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In Him We Live..

trustThe New Year is here, Complimentary wishes are being exchanged and new resolutions being made. As the clock ticks and the days turn into weeks, we have indeed begun a new journey into another year.

For many, the year holds great expectations and some others do not know what to expect. It has been dubbed and tagged in countless and numerous ways ranging from ‘year of breakthrough’, ‘year of promotion’ to ‘year of years’.

Irrespective of the slogan you might have adopted for the year, permit me to draw your attention to one truth; though the Calendar may change, God remains the same throughout the ages. He never changes. The word of God says:

 

God does not change 

 

(Malachi 3:6)–“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”

Hebrews 13:8

‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’

 

He does not change and his plans for your life remains the same.

 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV)

 

You do not need a palm reader, neither do you need any crystal ball for you to know what the year holds for you. God’s intentions for you is revealed in His word. Both in the written word of God and in His revealed or spoken word to you. If you seek His face, he will reveal His plans to you. Best of all you just need to trust Him with your year.

 

You are not a surprise to God.

He knew you will still be alive today.

He planned out your life before you ever came into being.

God has not changed His mind about you. Through thick and thin, no matter the circumstances that you might face, you need to understand that the love of God over your life remains the same. God’s presence is your insurance.

In all you’re doing, I ask of you to make a decision; to be conscious of His presence this year.

I want to remain in His presence, I want to respect His presence and I want to spread His presence.

 Psalm 16:11

‘You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.’

 

Lots of joy and blessings await you this New Year. And the year might definitely hold some challenges which you are already built to overcome.

 

More than Conquerors – Roman 8:31-37

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[j]

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You are from God – John 4:4

 4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

‘By my God I run through a troop – Psalm 18:29-36

29 With your help I can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.

30 As for God, his way is perfect:
The Lord’s word is flawless;
he shields all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God besides the Lord?
And who is the Rock except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength
and keeps my way secure.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he causes me to stand on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You make your saving help my shield,
and your right hand sustains me;
your help has made me great.
36 You provide a broad path for my feet,
so that my ankles do not give way.

The lord will grant you victory on every side as He has always done over the ages.

Trust Him and enjoy a Happy New Year.

 

Shalom.

‘Laolu Oyeyemi.

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Let us all Die – today….

thecross
We claim to be children of God,
How much of the world have we changed?
What is our influence in the day to day affairs of the people of our time?
We claim to be lovers of God, how many have we shown the genuine, unbridled and unselfish love of God?
How much are we willing to sacrifice?
Like Jesus did, who are we willing to give our lives for?
I think Christians will really not have any serious impact in our world until we really decide to die to self and self seeking practices and focus on what matters to God – selflessness, which is not natural for a human being to practice. That’s where we need to show that we are in Christ and we can do all things through Christ who strengthen us.
Let us all die today.  I mean die to self, so we can resurrect and really live like Jesus.
Mark 8:34
New Living Translation
Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.
 Selah.
Laolu Oyeyemi
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Prayerlessness is a disease

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Picture courtesy of freebigpictures.com)

‘Prayerlessness’ is a disease, maybe slower than Ebola but nonetheless equally dangerous, it renders the spirit man weak, impotent and ineffective. It infiltrates every organ of one’s spirit. It competes with every good vision in a man’s life. It is contagious, once it infects a life, a family, a church or an organization, and there is no stronger force to push it back, it spreads ever so fast and soon destroys every fibre it clings to.

Father please deliver me from ‘prayerlessness’ revive your righteous works in my life. I have the life of God in me which destroys every fibre of prayerlessness and spiritual lethargy.
I look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith.

2 Peter 1:3-11 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Shalom
Laolu Oyeyemi
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In all your doing…pay attention to the Word

Pay Attention Message Board Attentive Conscious Awareness

focus

Proverbs 4:20-22

20 My son pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.

Like a father who wants the best for his son.

Like the wise father who wants the child to wade through all the debris of life till he locates the rock solid foundation on which to build.

Like  a father who wants his son to have the very best gem in life

He says, ‘in all your pursuit in life, only one thing matters,

The Word of God.’

Pay attention to the Word of God.

In all your achievements, strive towards discovering the Word.

‘For they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh.’

Will you put aside all the distractions of life and seek after God and His word?

Would you seek – first – the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and allow all other things to fall into their respective places for you?

It is your season for a re-awakening, a new beginning, I pray you embrace the Word wholeheartedly.

Stay blessed.

Laolu Oyeyemi.

 

 

 

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Life is in Phases

caterp

Life is in phases

Men are in sizes

You have to understand the phaze you are passing through

and appreciate your size.

(unknown author)

Ecclesiates 3:

1. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

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Delight

A man will stop at nothing to please the subject or object of his delight.

victory

The young man, who was the most honored of all his father’s family, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. (Genesis 34:19 NIV)

 

Satisfaction is good, but delight trumps satisfaction. Delight goes a couple of steps beyond satisfaction.

Satisfaction is measured by expectations and you are satisfied once your expectations are met. Delight on the other hand speaks of excitement, great pleasure, unbridled joy, going beyond the boundary, exceeding limits and breaking barriers. Delight speaks of an experience beyond satisfaction.

In our relationship with God, He does not want us to stop at the level of satisfaction, God wants us to engage Him at the rapturous level of delight.

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4 NIV)

 

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. (Psalm 1:2 NIV).

 

But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22 NIV)

 

The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; (Psalm 37:23 NIV)

 

Will they find delight in the Almighty? Will they call on God at all times? (Job 27:10 NIV)

 

That is the pertinent question. Will we go beyond the ordinary, nominal and basic level of relationship with God. Would we take it a notch further and make The Lord our delight?

God is waiting..

 

Laolu Oyeyemi.

 

 

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Go For God’s Verdict…

opinionWho do men say that I am?

Matthew 16:13-20

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

The account of Jesus posing this quiz to his disciples was recorded in 3 of the 4 gospels. Matthew 16, Mark 8:29 and Luke 9:18.
How interesting and important this must be. There are some life lessons we need to glean from this record.

It is interesting to note that Jesus was curious to know what people said about him.
1. Whether we like it or not people will always hold opinions about us. There is no hiding away or running from that reality. Human beings are experts in assessing, classifying and making judgements about you.
2. It is also interesting to know that there were  multiple and varied responses from the disciples about people’s impression of Jesus. Some said he was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
They did not all come back with one verdict. Everybody gave an impression based on their experiences and stories they heard about Jesus. None was complete or accurate. If you dare ask a hundred people to give you their opinion about something, do not be surprised if they come back with hundred different responses.
People will always judge you based on their personal impression, opinion or experience. You have to realize no man has a complete picture of who you truly are.
3. Lastly Jesus asked the disciples. ‘Okay, you have been with me all these while and you have a part to play in my purpose here. Who do you say that I am? What is your own impression and understanding?’
Peter responded, thou art Christ, the son of the Living God. You are the chosen, you are the anointed one, you are the one sent to save the world from their sin. You are not here for the show neither are you here for the accolades, you are here to offer your life as the ultimate sacrifice, you were sent here on a mission and the whole of heaven is waiting on you to deliver on your task.

Jesus responded. Blessed are you Simon BarJona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. You are not speaking our of human wisdom or experience, you are not speaking just out of head knowledge, you spoke based on Revelation knowledge from the one who sent me and who can perfectly describe me, God. And that’s the person to listen to.

We must learn a great lesson from this and quit getting bogged down by people’s impression of us. We can’t succeed doing this work by being attention-seekers and depending on man’s approval for everything. We need to focus not on what men think but on what God the ultimate judge thinks.
Jesus knew who he was. He had a good knowledge of his personality and He knew what God had to say about Him. He heard his father’s voice in Matthew 3:17 ‘ this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased ‘
He hears his father’s voice daily when he goes to commune with him. He needed that constant communication with the Father to stay focused.
If Jesus did, so do we.
It does not matter what men say about you, it matters what God got to say.

Do not focus on man’s opinion, Go for God’s verdict.

Man is not Man’s idea

Man is God’s idea

Man’s success is not Man’s idea of success

Man’s success is God’s idea of Man’s success.

( unknown author)

 

Laolu Oyeyemi

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I forgive Myself

forgive-myselfWe always talk about forgiveness and the importance of forgiving others.4give

It suddenly dawned on me – and I believe the Holy Spirit dropped this in my spirit – that a key factor in the process of healing and recovery, is the ability to forgive oneself, not just once, but over and over again.

Every true teaching we have heard and tried to apply to others about the subject of forgiveness, we need to apply to ourselves, if we want to recover and succeed.

We must admit we are often pretty hard on ourselves. We know it when we fail and when we do not measure up to our own set standards – standards informed by all kinds of conceptions both true and false.

Yes, it is important and necessary to be sincere at all times, but for us to recover and move on to success, it is also crucial that we learn how to be merciful and forgiving to ourselves. I have to learn how to encourage myself.  We need to realize it is okay and normal to fail sometimes and that this does not mean we are permanent failures. Have you ever failed at something? We can give our own selves a break and a pat on the back and get moving with positive self-belief and try again, genuinely believing in ourselves that we’ve got what it takes to succeed.

Matthew 18:21-22

22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

I know this is primarily directed at how to treat a brother or someone else, but I also want to see myself as that brother that Jesus talked about that needs to be forgiven not just seven times but seventy times seven times on my way to achieving anything I want to do. I will keep trying, never condemning myself to failure and giving myself another chance, until I succeed, after all Jesus also commanded that we love our neighbour as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31).

Loving my neighbour starts with loving me since Jesus instructed I should love them as myself. I have to start by knowing how to love myself positively as well.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is He.

So if you think you are a success, some occasional or regular occurrences of failure notwithstanding, then you are a success.

The popular story of Thomas Edison comes to mind. He failed over and over again on his way to inventing the light bulb. He never gave up. He kept trying.  Describing his experience, he said ” “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that do not work.” – Thomas Edison.

Understanding this truth has been liberating for me and I believe it will help encourage and fire you up to rise up from every feeling of failure and defeat. You are not a failure, only do not give up trying.

Laolu Oyeyemi

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Let there be light

Lyrics:

“Let There Be Light” – Chris August.

I’m tired of secret keeping, livin’ in the dark
I’m ready to say the words You were speaking back at the start
Come and flood the corners of my heart[Chorus:]
I say let there be light, I need mercy tonight
Wanna feel it like the sun is rising
Revealing what the shadow’s hiding
I say let there be light, I need Your mercy to shine
Start living what I’ve been believing
What I got I want the whole world seein’
Let there be light

I’m feeling something happening, I’m finding hope again
It feels like the walls are finally cracking and Your love is pouring in
I’m seeing this is good just like You did

[Chorus]

I was scared of what the shame would do
If I started coming clean to You
But suddenly it’s darkness that’s afraid

I say let there be light, I need Your mercy tonight
Wanna feel it like the sun is rising
Revealing what the shadow’s hiding
I say let there be light, I need Your mercy to shine
Start living what I’ve been believing
What I got I want the whole world seein’
I’m tired of secret keeping
So let there be light, let there be light

I’m tired of secret keeping
Let there be light