I just finished writing today’s article called “The young men” when I received this letter in my inbox. It is from a young sister who attends our church. She is a committed born again Christian. She is about 30 years old. She is very beautiful and a little bit plump (I do not like the word fat). I know how it feels to be overweight for I have battled this issue myself for many years. Read this letter as an encouragement to all singles not to compromise in your choice for a life partner. Have no inferiority complex in the way you look. God made you and not yourself. It is good to try your best to be healthy but do not be over concerned about the way you look. All God’s children and beautiful for Jesus is beautiful! If you have any counsel for her, please comment. She will read it! God bless you all!

“Malia, I thank God that I have a spiritual mother, that I can open my heart to you without any fear or shame. God bless you Ma. I really wanted to come see you. It’s about the matters of the heart. I will try my best to explain in writing, cos it’s long. I am at the point of my life where I am confused. And I know I should not be confused, I don’t want to be confused cos it’s not of God. Recently my friend (brother …) of over 10years asked me out, initially I objected cos I’ve never seen him in that way. I like him as a friend but I don’t see us living under same roof cos I’m not attracted to him and I don’t see me being happy with him. More so as friends in the past he has always expressed his hatred for fat people; that they are disgusting in bed and are liable to die young. When I remembered all his words in the past I said no to his request. But then after much conviction from him that those were words of ignorance I told him I’ll pray about it. I prayed but did not get any answer from God so I said let me give it a try and see how it goes.
That was how we started.

Then 6 weeks ago after a wonderful service in the church, he called me on phone and started talking about me being fat. He said that he has accepted his fate to get married to a fat lady but that he hopes when I give birth I’ll be able to control my fat. Bcos I wanted to retain the anointing from the service I did not react. But after much thought days later I told him it won’t work between us. At the beginning he didn’t see anything wrong with what he said but when he saw that I was angry he then said sorry. His words hurt me and I started feeling low and ashamed of myself. Now he keeps apologizing and says that he can’t let go of me. My answer to him was that unless it is God’s will I can’t go on with him. I said that I need to pray and hear God’s will concerning this matter. But he’s disturbing and putting pressure on me for answer.

Malia, I don’t want to get married and be miserable, unhappy, frustrated and depressed. God has been so good to me and has favored me as a single, so I want marriage to be an improvement of my state now. I want to be happily married. I can’t afford to make foolish mistakes about this. Please Malia I need your counsel as my mother. Thank you Ma. Your daughter…A’

This is my answer to her:
Dear A… No need to waste time! This man is not your husband. Tell him so. Let him go. Because in the past he was an ordinary friend, now that friendship must stop too. Things have changed! That is why you are confused. As things are now, you cannot reject him as a husband and keep him as an ordinary friend. You have to stop all conversations with him. Talk to him just once that you do not want to continue any relationship with him. After that, delete his phone number. The Holy Spirit will help you. The man you will marry will appreciate you as you are. He will see you beautiful as you are now. He will not try to make you into another woman. I wish you well!
(By the way, I just wrote an article today called “The young men”. He is a ‘young man’ and he is not your Boaz. Read my write up today!)
Love in Christ alone,
Malia

(In the picture you see a beautiful ‘plus size’ bride. This is to help your dream. This is to encourage all the sisters, no matter what is your size or your complexion, to trust God for your wedding day. You shall marry your Boaz, not his ‘house boy’! You shall be a beautiful bride! You shall be happy! God will make it happen! In Jesus name, amen!)

“Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the YOUNG MEN not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the YOUNG MEN have drawn… And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his YOUNG MEN, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her… Then he said, “Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after YOUNG MEN, whether poor or rich” (Ru 2:9, 15, 16; 3:10)

The words ‘young men’ appear four times in the Book of Ruth. In Hebrew, the words ‘young men’ describe boys or servants who are hardworking, zealous, restless and noisy. These are the ‘house boys’, the workers and the servants of Boaz. Their boss commands them and they must obey. Boaz forbids them to ‘touch, reproach or rebuke’ Ruth. He commands his men not to sexually harass, insult, angrily rebuke, hurt, confuse or embarrass Ruth. They are also commanded to quietly help by dropping grains for her, as by mistake. These kind actions of the young men are not because they are naturally nice. They have to obey their master Boaz who hired them. Ruth will be a fool if she thinks that these ‘young men’ act nice on their own. She will be a fool to chase after them.

Later, when Ruth tells Boaz that, according to their tradition, he can marry her, he congratulates her by saying that she is a wise and godly woman. There are two major reasons why Boaz appreciated Ruth. The first is that she forsook her people, to follow and help her mother in law who is a relative of Boaz. The second reason is that Ruth did not run after ‘the young men’ on the field. To Boaz this was a sign of a true godly woman and it was the reason why he loved and married her.

The Bible says that we should reject the sins of the youth. “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2Tim 2:22). This is a great lesson for all who want to work for God or want to marry well. To be ‘a vessel of honor used by the Master’ you need to hate sin and in particular all forms of sexual lust which is called ‘the sin of the youth’. No matter your age, you should run from every appearance of evil, especially in connection to sexual sins. Like Joseph, you have to learn how to run away from the lustful temptation of the devil, represented by the Potiphar’s wife. Like Job, you need to make a covenant with your eyes, that they may be holy, seeing only what God revels to you and to be blind to what the devil shows you. Sexual lusts must be replaced by a desire to pursue the things of God. That creative strength you used to chase lovers, use it now to pray and seek God. Choose between fornication and prayer. In fact, I am free to say, that any believer who is spiritually weak, especially in prayer, is still in bondage to sexual lusts.

Boaz appreciated Ruth for not running after ‘the young men’. Any godly man looking for a wife should do like Boaz and appreciate a woman who is free from sexual lusts and the restless frustrations associated with the youth. You should appreciate a spiritual woman of God who has a quiet spirit, is prayerful, strong, gentle, hardworking, humble, submissive, kind, romantic, creative and helpful. You sisters, pray that you may be like Ruth. Then Boaz will locate you and marry you. The Bible never gets old. The same stories are repeated by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is my testimony: I am very happily married to a wonderful man of God. I know what I am saying. I experience love and dreams come true. I wish that God will bless you as He blessed my husband and I. To God be all the glory!

“So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor… So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?… Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants” (Ru 2:2, 10, 13 )

Ruth prays that she may find favor with a wealthy man so that she can glean and gather grain on his field. She did not use her natural beauty to seduce the man. She did not manipulate the rich man with her many needs. She prayed for God’s favor on herself so that the rich man may not see her, but sees Christ in her. God answered her prayer. That man was Boaz. She finds favor ‘in his eyes’. The word ‘favor’ means beauty, mercy and grace, revealed when a greater man humbles himself, bends down in kindness and appreciates an inferior person. This favor is always supernatural. In the natural, no rich man ‘bends down’ to a poor one. Without the Holy Spirit all rich men are proud. So, when you see a wealthy and truly humble man, give God the glory. For this is the work of the Holy Spirit who is able to humble any man, great or small.

Have you ever prayed like this: ‘God grant me favor with that person?’ This is a very powerful prayer. This is a very good prayer. I am a witness to it. Please know that God can only answer this prayer if you are a born again Christian. I pray like this before telling my husband something very important. I pray before I meet strangers when I need a favor. I pray before an exam or an interview. I pray before I minister to others. Even now I pray: “Father in heaven, please give me favor with the readers! To You alone be all the glory! In Jesus name, Amen!”

“So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech” (Ru 2:3)

The word ‘providence’ means God working ‘behind the scenes’ with wisdom, power and kindness, to do His will in your life. The working of providence is for God’s glory and for your own good. For example, ‘it happened’ that Ruth went to work in the field of Boaz, who will be her husband later. This ‘it happened’ was in fact the (hidden) leading of the Holy Spirit. All true marriages ‘made in haven’ are the result of the workings of the God of providence!

“For everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope” (Rom 15:4)

I was reading today the first chapter of the Book of Ruth. If you identify with Naomi, then you can say that life is extremely unfair. Everything that can be wrong happened to her. She was once a happy married woman with two sons. The family went to live ‘abroad’ where the ‘grass was greener’. They had dreams of success, prosperity and happiness. But while living in Moab, her husband and her two sons died. This was a tragedy. She was left with her two pagan daughters in law. A broken hearted poor widow, Naomi hears that God has blessed her country with prosperity. She decides to come back home. Her daughters in law follow her. She discourages them to go with her to the land of Judah. She tells them there is no future for them over there. Orpah weeps and goes back to her people and to her gods. But Ruth ‘clung’ to her. She makes one of the most beautiful speeches in the Bible. She commits herself to be with Naomi even unto death. This is a stronger commitment than marriage which ends ‘until death do us part’.

Naomi saw only darkness and no hope at all. But Ruth sees a ray of light and a faint hope ahead. Naomi complains that God afflicted her. She blames God for changing a pleasant fulfilling life into an empty barren hopeless bitter existence. But to her surprise, Ruth chooses this very God who ‘afflicts’ people. By faith in the same God of affliction, she is not afraid of passing thru darkness knowing that there is light at the end of that tunnel. Ruth’s trust in the God of Naomi is rewarded with a new life. She will soon marry Boaz and has a son. She becomes one of the three foreign women in the line of Jesus Christ. This is a wonderful story of grace.

I have seen this phenomenon in the church. Old believers compromise their faith and backslide internally. They still attend church but they carry a grudge against God. They get disappointed and bitter against the very God they try to serve.  Then a new believer comes along full of faith and zeal to serve God. The old bitter believer tries to discourage the new Christian. The new believer tries to encourage the old one. This is a spiritual battle. In the case of Ruth, she won over the heart of Naomi and later Boaz by her simple pure faith in Jehovah God. She made a radical commitment to serve God and His servant Naomi. The God of Israel rewarded her beyond her dreams.

The Word of God says that by reading these ‘old’ stories, we shall find the strength to endure hard times, encouragement and hope. We need to totally surrender our hearts and lives to the Living God. Like Ruth, we need to cling to God and to serve the human delegated authority He had placed over us. We set both our hands on the plow and we do not look back. We chose to die to the past of sin, if it was sweet or bitter. We change natural people for spiritual company. We change natural desires for spiritual ones. We take our cross and follow Jesus! We all need one another. We encourage ourselves so that we can encourage others. Your testimony may be the only hope some people have before committing (spiritual) suicide. Just hold on there! For your sake and for the sake of many! Lastly, we need to remember that God sees and He knows everything. There may be a time of persecution, suffering, loneliness and broken dreams. But God can change any pain into progress and failure into success. Child of God, be encouraged today! I hear the sound of rejoicing in the tents of the righteous! In Jesus name, amen!

Me singing this song, today, at the church service:

‘Oh Thou who knowest my beginning
Thou who created the plan
Who orchestrated my life’s journey
God, You are my God

God of decisions, Creator of answers
Thou who ordained my way
Through my transition, held my position
God, You are my God

I will forever give You praise
Honor and celebrate Your name
God of the past, present and Who is to come
Oh, God, You are my God”

(By Joann Rosario)

HAPPY WITH CHURCH TONIGHT

The evening prayer meeting was wonderful. The Holy Spirit freely moved in our midst. Some people were weeping and others were laughing. Only God knows each heart and the deepest needs of each person. We acknowledged the presence of the Holy Spirit; the God who knew was before we were conceived in our mothers’ wombs. God loved us before He created the stars and placed them in the sky. We felt the love of God. Like a mighty fire that cleanses, like purging spiritual medicine, the Spirit did His peculiar work in us. The unity of the Spirit was strong. We witnessed this wonder: old and young, adults and children, stayed together under the Blood and moved with one accord in the Spirit. We rejected the evil spirits of fear, lust, of empty religion, of homosexuality, masturbation, of Jezebel and computer pornography! To the pure all things are pure! We prayed for our ears, that they may be circumcised. We shall hear only the truth, the Word of the Spirit. We prayed for our eyes that we should see only what the Holy Spirit reveals to us. We prayed for our emotions that we should feel only God’s heart. We shall be blind and deaf to the attraction of the devil. The singles prayed and made a covenant with God that they shall keep sexually pure until the wedding day. Their bodies shall be living sacrifices on the altar of God.

The anointing was strong enough for burdens to be lifted; for the sick to be healed, for the barren to become fruitful and for the depressed to be joyful. We got drunk with the Holy Spirit and rejoiced like Sarah of old. She was barren until she was 90. Then she and Abraham had a son named Isaac, meaning laughter. He was the son of promise. Laughter was promised to them. They shall not die sad and disappointed. “Sarah said: “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me” (Gen 21:6). By faith we identified with Sarah and rejoiced in the knowledge that God is faithful! This evening, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God has replaced our sadness with the joy of the Lord, which shall be our strength from now on. We sang and praised the ‘God of the past, present and who is to come. Oh, God You are my God!’ As I am writing these notes, I want to say this: I personally thank God for church prayer meetings under the prophetic anointing of the Holy Ghost. If you have never attended one, you really ‘miss better thing’ (as we say in Nigeria)! To God be all the glory!

HAPPY WITH CHURCH TONIGHT
We just ended the women’s fellowship. It was wonderful. We praised God, we prayed and shared testimonies. Sister D said that she almost died but God saved her. Sister O told everybody how she did spiritual warfare to be pregnant after many years of bareness. Sister T said that God woke her up in the night to put off a stabilizer that could have been on fire and possible burn the house. Then the Word came…
It is more than five months since I fell and broke my leg. I am healed now. Thank God! It is such a pleasure and daily excitement for me to walk freely. You never know the value of something until you lose it. For eight weeks I had to stay in bed with a cast on, not able to walk except with crutches. If ever in the past I was praying for beautiful (smooth, slim, long) legs, I forgot all about that as I lay down with a cast on. My prayers changed! I only wished to have healed and strong legs. Nothing else matters.

There are many lessons I had to learn from this time of affliction. Like I said, it was an evil spirit that ‘pushed’ me to fall on the stairs. It is not my imagination. I felt the darkness pushing me from behind. But once I fell, the darkness ‘ran away’ and the Holy Spirit took over. He embraced me like a mother holds her wounded child. God used especially my husband to comfort and encourage me. Others helped too. But all the glory goes to God for helping me pass thru this fire of affliction and making me a better person.

The following are some of the lessons I personally learned during my affliction. These are based on the Word of God and can be applied to all believers who pass thru pain, suffering, affliction or sickness. These lessons are pieces of gold purified in the furnace. These are life time lessons that will help me to be a better woman of God, wife, mother and grandmother. Sickness has come and sickness has gone. So, what are my gains left behind at the end of this suffering?

*I LOVE THE BIBLE MORE!
Suffering drove me to the Bible! I re-discovered the power and sweetness of the Word of God! I fell in love with my Bible all over again! “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Ps 119:71)
*I LOVE PRAYER MORE!
Suffering drove me to prayer. I love prayer now more than before. Prayer works for me. “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray” (Jam 5:13)
*I LOVE REPENTANCE MORE!
Suffering helped me to examine my life and to repent of self-sins, especially pride and stubbornness! “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word” (Ps 119:67)
*I LOVE HUMILITY MORE!
Suffering humbled me, giving God a chance to increase His favor on me. As a pastor I need His anointing and His power. I find these blessings for ministry resting on me now more than ever before. “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2Cor 12:9)
*MORE JOY!
Suffering has supernaturally increased my joy in the Lord. The devil wants me to be sad but I found joy replacing sadness. Suffering has made me more patient with God’s work in me, with myself, with my husband, with my children and with others. Suffering has made me spiritually mature and fruitful. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (Jam 1:2-4)
*MORE HOPE AND GODLY CHARACTER!
Suffering has increased my hope that my future is better than my past or present. My faith that God will not disappoint me is now strong. “We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:3-5)
*I LOVE MY MINISTRY MORE! TO THE GLORY OF GOD!
Suffering has enlarged and blessed my ministry. It has become a sermon topic, a source of encouragement to others and a way to glorify God! “Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (Jn 11:3, 4)

Dear Child of God, if you are sick, afflicted, oppressed or rejected… whatever is your problem now, lift up your eyes from yourself and your circumstances and look unto Jesus Christ who understands your pains like no other. Remember! You are sick and poor but you are not alone. Look at the gifts and gains that come to you. These are brought by the pain you now hate. You are in the fire of the furnace. But you shall not end there. You shall come out of that fire like pure gold of eternal value. Men shall envy you! Angels shall rejoice because of you! Be encouraged today! Give thanks to God even now, for your story is not yet over. God is increasing your testimony and ministry. Let Him use any means He wants. You shall rejoice at last. Why not start the praises now?

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body” (1Cor 6:18-20)

A young sister asked for counsel recently. She has been sick on and off. I told her to search her heart and confess any known sin. Some sicknesses are the direct effect of un-confessed and un-repented sin. She is a ‘nice’ girl and very active in her church. Then she told me that she has been committing fornication. This did not surprise me for I have seen many young men and women who are very active in the church but still active sexually, thinking it does not matter what they do in secret. The truth is that God knows and God sees. You can deceive your parents, your spouse, other people and the pastor. But nobody can deceive God. Sin plants only evil. The result will be a life of guilt, fears and health problems. I told this young woman to cancel all her imagination that she is born again. I told her to start afresh. To give her life to Christ. This time without hypocrisy! She has agreed and she told me that she feels so much better after ‘opening up’ about her double life. Bellow is part of my counsel to her:

“One who loves a pure heart and who speaks with grace will have the King for a friend” (PV 22:11)

To have a pure heart it means to have a heart like Jesus! To speak with grace it means to speak like Jesus! It means to speak the Word of God with anointing and power. I am not saying you must preach to everybody. Even a whisper of a counsel, if you speak it with grace it will change the heart of the listener. To speak with grace it means to have a heart and a tongue filled with the Holy Spirit. You shall speak the right word at the right time with the right tone. The devil will hate you because of your grace words. God will bless you because of the same words. You shall speak wisdom, gentleness, kindness, joy, peace, strength, comfort, encouragement and loving rebuke. You shall ‘minister grace’. You shall direct the hearer to Christ, to the Cross! You shall speak good holy words that fit the need! Jesus will be your friend. People in need shall listen to you and see Christ in you. Your life, words and actions, shall glorify God!

This evening Jesus says to me: “My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely” (SS2:14). Thank You Savior, Lord, Healer, Lover and Friend! Receive all of Your glory!

There are many people who testify that since they came to Father’s House Bible Church, God has blessed them with spiritual and material blessings beyond what words can say. This evening I received a note from a sister who is so grateful to God. She got married in our church. They now have two children. They just built their first house. Her husband and herself are very happy. As you read her testimony, tap from the anointing of blessings overflow. Have faith in God. Serve God the best way you can. Then God will reward you beyond your dreams! For He is faithful! Thank You Lord Jesus!

“Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Mt 26:64)

This is the encounter between our Lord and the High Priest Caiaphas. It happened just hours before the Cross. Please read and meditate upon this scripture, for it is what the Lord said to him. Immediately Jesus said these words, the reaction of the High Priest was crazy. He accused the Lord of blasphemy and asked that He should die. This tells us that our Lord died because of His testimony, because of the truth, because of the Word of God. The lie seated on the throne killed the truth standing before it. What did Jesus say to warrant His death? Let’s take this scripture and analyze it word by word. Let’s imagine the scene. The Lord stands before Caiaphas who is seated on his seat as a High Priest. He is the religious judge of Israel. Initially Jesus kept silent. But then He spoke the words in verse 64. To make it easier to understand it, I will try to paraphrase the words of the Lord… I pray that the Holy Spirit helps you to see the glory, the grace, the humility, the wisdom, the beauty and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ even in this terrible situation, standing face to face with the man who sentenced Him to death.

“I am before you, High Priest Caiaphas. It is clear that you are blind to who I am. My Father has not opened your eyes to see Me. You are blind to My grace and to My glory. But I tell you that one day, you shall see Me as I Am, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Then you, and all the ones who pierced Me, shall weep like one weeps for the death of an only son. For what your eyes will see then, will only bring you bitter sorrow and tormenting regret.

You are seated on your high chair. You make me stand before you, bound like a common prisoner, like a slave, wanting me to defend Myself before you. Let it be so for now… but I tell you that one day things shall be reversed… I shall be the One seated on My Throne and you shall stand before Me. Your very life will depend on my word. It will be too late to beg that day. A man without mercy shall receive no mercy. By rejecting Me now, you reject your only hope of eternal life.

I stand before you weak and vulnerable. That is why you feel confident that you can kill me. I want to show you that the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. I am here on behalf of love and truth.  I am here to lay down My life so that My friends can live. High Priest Caiaphas, no man can kill me. I lay down My life of My own accord. I also have the power to take it up again. On the third day I shall rise to the glory of the Father. No man or devil can stop My resurrection. For now I am weak… But one day things shall be reversed. I shall be seated at the right hand of the Power of God who is My Father.

I am alone now. My friends are weak and ran away and I am not willing to call the angels for My defense. For the will of God and the purpose of My death must be accomplished. I have to go to the Cross alone. Salvation of souls must be purchased by Me alone. No man can help Me now. This is My work alone. This is My glory alone. But one day, you shall see Me coming back with the clouds of heaven, with the entourage of millions of saints and the innumerable companies of angels. But for now, let it be so. Love must pay the price with Blood. For love is as strong as death. My suffering shall end in glory. My story shall be told and retold, in heaven and on earth, how the Lamb of God loved and died for the sake of love. That shall be the sound of a new song. For now, I am the only One who hears it…but one day millions shall sing it in a choir that will make heaven rejoice… That is the everlasting spring of all true worship. He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches…”

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength” (PV 17:22)

Chose today between these two options:
1. Rejoice, laugh and be strong (God’s medicine)
2. Be sad, depressed and weak! (the devil’s poison)

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1Cor 11:26)

The Holy Communion is designed to be the link between the Cross (the past) and the second coming of Christ (the future). It is a visible sermon connecting the price and suffering of love with the glorious reward of love. At the Lord’s Table the pain and the glory meet face to face. Each time we take the bread and the wine we connect the past with the future, the salvation that happened at the cross with the perfected salvation that will happen on the day of the Lord! Each time we take the Holy Communion we proclaim, we preach, we teach, we publicly declare that Jesus died for our sins, He rose again and shall one day come back in power and glory! If you do not believe in the Cross or you do not believe in the second coming of Christ, please do not take the Holy Communion. That means you are taking it ‘unworthily’. You are a sinner and you need to give your life to Christ.

But for the rest of us, the true born again children of God, the Lord’s Table is a means of imparted grace. We come, rejoicing with fear. By the power of the Holy Spirit, with the bread and the wine in our hands, the Lord Jesus Christ seems so real to us… As we come to the Lord’s Table, we are comforted that God knows our sufferings and all our sorrows. He knows each tear that falls, each secret sigh and each unspoken longing. Our sufferings cannot compare with the glory that shall be revealed, not only to us, but in us! The Blood of Jesus speaks even right now! Be healed! Be delivered! Be blessed! In Jesus name, amen!

“His father told him: ‘My child, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (Lk 15:31)

This is what the father told his son in the parable of the prodigal. The backslider has come home. The older son was angry and jealous because his father now lavishes his love on his once lost son. Are you angry? Or are you grateful?

The father stands for God the Father. Child of God, you who feel ignored, neglected and rejected. These feelings are the poisonous arrows of the devil who is a liar. The devil hates families. He wants that the children should fight their parents. He wants the parents to hate their children. The same devil wants to destroy marriages. But listen to the Father! He calls you ‘Child’! “You are My Child!” He is reminding you that you are always in His presence. He loves you. He cares for you. He protects you. He guides you. By His Spirit and by His Word! He promises to never leave you and never forsake you. God is a God of the Covenant. Even when you are not faithful, He is always faithful to the promises He freely gave to you.

Listen again: “Everything I have is yours’. Child of God, this idea that you are a poor person with no hope and no future is a total lie. In Christ, you have everything that is good. What do you want? The past, the present, the future, these are all yours. Death and life are yours, these are your servants. Do what you want with them.  The authority to trample upon serpents and scorpions is yours! Do not look at what you miss! Look at what you have! The presence and God is yours! The blessings of God in Christ are yours!

Jesus said: “If you believe, you shall see My glory!” True faith leads to glory! May your feet walk the right ever shining path of truth and grace! May your eyes see the King in His beauty! May your ears hear the word of God speaking from behind: This is the road of holy success! Walk in it! And now, let us praise the Lord!

“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life… But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere” (Rom 5:10; 2Cor 2:14)

Some say this: ‘I was always God’s friend… Since I was a child, I always loved Jesus… then after I became born again I love God more…’ If this is what you are saying, your testimony is false. This is because we are all born sinners. Before you became born again you were God’s enemy. To become a born again child of God is a miracle of total surrender and the beginning of new life. An enemy of God becomes His friend! This is possible only because of the Cross of Christ!

This is my testimony: Before I became born again on the 14^th of March, 1986, I was an atheist, an unbeliever and clearly an enemy of God. I did not believe in the existence of God. I hated religion and what it does to people. In school, we were thought that ‘religion is the opium of the masses’. They said that religious people are foolish and lazy. I believed that. I hated when people say they believe in God. When I came to Nigeria in 1980 and I saw everybody praying, talking about God and going to different churches, I felt sorry for the Nigerians. I was sure that I will never be foolish like them. I was a medical doctor, happily married with three children. I was rich and famous. I did not need God. Or so I thought…

But God’s hand of love arrested me. I was fighting God and His people with bullets of unbelief and arrows of doubt. God used His people to fight back with bullets of mercy and arrows of grace. I finally lost the war. I was arrested as a prisoner of war. Like the Roman Empire’s triumphal procession, myself and others like me, were dragged in chains behind the Captain of salvation. I had no hope to live. Why should I be spared? I did damage to the faith of many by my proud, foolish and unbelieving words. One by one, the prisoners came before the throne of God. They were judged guilty as charged and sentenced to death. My turn came. I did not want to tremble and show fear before my captor. I tried to stand but I could not. The sentence of death was on me. The angels were looking without smiles and without anger. I was thinking fast… Will I be shut or hanged? I did not know of any other option.

Suddenly, the One who conquered me pointed at me and said: ‘This one should live. I shed My Blood for her. I paid for her in full. I want her alive. I will change her from an enemy to a friend. She shall be My servant and My lover. Loose her chains of wickedness and replace them with chains of everlasting love. She shall be called my Bride. She is a prisoner of hope. She shall work for Me! To the glory of My name and for the expansion of My Kingdom!’ Hearing that I shall live, I collapsed at His feet. Against my will, I was grateful. Mercy triumphed over judgement! The Blood of Jesus spoke on my behalf! My Lord dressed me with His garments of righteousness. He sprayed on my His Fragrance! He breathed in me His Spirit. He puts His words in my mouth. He gave me His strength to do His work. The old Lia died. The new Lia lives forever.  This is my story! This is my song!

Singing:

“Forever You will be

The Lamb upon the Throne!

And I gladly bow my knees

To worship You alone!!!”

“Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:1, 2)

The Christian life is compared with a marathon race. It is not a hundred meters dash. It is a marathon race. We need to learn how to be champions, not just for a day or two, but a life time gold medalists. Jesus is our example and teacher. Follow Him and you shall surely fulfill your destiny. What we need most of all is not strength, wisdom or skill. Surprisingly, the first thing we need to run and complete the race is patience. To tell you the truth, this surprises me. In the past, I did not invest enough effort in being patient. I thought that is an old fashioned strategy. I did not believe that patient people are the real champions. How wrong I was…

Patience is defined as bearing under provocation, pain or delay without complain, anger or change of direction. It is a mindset that helps you never to give up on your God’s given vision of life. Patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit growing in the garden heart of the true believer. To be patient it means that I shall be faithful to what God showed me about my life, my marriage, my future and ministry. Sin tries to bring me down, to slow me or to take me astray. Patience will keep me on the right road that ends with a crown. Truly patient people are never disappointed. Patiently I will avoid the devil’s snares. Patiently, I learn to let go of all emotional attachments coming from losers who have no desire to pay the price for a crown. As for me, I want that crown, so I made up my mind to run the race with patience!

What is the opposite of patience? What is the danger of being patient? It is to be impatient, hasty of restless. These are designed to push you to go astray, abandoning the appointed path of the marathon. All unbelievers are impatient. Making close friends with unbelievers will expose you to the danger of impatience. Haste is living in a hurry; it is an over-eagerness to act. Acting impatiently is always the product of foolishness. When you cannot wait before you make a decision, when you cannot pray and think of the consequence or your actions, you become impatient and you shall be disqualified in the race. Remember: Sin is always done in a hurry and haste leads to poverty (PV 19:2; 21:5). To me, this is a serious warning. I do not want to end in poverty. Therefore I shall learn to be patient with people and with myself.

Patience has wonderful eyes! It sees the light at the end of the tunnel and the crown at the end of the battle. Our Lord endured so much opposition from foolish and evil men. But He saw the joy ahead. He never stopped seeing the crown! He passed thru the shame and pain of the Cross. He finished the race. Jesus is now the King of kings and the Lord of lords! Jesus is now the happiest Person in the universe. He is God and He is self-sufficient. But as a Man on earth, He showed us the path ahead. Let us take our cross and follow Him! This is the song of true champions! Can you sing it? Is your heart stir up to desire to be like Jesus?

“Lord Jesus, please help me to be more patient…help me not to be distracted and impatient… Help me to be a champion in the marathon race of the Christian life… Help me to win the eternal crown of righteousness… Help me to be like You! I give You alone all the glory! In Jesus name I pray, amen!”

HAPPY WITH CHURCH TONIGHT

The women’ fellowship was wonderful. It was raining outside but many women came. This is a sign of healthy hunger for the presence of God. May it continue, in Jesus name, amen! The praise and worship was good. The sisters were not ready to stop the praise. This is another good sign of a healthy church. Thank God! Sister D said that she was knocked down by a motorcycle on the Express way. She was lying on the road, in and out consciousness. I her spirit she was saying: I shall not die, but live…my life is in God’s hands. Some young men carried her to the hospital. They did some tests and everything was normal. Sister R said that the toilet cover fell and broke injuring her feet. Her baby was close by but was not injured at all. Sister M testified that God has been with her all these years as a single mother. Men tried to deceive her, to take advantage of her, but she prayed and God helped her to stand faithful and strong. Sister B testified that she needed a surgery for a growth on her lips. The doctor did the operation free of charge. Sister C testified that her new born baby had jaundice and almost died. But she had faith in God to change this ‘story’ into a testimony. The baby is very healthy now. Sister O was sick for months with stomach ulcer and God healed her. Sister H has been suffering with serious asthmatic attacks for more than 15 years. She testified that by the grace of God, she is healed! They all gave all the glory to God! Hallelujah!

Then we had a good time of prayer. I prepared another message but led by the Holy Spirit we prayed for a financial breakthrough. We prayed that God will bless the work of our hands. We declared the Word of God over our lives: “But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day…I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread” (Deut 8:18; Ps 37:25)

‘In Christ I declare: You do not need a degree, you do not need business experience, you do not need capital. You need faith in the Living God, Jehovah Jireh, God the Provider! God can produce something out of nothing. God is your helper. Do not look around! Do not look at yourself, at your husband, at your boss or at the promises of the Nigerian government. Lift up your eyes!  Look unto the eternal hills of Zion from where Your Helper comes. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords! His name is Jesus Christ! God will bless you with a supernatural breakthrough. God will open a new door for a new business. You shall work less and make more money. You shall not live ‘from hand to mouth’ because ‘money shall meet money in your hand’. You shall not worry about what to eat, how you pay your rent or your children’s school fees… But you shall have enough money to live a good and blessed life. We reject the evil spirits of doubt, poverty, begging, complaining, fear, poison, depression, in the name of Jesus! Holy Spirit please, come! Fire of God, come! Lord, if you give me, I will take!  We vow to give God alone all the glory! In Jesus name, amen!’