Happy new year to you.
Congrats for making it into 2016.
The Lord shall fulfil your desire this year; He shall enlarge your coast and perfect all that concern you in Jesus name.
Cheers.Sincerely,
Tolu Boluwatise
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November 15, 2015 Volume 1, Issue 004
OPPORTUNITY AND THE MAKING OF HISTORY
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
Ecc 9:10
… But time and chance happen to them all. Ecc 9:11
For those in relationship with God, the pursuit of the future is the pursuit of the plan of God. The bible discusses the plan in terms of the future. Jer 29:11. The plan is God’s thought towards you, not your initiative or choice (Jn 15:16); it is for your welfare, not for calamity; to give you a future and an expectation. When God reveals the future to you, he gives you an expectation of (cord for) it, to conjoin you with the future, so that you can look reliably forward to it (Pro 23:18)
To realise that future and hope you need to do more than reading history to making history. To make history, there are a few things you need to know:
- Treat your situation as a tunnel and not as a terminus, for life is a journey. You have to be on the move to avoid doing a grave injustice to the plan for your life. The victories recorded, which are just partial fulfillment of expectation, are the reason why some choose to rest. This shouldn’t be, as resting (unnecessarily) while there is a journey ahead leads to idleness, distraction and deflection from purpose (Num 25:1).
- Be the solution by living your vision now. It has to be real to you now for it to be realised. Solutions look beyond the problems by refusing to be a part of the trending problem. This is the notion behind the call for Christians to live a separated and not a segregated life. 1 Cor 5:9-10; 2 Cor 6:11-18. Without leaving the situation you can come out of the problem. Refuse to be part of the unrighteousness; mediocrity; self-seeking attitude; local-mindedness and acceptance of the status quo. Participating in the problem jeopardises a man’s potential to be a solution and history maker.
- Identify opportunities for in every problem is an opportunity and a key to success– Ecc 9:11.. Most people miss out on opportunity because they look for it a) as benefit – to receive and not to give; b) in a big form – despising the little offers of life; and c) in a very cheap way – someone to give it to them. The youth will blame the older generation for not giving them opportunities, whereas they have it all around them. Opportunities come in ways you least expected. You have to discern what many look for but only a few see to make history.
- Utillise opportunities for there is no better time for a recognised opportunity than now. Time and space will always respond with opportunities, especially to those who are solution conscious. The gifts of those who don’t wait for offers, but know to take right action and offer solutions, will cause others to stand aside for them. While some think more in terms of position, title, and office; trailblazers think in terms of action. Whatever their hands find to do, they do it (well). Their right actions recommend them later.
- Be God-centred and not self-centred. Self-centred people do not utilise opportunities simply because they often don’t hold direct or immediate benefits. With such opportunities, however are the connecting dots towards the future.
The awaited future of a nation and individuals become realistic when we take every opportunity seriously and within these opportunities lie the potentials for us to be history makers.
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CHRISTMAS OR XMAS?
True worship of Christ is more than the arguments or controversy about CH or X.
Language is a mere symbol of expression varying front one people to another. Written words are same.
The decision about spellings are humanly decided, not instructed from Heaven.
Devotion to God is spiritual. It transcends matters of spellings, language and whatnots for Christianity is supra-cultural.
Using shorthand in writing His name does not in any way denigrate His person.
In all my writings, I use capital letters to start all noun and pronouns about Him. That does not mean I am technically right. It is my choice.
If you look very well in the Bible, once the pronoun about Him is in the middle of a sentence, it is written in small letters. That is the rule of the language.
I am not defending myself, for I do not write XMAS, I do CHRISTMAS. I am only dealing with what is spiritually real and unreal
Sociologically, we all have our definitions of what is real. Our definitions might not necessarily be right.
The kingdom of God is more than judgement in this things. You can write all the letters in Caps and still be having a faulty relationship with Him. You can write Christmas and not Xmas and still be wanting in spiritual matters.
Religion has the knack for leaving the essentials and busying itself with what is baseless. It makes no sense in heaven.
The way to please Him is to do His will and obey Him in all things.
Let us pursue things that are clearly spelt out in the scriptures and not secondary mundane issues. There are still many things pertaining to the whole counsel of God that we are yet to fully experience.
One feels free to use this mode and another that mode. Everyone should do these as unto the Lord without judging one another in these matters of mundane opinions.
Let the meaning of Christ’s coming resonate in our hearts this season, so that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
#thekingismorethanourspellings
#makehimthekingofyourlife
#undoingchristmascontroversies
#correctioninlove
#merrychristmaseveryone
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December 27, 2015 Volume 1, Issue 010
HE MAKES ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL …
And she brought forth her firstborn Son … and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. – Luk 2:7
Though God makes all things beautiful …, He does not birth all things in the perfect beauty expected ….
Christmas brings hope to a dying world. Christ’s coming as the Father’s answer to the troubled world is still joy to the world. His arrival, heralded by the appearance of the angels to the shepherd who were watching their flock by night, was good tiding to all; of glory to God in the heavens; of peace on earth; and of good will to men.
The immediate account of His birth rounded up in Luk 2:7 with “… because there was no room for them in the inn.” The birth was not in a beautiful setting as we are wont to expect. God who makes all things beautiful in its time begins the beauty with a birth in simplicity. This is a lesson in the importance of appreciating the days of little beginnings. Often we do not recognise the things that are not essential to the fulfilment of God’s will in our lives. A baby was to be born and the setting of the birth was not as important as the birth itself. Note that the mention of the setting was the last in the details of His birth.
Despite the setting of His birth, He came to make lives beautiful by restoring men back to the original plan of God. Israel ignored Him simply because the King did not appear in glory, confused by the two sidedness of the prophecies about Him. But to those who received Him power was given to make them sons of God. The effect of that little beginning is still ongoing on earth. Amidst oppositions and violent resistance to the peaceful propagation of the good tidings, the message about the King, as a gracious gift to the world continues to thrive across the nations, tribes and climes.
The value of the Christmas story is an encouragement to all in that:
- You do not have to know everything about your life’s purpose. The things revealed to you are yours for your obedience to God. The ones kept by God are for His sovereign operations. An angel did not have to tell Joseph and Mary to go down to Bethlehem from Nazareth as the Almighty who rules in the affairs of men will influence a political decision at that time to get them back to their nativity for the birth of Christ to be according to the necessary plan (the prophecy).
- Your life’s purpose is supra-locational. Though God specifies location in His plan, it doesn’t have to be the best of all locations. The King did not have to be born in Jerusalem or in Rome to rule the world in the long run; the great King would be born in the smallest town in Judea to rule all the people. The plan is greater than the place.
- Your life’s purpose is more than the beauty of your birth setting or of its initial setting. Most of those who have influenced in most fields, the world over, were neither born in the palace nor with the silver spoon. Though God makes all things beautiful in its time, He does not birth all things in the perfect beauty expected by men. Mary did not have to travel out to the most notable of places or hospices for the birth of the baby; the child that was born King did not have His Kingship signified with a crown on his head at birth. He was a typical baby, noticeable by those in Bethlehem by the unusual peasantness of his birth setting. The significant thing at the time of the birth was even secret; an angel announced the birth not in the royal palace in Jerusalem, but in the field to mere shepherds. The birth is only the beginning of the beauty to be manifested.
As we celebrate this season of His Advent, be encouraged that all things will work together; not necessarily for immediate gratification but for the ultimate good and the glory of God. His counsel for your life shall stand if you cooperate with His good plan of allowing Christ into your life, in spite of the immediate setting that is unsatisfying. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will perfect His plan in your life.
Merry Christmas to you.
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Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
– Pro 14:34
The task of salvaging the nation rests on those who practice righteousness.
The emphasis on Sunday, 1st November was on nation building.
Pastor stated that the journey to the future is not just a personal one, it is also a corporate one. While there was a personal undertone to the future of Israel in Canaan, as seen in the importance of individual choices (Num 13), it was also a corporate one.
He said we could limit the discussion of the future to the ultimate one, but that we haven’t because of its implications. While looking forward to a future with the Lord forever, we cannot be oblivious of the future here while this earth remains. Smith Wigglesworth in his lifetime posited that preparation for heaven should be as for the next moment and for the future here, as for 100 years from now.
Pastor said we must consider our corporate future because such disposition offers people a window of opportunity to make a difference and to secure their own future. Those who have made significant difference in the past and in the present are those who think more about the need of others than theirs.
Israel invited reproach by the practice of sin while Phinehas’ zeal for God stopped God’s fury on Israel and earned his lineage an everlasting priesthood. A nation is built by righteousness.
Whenever the devil wants to destroy a people:
- He gives them a serious occupation with destructive sins or unrighteousness. Pro 14:34. Num. 23:20-21 showed they had escaped the curse because, God did not observe iniquity or wickedness in them; This He did not because they were not allowing sin to remain with them. The drive for fellowship with God doesn’t allow someone to continue in sin – Num 15:22-29; 15:30-31.
- He uses wrong teachings put stumbling block in people’s way – Jude 1:3-4 and leads them into presumption (Rev 2:14) as against the need to warn them of the need to maintain their place and walk before the Lord.
- He also mobilises his agents to put stumbling block on people’s way.
We must salvage our corporate future by raising a people who will stand in the marketplace, against unrighteousness that brings reproach to a people. The use of the word shows how the sinful disposition can turn the will of God to lift a people to reproach or judgement on the people. Jude 1:5-6 shows that God’s good plan can be messed up by those who take it for granted.
He said It is time to build a new Nigeria: where people will operate with royal mentality to maintain their honour; where they will salvage our existing corrupt system.; where the future of the nation becomes a priority for them; where the government is influenced by righteous voices and participants; and where there is desire to see nothing else but the glory of God filling the system.
We can salvage the corporate future of our nation by becoming Phineases: who are zealous enough to give God His place in their lives; who will stand out by refusing to be defiled by the trend in the land; who will stand against, rebuke and judge iniquity in the land to bring Gods mercy on the nation; and who will, with their selfless disposition, build a nation where righteousness without compromise exalts.
Isaac Boluwatise 