Essential Ingredient

Kodak is synonymous with photography; you hear people talk about kodak moment - candid moment. Growing up, I remember I used to wonder how you can take a picture with a click and in about a minute you have  a printed picture coming out of a camera. Kodak was a company that allowed us to keep memories of ourselves... films, cameras and everything that allowed us remember happy as well as funny moments were due to the innovation of the great company Kodak. I remember some 15 years ago, there was an area called Kodak in the city where I live but the company took a big hit as a result of innovation and technological advancement. You do not need a film before you can get a great picture thanks to digital photography. On Monday January 23, 2012, Kodak, the photography giant filed for Bankruptcy! It was the end of a great era.

 

For as many of us that have received Christ, we can not afford to maintain status quo. There is a great need to keep growing, improving, evolving and soaring above the world and flesh. 2 Peter 1:5-9 The Message:

 

^5-9"So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books."

 

Gone were the days when looks and dressing alone were the immediate characteristics of a Christian... these days every area and aspect of ourlives should speak volume and declare that we belong to a different kingdom. There are seven specific areas addressed in the scripture above, you and I owe it to ourselves to work on these areas to avoid spiritual banktrupcy... It does not matter how long you have known the Lord or whether your grandfather brought Christianity to your village, perhaps you are a descendant of clergymen, neither does it not matter if you are the first Deacon or Sunday School teacher in your church, except we keep adding the essential ingredient which is GROWTH, I pray we do not end up like that great company KODAK. Sad as it is, the founder would not have thought that a day would come when the company will struggle for financial existence but alas!

 

There are so many things we contend with these days as Christians; innovation and technology is a major one and due deligence has to be maintained to avoid getting swallowed in the many inventions that surround us and make our lives convienient. Why would you want to go through the stress of buying a film, taking it for prints,waiting and so on when you can just click and get the result? Convienience creeps in subtling to challenge our faith. Let us always have the essential ingredient in the face of convinience - let us keep growing and we will not decay.

 

Its a Party!

What is the color theme, which jewelry am I going to wear? The shade of pink shoes I have does not match the color theme; all our friends are planning to wear stylish dresses made from lace materials… I am sure a lot of women are no strangers to the above scenario. With the weekend here, you know how many invitations you have and you know how busy schedules are going to be this weekend.
We all enjoy the company of our friends and family during celebrations, everyone is in a joyous mood, it is a sort of reunion and so on. When the gisting(talking), dancing and feasting end what do you go home with? When you have a party is it a nice jolly party or is it a Pity Party?

 What is pity party? It is when you are feeling sorry for yourself. A lot of people organize pity party about their lives; home, career, children and almost everything. When you see what another person is doing, do you ask yourself how can I improve myself in order to accomplish my purpose in life?Or do you ask "how come my own life is like this?"

 If you are single do you ask yourself what you do wrong or what crime you have committed that prevents the right men from coming to you? Or how come you can not find a girl as beautiful, godly and homely like your friends?  To the married; do you wonder why your friends have better husbands/wives, homes or children? When you are looking at other people’s ‘grass’ and wondering why it is greener than yours,  know for sure that they are likely to be spending more money or time to maintain such lush and neat lawn.

Pity party borders on ingratitude. It is always a case of you against the whole world; others are doing it right, having fun, moving ahead but not you. Others have a good home, have nicer children, houses, cars but you do not. Your pastor friend has a bigger ministry than you and you started at the same time.  Pity party is a subtle way that allows the devil to sow the seed of depression in lives. Have you also noticed that when you feel sorry for yourself and talk to the whole world about it all they say is “oh, sorry.”, "it is well".  Pity party does not provide any solution to the problem at hand, rather it worsens it.

Turning to our manual; 2 Corinthians 10:12 NKJV
“By they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise”.

Some people will always be richer, prettier, more charismatic than others. Some women will just seem to be perfect, some men too will seem to be the epitome of achievement but are those things not relative? Have you realized the individuals choose how to live their lives and make themselves happy? Why must you weary yourself because you are comparing yourself with someone else? God has given each one of us talents and abilities. Let us focus and thrive where God has planted us. God is working out His will for your life, remain connected and do not lose faith.

So, next time you want to organize a party, make sure it is to celebrate what God is doing in your life and the strides you are making…not a Pity party!

Please & Thank You

She opened the neatly wrapped gift box but her countenance dropped. She rolled her eyes in annoyance and said; “I specifically told him I wanted a black patent, 4inch heel, open toe Christian Louboutin shoes for my birthday… so why bother when you knew you were not going to give me the exact thing I requested for”. I usually do my shopping myself but when you requested for the size, color, make and style I thought you would make a bit of effort to give me my heart desire….“How long does it takes to get water, he yelled from the dining room. Do I have to sit here all day because I want to wash my hands?”

How do you make request in your home? How do you address your spouse or react when things are not done your way?

Please is a polite addition to a request while thank you is a conventional expression of gratitude. Everyday we make requests and expect people to carry them out; in our homes, we ask our spouses, children and household employees to run errands but are we courteous enough to ask them nicely or appreciate their efforts when such errands are completed? At work do we remember the ‘magic’ words when addressing a colleague or junior worker? As husbands, do we roar instructions down to our wives or do we exhibit civility in the way we place our requests? As wives, do we ever say thank you for the tiniest of help or assistance we get from our husbands?

When your husband buys the wrong grocery item do you remember to say thank you before telling him how much of your time he has wasted and what things will not work out well because he picked up the wrong item?

The next time you want your expensive white shirt dry cleaned; drop off or pick up,  try being courteous. Also, the next time you want your husband to take out the garbage, refrain from nagging or ordering him. Genuine please is like magic. Is it not funny how we train our children to say please and thank you but we ourselves never really count the words as important? Do you ever remember to say thank you to your husband for fixing the drains or replacing the bulb never mind the other big things that get done?

It is a woman’s duty to cook, clean take care of the home and so on. However, there are some women who do not do any of these things and their husbands still love them for who they are. Do you appreciate your wife for making your home a haven, peaceful, habitable and for raising your children? Do you find it important enough to say thank you when your wife goes all out to be hospitable to your friends or family members?

For bills that get paid; cell and home phone, hydro or electricity bills, for your cousin or niece that lives with you, remember to appreciate your spouse for allowing that.

It is important not to take anything for granted. Please and thank you are words that should be used more often among couples and you will be amazed at how many quarrels will be averted if we are more courteous in our relationships. Let each remember to thank the other for chores or duties that get done.

Please be a blessing and forward this to whoever you think will benefit from it and Thank you for doing so.

Waters of Marah

God brings us to seasons in our lives for His own pupose. The children of Israel travelled on a journey towards Canaan and they experienced different challenges. Be blessed as you read on.

 

Exodus 15:22 - 26 Amplified

²²Then Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea and they went into the Wilderness of Shur; they went three days [thirty-three miles] in the wilderness and found no water.

    ²³When they came to Marah, they could not drink its waters for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah [bitterness].

    ²⁴The people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

    ²⁵And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree which he cast into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There [the Lord] made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them,

    ²⁶Saying, If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God and will do what is right in His sight, and will listen to and obey His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord Who heals you.

God leads us through the journey of our lives however, our final destination is heaven. We do not just get there once we get born again, but we get to junctions, intersections and stop areas (service stations). All these areas have different characteristics; some pleasant, others frustrating and confusing.

There was no water to drink except bitter water... waters of Marah. When we travel on our journey at work, home or ministry and we hope to find relief but all we have is unpleasantness, crying, getting upset, bitterness are options eventhough not good ones. We have reactions to different challenges, children of Israel complained/murmured against Moses.

What is your attitude towards challenges? Do you complain, murmur or converse with the  Lord? What is making you uncomfortable and miserable? Talking and whining is not the solution. God profered the solution to the challenge facing the Israelites, His power has not changed; God has the solution to your challenge. Take a deep breath and ask yourself where are yesterday's challenges?

Every test brings promotion, but you require obedience to meet up to God's standard. When God tests you, depend on His grace to pass and obey every step of the way. Every water of Marah in your lives will receive God's solution for sweetness.

God's blessings.

Arrow of the Lord's Deliverance

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you all into the year 2012, I pray that the Lord will continue to strengthen and enable you in all you do in Jesus name. This year is a beautiful year; the Lord has said there will be opportunities, abundance and completion. These will give way to celebration and promotion, you will not miss out in Jesus name. Be blessed as you read on...

 

Hope deffered the bible says can only make the heart weary. However, a level of dodggeness is required to actualize God's purpose in ourlives. 

2 Kings 13:17 - 19 NKJV

 

 And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the LORD’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.” ¹⁸ Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. ¹⁹ And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.” 

 

When we have challenges that seem not to budge to prayer or  praise, quitting seems to always be the easy way out.  Every recurrent problem comes to an end in your life in Jesus name. When we seek the face of the Lord and it seems others are having testimonies while we are not, we often wonder, what have I done? I prayed and fasted, gave, hope against hope and did everything possible and yet the situation seems unchanging. Hold on I say do not loose faith. It does not matter how long your challenge has been stuck to you, everything that has a beggining must have an end. God is the immortal one and He alone has the ability to say 'enough' to every affliction, sickness and impossibility. Lk 1:37 excites me in the face of any challenge...

 

The arrow of the Lord's deliverance can only work when we are focussed, determined and unwilling to give up to discouragement. God has destined victory concerning your battle and victory is sure... I mentioned dodggedness earlier, I looked it up in the dictionary and it means persistence in effort, stubbornly tenactious! That is the quality we would need to effect the needed changes so that the arrow of the Lord's deliverance in 2012 will strike the right target until victory is complete. Keep striking; praying and praising and watch God destroy every enemy. Your testimony will not be delayed.

 

Welcome to victory in all areas of your life!