Made For God

A fisherman caught a really beautiful fish one day and because the fish was so cute…the fisherman decided to place the fish on his bed and watch its beauty. Your guess is as good as mine..the fish struggled and died. Because there was no water to sustain it.

The next day, this same fisherman saw a beautiful little plant and decided he would love to decorate his sitting room with the beautiful plant. So he uprooted the little plant and placed it in an empty jar and kept the jar on his centre table. The plant withered the next day.

Am sure by now you’re wondering what kind of dumb fisherman that is. Am wondering too. Just that I don’t want to go so far wondering because somehow that fisherman lives among us…sometimes he’s really close…as close as our hearts.

K. This is the question. What could have been done differently to help the fish and the plant survive. For one, a mini aquarium.. Or a large bucket of water with cover will have done the trick for the fish…and a little soil, good soil with water and sunlight will have helped the little plant blossom and become even more beautiful…thereby making the man’s house even more beautiful.

Bottomline, the fish and the plant were cut off from their source…so they withered. They came from a source and only connection to that source could sustain them.

Which is why I said the fisherman lives close to us. Sometimes as close as our thoughts and the very decisions we make.

God said let us make man in our image and after our likeness…and He did. Man was created in the very image of God because Man came from God.

We are not existing in a vacuum. We have an origin. A source. And that’s God. He made us. He formed us. He breathed into us. It is His breath that keeps us alive.

We all have a vacuum in us only God can feel. Its God-Shaped. Nothing and no one  can fit in. Except God. It’s like taking chilled coke when you’re thirsty. You will likely feel OK but after a while, the thirst will hit you again. And sincerely if you keep taking coke every time you’re thirsty… The doctor will soon become your friend. Your best bet is to satisfy your thirst with what truly satisfies. Water.
And cold chilled one at that.

You see, the day we take a walk away from God, we will start to struggle because we are out of our source. We’ll just be merely existing. True living – that ‘alive breathing excitement’ that comes with the feeling of being alive (forgive my grammar) can only come when we are connected. To our Source.

Life can be stressful… Tiring….a hustle….bustle…. annoying… But if we can plug into the One Who alone sustains us, life will become much more interesting.

He didn’t promise a life with no stress…. But that He will be with us…through the fire…the pain..the ‘whatever’ life brings and He will ensure it works out for our good. Irrespective of what happened. All things…Romans 8:28

And remember.. The kind of death Jesus died, the blood He shed.. The pain He went through is too much for any amount of sin or mistake to neutralize it. Jesus didn’t go through all He went through to see a sin or a mistake His blood can’t handle. There is nothing you’ve done, absolutely nothing that can nullify or neutralize the mercies of God.

We are made for God…and if we can reconnect to Him…He will give us a fresh start.

And whatever you do…whatever happens…always ensure you remain CONNECTED to your true source.

Have a good evening and an exquisite week ahead.

God bless You

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El-Hephzibah

LIFE DISCIPLINE….

Today’s post is about disciplining yourself to achieve your purpose. Life has to be lived by design if you will have any fruit come from it.

Our lives are like planted seeds. The fruit we produce is dependent on how much we are willing to ‘till the ground’.

Sincerely, if we were to make it, there are three core mentalities we ought to have; the mentality of a farmer, a soldier and an athlete. (Thank You My Pastor-Rev. Biodun Fatoyinbo).

The Mentality of a Farmer

The mentality of a farmer ensures that you take the time to plant good viable seeds into your life in the form of words, thoughts, diligence, finance etc and WAIT for the seed to grow because as long as the earth remains, seed –TIME – and harvest will not cease. There is always a time between the seed planting and the harvest and though God can shorten it, sometimes He doesn’t.

You will need to wait it out in faith and patience. And that is why you should start early, because the things of the Kingdom can take some time but when the fruits come, it will last.

Examples;
Let The Word of God be planted firmly in your heart by constantly studying the Word of God. Listen to and replay Christian messages (because listening just once won’t cut it). Think on the Word. Dwell on it. Confess the Word. Get a trustworthy partner if you can, to confess what you are trusting God for, back to you. Let the person speak it to you and you affirm. Flush away contrary words and pictures and apply the Blood of Jesus to anything that is contrary to the picture you have in your heart

Wherever you are now, give your best. Sometime in the future, that legacy will speak for you. Be diligent. Work like God is your direct boss because He actually is. Your earthly boss can award you with money but God rewards you and gives you life wages beyond what money can  buy.

Sow money seeds. Beyond tithe. Seed-working works. But you must remember to coat the seed with scriptures before you sow it. Talk to the money and instruct it on  what it should do and as that seed leaves your hand, it doesn’t leave your life, it goes to the future to wait for you and becomes the harvest you need then

The Mentality of a Soldier

The mentality of a soldier ensures that you are alert and active and that you act as commanded not as convenient. You don’t give up in the face of challenges. Once you have the go-ahead from God, you burn the bridge behind and plunge in, determining to conquer. You just have to find a way, not in your own strength, but through God. You don’t turn away from obstacles like a river, you find a way and if you can’t, you plunge right through. Acting as commanded means you live beyond your feelings to willing yourself to take the right course of action per time. It calls for delayed gratification when you have to. It is wide so you apply it to your own specific area. I trust God to guide you and give you deeper understanding.

The Mentality of an Athlete

The mentality of an athlete calls for discipline. The athlete puts in his all to ensure he takes the prize. He is not just running to excel, his running to WIN. He has a goal- the trophy. For us, the competition is not with a fellow man, it is with our past because every new day must be an improvement on yesterday. Even if you have to crawl, make a move. God is a GO-God. He’s always moving ahead. And if He ever asks you to wait, it is because He’s working out something and soon He will tell you it’s time to move so even in that ‘waiting’, you’re growing- making a movement. And of course your prize is your reward in heaven.

Examples include;
Disciplining our tongues; we must not speak guile with this our mouth. Guard against it because the temptation is always high. The issue with that is that a few words spoken in defeat can destroy what you’ve been trying to build for 2 months. And if you ever fall in the trap, destroy those words by the blood of Jesus and replace them IMMEDIATELY with what you’ve been confessing. Don’t hold back.

Disciplining your emotions not to react to events or follow my feelings but training yourself to follow The Word. Feelings are bad leaders but good followers. You must train them to conform to The Word of God. It will not be easy at first but if you ask God to help you and play your part by digging your heels in to do it, you will succeed.

Disciplining your body to eat what is right so you can preserve the ‘horse’ God has given you to deliver your message. Exercise right, eat healthy, control your impulses and subject your body to the Word.

Conclusion;
The Bible talks about the world waiting for the manifestation of the sons of men. The enemy knows that if he allows you, you’ll wreck maximum damage to his plans and kingdom. So he will fight you hard. He will fight you so hard that only three weapons can defeat him, The Word, your praise and your diligence. Take The Word of God and act on it. Wake up when you need to. Do not joke with your prayer life, put your finances in order, and be careful how you speak, involve God in your choices and decisions, no matter how small and above all else…guard your heart diligently because out of it flows that issues of your life…

Have a restful Saturday…God Bless u

EL’ Hephzibah

THIS THING CALLED MONEY

 

I recently had a discussion with this cousin who recently graduated and whom I consider extremely intelligent. Turned out that he never saw the need to get the degree he just had and minutes into the discussion, I found out that somehow, he believes that being wealthy has little or nothing to do with having a degree. He gave me strong examples of wealthy and influential men who were school drop outs and men who could not even construct a single straight sentence in English without making mistakes. That got me really thinking but I still DO NOT agree with him because Education has a way of expanding your mind and wealth is basically an internal journey. I just believe these men received some form of education, formal or informal, at some point, because you cannot create wealth in a vacuum and any form of exposure to information is education.

Back to our topic, my discussion with him reminded me of a question that came up a while ago in my mind. It had to do with all the wealthy men I saw around that were not Christians and the journey to wealth of some Christian brethren which seemed to be taking a whole lot of time. First of all, we are Christians and that should make things easy right? Wrong. So I asked, how did they do it without God? Comparison was subtly creeping in when God came to my rescue and proceeded to give me a life changing lesson. One I will not forget in a hurry and one I’d like to share with you. So join me if you will.

 

Before we start, let’s give a name to that wealthy man you know who isn’t a Christian. Let’s call him Fred. Fred has it all together. The money. The looks. The blings. The houses. The cars. The trips Sometimes he even does women and parties. And of course, he does give to charity. Sometimes he gives really big. Yet his money doesn’t seem to finish. If anything, it multiplies.

Another guy, John is that Christian who lives in a rented apartment a stone throw away from where Fred lives. He watches Fred every day. You see, John is a devout Christian. He pays his tithes regularly, sows seeds and gives. He prays over his offering and in the midst of all these. He is still encouraged not to be ‘weary in doing good because he will reap if he faints not’. Trouble is, john is almost ‘fainting’ because he’s seeing a picture in front of him that suggests he doesn’t need to work all that hard to be wealthy.

 

So this is what I learnt;

• It is totally useless comparing John with Fred. The thing is, we are in different systems, operating different life principles. One is a threat to the kingdom of darkness; the other isn’t so much of a threat. The enemy doesn’t mind Fred having money so long as he doesn’t threaten his kingdom agenda with it. And devil’s kingdom agenda is to take as many people with him to hell as he can. So Fred can give as much money to charity as he wants, so long as the ‘charity subjects’ do not receive Jesus, devil is just a little fine. He doesn’t want them comfortable but if he can’t get the Fred to stop giving, he’ll comfort himself that souls are not being lost. Now when it has to do with John, the ball game is entirely different. Money in John’s hand not only means more comfort for the world, it means more souls for Jesus. And devil is going to fight him. He will fight John very hard because John is a big time threat to him. So a door that opens easily to Fred might not open easily to John because devil is on the look out for John to ensure John doesn’t succeed in life or have any money

 

 

• Since the world began, devil has been trying to paint God as a liar. That was what he used to get Eve. And he is still using that method a whole lot today. And even though he is the actual liar, he still pulls strings that can convince you, if you are not careful. So what does he do? He manipulates circumstances and tells you so much lies, pushing you to believe them and think them to be true. And because as a man thinketh in his heart so he becomes…you begin to see some of those lies you believed, play out in your life and they begin to look like truth. And of course the devil uses that one stone to kill 2 birds because he succeeds in convincing you, at that point in time, that what God said wasn’t true and he succeeds in convincing the unbeliever close to you that Christianity is not worth it because the guy can see you are not getting results.

 

• But you see, God’s Word is the greatest truth you can ever come across. God means what He says and says what He means. It is useless comparing yourself with the Freds of this world because your terrain is different and if you can stand on the infallible Word of God, you’ll be amazed at your results. It will surely exceed that of Fred. We have examples – Bishop Oyedepo, Kenneth Copeland, Mrs Ibukun Awosika, Mrs Jumoke Adenowo, Rev Biodun Fatoyinbo, and the list goes on and on. Some of these successful conglomerates we see today are run by true Christians who are just quiet and live very simple lives. Don’t let the noisy lifestyle of the rich guys you see deceive you. We do have a whole lot of them in our camp and they are doing well for Christ. You can be a wealthy Christian too because Psa112:3 says that wealth and riches will be in his house and his righteousness endures forever. The guy is both righteous and rich. You just need to stand on the Word of God and get to work.

 

So what is the work all about? Sometimes, Christians want God to do all the work for them while they put their brains to sleep. No. life will not work that way. You have to get up and use the brain God gave you. Even the Fred you see today uses his brain. You use your own and route your results through God. Get to work. In addition to the tithes, seeds and gifts, Study money. Study the lives of wealthy men. Value your time, because time is a valuable resource for wealth creation. Get information. Allow your mind to catch that picture of you as a wealthy person because if your mind doesn’t go there first, you will never get there at all. Study financial management, learn how to make your money work for you , study investments. And as you study, put them into practice. Be careful though to sieve the information you receive through the standards of God’s Word. Do your homework and add the God-Factor. And route it through God. When your work begins to bring forth fruit, your results will make you wonder why you envied Fred in the first place. You have Christ, you have money and plenty of it for that matter.

Do have a restful Saturday. God bless you

 

AijayUfomadu

 

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Long walk to change…

 

It’s a long walk from where you are to where you ought to be. You feel unqualified and even though you know God can qualify and use the unqualified, you know the way you are will not be a blessing. It could be a bad habit or a negative mindset, or a health issue or a situation that has held you so strong you know only God can take you out even if you’re not sure He will. And then when you get yourself to believe that God will, you ask yourself, how will it be? You need a change but you don’t know where to start from.

 

I have an idea. Start from God’s Presence. The presence of God is a powerful refining room and the beautiful thing about His presence is that you don’t need to change a thing about yourself. You just come as you are and He will not in any way cast you out. Constant exposure to the rays of God’s Presence will start to work on you and in you and those strongholds will start to weaken. The hinges and joints will come apart steadily but surely and that evil that has had you so long you’ve given up on it will start to loosen its hold on you. Sometimes though, the holds loosen in an instant. But most times, it takes a process so as the holds weaken by the day, it is replaced steadily with God’s Strength, by the day. It doesn’t matter how powerful it is. God’s Presence is more powerful than it. So just soak….in His Presence

 

You see, the seed of righteousness that was planted in you at your newbirth is nourished in God’s Presence, So you drop the ‘old feathers’ and grow some ‘new feathers’ for this new life and someday soon, you will come away from the blast of his presence and discover – You Have Changed…

The hold has fallen away finally and you didn’t even know when because you were so consumed loving God. Just focused on Him. And when it fell away, the heat of His Presence consumed it.

So to sustain it, you remain where you got it in the first place – God’s Presence.

Remember the enemy will come back hoping to find it empty and if he does find it empty, he will bring heftier holds than you had before. You don’t want that.

Having His Presence starts with your prayer altar. It’s not so much a specific place (though a specific place is highly encouraged) as it is a mindset that affects your approach to His throne. Get serious and give it a time (it’s an appointment) and as much as you can, a place. And keep to your appointment because when that time comes, God will be there waiting for you. Please do not stand Him up. And make it regular

Enter with worship.

That is the protocol of His presence. And let it be real. From your heart. Not just lip-singing. Really think about what you are singing…and go on and have communion with The Holy Ghost. I will not give you any other step in His presence beyond this. I’ll just tell you how to go in. It’s an appointment between you and Him and He’s the chief so he will order it and He will tell u want to do. And when He does, please follow Him…closely.

Another is the gathering of the brethren. That is a very powerful one. It brings the corporate anointing and in that atmosphere, any good and great act can happen. It’s almost as if the faith of many coming together forms a great force that pulls God’s anointing down in such a way it’s almost tangible…and His anointing moves in different directions healing sicknesses, solving problems, delivering people, answering questions and doing what He knows how to do best-restoring man to the state of life he ought to be in- the abundant life (living).

And when you leave the prayer altar or the fellowship with the brethren, preserve the atmosphere by continuing in worship. Create an aura of worship by the things that speak around you. Gospel music and preaching are extremely important in this regard

And so let the worship continue…Someday soon, we’ll be one with Him.

 

Yours in The Lord

EL’ Hephzibah

Your Life…Your Farm..

I remember when I was first introduced to farming…I think in early secondary school. Then the specimen was mostly maize seed. We were taught to carefully select the seeds to plant, plant the seeds in loamy soil or loam-sand soil for best results, water it well, ensure it gets adequate sunlight and weed the land to ensure the seeds get the utmost nutrients. And we were told to wait for about five to ten days I think… before it’ll sprout. It was exciting so I decided to experiment a little. I had this small piece of land behind the main building of my house that I decided to convert to a mini farm. Somehow I enjoyed the thought of planting a seed and watching it grow. I can’t remember what happened after then but I don’t think I sustained the passion because I don’t exactly remember eating cobs from my mini farm or even taking pictures of the yet immature maize stem.
Fast forward to the future. Recently, my pastor, whilst preaching, likened The Word of God and our hearts to seeds and the ground and for some reason, I remembered my short-lived passionate affair with maize planting. That got me really thinking and I decided to do a little research on it and see if maize planting will have anything to tell me on God-Word-As-a-Seed planting. What I saw was really amazing. I’ll break it down into parts so I don’t go on and on but it’s something that if we take the time to apply, we will be amazed at what we will see
1. First the seed. Your seed has to be viable. Alive. Able to reproduce the KIND you want. Choosing the right seed can never be overemphasized. Even amongst same fruits and foods, there are varieties. The seed variety you sow will produce same variety when it sprouts. This calls for precision. Matthew 13 tells us the seed is The Word of God. You need to get God’s mind on that matter. What specific promise has God made to you concerning it? What instruction has He given? Even when there isn’t a clear answer for today’s specific contemporary challenges, if you search the scriptures and ask God to guide you, He will surely lead you to an answer. A promise. An instruction, That Word so long as it’s the Word of God is viable enough to produce what it talks about, in your life.

2. The land…Has to be good soil. We learnt that loam soil is the best soil for maize and that different seeds grow in different soils. So when planting it’s best to go for the soil that will best suit your seed. The Word of God can only survive in a heart that is right. That’s what the born-again experience does to you. Your heart, inner man, is recreated. Brought to life. Made viable. So God’s seed can grow in there.

3. The farm tools – Here we’ll summarize into one, all the farming implements used to plant a seed in the ground. That farming implement is called FAITH. Faith is what drives The Word into the ground of your heart. The Word finds its way into your heart when you believe IT and RECEIVE it

4. Watering – Watering is key to the growth of the seed. In fact watering is so important it can make or break your seed. Poorly watered seeds can produce stunted plants. Watering your seeds is akin to speaking. Declaring those words over and over again, drawing pictures, till it saturates your mind. In Eph 5:26, we see Jesus washing us with water THROUGH The word. What water does to the maize seed is what speaking and declaring does to your word-seed. And just as you don’t stop watering till u harvest, so u don’t stop speaking till you see the results. And I understand that the best time to water the maize plant is early in the morning…sounds like getting up early in the morning to command your morning and instruct your day

5. Weeding – all those stuff competing for nutrients with the seed need to go otherwise your seed will not grow well. The major nutrient here for your word-seed is your focus. Your attention. You need to pay close attention to the word for it to produce fruit in your life. Focus creates growth. And those weeds are stuff that comes to distract you. Stuff that make you afraid, bitter, envious, jealous, insecure, unforgiving etc. You just name it. It is extremely important to always consciously examine your heart and deal with these weeds, asking God to help you because you will meet some weeds that honestly, you can justify its presence because what happened simply wasn’t fair. But bottom-line, its poison that you don’t need. Poison that will harm you and your seed together. A weeded heart is what ultimately determines if what you sow grows or not. You can read all you want in The Word and name and claim it but if you still haven’t forgiven a wrong, sorry, but your miracle can be greatly delayed, if not denied. Stories abound of people who were trusting God for healing and God pointed out unforgiveness in their hearts to them, for those who obeyed, most got healed without having to pray for healing again.

6. Sunlight – Very Key. Very important, extremely important. Research has shown that if you plant a seed in a dark room with a window that has light coming in at an angle, that seed will grow IN the direction of that light. That said, your seed will grow in the direction of the Word. Malachi4:2 calls Jesus the Sun of righteousness. Light here is illumination. Revelation from God. Every step of the way. Just like David, we must be in sync with God. Listening clearly for revelations from Him. Our seed will go in the direction of the revelation we receive, so hearing from God is key. What you need to do next to access your results will come to you by revelation. It will come to you and you will know that THIS IS IT because you’ve been on this project and your heart has been tuned in to hear from God
Wow… That blew my mind. I tried to make it succinct without cutting out precious truths. Guess that’s the closest I came to it. Please don’t read just once. Read it over and over and spend time thinking about it.
God bless You

EL’ Hephzibah

Talking ‘bout Love……

Love is the very first fruit of The Spirit that shows up at new birth and also the first to be attacked by the devil. The love of God is in our hearts by virtue of God’s Spirit. But the devil will try his best to suffocate that love in you. He will ensure you face situations and events that will make you wonder why you shouldn’t dislike the very memory of the event. He will use people to make you hate people. It’s all about humanity. The aim is for him to ‘deal’ with the image who reminds him of God. We remind the devil of God because we are made in his image. His anger is at God. He will try to use you to fight. Don’t allow that happen. Let the hostility, bitterness, pain, unforgiveness end with your yesterday. Let your real self – your love self- show. Let’s bring the light of love back to our world, lighting our lives with God-lights, one candle (life) at a time. Walking in unforgiveness and/or hatred means you walk in darkness. You don’t see where you’re going and you stumble on the way. Our lives would be so much easier if we can just release the people who have hurt us and LET LOVE WIN… Then we wouldn’t be assisting the devil in destroying us. And Don’t worry about the other person or someone else. It takes two to fight but one person to end the fight. Be that person. It’s a sign of inner strength….

All the very best….
EL’ Hephzibah