructions; but life has a way of preserving itself. Even if you stop loving life, it will help you by starting to love itself. I knew I couldn’t fall off, and surprisingly I was composed and not scared, and could go through the remaining hurdles, scaling them successfully; that was a life time experience. I wish I have all that in pictures now. Since I didn’t heed “the leading” to sow my camera as a seed, (it was so precious to me – a special gift), I had to part with the camera the hard way. If I sown it, I would have my memory stick, but now I lost both. I’m still quite “burnt” with myself in that regard, but I learnt my lessons, Lesson 5 – always yield to the Spirit leading, this was a very important lesson I learnt in this period.

“….night patrol?” “….can you imagine?” That was my duty for the day; well I had to take it, because in this case as many others from my roots, “your opinions count only in your mind.” It wasn’t a bad duty at all as I had an excuse to skip drills the next morning.

Meeting people was a daily affair. On my crew, I had two colleagues from the roots, two great friends. We were mostly introduced by one of us who claims he read applied plumbing, advance masonry (not sure of this one, but I guess it’s something close), then fencing and wiring for my other friend and I. It was fun meeting people, and against the popular opinion – that people from my root are not sociable, I guess the three of us were about the most sociable guys on site. We met so many people and we got along pretty well. I had fun meeting people, and I met a number of fantastic people there.

“Shoes get size…… ehn, okrika get counterfeit” “Shoes get size…… ehn, ikebe get counterfeit” all were regular tunes for jogging and drills and a good number of other tunes that skip my mind right now. “KILLER” was the main man, he just kept supplying the tunes and we had just one call – sing along.

Almost forgot this, burn-fire was boring, it didn’t just march the hype, I went to sleep and it didn’t feel as if I’ll miss a thing….

I’ve got a lot of mixed feelings about the experience. The drills, the trek, jogging and meeting people had the fun side and the hard side, but it was an experience indeed. I’ll close with this, “….under the sun and under the rain….., do what you can to make a difference……, Nigeria’s ours, Nigeria we serve”

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!