NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD

Luke 1:26-46

When the Lord visits you, regardless your condition, the first thing He will say to you is REJOICE just like the Angel said to Mary. You need to know that you are highly favoured. Perhaps, you are reading this piece and it’s like you are weighed down or downcast and aren’t sure of what tomorrow holds for you. Let me say these to you that, He who knows the thousand days and the thousand years ahead looks at you and says you are favoured.

Though, you can’t see the favour right now. I stand here to represent Him; I declare to you that you are favoured in Jesus’name. You will see the manifestation this year in Jesus’ name.

Verse 36. After the Lord said this to Mary, He added that even her cousin, Elisabeth, whom the world called barren will conceive and bear a child. In fact, she is in her sixth month now. Without any doubt, it was good news the Angel brought to Mary. The same applies to Ministers of the Word of God. They receive messages from God for His people. They are to rebuke, encourage and direct the people as to following God’s will. God doesn’t do things anyhow. He works according to His purpose. I declare to you that favour will drive you and announce your arrival in Jesus’ name.

When the Angel declared God’s Word to Mary, she wondered how it will be fulfilled since she was a virgin. But, the Angel said to her that, the Power of God, the Holy Spirit will overshadow her.

I don’t know what you have been through or what you are going through. There is an awesome Power and He will overwhelm your overwhelmer in Jesus’ name.

He will come upon you and when He comes, you will do what naturally you can’t do – the impossible. That’s why He is called the Enabler.

There was a name associated with Elisabeth before now, that is, “Barren”; simply because, she could not conceive. There was a condition that seems to hang on her neck that will not go and she had done every thing possible, even fasted and prayed of which her husband is a priest. Not just a priest, one of the highest priests, yet nothing changed.

Here, we are talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are talking about the Power and message that comes from above.

Verse 38b. Mary finally answered the Angel that, “May it be to me as you have said.”

If you call your name just as the Lord has called you, situations or the world would have no choice than to call you by the same. If you see your names in the Bible and call yourself by same, you will have them manifest in you. Names like, “I am blessed”, “I am highly favoured”, “I will be above and not beneath”, “I am an example of a believer to everyone I meet”, and so on.

These are the ways the Bible defines you. When you define yourself in this manner, the world will give way and things will change. Contrariwise, if you allow the world to change your name, you will become miserable. May the name God has not given you that the devil is trying to put on you and those men want to christen you; you will not bear in Jesus’ name.

Verse 42-46. Where am going is this; I don’t know what your condition is. Some are young just looking forward to their marriage life, while some think that they should have married about 5 years ago or thereabout. That’s alright. But you see, God’s time is always the best.

Why? Because had Elisabeth given birth long time before she conceived John, I wonder what her child or children would have been. Elisabeth’s destiny was to bring forth John, the forerunner of Jesus’ Christ. That’s all. All the other children would have been addendum. Where as, in the case of a woman like Leah, she would bring out almost all the Princes of Israel. You will also wonder why her sister, Rachael would not bring forth so quickly, having tried severally. God only needed Joseph from her. Without Joseph, all the children of Israel would have died miserably in Egypt – the land of captivity.

When God’s time was due, He opened the Heaven’s gate and spread His curtain and visited Mary. When it was His time, He visited Zechariah too. When He visits you, He wants you to agree with whatever He says or tells you. Have faith and never doubt His word. Don’t disagree with divine instructions. Maintain a consistent confession of faith.

I declare to you now, if you desire to get married in a few years from now you will get it in Jesus’ name. Perhaps, you think yours is past acceptable year, God will do it for you in Jesus’ name.

You are the one calling it past; God is not calling it past. Therefore, your time is just starting not past.

People allow the devil to frustrate them so easily. Having tried for some times, they gave up and abandoned God. Such people then turned to the devil for help.

When the Angel came to Mary, it was not a marriage situation, but a miracle situation. Though, when He came to her, she was preparing for her marriage, being espoused to Joseph. When the Angel interrupted her life and marriage plans, He delivered God’s message to her. She told him she was a virgin and not married yet. Then, she asked, “How is it going to be possible?”

Maybe you are like Mary. You are still single, but right now preparing for marriage. What is the thing in your life that is making you to ask the question ‘how’?

Or perhaps, you have heard so many messages in the Church, attended several conferences, seminars and forum, yet you ask the question ‘how’. Is it because you are quite old and past puberty? Is it because you have problems with your womb and medical reports say you cannot conceive? Is it because two or more men have come around to you and later abandoned or left you at the point of deciding for marriage? And now, you are past 30 years? Is it that you carry a curse on your head? I don’t really know what constitutes the ‘how’ in your life.

The Angel of the Lord is saddled with the task to deliver God’s words to His people. Likewise, Pastors are God’s Servants too. They are Angels of the House of God. What this implies is that I have a message for you.

Don’t think your life is over anymore. The best of you is just beginning in Jesus’ name.

If the experience of Mary with the Angel is to happen now and you are to be Mary, will you believe like she did? This is something that will precipitate a revolution in your life.

Mary’s story is quite sweet to read today and talk on, what if it applies to you?

Whatever that will happen to you that men will talk about will be beyond your ability. It will be by God. That is where you find the Holy Spirit helpful and indispensable. I pray that the tangibility of God whom you serve will follow you somehow through this year in Jesus’ name. Not that you don’t have Him, but I mean evidences, the reality of Him.

Verse 34a. So, she said, “how?”

The Holy Spirit is at work in your life, therefore, nothing is impossible. I need your faith. God needs you to believe and absolutely trust Him.

Though, Mary had not seen such before, where a virgin will conceive, yet he believed God can do what He says. She believed.

Did the Angel say, “Nothing is impossible with God?” Of course yes. Then, what is your problem? What makes you think your case is impossible? He said “nothing”. So, how serious is your problem? Except He is not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the Maker of heaven and earth, and the Creator of all things. If He says to you nothing is impossible, then what is that problem? What makes your feel your case is beyond His word?

If God will not need any man for conception, don’t you think He doesn’t need you to link you to your husband or your wife? He doesn’t need human methodology. That is not to say that you should despise human institutions or regulations. No! But, what I am saying is that let your faith get strong in Christ. Don’t you ever think or dream of giving up on God. If He can cause conception, how much more to find a suitor, a physical man or woman. You think He cannot bring him or her your way.

For example, look at the story of Rahab, a prostitute. Do you know that her status change? She became the mother of kings. Indeed, with God all things are possible.

The question is this, how did a prostitute get married? Salmon, a prince in the order of our Lord Jesus Christ married her. Matthew 1:5.

Deut. 7:1-9. God had instructed the Israelites not to marry the foreigners in the Promised Land and that they should kill them and not spare anything or anyone. They slew the Moabites and all the people across River Jordan. But Rahab was spared and became highly placed in Israel.

Which right thinking man on earth with his senses will look and choose such a despicable woman, a known prostitute, and one will not say a curse is upon him.

But she got married. Not just that, she married one of the highest in Israel. Her son, Boaz also got married to a Moabite – Ruth.

How horrible is your case? Does the Holy Spirit inhabit you? Is God still alive? Do miracles still happen? Is the power of God upon you? Then, change your thought and confession and you will see your miracles happen. Just change your thought and words. How? Begin to say what Mary said and think what she thought. Say what God has said about you.

Someone may say this, what about sin? Sin is a major issue with most singles.

When God calls you, He has already prepared His rewards. The problem is when you start out with Him; you don’t see your blessings. Therefore, the devil will present counterfeit rewards to you in order to distract you from God. Distraction from God would not be your portion in Jesus’ name.

If you get distracted, you can make a 40days journey becomes 40years. The Israelites who were distracted ended up being destroyed in the wilderness and never got to the Promised Land. I pray that you will not miss it in Jesus’ name. May your 11days to receiving your blessings never become 11years. That is why this year is your year of COMPLETE TURN AROUND in the name of Jesus.

How do we tie the issue of sin? Don’t play with sin. Don’t allow the devil into your life. He is a counterfeiter. God perfectly knows that you need pleasure, security, money…name it. He had prepared them all for you to enjoy life. 1Timothy 6:17c; 2Peter 1:3.

When you get out there, you will see a lot of deception and lies. Someone will tell you that, if you can date me, I will take good care of you, a married man not to imagine. Or someone will say to you that, if you can just join us in our cult group, we will ensure that you don’t suffer in life.

These are ways the devil threatens with lies and sweep people off balance. He shows you sex (or pornography), pool, money and all sorts in order to keep you off your steadfastness. Always know that God has provisions for you in a right way (as a good Shepherd) and He will legitimately get them to you at the right time.

The devil often gives people small things and cart away their destinies in return.

Consider Joseph for example; God told him He would favour him. Then, Portiphar’s wife came to him with pleasure. He could not trade God’s favour with the sexual pleasure she offered him. Had he consented to this, someone else would have replaced him.

God has made promises concerning you; don’t allow the devil to distract you away from Him. I pray His grace will be sufficient for you. You will never consent to evil deception and lies.

The devil cannot think about you more than God would do. Where was he when God made you? He fearfully and wonderfully created you in His own image.

Just know and believe that you are complete in Him, who is the Head of over all principalities and powers. Your future is secured in Him alone.

Should Joseph have succumbed to her pressure; he would not have risen beyond her to become the Prime Minister of Egypt. He was to rule over the entire Egypt like Pharaoh.

That is why the devil wanted to deceive him with sex through Portiphar’s wife. She would have put him under her thighs forever.

Don’t be deceived and never fall to the lies and deception of the enemy. Avoid premarital sex as a single waiting to get married.

The Lord blesses you.

Has nuclear fusion energy just become reality?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visit the site of the new Wendelstein 7-X nuclear fusion experiment. Photo / Getty

Scientists have taken the world a step closer to creating clean, safe energy through nuclear fusion — a possibility described by a Kiwi physicist as the holy grail of future energy production.

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany, have demonstrated that it is possible to superheat hydrogen atoms to form a plasma of 80 million degrees Celsius using a machine called the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator.

The plasma forms the basis for nuclear fusion, in which hydrogen atoms collide and their nuclei fuse to form helium atoms — a process which lets off energy and is similar to what happens in our sun.

For decades, researchers have been attempting to develop a power plant favourable to the climate and environment that derives energy from the fusion of atomic nuclei, just as the sun and the stars do.

But research has been hampered by some extremely challenging obstacles — particularly the practical hurdles of creating and maintaining fusion fire to create the fuel — and critics have frequently dismissed efforts as a waste of money.

As fusion fire is typically thought to ignite at temperatures of more than 100 million degrees, the fuel — a thin hydrogen plasma — must not come into contact with the cold walls of the vessel it’s created in.

On Wednesday, nine years of research by the German researchers culminated in a successful experiment using the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator.

After turning the machine on, it produced plasma that lasted just a fraction of a second before cooling down again.

Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger, the director of Massey University’s Centre for Theoretical Chemistry and Physics, hailed the experiment a “significant advancement” in the field of physics and a step forward into a more sustainable future for energy production.

“This is exciting because it could imply that in the coming decades we could be able to produce large amounts of energy in a safer way, pretty much anywhere on Earth and with little to no harmful products such as CO2,” he said.

“Some people describe nuclear fusion as the holy grail of future energy production.”

Professor Schwerdtfeger said there were at least 10 to 20 years of research ahead to make nuclear fusion power the main source for energy production, and many obstacles have to be overcome, but it will be important for New Zealand if population growth and energy consumption exceeds the nation’s capabilities.

His own research group is collaborating with the Osaka Laser Group in Japan to design new high-energy lasers important in fusion reactions.

Confined by magnetic fields, the plasma created by fusion fire floats virtually free from contact within the interior of the vacuum chamber it is created in. So far two different designs have prevailed — the stellarator and another called the Tokamak — and both are being investigated at the global Institute for Particle Physics.

At present, only a Tokamak is thought to be capable of producing energy-supplying plasma and this is the international test reactor ITER, which is being constructed in Cadarache, France.

The Wendelstein 7-X, the world’s largest stellarator-type fusion device, will not produce energy but should demonstrate that stellarators are also suitable as a power plant.

The machine is expected to soon put the quality of the plasma confinement on a par with that of a Tokamak for the first time.

And with discharges lasting 30 minutes, the stellarator should demonstrate its fundamental advantage — the ability to operate continuously.

In contrast, Tokamaks can only operate in pulses without auxiliary equipment.

CHARACTER (Part 2) – RESPECT

Character is like a foundation. It is a spring board from which all we do and say in life comes. If this foundation should crack, so many other things in your life will be cracked. The truth is that there are so many people who do not have the right character.

The attitude anyone needs to learn first of all is how to reveal Christ to people so that we can actively represent Him. Character is not about subtraction (that is, taking away), it is about addition.

2 Peter 1:5 says, “…add to your faith virtue, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and love.”

Respect is on of the vital building blocks in the life of a man. (1 Samuel 30:1-15)

Ziglag is a place where David stayed; he was raided while he was away. When he came back, he was very distressed when he found out that his wives, his children, his men’s wives and their children too had all been taken away. In the midst of the distress, they found a slave who ordinarily was a nonentity. Somebody who people would say was no use, and to prove this, his master must have abandoned him there thinking he was of no use to him any longer. This was somebody he had served for so long, but because he became sick, his master thought things were more important than him; therefore he left him.

Now let me ask you, if it was his master’s son that was sick, would he have left his son? No. But because he thought this guy was of no use, the animals can kill him in the wilderness or whoever sees him can kill him and he would even die of hunger. But somebody else – David found him. Now, David was in distress, agony and pain, which he felt he had lost everything. Even the people whom he had given a life that had no life before, his men started talking about stoning him. Now, if you were in that position, you’ve lost everything that you’ve worked for; even the people you have helped to climb the ladder of life are now against you; if anyone of them comes to you, I’m sure you will disrespect the person.

Now he found somebody who was part of the people who raided him. The first thing he did was to offer him food and drink until he regained his full strength.

There are so many of us that sometimes, we despise and disrespect the gifts that God has given to us, because we think those people are beneath us. Because we think that we are better than some people. David was distressed so it was a good situation for him not to show respect to anyone and the same thing happens to us a number of times. We are pressed and often under a lot of pressure and here come somebody willing to meet you or relate with you. Because of that pressure, you disrespect the person forgetting that he or she may be a gift to you.

David prayed and God told him, pursue, you will overtake. Sometimes, we pray for miracles to happen in our lives and God tells that that miracle is going to happen. You pray ‘Lord, where is my husband? Lord where my wife is?’ and God says ‘Soon you will meet your wife; soon you will meet your husband.’ And that person comes, because you are under pressure, you disrespect the person. Because you think ‘I am under pressure,’ you disrespect the gift. That’s not your portion in Jesus Name.

At times, we loose things and it is the little foxes, the Bible says that spoil the vine, the things we do not think are important, they are so important that they take us off course, therefore today you need to start paying attention to the little things that you think does not matter.

Be careful how you treat people and what you tell people in times of distress, because you may disrespect your gift.

Respect is defined as esteem for or a sense of the worth of excellence of a person. It is also defined as to show regard or consideration. You can also say that it is acknowledging that someone has value and worth. This does not mean that you agree with what people say all the time, but you still treat them like you know they have worth, they have value. It is a spirit of reverence for people. And it is not where they are or what they are doing; you need to give them respect.

If you read Roman 12:10, the later part of it, one version says “…give each other more honour, than you want for yourself…” Many of us want people to honour us, respect us, but do you respect people?

1 Peter 2:17 (New Living Translation Bible) “Respect everyone…”

No matter what their class it, no matter who they are, ‘respects everyone’ The Bible has not put a condition. If they respect you, respect them… is that what the Bible says? No. It is absolute … and love your Christian brothers and sisters, fear God and respect the King

1 Peter 2:17 (The Message Bible) “Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your Spiritual family. Revere God, respect the government.”

Do you know what it means to treat everyone with dignity? Because they are Kings and Queens in their own right. The Bible says that God has made us in his image, so if I disrespect anyone, I disrespect the image of God upon that life. We all know that God does not show partiality. The Bible says that God is not partial; He is no respecter of a person. I have found out that human beings are prone to attaching values on others based on what he sees on them.

If a brother walks in now and he is wearing a ‘powerful’ shirt, you’ll attach some value to him. Or you come into church and see a brother or a sister driving a BMW 3 Series, you’ll say “ah this sister must have value” You have defined her/him by their car. It’s amazing to know how people categorize others like they categorize cars. ‘Oh, this one must be a “Jeep”, this one is a ‘504’, this one is a Toyota Corolla 1975 Model, this one, is a Benz, this one is Rolls Royce, that’s how we categorize people and because of that, we now treat people based on the way we categorize them. If the person you’ve categorized in your mind as a Jeep steps up to you, there is a way most people look at them with despise, and they may have something.

Respecting people helps you to learn because there is something they have that you don’t have. When you learn to respect people, you gain knowledge. You categorize them and you behave to them based on you perception and because of that, you loose a gift God wants to bless you with. Every man is a blessing. There is a blessing that can come from them because they are created in the image of God. That’s why the Bible says I wish that no man will perish.

It is not what they are wearing or what they are driving that gives them value. What gives them value is that first of all, they are created in the image of God. Therefore, you should start to see people in the right light so that we can respect them, and you won’t lose your gifts. Someone said, it is easy and even ego boosting to respect people similar to us, but it is valuing people different from us that convinces the most noble on respect. Value people and give them the respect they deserve.

How you treat others is a reflection of your relationship with God. If you treat others shabbily and you don’t treat them well, you don’t have a good relationship with God. The Bible says that,”God is love”. If God fills your heart, love will feel your heart, and unconditional love will fill your heart – the love of God has been shared abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. You can’t be someone who studies and meditates on the word of God, who has a relationship with the word of God, who prays, who stays in the presence of God; yet not talk about God to others. There is no way that you get in the word of God that God will not rub on you; and when God rubs on you, when you talk to people, you will talk God to them.

Can you imagine if every time you annoy God, He says something, everybody will be dead?  So we need to know how to value people and it is based on our relationship with God. When you stop respecting people, take a look at yourself and ask what the kind of your relationship with God is? Do I have a good relationship with God? I am tired of Christians saying “Oh I am a Christian, and you cannot see it in the fruits.

You know why we are having a lot of divorces in the church, it’s because we are following the standards of the world and we are getting the results of the world. We are following Hollywood rather than ‘HOLY WORD.’ People will continue to get divorced in the church if we want to do it the way of the world. It is in the world that if you don’t respect me I won’t respect you. But it is different in the scriptures; it is different in the Bible because you are to present God to people at all times.

The reason some people are not married today is because they can’t respect people. It is difficult for them to respect people. If you can’t respect people now, when you are not in a relationship, when you get into a relationship, when the boundaries are much closer, you won’t respect the person. Your single time is a training ground for you.

HOW TO RESPECT OTHERS

1.    LISTENING: One of the things you do in respecting people is listening. For someone to come and talk to you sometimes (I am not talking about gossip), they have shown you some respect. What you need to do is to give them some respect, at least listen to them regardless their state. Some people walk up to you, maybe in the church and before you know it, you are already moving away from them.

2.     YOUR SPEECHES AND ACTIONS: Our respects show up in our speeches and actions. You can look at somebody and right there they know you have disrespected them, especially women know how to do that a lot. They look at somebody from head to toe and quickly size up their shoes and dresses.

3.     BE CONSIDERATE: One of the ways you can respect people is to be considerate to them. So many people are not considerate. You need to get to a point were you put yourself in their shoes, where you consider the other person before yourself. In Nigeria, it is difficult for most people to be considerate because they think something will finish. When you are driving on the highway, you will notice this. If we were to queue up here now to receive some things, you will see how some people will push others and disrespect them, because they think it will finish. What if you don’t get? It is not the end of life. What we are sharing doesn’t define your life.

4.    AVOID ASSUMPTION: Don’t assume. So many of us assume things. When you see someone in a situation you just start to assume or when people tell you something, you start to make assumptions.‘This guy must be a sinner that is why this has happened to him.’And based on that, you begin to judge them. So many people judge others to defend God. Even if somebody sins, yes they have committed fornication, theft, and so on; then you now judge them because you say ‘I am the holy one, I am representing God.’ Thereby judging others to defend God. Even God did not judge them. There is His God’s love saying, ‘I know it was a mistake, but you can come back.’

Character is like an aroma, it will draw people to you, because people like people who respect people. Many people lack simple courtesy or manners. For instance, ‘excuse me’, ‘thank you’, ‘sorry.’ This is common to men than women. Therefore, men must learn to be able to say, ‘I am sorry’ when he is wrong. Some people always think they are right, though this happens among both sexes.

5.    LET HIS OR HER OPINION COUNT: If you are dating someone and he does not think that you should have an opinion, he is disrespecting you, he is disrespecting your parents that sent you to school, that spent money on you to go and learn how to think, saying that they have wasted their money. Also, He is disrespecting God because you read from the word of God and the Word of God gives you wisdom. He is telling you that the wisdom you are taking from God is no wisdom. There are some things we do of which we don’t know their implications. So, if you are in a relationship with someone who doesn’t think your opinion counts, break the relationship today, because it is not going to change. Some people believe that marriage is a rehabilitation centre. When I get married to him, he will change or I will change him (because you are the Holy Ghost?).Marriage is not a rehabilitation centre, if he has not changed now, he won’t change; it will take the Holy Ghost to spin him or her around and bring a change to his or her life.

Therefore, you need to make a conscious effort to respect others. Respecting people doesn’t just fall on you, it is always by choice, and line upon line, precept upon precept, and the practice makes the perfect. If you do it over and over and over again, it will become part of your nature; then everybody who comes to you will be duly respected. You will give them the value that God places on them. Do you know what it means to value people the way God values them? It is only God that can bring you to do so. That’s why the way you value people, is a reflection of your relationship with God.

A husband or a wife who had an extra marital affair (outside marriage); such is disrespecting his or her spouse. People will listen to you easily and cooperate with you easily if you respect them. Because everybody likes to be treated like a Queen or King. You won’t need so much energy or so much effort to get their attention when needed.

If you have a friend and you relate always, let it be such that when you ask the person out, she doesn’t has to reconsider you request. You realize at a point in your friendship that, perhaps you are being led by the Holy Spirit; day in day out, when that guy asks you out, you know already. Some people say ‘I want to go and pray about it.’ Most people never prayed about it, they will rejoice about it. When you ask someone out, some people have doubts about you because of the things you have done.

If you place value on people, you won’t have a lot of conflicts with them. An often time, what causes conflicts is due to different opinions. So many people fight in their relationships simply because of disrespect, someone’s opinions are not being heard or a character issue of wanting to be first rather than preferring the other to yourself.

Never make any commitment to anyone in order to get to him or her, not even to date him or her, if they don’t show you respect. If they do not respect you, don’t commit to them. The thing about respect is this, when people are respecting you, you may not know, but when they disrespect you, you know. For instance, it becomes second place for you to say “thank you, excuse me, and so on. But, if I rush through the door and hit you, I’m sure you will look and say, “Who is this guy?” Especially, if it is a lady “wow, no manners!” therefore, it is normal to us to know and quickly observe when the wrong things happen to us.

THINGS THAT AFFECT SHOWING RESPECT TO OTHERS

1.OUR WORDS

2.OUR ACTIONS

Sometimes when you correct people, you need to watch what you tell them and your actions. Though they have done something wrong, but you can still disrespect them. The truth is, it is not about being right, but it’s about doing the right thing all the time. Even when somebody has done something wrong, if you need to correct them, you need to correct in love properly.

Proverbs 15:2 (Amplified Bible) says, “The tongue of the wise utters knowledge rightly, but the mouth of the self confident fool, pours out folly.”

Self confidence; you are sure you know it. 1 Corinthians 13 says “…knowledge puffs up…” You are sure you are right but the Bible says, ‘The mouth of the self confident fool pours out folly; but the tongue of the wise utters knowledge rightly.’ So, even though someone may be wrong, it doesn’t give you the right to disrespect them.

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Don’t use foul or abusive language; let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”

(The Message Bible) “Watch the way you talk…” (Even when you are angry, when someone upsets you, when you are right).

Let nothing foul or dirty come out from your mouth. Say only what helps, each word is a gift.

Some people when someone has done wrong, they will now bury them more. Yes the guy is down; you don’t need to dip him further down.

Colossians 4:6 says, “Let our words be seasoned with salt…” What does seasoning do? It adds flavour to food, preserves food, heals open sores, comforts and gives healing. Seasoning will add flavour. Let what you say add flavour irrespective of what happens.

From the story we read at the beginning, what David said added flavour to that guy’s life, else he would have died. He also preserved his life and this brought healing to his sores. We should ensure that as we treat people, one of the major things that we need to work on is our mouth because we use it a lot to disrespect people.

Proverbs 10:11 (The Message Bible) says, “The mouth of a good person is a deep life giving well, but the mouth of the wicked is a dark cave of abuse.”

As you go out today, make it a conscious effort to say, ‘I see God on people; they are created in the image of God. I am not going to despise the image of God, no matter what the situation is.’ And in doing that, you will see that when your gift comes to you, you will treat your gift the way God wants you to treat it.

God bless you.

Just a click

The Power of a Smile – How Smiling Can Change Your Life and Change the World (Part 2)

Smiling is such a key ingredient for establishing healthy and genuine friendships. When someone is smiling at you it indicates that they like you. When someone likes you what do you think of them? Yep, normally you’re thinking “wow, I like this person!” Smiling also offers encouragement to the person that you are talking to. Think about it, if someone is smiling at you while you are talking to them, you feel as though they are totally into what you are saying, encouraging you to keep going!

When you’re smiling, no doubt you’re having a much better time than when you’re not! Smiling simply makes you feel better!

Research has shown that smiling releases serotonin – a neurotransmitter that produces feelings of happiness and wellbeing. It’s like a circle of happiness. Smile and you feel happy, you feel happy and you smile! Even when you’re not feeling great, try smiling, genuinely, and see how you feel!

Smiling is crucial when it comes to first impressions. Smiling when you first meet someone will indicate to the other person that you are genuinely happy to see them and that you are a positive person. These impressions will be lasting on the other person so definitely not one to miss!

Business deals can be made simply through smiling. One of the first things that sales people quickly learn is to smile. Who would you rather buy something from? The sales rep that looks bored, down, angry, frustrated or whatever it may be, or from the sales rep that is simply smiling and happy to see you? The messages that they convey in conversation will link back to how they are feeling. A smiling person would be much more enthusiastic for the product and instil positive feelings in the buyer.

Even telesales have got a hold on this. Now sales reps that are on the other side of the phone are encouraged to smile when they talk as the smile is conveyed in how the person is talking! It can’t be that hard, can it?

A number of people will say that they find it hard to smile due to circumstances in their life. Research has shown that our thoughts and feelings influence our behaviours. As this is the case, I encourage you to close your eyes and think of the moments that have made you laugh and smile. How does this make you feel? These visualization exercises are great for helping you smile.

Further research has now flipped the above completely on its head and suggested that ourbehaviours can actually influence our thoughts and feelings! As this is the case, I encourage you to JUST DO IT! Simply forcing a smile will give you the benefits of the above. Stand up straight, work on your posture, smile to the world and ‘fake it till you make it’! It WILL work!

http://cdn.livestream.com/embed/oldtimefaithtv?layout=4&height=340&width=560&autoplay=false&mute=false

Watch live streaming video from oldtimefaithtv at livestream.com

“>TV Show

CHARACTER (Part 1)

 

Sometimes, the reason why you don’t move ahead or possess some things in life may be due to the kind of characters you have. Every man desires to bear glory. But glory has a weight and when you have character, you will have a way of bearing the load of glory. Many marriages have failed because of poor or bad characters.

Some of us need to learn patience, sincerity, honesty, self-caution, respect, etc. Some people have lost opportunities because at some point in their lives, they lack good characters and had refused to build on it.Character is like a foundation; therefore, it is good to start to build good and godly character early enough in life.

Character is like an aroma or perfume that either attracts or repels people.

Your reputation will always precede you because you are constantly being watched by people around you. Character contributes to beauty and fortifies a woman as her youth fades. Good characters can make a great deal as to make a woman more beauty as well as a man more handsome.

Character is personal; it impacts and affects people around you. Nobody gets you angered, you simply decide to use anger as a response to their communication with you. Love is a true test of character. If you don’t love people, you will have poor character. It is a foundation to success in life.

Research has shown that positive attitudes reflect in cheerful smiles, boost immune system and improve on or ensure good health.

People with bad characters are usually selfish. Many people concentrate and take time to shop, beautify and celebrate their outward appearance/outlook (fruits) while they neglect the seeds and the characters on the inward man.

Take time to build good characters and celebrate your seeds that are on the inside of you. (2Peter 1:4-10)

When opportunities comes to you and the right partner comes to you too, if you don’t have the right and good characters, and they are not growing in you; you will lose them and become short-sighted in the long run.

If you can build faith, self-control, perseverance, virtue (high moral standards with no compromise), love and knowledge of God’s words, then you can build godly characters. Self-control is the ability to hold oneself in most difficult situations.

Whatever you compromise to get, you will lose it without any effort.

The purpose of Christianity is not to just encounter difficulties, but to produce characters adequate enough to meet the needs even in difficult times.

Christianity doesn’t make us hidden as to avoid crises or troubles, it makes us great enough to live and overcome daily.

There are some things you can’t get until you build godly characters. (Colossians 3:12-17)

Character is needed if you want to reach your full potentials in life. It is a stable and distinctive attitudes that has been coded to respond to situations. It is what you do on the reflex or default (when you don’t have to think about it).

HOW TO DEVELOP GOOD AND GODLY CHARACTERS (Mark 7:21-23)

What is in your heart forms your character. Your environment, media, books, etc are what form our characters.

1. Study the Word of God and acquire divine instructions: You need to be instructed of the Lord through His Words and be always totally obedient to His instructions. Exposure to God’s words build good and godly characters in us. When you get into God’s Word, you will learn more of God’s characters. When you wear God like a perfume, no man can reject you because no man can reject Jesus. Anything you look at the longest is what you will become. Look more on the word of God, the word of liberty, the you will always respond to situations based on God’s Words.
2. Commitment to God: Good and godly characters are only formed when you are committed to God. God must take first place in your life and all endeavours. Proverbs 11:5-6; 2Corinthians 5:20. Our attitude should always be as God’s Ambassadors. Don’t marry someone who is not first committed to God, else such can be committed to someone else in the long ways. Good character is the best form of insurance in life.

Characters determine how you will respond to situations all times.

We need to understand that we are citizen of Heaven and start to behave like God. Always pause and ask yourself “What will Jesus do?”

If you want to change your character, it is not about subtracting or taking away something, but adding to your life.

Perseverance:  This is suffering without becoming upset. To continue in an action in spite of failure or little success and discouragement.

(2 Corinthians 3:18; John 17)

Building character gives us strength and wisdom to face and overcome challenges. Begin to build character strength today.

May the Lord help you as you decide on this.

INTEGRITY AND HONESTY IN A RELATIONSHIP

At the beginning, everything was clear as day and clearly open between the first man, Adam and his wife, Eve. Though, they both saw each other’s nakedness, shame, humiliation and embarrassment, yet were not ashamed.

Today, some people are embarrassed about their partners because of the pieces of information they have gotten about them. If you will have a fruitful relationship, there should not be any secret or lies. You must be open at all times. For your relationship to be fruitful, you must pursue truth.

God was the Center of the first man and woman’s relationship, and He covered them with His glory. So, they had no shame and saw each other’s secret.

The reason people lie about their true status or full status is simply because they want to gain advantage and put their partners in the dark. So, a lady who has had past abortion will not want to disclose it to her partner. You should be honest and truthful because something challenging may be waiting for you in the future which will then be as a result of the fear of being jilted. It is easier to reveal secrets that won’t hurt or that will benefit you than otherwise. Both parties must be committed to truth and the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the Truth. John 8:32.

Honesty is the foundation of any meaningful relationship. It is being truthful, sincere and far away from deceit. Integrity is being whole and indivisible. Some people are so different in different seasons and situations. So, you need to see them in these different seasons and situations before you decide on love as to marriage.

When there is honesty in a relationship, it will be easy for you to trust each other. When someone is committed to truth, you can trust him or her.

When you are in a relationship, you need to ask yourself if you can stand-in for your partner or not? Else, if you marry, you will regret ever doing so.

Truth is conformity to fact and reality. When you are honest to each other, you will be able trust each other and know the whole truth about each other. Trust is firm believe in someone or something.

Honesty is something you do on a consistent basis. Where there is trust, there is growth. Relationship cannot grow in situations where there are suspicions. Both of you must be committed to telling each other the truth at all times. You must be honest in your speech and actions. Avoid systematic or deliberate avoidance of truth. You simply weave a tangled web when you practice deceit. Telling lies is stressful, because you need to always remember what you said last. You always want to cover lies and become inconsistent.

Honesty is a reflection of good character. Someone who is not honest does not have good characters. When you rehearse and meditate on God’s word and allow it to live inside you, it will be quickly generated and be your response when lies come to you in order to sieve them out.Therefore, when you are in a relationship, don’t compromise the virtue of honesty. Avoid emotional deceit too. You can always consider someone for a relationship if he or she is first of all true to himself or herself, then also true to you.

When you are in a relationship, it is about the pursuit of truth in all aspects of life, so as to know if you are compatible or not and if you can walk together.

For others to be truthful to you, you have to first be truthful to yourself; and to be truthful to yourself, you need to first discover yourself. People compromise their values because of untruthfulness to self. Tell yourself the truth always. Ask yourself what you want and why you want what you want. You should know your motives. If your motives are wrong your actions will always be wrong. Your actions will always be coloured by your motives.

When you live in dishonesty because you don’t tell yourself the truth, you become enslaved and get into captivity and live a stressful life. It is only in an atmosphere of freedom that you can experience growth.

Some people start to conform to their partners’ demands in order to please their spouses even in a relationship and therefore stop being themselves.

When a relationship breaks, what is painful is whether you have lost your identity or can you regain who you are. If all you are doing in a relationship is to stop being yourself, please your partner and try to become someone else; it becomes a syndrome of unworthiness, that is, inferiority complex.

If there is something you cannot continue in marriage, don’t start it in a relationship. Don’t start what you cannot continue in marriage when you are in a courtship. When you are not true and honest with yourself, you compromise your standards. Ephesians 4:25 (NLT).

You must always give people opportunity to ask questions and express themselves in order to be honest and tell you the truth always. Sin will thrive in secrecy, so always allow your spouse to express himself or herself.Without integrity and honesty in a relationship, the relationship will disintegrate. True intimacy is only possible when there is truth and honesty. Intimacy is about gradual relationship built on truth. You feel more pains when you break up a relationship not because you break up, but because you fail to tell yourself truth about yourself and had avoided certain truths about your partner. You keep quite because you are afraid of hurting him or her, because truth is bitter and really hurts. But lies hurt more.

Relationship is about the pursuit of truth. Truth about the past, present and future. Where there is no truth, there can be no honesty. And where there is no honesty, there can be no integrity which is a foundation of good relationship.

Truth is synonymous to light. When truth is revealed, you should pause and find out if you can go on or not. Don’t struggle with it. When you struggle, you build on lies. Constant communication is crucial to the discovery of truth in a relationship. If you have not discussed it, you are not in a relationship.

Proverbs 11:20 (MSG); Proverbs 14:2.

God cannot stand deceivers. An honest life is a respect before God and people will always see you in the light of God. When you hide truth, you don’t just hurt your partner; but you hurt yourself as well and deprive yourself many good things. If you hide the truth, you deprive yourself the opportunity of meeting your needs in a relationship.

When you don’t give people opportunity to ask questions, you give them opportunity to crack their brain on philosophies on how to reason out things. Save them all of these and answer their questions.

WHAT HONESTY DOES IN A RELATIONSHIP?

1. Honesty ensures time is not wasted in a relationship and you don’t have a heart break.
2. It keeps you from stress (stress-free) because you are not using your time scheming.
3. It builds trust and focus in a relationship.

Marriage is stressful enough, therefore, apply wisdom in deciding so as not to add more stress.

Don’t tell a woman “I love you” if you don’t mean it. May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you.

The Power of a Smile – How Smiling Can Change Your Life and Change the World (Part 1)

A smile has special powers. You can calm fear, insecurity, hurt and anxiety not only in yourself, but in those that are experiencing those feelings. The next time someone is feeling sad, scared, nervous, whatever it may be, smile with them and see how this makes them feel!

Have you ever been in a sour mood and then someone has come along with a huge smile, some laughter or in a really good mood? Perhaps a baby that just looked up at you and smiled? How did this make you feel? When the person you are talking to or the people that surround you are smiling, you won’t be able to help but smile!

A smile is a contagious thing. Give to the world and the world will give back to you. Smile at the world and the world will smile back at you. You will brighten the days of those around and make a difference in their lives… simply by smiling!Wrinkles, wrinkles, wrinkles! Something that we all don’t want to have, however it is something that comes to us all leaving permanent marks of our emotional feelings throughout life. Smiling throughout life will NOT mean you won’t get wrinkles… I wish it did! It WILL however mean that you will have permanent marks of happiness and when you speak with those later in life, you will automatically be smiling!

You also use fewer muscles to smile than you do for frowning. Hopefully you’re smiling now as you read this, but if not, smile now! … Now that you have tried smiling, try and frown. Which one do you think is easier? I would definitely say smiling is the easier of the two, and therefore stretching your muscles and skin less throughout life to grow old sexily!

http://cdn.livestream.com/embed/oldtimefaithtv?layout=4&height=340&width=560&autoplay=false&mute=false

Watch live streaming video from oldtimefaithtv at livestream.com

“>OTFM TV

TRUST (Part 2)

Text: Psalms 125:1 (MSG)

From the above Bible text, we can see an illustration that God is consistent in His character in all situations. It is difficult and almost impossible for a marriage to grow and be successful without trust.

Relationship starts from the internal and not from the external. Don’t work from outside-in as most people always want to do. There are some people you think you know but in reality you don’t know them. So, you need God to reveal their inner minds to you in order to know them. The heart of man is very important when it comes to the issue of trust. Therefore during courtship, evaluate, discover and find out if his or her mind is stayed on God.Trust is a risk so much that you become vulnerable when you trust someone. A man that has not met God will be difficult to trust. Ordinarily, it is difficult to trust any man. When you are looking for someone to trust and marry, look for someone who has put His heart in God’s hands. You can trust someone who is spiritually minded; someone who is fulfilling the qualities of love which are written in 1 Corinthians 13. But never trust someone who is carnally minded; someone whose thoughts always center on carnality.

Someone who wants to please you at the expense of pleasing God cannot be trusted.

Another definition of trust is, it is firm reliance on the integrity, ability or character of a person or thing. You need to discover if the person has the capacity to be trusted and fulfill the marriage vow before you go to the altar.

Therefore, courtship is a period to discover his or her capacity for trustworthiness with the Holy Spirit being your partner. There are some things that your senses, intellect or emotions will miss. Such, your spirit should never miss.

When you say you trust someone, it implies you rely on the ability of the person to stand by his or her words. Trust doesn’t come with the commitment of relationship. It has to be built, strengthened and maintained daily by constant actions. You need to be consistent in your characters and integrity.

It takes time for trust to be built and it takes a long time to build it; while it takes just a short time to destroy it.

HOW DO WE DEVELOP TRUST

Galatians 5:6

1. Communication helps trust. You should be able to communicate effectively when your actions change. Before you get marriage, trust should be established that is while you need time. If you give trust to someone who doesn’t deserve, you give him or her license to destroy you. If you want to get married, make sure you totally trust your partner. HAVE FAITH IN GOD: – We believe in God simply because we trust Him. The reason we trust Him is because we know He can never fail. And the reason we know He can never fail us is because He loves us. So, faith is as a result of love. Little children trust their parents explicitly because they know they love them. Just as faith works by love, trust also works by love. Without the love for God in your heart, Satan has in-route into your heart. This kind of love is God’s unconditional love. This kind of love develops trust. The person you show this kind of love (with the qualities in 1 Corinthians 13) will trust you. Note that, your partner will feel accepted and not rejected when you show this kind of love to him or her.
2. COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY: – If you love someone, when you are together and you feel sexually aroused, you should express yourself and once you share your feelings; your partner will feel accepted and not rejected.

When it comes to trust it has to be total. Just as total faith is required to receive anything from God; total trust is needed for a successful relationship.

When your trust is not total in a relationship you are double-minded. When you are double-minded you are wavering; when you are wavering you will not be able to get certain things you are supposed to acquire in the relationship.

You may be deceived if you trust too much; but you will live in torment if you don’t trust enough. If you don’t trust enough your love is not total and fear will set in and then result to torment and severe agony. The devil introduces fear once you don’t trust enough.

When you fail to totally trust your partner fear sets in. Once fear sets in, it leads to doubt and eventual accusation.

Trust is a responsibility. When you say you trust God, it means you put a responsibility on God that He is will do all He has said. Likewise, when someone trusts you, it is a responsibility that you will be faithful in your commitments to him or her. The vows you made on your wedding day, the promises you made to your husband or wife, the trust your children had in you in providing for their different needs are all examples of the responsibilities trust suggest to us.

Trust grows in an environment of love. When there is total trust there is safety and security. Psalms 62:8. When you trust there is fulfillment. Proverbs 31:10-27. Trust ensures that one is not hindered in a relationship and ensures that you fulfill your full potentials as no one is intimidated or suspicious. If you want fulfillment ensure there is trust in your relationship.

RESULTS OF LACK OF TRUST

1. FEAR
2. DOUBT
3. ACCUSATION
4. ANXIETY
5. SUSPICION – You will be unnecessarily spying on your spouse. The attention and love will be viewed with suspicion. Everything he or she does will have a sense of strings attached.
6. DESTRUCTIVE ARGUMENT – Since you are always arguing, little time will be spent in building the relationship.
7. LOW SELF-ESTEEM – It diminishes people’s self-esteem. For someone who has been betrayed before, ordinarily, your defense is always high up. And probably as you go around not trusting people and if a good partner comes your way you may lose him or her.

Consider that the case of Jesus Christ, though He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, He did not use him to judge and define the whole of humanity or stop from fulfilling His purpose. But rather empower the Church. Sometimes, you need to forgive, heal and move on in life. There are good and godly people that can be trusted.

In developing trust you must do the following:

1. You must trust yourself. Work on yourself first. Proverbs 22:18. Don’t go out looking firstly for someone to trust. Rather, first of all consider if you can be trusted by someone else. Before you look for a good thing, ask yourself if you are a good thing. Before you point accusing fingers to someone, ask yourself if you can be trusted.
2. Trust is earned and as you grow daily in it. Ensure you are always sincere and truthful. Don’t lie either deliberately or by omission.
3. Do things daily to reinforce your trust in someone. Do not be excessive in your actions or attitudes towards someone.
4. Always work on your communication skill to ensure effectiveness. Don’t give out intentions or say what you don’t mean. Always talk about your feelings every time. An abusive relationship is the one where you cannot talk about how you feel at any time. You must be able to talk and talk and bring how you feel about everything. Trustworthy people talk about everything.
5. Avoid keeping secrets that is having emotional tone on you. To keep secret demands a lot of energy. Sin thrives in secrecy. If there is no love that will ensure trust is generated and developed in a relationship, there will be no protection of the lives involved.
6. Don’t try to meet someone else’ needs in order to meet yours. Openly communicate to know what his or her needs are.
7. Also, praying together will help develop trust. Though sex bond couples; but couples that pray more together talk much more and enjoy one another more. They also enjoy sex more. You need to ensure you always pray together.
8. Make sure you resolve issues quickly. Don’t go to sleep on the same bed without resolving issues. Some people deny their spouses having sex or eating in the house because they are angry or they were wronged. Then, fear, doubt, accusation and insecurity set in. When there are issues, sit down and solve them otherwise the devil will build on them.
9. Keep trusting in God so that you will not keep relying on suspicion. When you start to talk to God, He will start to reveal you certain things about Him. Keep the channel open to God. Don’t be anxious.

Karl S. Elvry says, “Trust enables you to put your deepest feelings and cares in the palms of your partner‘s hands knowing they will be handled with care.” Ensure that he or she is in God’s hands and that his or her heart is committed to God. Then you can commit your heart to him or her. God is the beginning and end of trust. A man or woman that has committed his heart to God can be trusted.

May the Lord help you.

TRUST (PART 1)

Text: Psalms 125:1 (MSG)

Mount Zion is a mountain that is immovable. Regardless the circumstance, situation or challenge, it always remains. Those who put their trust in God are like this Mount Zion. In spite of the storms of life, they cannot be moved. So, at every point in time, we can trust in God because we know His character that He can never fail.

The truth is, when you trust God based on His word that He cannot change and He can never let you down; then you will see Him do exactly what He says He will do.

When you go into a marital relationship or get married to someone, you probably expect that you should trust one another.  When you take the marriage vow, you say that it’s for better or worse; it simply implies that you are looking onto your spouse alone and that you will no longer focus on any other man or woman. So, you are not expecting infidelity from him or her.

There is no one that wants to marry someone who he or she cannot trust. The next closest relationship you will ever get to after your relation with God is the marriage relationship. As it is that you go into a covenant relationship with God at the time of salvation, the same way you establish a covenant relationship with your spouse when you marry him or her. And it is almost impossible to go into a covenant with someone you don’t trust.

Trust is a fundamental ingredient of any human relationship.  When you don’t trust your intended partner, there are certain issues that will ensue which will become suggestions towards distrust in your relationship. There are things you do while dating or in courtship with your intended partner that may result into distrust in marriage. For instance, premarital sex is a recipe for distrust in later years.

Trust is one of the most important ingredients for a successful relationship. It is like salt; it gives your relationship the needed seasoning. Without trust it is almost impossible for a marriage to work. Don’t marry someone you trust 99.9% because the devil can work or wreck havoc with just 0.1%. Once he begins to work with 0.1% it becomes magnified. When you trust someone, you feel safe, feel connected and get closer. The closer you get to someone, the more trust you expect from him or her.

When you give trust to someone who doesn’t deserve it you actually give him or her power to destroy you. When you give your commitment to marry someone, you expect to feel safe with him or her. When you are in a relationship, you need to find out if you can trust your intended spouse or not. That is why courtship is a time for interview, to evaluate with focus and not a time for intercourse. When you start to sleep with the person, the discovery process stops. You don’t know whether you can trust him or her any more.

Many people are heart-broken because they didn’t discover if their intended spouse can be trusted before they gave out their heart to him or her. Before you give your heart to someone else, prove him trustworthy because your heart is very delicate. You cannot afford to give it to unproven person.

Trust is not what you get it is earned. Test all spirit. By the things he or she says, acts or think you can know whether he or she can be trusted. Trust is a living entity, breathing constantly in order for a relationship to survive. Trust has to be something you invest in on a daily basis.

WHAT IS TRUST?

1. Trust is putting confidence in someone that he or she will be honest to you at all times; being faithful, being loyal, being sincere and being dependable hoping that he or she will always tell you the truth (even in little things). This will result when you can be truthful to one another at all times. Someone who is truthful about his or her feelings when you are together can be trusted.When you see someone who is truthful to himself or herself can be trusted. It implies that such can be loyal, faithful, constant and dependable at all times.
2. If someone can gossip about other people to you, he or she can gossip to others about you. Someone who is committed to his or her words can be trusted. Can he or she keep his or her promises? Someone who cannot keep his or her promises before marriage cannot keep marriage promises because marriage has gotten so many promises. Marriage is not only about the good times. Will he or she stay when bad times come? If you are in a relationship and you don’t have peace, you have to check it again.
3. Trust is not an emotion that you should give to someone based on what or how you feel. Emotions are not stable and you cannot base your decisions on what is unstable. No one gives trust, it must be earned. 1 Corinthians 4:2. For anyone to be trusted, he or she must prove himself or herself and earn it.

The way we have defined trust as putting confidence, being faithful, being loyal being dependable, you need to ask yourself sincerely; do you think someone is capable of doing all these all the time? Human nature is not capable, that is why we need to understand our limitations. Jeremiah 17:7. In your own strength, you cannot trust someone. Psalms 118:8; Micah 7:5 (NLT); John 2:23-25.

Marriage is committing your heart into another person’s hands. So, don’t give your heart to someone who has not earned your trust otherwise, you can be heart-broken.  There are some people who have died as a result of emotional break-down while some ran mad because they committed their lives into people’s hand that they don’t trust.

There are two reasons why you don’t trust people, namely:

1. Because you know them. There are some people you know based on your experiences with them that they are not trustworthy. So, experience is important when it comes to the issue of trust. The reason for experience is because of the environment has a way it affects us. Where we grow up has a way of affecting us and determines how we trust people. Likewise, the way we have seen life affects whether we trust or not. There are certain people who have bad past and serious past hurts that have concluded that certain gender cannot be trusted or things should be hidden from certain gender.
2. Because you don’t know them. Someone you are meeting for the first time is a stranger and you don’t know the person. So, it takes time to discover if someone is trustworthy or not.

Trust is a risk that makes you vulnerable because you put your heart in the hands of someone else. But, there is a wise way you can take the risk. We go through certain things in life that will make us ordinarily not to trust people.

HOW TO TRUST PEOPLE

1. THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD: – To trust someone, you need to study the word of God diligently. Start to view or see people through the word of God. Some people have had bad experiences that only the word of God can heal them. Colossians 2:8. Regardless the terrible things you have gone through in life, you need to start to renew your life with the word of God. When you come to Christ, there is healing – intellectual, emotional and spiritual healing. The more you read the word of God, the more you see things in the proper perspective.

2. INVESTIGATE INTO HIS/HER HEART: – The way your intended spouse’s heart is, that is the way he or she will treat your heart. What you don’t have you cannot give. If his or her heart is corrupt, he or she will corrupt yours. It is difficult to trust another man. So, when it comes to the issue of trust, the heart is to be considered. When you need to know whether to trust someone, investigate his or her heart. Remember, courtship is a time to interview and discover your intended spouse through thorough evaluations. Once you start to sleep together, you stop the discovery process and in the future you cannot trust the person.

3. LOOK FOR GOD IN PEOPLE: – There is no one who is capable of being trustworthy. No one can be really trusted. But, a man or woman who commits to God is the one who can be trusted. Deep calls unto deep while shallowness calls unto shallowness. You can only marry at your level. When you take the decision to marry someone. It is based on the level of your spirituality at the time. Look for someone who is very devoted and committed to God. Devotion comes before duty. The man or woman who trusts God is the same who can be trusted. Even in marriage, there should be a constant devotion to God in the study of the word and prayers. The issue of mind renewal is constant. So, don’t take it for granted if your spouse stops reading the Bible. When you are dating, how does he or she handle the things of God? The way your spouse views or sees the things of God will determine how he or she will relate to you. If he or she doesn’t take the things of God serious, he or she may disappoint you.

4. DOES HE OR SHE LOVES GOD: – Faith works by love. Galatians 6:5. So, you need to ask whether he or she love God. The person that loves God can be trusted. The person who loves God will abstain from sin and will never cut corners.

The Lord will help you and cause your life to glorify Him in Jesus’ name.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COUNSEL (Part 1)

A wise counsel is a right piece of advice that helps you take the right decision. Right decisions are important because poor decisions have consequences that can affect not only your life but also the people around you. For instance, if you marry a lady and you begin to have issues, it won’t affect only you; it will affect your parents, friends and children even 20 years from now. Your decision now is not only affecting you but things in your future. It is important we begin to realize counsel is important. Jesus took counsel.
For every major decision you have to make in life you need counsel. A lot of people take major decisions in life without involving any person assuming they know it all. Though, some people do involve the wrong set of people.

The issue of marriage is not a joke and I don’t think you should take it lightly. This is the essence of the Singles Fellowship, to know if you are in a right relationship or not and to know if you are prepared for a relationship or not.
There was a man that dated different ladies – a serial dater. He thought every lady had a problem until he started to attend Singles Fellowship. After a few months, he realised he was the problem. Counseling helped him to realise where the problem laid. Some people who are in relationships sometimes when their partners offend them a little, the next thing they say is “I will break up with you.”

Thus, before you go into a relationship
, have you received any counsel?
There are some things in life which are big that you can’t just jump into. Even Jesus Christ always received counsel, because He said that it is whatever the Father tells Him that He does. If Jesus took time to receive counsels, who do you think you are that you don’t need counsel? Don’t assume that you know everything.

 

Proverbs 12:15 says “fools think their own way is right but the wise listens to others.” It is important to know that it is only fools that think they know all things; they don’t need counsel. There are some major decisions you will have to take in life, subject them to counsel.
Proverbs 11:14 “also says that where there is no counsel, the people fall. But in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” This means that failure abounds where there is no counsel. You can be sure there is going to be failure when you don’t have any counsel. I don’t want you to take counsel lightly when taking major decisions in life; decisions such as marriage – who you would marry.
Sometimes you may be going through a turbulent time in life and you are confused, you don’t know which way to take and you are at a cross-road. God will bring people your way so that you can get counsels from them. I’m not saying you can’t or shouldn’t pray or that God won’t reveal solutions to you; but because life is about relationships, God sometimes uses people to speak to you.
Counsel is important because when you talk to someone it increases productivity. The Bible says one shall chase a thousand, two shall chase 10,000. The Bible also says that, “two are better than one, for they have a good reward for their labour.” Sometimes, when you are discussing with someone, you find out that there are some things you have not considered. You may be looking at it at the present and somebody may be giving you a whole picture. You may think “that is the best decision for me now” but if you take that decision, it may be a short term gain. But there is something called long term investment. Perhaps, you may be mortgaging something now.
For instance, when people get married and they are having issues, the first thing they say is “maybe I will call it a quit with this relationship or marriage.” Quitting at that point may satisfy your happiness but it is a short term happiness. There is a guy I counselled when he was having serious issues of infidelity on the side of the wife and he said that the Bible says you can only divorce on the ground of adultery. But Jesus told them that “I permitted it because your hearts are hardened.”

1 Corinthians 6: 12 says “All are lawful unto me, but all things are expedient.” In Message version, it says “just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean it is spiritually appropriate.” So, that is wisdom from the Bible. Sometimes people say they are right, rather than focusing on doing the right thing. It is important you get counsel so that you don’t humiliate your life. Lack of Counsel causes failure and frustration. Saul died because he didn’t get counsel or he followed wrong counsel, he lost the throne. People are frustrated when they follow wrong counsels.

Sometimes, you don’t have to despise the counsel of people close to you. In 2006, when the stock market was good, a man wanted to take loan to buy stock and use the house they were living in as the collateral security but his wife refused to sign, asking what if stocks falls. Three months later, the market went down. They would have lost their only house. The wife of Pilate warned him about Jesus Christ not to have anything to do with His crucifixion. It was a good and wise counsel but he despised it. Sometimes, your children may give you wise counsels but a whole lot of people despise them.
May the Lord help you to understand the need to seek for wise and spiritual counsels before you take your decisions.