DEVOTION TAKES YOU THERE

Dear Beloved,

I remember when I used to be a Church goer, so to speak. I never knew what it meant to worship God in truth and in Spirit. I would only go to Church just for the sake of it and with a very blank mind. Not knowing what to pray for or expect from God. But until my eyes of understanding opened via several words of God from tbe altar. My pastor would always say that some people read the Bible only when they have come the Sunday service (that is, general Bible reading we do in Church). Which to me, is true of most brethren these days. Some of us are so entangled to the busyness of job activities that nothing else can be considered. He also said that when you get devoted to God and in the things of His Kingdom, it helps you prepare for the challenges ahead, because they will surely come.

Devotion to God does not only culminate into asking for your needs alone to be met by God or yielding part of your life, strength (energy), time, will and money to God. These are exactly the opposite. And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and every desire and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever, 1 Chronicles 28:9.

Getting devoted to God causes His presence to abide with us. The more we are devoted to Him, the more His presence abides with us. I know you wouldn't want to miss His presence in your life and activities, then get devoted to Him. Make Him the first and last things in your life and activities. Contact Him in every step you want to take in your life.

Remain Blessed,

Your beloved sister
Ifeoma

ONLY THE COMPASSIONATE KNOW GOD...

Dear Beloved,

Compassion is to share in the pain of others and having a desire to give a helping hand towards relieving the pain. It can also mean having mercy on someone and having an inner zeal towards helping out. Again, it means loving others at all times and without any conditions attached. Lastly, it could mean to have pity on someone who had deeply hurt you by just letting the person go easily, out of your own clear mind...

Going deeper, our God is full of compassion and had expressed this to us in diverse ways. Especially, sacrificing His one and only son to die for our sins and thereby saving all those that believe in His son from calamity and destruction. What a compassionate God. This is the reason why you and I are still living today. And so, is it too much for us to reciprocate this His deed?

No, it is not. We can sow this seed of compassion in the lives of the less privileged in our midst be it in Church, the society, community, etc. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus had said that whatever we did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of His, we did for Him, Matthew 25:40 .

Remain blessed,

Your beloved sister,

Ifeoma

THAT IS THE BEST DECISION!!!...

Dear Beloved,

Confidence is to totally depend on someone without fear of any sort. In the whole wide world, it is only in God that we can get such confidence. Humans will surely fail you every now and then. Could we join King David in acknowledging that: 

He shields and protects us, As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord's word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him, Psalms 18:30(NIV).

He strengthens us, It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure, Psalms 18:32.

He guides us, You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light, Psalms 18:28.

He saves us, You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty, Psalms 18:27.

He is our Helper, My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, Psalms 121:2.

If David could have confidence in God, to the point of God calling him a man after His heart, we too can do same. Moreover, without confidence God you cannot please Him.

Remain blessed,

Your beloved sister,

Ifeoma

DILIGENCE!... THE ROAD TO PROPERITY.

Dear Beloved,

Diligence means doing a job assigned to you with your whole heart, quickly, skillfully and according to the ethics of the job. Do you work just to earn salary or to make an impact? How about working for the sake of providing for yourself and your family with the basic essentials of life - food, clothing, shelter...! Yes, it is vital to achieve all of these... but it is more vital to work with regard to your relationship with God.

If God is not considered first in all what we are doing, we will just be struggling to survive. Not only that, we will be working to be seen (that is, doing eye service), stealing from the employer, absconding from work, being punctual to work only when our employer or immediate boss is in town, inciting other workers against the constituted authority, indulge in giving and receiving bribes, gossipping about and so on.

No, that is not the kind of diligence our God and employers expect from us. Know it that God is everywhere and sees everything we do. He is Omnipresent. Don't behave any how you what in whatever task you find yourself doing, because we are first of all accountable to God and then to our employer. 

In the Book of Ecclesiastes 9:10, we were told to do whatever our hand finds to do with all our might and 2 Peter 3:14(NIV) says, therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;

Remain Blessed,

Your beloved sister,

Ifeoma

IS IT TRUE THAT LOVE DOES NOT FAIL?

Dear Beloved,

When I say love, I mean God's kind of love. Of course, you know that God is love. His nature is love. And unconditional love for that matter. His kind of love does not depend on the character disposition of anyone, whether a good one or a bad one. No wonder, He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous, Matthew 5:45b (NIV).

Loving God is the first and greatest commandment, followed by loving your neighbour as yourself. You see! It is even a commandment and not an entreaty. Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments," Matthew 22:37-40.

Also remember that, Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love, 1 John 4:8. I know you would say, it is easier said than done... but I equally do know that with God on our side, we can love Him and our neighbour as He has commanded us. Love gives birth to peace, joy, faithfulness and so on, and it does not fail.

Remain blessed.

Your beloved sister,

Ifeoma.

DO YOU LOVE GOD?

So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God, Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV).

How great and genuine are the love of God to mankind! He sent His one and only son to die on the cross of Calvary for the sake of our sins, thereby making any one who believes in His son to be at peace, as well as have a healthy relationship with Him (God)... He fearfully and wonderfully made us in His own image and likeness... upon that He is daily thinking good thoughts about you and I. What a love! But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, Romans 5:8.

How then do we return all these love He had and continued to shower on us? If I may suggest, though, there is no amount of love we return to Him that can be adequate for His own love for us. But I think we can show our appreciation of His love to us by being all out to His commission for us, like;

Being Born Again: this means repenting of our sins by confessing our sins and believing in His sent son (Jesus Christ). Who you love you obey. The holy Bible has said, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness, 1 John 1:9. Also, If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, Romans 10:9. 

Become His Disciple: if you become His disciple, the works He did while on earth, you shall do also. That is, spreading the good news about Jesus Christ to mankind. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to to the Father, John 14:12. 

Care For One Another: If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth, 1 John 3:17-18. 

Therefore, obey God and answer His call. These are some of the least things we can do to show our love and appreciation to Him. Remember to ask for His grace because, it is not by our power nor our might.

Remain blessed.

Your beloved sister,

Ifeoma.

      

WORRY NOT! GOD IS IN CHARGE.

I just wished I knew God the way I know Him now. I am sure my situation would have been far better than it is now. As a youth then, I worried about so many things in life... when will my school fees be paid? How will I feed? What will I wear? Where will I squat for the semester? After graduating from higher education in year 2001, I started worrying about where to work. In a nutshell, I worried about virtually everything when I did't know Christ.

But now, my story has changed for good to the glory of God. Beloved, in order to avoid worring yourself over circumstances/situations, like me, when I didn't know the Scriptures and the power of God to provide all my needs that much, let me introduce you to this verses of the Scripture in Matthew 6:25-30 (NIV); "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you -you of little faith? 

Do you know that after I had bothered myself thinking about how to achieve the above mentioned, I couldn't even achieve any of those by my own power. I had to follow God's kind of due process. By getting to receiving Jesus Christ into my life. Learning to be contented with what God had given me at the moment. And in addition, waiting patiently for God. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5.

So, why don't you join me in obeying God's instruction first? Which is, believing and receiving Christ into your life and then allowing Him fulfill His own part of the bargain of providing for us. You know that with God as your Shepherd, He will feed, guide, lead, shield, protect, etc., you. Worrying can only give headaches, sickness and shrink the skin like the harmattan does.

Remain blessed.

Your beloved sister,

Ifeoma