GOD PAYS

Adetokunbo Ajanaku
(From our Sunday Service Post)

God is not looking for who to use but who to furnish; who to bless.
He is not looking for who to punish but who to furnish.
When He employs you you will get an earthly job and the main job He needs employees for is SOUL WINNING.
Don't be ashamed to share tracts, give time to pray for a family friend to be saved, use your rickety car to transport a family to church and see how He will supernaturally give you a new one.
But all these must be done sincerely with your heart - in your room,  on your knees - you can win souls by praying for new converts or a particular person or family.

The Right Knowledge May Be All You Need

ADELOLA EDEMA

On my way to work this morning, I saw someone with a black mark on her head. I was initially scared, but then it occurred to me that today is ash Wednesday. I was then reminded of my first ash Wednesday in Ife. 

I remember being in BOOC for an early morning Botany class. I saw the first person with the black mark on the forehead, I thought it was an Ayamatanga something. As strange as it was, I was not scared until many people came into the class with the mark. What was more scary was that nobody else seemed disturbed with the ayamatanga people. Was I the only one that could see the mark? When I couldn't concentrate on the lecture, I asked the person beside me if he could see the people with the mark. What a relief it was to know that I was not the only person seeing the mark, they were not evil people, and it was a christian tradition 
How come I never saw such in Feggicola? 

Ignorance does bring fear; when you don't understand something it can also cause fear. But asking questions (from the right people sha o) can make a lot of difference.

A mother of a girl on the autism spectrum asked me once if there were people with autism who were doing well. I told her to read about Temple Grandin. 
She came back with so much hope for her daughter, and the initial fear she had was gone. 
To deal with the fear in your heart, the right knowledge may be all you need.

ARE YOU PREPARED?

ADELOLA EDEMA

Last week, as part of a team, I was given an assignment; an opportunity I had longed-for for years. I was very excited about it, and tried to set to work. Then it dawned on me that, even though I had been looking forward to such opportunity, I had no plan.Thank God it wasn't something I could wiggle my way out of, I would have run away. It took all my energy and sleep away, because I was not prepared.
Two things I learnt from my experience;
1. If you have a dream and you don't prepare for an opportunity, it is just a wish. I have to sit down now and start planning for the different dreams in my heart.
2. You need people that will stretch you, especially in your career. You need people that will give you assignments that will remove the word IMPOSSIBLE from your vocabulary. Thank God I have such people in my life.

Do you have such people in your life?

LEAVE ORPAH ALONE

ADELOLA EDEMA

I had considered writing “My dear, Leaving does not make you a bad person”, but somehow it didn’t seem to be expressing my thoughts.

Christians sha… I don’t know what Orpah did to us that we have dubbed her a bad person. Do you know who Orpah is? Her story is in Ruth chapter 1, she was Naomi’s daughter-in-law. The poor lady had lost her husband and brother-in-law at a young age. If her brother-in-law had not died, as a widow in that time, she would have remarried her in-law and continued her husband’s lineage. But here she was mourning her husband, his brother, and their father. But considering that she and her fellow widowed sister-in-law, were good people, they decided to follow their mother-in-law on a long journey to where she came from.

So many in-laws in this post sha

Anyway, after Naomi begged them to leave her alone to continue her depression, Orpah turned back and went home while Ruth insisted on following Naomi.

I wonder how their lives would have been if Orpah had also insisted on following Naomi… Would any of them have married Boaz or any other guy in the family? Would Naomi have preferred Ruth over her and she would have been miserable? Would they have just taken care of Naomi till she died and they would have become too old to be wanted by any man?

For me though, Orpah has been my phobia; what if I leave someone that should be in my past and then for the rest of time, they keep using me as a reference for a bad person that left? Why hold on to the past? Why stay when I can leave?

I personally don’t think Orpah did bad by turning back, or Ruth was stupid or wise to have insisted on following Naomi. I think sometimes it is just good to close a chapter in our lives that has ended, and that was what Orpah did.

So maybe the title of this post really is “My dear, leaving does not make you a bad person”, it just means that you are closing a chapter that has finished. Your leaving might give Ruth a chance to a happy future.
In 2016, you may need to put some people or experiences in the past. As long as you think it’s the right thing to do, LEAVE. May God help us recognize when it is time to shut some doors and give us the grace to move on when we ought to.

Happy New Year!!!

YOU ARE PRICELESS

OYELADUN AYORINDE

JUDE 1:3- "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints"

1 PETER 1: 18-19-" For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot "

Our salvation process is the same: The same Grace, not minding how far gone we were in sin. The value of our salvation can't be compared with the best things in life like gold and silver.

For us to fully understand this, we need to know a little about gold and silver: Gold and silver are a type of money but worth far more than paper currency. The average life expectancy of paper currency is 27 yrs but gold and silver date back more than 5,000 yrs. Gold and silver are universally accepted and though they fluctuate, they can never lose their purchasing power.

God is saying our salvation is much more valuable. The value of the blood of Jesus Christ far surpasses the value of gold and silver.
The blood of Christ added real value to us.
When you understand your value, there are certain things you won't do. Understanding ur value makes u contend for your faith earnestly.

To contend means many things. It means to fight a good fight of faith. It means to maintain and assert your right/ privilege in Christ. It also means to stand firmly on the Word of God without changing or backing out.
As you go on in this new year, the year of All Sufficiency, don't you ever doubt the work of your salvation.
Don't ever doubt the Words He has given you.
Don't ever allow your salvation and walk with Him be rubbished by whatever.
Happy new year to you all. I love you.

A Good Reason To Like Christmas

Adelola Edema

 have not always been a fan of Christmas. I was born on Christmas day, and so I always had to deal with people forgetting my birthday. I must confess that Jesus is the hardest person to share birthday with. Unlike every other person, we had to go to church every year on our birthday. So I had good reasons not to like Christmas.
Some years ago, we had to travel from Abuja to Akure on Christmas day. For the first time in my life, I discovered that December 25 was a day in the calendar. The most beautiful part of our trip was when we stopped to buy fried yam (dundun) at Lokoja, the memory still brings a smile to my face.
That was how I stopped beefing Jesus for stealing the shine on my birthday. The less angry I got about being born on Christmas day, the more I began to appreciate Christmas. I have become a huge fan of Christmas hymns; I sing them all year round. Once November sets in, I begin to rejoice at Christmas coming.
I am not just excited about the decorations and the holiday feeling, I am excited about the coming of Christ. I am glad that Jesus came to save the world. I rejoice that the coming of Jesus is the expression of God's love to us. And importantly, I am glad that I have received His love.
Jesus to me, is not just someone in the pages of a book, or who the pastor preaches about. He is to me the source of my life; in Him I live, move and have my being. He is the one that gives me hope and a reason to live.
I hope that Christmas for you will not just be about rice and chicken, or holidays, or family (these are good reasons), rather it will be about the love of God to you. If you have accepted His love, celebrate the love. However, if you have not, know that He is extending His love to you right now; please receive it, accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. God bless you.

HELPING GOD

ADELOLA EDEMA

Sometimes God gives us a promise and we start struggling to get it fulfilled. Sometimes we find ourselves working in our strength to accomplish a promise we found in the scriptures. Ok maybe it's just me. 
Anyway, I have at least one accomplice in the Bible, Abraham. In Genesis 15, God assured Abraham (he was still Abram at the time, actually) that his son, from his own loins, would inherit him. Thanks to Sarai's advice, he got a son from his loins, but that was not the child of promise. 
I've made such mistakes in my life as well. I have tried to help God so many times. I always knew that fear was the drive, but I would convince myself that God would bless my efforts and I would see the fulfilment of the promise. It always ended badly. And I would repent afterwards. 
For Abram, he got a son, but God wasn't going to endorse the work of flesh. It took him 13 years before the promise was revisited. 
But God is faithful, He gave Abraham the fulfilment of the promise, Isaac came through Sarah.
God still deals with us like that. We may face the consequences of our detour, but God brings us back, and reminds us that His promise is sure. 
Maybe you have messed up, and the promise is looking bleak, know that God is faithful. He gave Abraham Isaac; he took Saul from the path where his zeal for God was making him kill people, to a path where his zeal was bringing LIFE to Nations. 
Just do like I would do, repent and trust God to bring you to the fulfilment of the promise.