GOD SPOKE TO ME AGAIN THIS MORNING............

WHY WE MUST CONTINUE TO PRAY...

God spoke to me again this morning. I was in the "twilight zone", that period between sleep and wakefulness, when God spoke to me in His clear precise voice. I've heard God's voice clearly on several occasions, the 1st time was when I was 10 years old. In the last year or two the occasions have become much more frequent and I now instantly recognize His voice.

He said "WE MUST CONTINUE PRAYING EVEN WHEN WE FACE OBSTACLES." The immediate context was in relation to the resolution of a serious family feud between some friends of mine. One sibling had become so angry with the entire family and had refused to speak to or have anything to do with any of his siblings for several years despite entreaties by the parents and serious attempts to resolve the issues. In the past few months the person had started speaking to one of the siblings and had even deigned to attend a family birthday party. The rest of the family were pleasantly surprised to see them and even though things are not completely right yet there's now hope for a complete resolution of the feud and a return to good family relationships and interactions.

I talked briefly about the rapproacment with one sister and while we rejoiced about the direction of things, the sister stated that she will continue to pray for full resolution and increased love within the family. We will ALL face challenges and trying situations in our lives and need to pray unceasingly regardless of whatever obstacle is in our path... Our God who hears and answers all prayers is listening and will answer us in due time. In the meantime we must keep praying. The previous evening I had just received the answer to a prayer request I had made over 6 months earlier! The person I was actually praying about had even since died, but God had heard and answered my prayer though I didn't know it until that night...

My youngest brother was diagnosed with a brain tumour just over a year ago and passed away after about ten months of illness. At the same time as he was diagnosed in America, there was another young man of his acquiantance who was diagnosed with the same type of brain tumour in Canada. Even though I didn't actually know the young man in question, I prayed for his recovery anyway... The similarities between himself and my brother were uncanny. Both were born and brought up in the same city in Nigeria, attended the same university, had a similar circle of friends, had recently relocated to Canada and the United States respectively and were both recently married with young wives and children. When I heard the other young man's illness had progressed and he'd slipped into a coma and it seemed likely he wasn't going to recover, I asked the Lord to please let him regain conciouness even if briefly, in order to speak to his wife before he passed on.

When I heard he'd died, I asked if he had ever regained conciousness and was told no. That I thought was the end of the matter. That evening as I received condolences about my brother from a family friend, he told me he was also a close friend of the other young man and had even been to visit him in Canada. Without my asking, he stated that the young man had undergone an operation to relieve the pressure in his brain, and he did recover conciousness, albeit briefly! I then asked if his wife had been present at the time and what do you expect...? Of course she was and had been able to speak with her husband for a while before he slipped rapidly back into unconciousness. He did not realise the significance of what he'd told me but I was so grateful to God that He did answer my prayer, even though I hadn't known it at the time.. I felt like leaping and shouting out praises to God there and then. It may seem like a little thing to some of you, but that God answered my prayer and against all odds found a way to let me know it, is glorious and amazing to me and I'm ever so gratetful. 

The young men both died, within 5-6 months of each other. Both have left widows and young children to support, but in all this God hears, cares and answers us, especially when our hearts are right with His. So regardless of what obstacles we will have to face, regardless of whatever dreadful situation we might be in, we must continue to pray. God is looking for steadfastness, He's looking for complete faith and trust in Him along with right-heartedness, then will He hasten to answer us when we call upon Him in our time of need. Now more than ever will I continue to pray, and I hope so will you too............

Three years on, December 2012

The sun always rises in the morning, so too the dark can't
extinguish the light of God and prayer reminds us of this.
 

 

WHEN WE BEGIN TO CARE ABOUT OURSELVES, GOD "MAY" THEN HELP NAIJA

God help us all, thats all I can muster whenever I think about the plight of Nigeria. My motherland, I love her so, but I despair..........!

Naija, currently leaderless.............! Even when there was a functioning President, we had no law and order. Might is right, money talks, no accountability, skewed value systems, wanton displays of wealth [mainly ill-gotten] and a complete breakdown of our entire moral compass are the prevailing circumstances. There are endless debates about the oppression of the South-South geopolitical region, about the benefits or not, of dividing Nigeria. We cry out at the massive corruption and embezelment by "elected" government officials, we want change, but none of us are willing to pay the price, starting with accountability in our own lives.

I used to add my voice to the general clamour, till this morning, when something pricked my conscience. What was this great event you may well ask...., no great shakes, just some pictures taken and displayed on facebook by a young friend of mine. They depicted the plight of deprived children in some of the inner cities in Nigeria. Children living and growing amidst rubbish dumps, scrambling for food, others hawking on the roads, trying to eke out a meagre existence.

Have you ever looked into the eyes of any of these young children on the roadsides ? What do you see, what do you notice ? If as they say, "the eyes are the windows of the soul", then I have seen hopelessness in the souls of a lost generation of our children. Most of us complaining verbosely about the plight of Naija, don chop bellefull, i.e. are fairly comfortable, with roofs over our heads, food on our tables and plans for our futures. Whilst this does not excuse the flaws in our government, or the excesses of our leaders, how often do we spare a thought for those less fortunate than ourselves in the society?

We desire change for good, hold constitutional assemblies, public rallies, sing and pray about the ills in our society, moan endlessly, but do we actually put our money where our mouths are? A resounding no! How many of us support orphanages or care about the really disabled in our society? This is not the governments responsibility alone, its collectively ours, and we've failed woefully.....! Do we then really think God will hear any prayers asking for a change in our situation, when the little things in our power to change, we don't do? Do we treat our own staff and servants fairly; the househelp, driver, maiguards etc? We crave equity and justice from the government, but don't apply the same principles to those in our employ, what hypocrisy........!

With all the "wonderful" stories I hear coming out of Naija, about the growth and "flourishing" of our churches, I'm yet to hear any stories about "the numerous additions of orphanages" to the church body. I hear stories of folks buying the most expensive cars for their pastors, even private jets [that's another story.....!], but have NEVER heard about anyone donating equivalent amounts to orphanages or disabled homes. Neither does it "seem" that the pastors encourage their flock to engage in any such magnanimous giving. Its still the older orthodox churches, [Anglican, Catholic, CMS, etc] who have the monopoly on charitable activities, who appear to try to do what God desires concerning the poor [Ps 82:3-4, Pro 29:7]. I know of a few private individuals who do help as well, but they are a rare minority compared with the multitudes who throng to the churches each Sunday. 

So whilst we desire fairness and equity in government, so that we can enjoy all the resources that Naija has to offer. If we don't change our attitudes to those less fortunate than ourselves, to those who depend on us, in order to  also enjoy the good resources of Naija, we will NEVER have the change we desire, regardless of  how much  praying and fasting we may do, [Prov 21:3] regardless of how many well thought-out ideas for improvement we might have. If we don't care for the orphaned, disabled, widowed and the abject poor in our society, how can we really expect God to change what goes on in the higher echelons of society, i.e. government. If we want Gods justice to reign in Naija, we must also let His justice reign in our own lives, in the ways we deal with those in our employ, in the ways we care about the poor. As Ghandi once said "be the change you want to see in the world". I'm admonishing myself too, as I pray never again to complain about the state of Naija, till I'm doing something positive to change it for the better. I aim to become part of the solution, rather than continue the status quo. Enjoy the pictures, click on them to enlarge,  I hope they will provoke some thought and soul-searching too.   

 

P.S. I've just found out that the pictures posted originated from a non-profit organisation, sponsored by one of the "newer" churches, who go into the inner cities to reach out and help under-privileged kids, and I'm thrilled. If any of you out there, know any more such heart-warming stories please inform and share, so at least I'll no longer despair.......!

15-02-10

LETS NOT JUDGE, LETS LOVE !!!

Listening again to the story of the prodigal son, started off a train of thought. I pondered the fathers response when his lost son returned; happiness, relief and rejoicing. No condemnation, no recriminations, just forgiveness, welcome and jubilation. How often have we been in that position ? The sinner who has returned yet again to the Lord for forgiveness, after going our own rambunctious way, and ending up in trouble yet again......! What happens ? Does God chastise us, hold up our previous sins as a mirror, telling us how bad we have been, or does He simply forgive us, welcome us back into His loving arms and entreat us not to go wandering off on our own again.

Why then do we judge anybody and I include myself in the big we. We Christians are in danger of outdoing the Pharisees with our critical attitudes. The Pharisees felt so self-righteous that they "killed" God... Just because Jesus preached a different message from theirs and all his T's were not crossed nor his I's dotted. They completely missed the essence of who Christ was and failed to understand the message he brought; forgiveness, repentance and love, most especially love... Do we show love to all as Jesus instructed us to do; to the lepers, prostitutes and Samaritans of his time, and to the paedophiles, drug addicts, homosexuals and suicide-bombers of our time.

There will always be actions and crimes abhorrent to the majority at any point in time, and whilst we should detest such heinous acts we shouldn't condemn the sinner. After all did God ever condemn us??? Be honest and judge yourself, do you deserve to be here? I know I don't......! I know if I'm to be judged fairly, they should lock me up and throw away the keys!!! But I'm here and thriving only by the amazing grace of God. I hear some of us [Christians] saying that salvation is also there for them [non-Christians]. True, the big problem is that they don't yet know it... Like the prodigal son living in a foreign land in a time of want and famine, they are yet to return home. We should be out there beating drums and engaging in riotous celebrations, so the noise of our merry-making may carry on the winds to the far away lands of want and famine and call them home.......!

Instead we adopt an even worse attitude than the 1st son, [we the returned prodigals] and stand in judgement and condemnation of those we consider sinners or unsaved. Shouldn't the terms "unsaved" and "sinners" even engender in us pity for people who know no better. Jesus won his converts by showing love and forgiveness not by moralising and judging as the Pharisees did. Examine yourself, how judgemental are you? Do you consider some sins unforgivable or disdain and avoid some people because they engage in acts that are wrong? Do you choose not to have anything to do with people who have different belief systems, including some of our brethren who are on the extreme fringes of Christianity? How will they ever learn the truth if we don't and won't tell them? And I'm not talking about big crusades here, I'm talking about everyday interactions we have with people of all faiths and persuasions.

We are uniquely blessed to live in the UK, and in London too, which is the most cosmopolitan, and ethnically diverse city in the world!!! Where people of different races, faiths and cultures live side by side. God is the ultimate master-planner as we know, do we really think that it's by accident that one of the smallest countries in the world, [an island actually] has people of every race and religion living in it, in such close proximity that one cannot avoid coming into contact with someone of another faith everyday??? Do our lives, attitudes and speech reflect love and the message of peace? Do we attempt to see things from the other persons point of view, then we may get a handle on why people behave in certain ways. Only then would we be able to reach out to them and bring them back into the fold. After all that's part of what Christ came to do for us, as well as dying to redeem our sins.

He came and lived on earth as a man so he could experience everything we experienced, feel everything we felt and thus be better able to understand us, then he could be an advocate for us with the Father when he returned to Him. He didn't come just to condemn people, he didn't say anyone was beyond salvation, he just loved us even before we repented of our sins and returned to the Father.

If we really have life in Christ, we should be increasingly like him, we should strive to love all our fellow men not just the Christians amongst them. If we do this I believe it could be one of the most effective tools of evangelism in our time. Maybe I'm preaching to the converted, maybe I'm alone in my rant for better understanding and tolerance of our lost brethren, who have just not returned to the Father yet. If that's the case, I leave all of you to continue walking in love whilst I go back to my Father and ask Him to show me how I can better love and reach out to his lost sheep, shalom...

I will father...

Love IS the answer

Fell in love with this statue I found on the Champs Elysee in Paris





 

WHEN GOD PARTS THE RED SEAS IN OUR LIVES!!!

I have often read or listened to the story of how God parted the Red Sea for the Isrealites with amazement. It seemed awesome to imagine the waves parting and forming a wall on both sides, as the Jews calmly walked through the river bed to get to the other side away from the Egyptians. Then God in His infinite wisdom allowed the waves to fall back and cover the pursuing Egyptian army after His people had crossed safely.

How often has God parted the "Red Seas" in our own lives??? When there seems to be no way of escape and all hope is lost, how often does God show up and save the day, parting our Red Seas? When we've taken that professional exam for the umpteenth time or exhausted all our appeals against deportation. When it seems our child will never get better as there is no cure for that rare medical condition, when that marriage is on the rocks and despite futile counselling divorce seems inevitable. When we can't pay our bills and stand to loose the roof over our heads. When in the throes of the deepest depression we loose all hope and pray for death as a way to end our suffering. When we are wrongly incarcerated in a foreign country and the future looks bleak, that's when God shows up and "parts our Red Seas".

I have been in and know people who have faced each of those scenarios above and more besides. All came through to the other side. One and all, we had all but given up, then we cried out to the Lord in a final act of desperation and were saved. We will all tell you that "it's only because of God we're here today", and marvel at His infinite power and mercy much like the Isrealites must have done all those thousands of years ago... These really are miraculous deliveries of Red Sea parting proportions, because God does what no-one else could do in those situations. He delivers us in ways we can't fathom or imagine, opens up a way for us when there was no way. He lifts and carries us when we are too weak to go on in our own strength.

We could wonder why we were left to get to that point of desperation, but after we've been delivered, I know our trust in God can never be shaken again.....! In fact as I'm now oft heard to say, "before I believed in God, but now I TRUST Him". I now follow Him with a child-like trust, knowing He will lead me where I need to go. Do I sometimes get curious and try to "peer" over His shoulder to see where we are going? Sure, because I'm still human. But increasingly I let go and let God... Because He who parted the Red Sea for me, desires only good for me and will never ever forsake me. [Ps 9:10]

 He lays a wonderful table before me even in the midst of sad and trying times. 

Thus I can smile despite the numerous challenges I face

 I know the plans I have towards you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and give you a desired end

CHRISTMAS LUNCH ON JESUS

On a chilly winter morn, hundreds of volunteers, sleep-deprived and aching from several hours spent assembling two thousand hampers the night before, gathered on the forecourt of a local council estate. Cheerful and in great spirits, our mission was to deliver food hampers to all 1,800 residents, in time for christmas dinner. Organised and executed with military precision, we were split into different groups, with team leaders who sorted out which block we delivered to, how many hampers we needed on each trip and then kept an account of each succesful delivery we made.

This was the inspired idea of Pastor Agu Irukwu, who along with the pastoral team of Jesus House, and Mrs Funlola Ojomo of the Novo Community Centre, oversaw the whole event. And what an event it was.......! Imagine being woken up from slumber, on a cold winter morning, by cheerful smiling folks and offered a beautiful hamper, containing a turkey, vegetables, mince pies, chocolates [my personal favourite] and everything else you need for a christmas lunch, and all for "free". How happy would you be?

This was the exact emotion displayed by the people we were blessed to serve that morning; amazement, gratitude, tears of joy, hugs and thank you's were just some of the responses we elicited, and it warmed our hearts. In one case some children even joined us to continue our deliveries, with their little two year old brother crying, because he was not allowed to carry a hamper, but he accompanied us nonetheless. Some residents were so thrilled, they asked to have pictures taken with the team, some even filmed us on their mobile phones [watch out, some of you may become famous on YouTube]. One lady even gave us a lovely tin of biscuits in response, which came in very handy when our own supply of tea and biscuits ran out.

Some folks refused the hampers because they didn't celebrate christmas, or simply didn't say. Others couldn't accept the turkey because it wasn't "halal", but were happy with the rest. One gentleman  I encountered refused the hamper point blank, but he did wish me a happy christmas in the end, and for that I was really grateful. Afterall, that was the spirit in which the hampers were given, to wish everyone a very merry christmas, provide food for some people who otherwise couldn't afford it and demostrate the love of God in a very practical way.

I for one felt blessed and priviledged to be used by God in this way, as His arms and legs, just the same way the disciples must have felt giving out bread and fish to the 5000. I even carried some hampers on my head, something I hadn't done since the days of "fetching water" as a child. [those of you from parts of Africa will understand]. One and all we were tired, cold and aching, but not weary...... At the end we regrouped to take stock, pray and give joyful thanks to the Lord for such a wonderful time. Then most of us went on to deliver yet more hampers to the residents of another local estate. At this point I begged to fall out, as I still had some personal christmas errands to do. Later that night while chatting with a friend of mine, after having had long warm soaks, filled our belly's, and in my case had a foot and body massage [from a machine....... folks], we shared our thoughts, and all we could say was thank God for being good and being God.

By Christie Nonyelum Akumabor © on 23/12/07

I've not carried anything on my head since the days of fetching water as a child 😁

LORD, YOUR PEOPLE PERISH FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE

I fell asleep with the television on, and woke in the night to the voice of Jeremy Kyle [a British talk show host/agony uncle]. In my drowsy state, I realised he was talking to a not "uncommon" guest. A young single mum in a relationship with a cheating, alcoholic irresponsible father. As the story unfolded, I could tell he was trying to get the young lady to see the picture as it really was. She narrated that her partner/baby father had;
1] Cheated on her before she got pregnant, with pics of a naked female on his laptop to prove it.

2] Was an alcoholic, drinking up to 25 pints of beer at one sitting.
3] Cheated on her while she was pregnant.
4] Was too drunk to even attend the birth.

5] Had only given her money once since the babies birth.
6] Was still drinking after the birth and on one occasion had been drunk during a visit with the baby.

This sounded disastrous by all accounts, but what was incredible, was the difficulty the host Jeremy had, in making her see that this was an untenable situation. She claimed to have split up with her partner 3 months earlier, but had slept with him as recently as the previous 3 weeks. She had called the show to get help for him and enable him be a good father. But as Jeremy pointed out, she had enough warning before she even got pregnant, with the cheating and drinking. His subsequent failure to control his drinking after the birth, did not bode well either. She claimed that he had stopped drinking for a while, [without any help or support] but had gone back to his old ways.

It seemed futile trying to explain that his behaviour was quite detrimental to her child, and as a responsible parent, she should set the ground rules and insist her partner seeks help for his alcoholism and demonstrated commitment to change, before she allowed him have care and access to their child. The young man in question came onto the show and immediately denied that he drank that much, or that he had contributed only once to the babies upkeep. He claimed to have lost his job soon after the birth, surprise, surprise !

At this point, I could no longer watch and switched off the telly. As someone who has watched a fair few "self-help shows", this was a familiar theme, but this time I didn't turn away in disgust, but in dismay and exasperation about the state of affairs. It behoves belief that anyone would choose to live like this, why would they value themselves so little as to put up with this kind of behaviour. How did they get into such a state and what was the solution, I asked God. As I pondered, it came to me, that these situations had arisen because the devil had been let loose in the world [Rev 12:12 ] and the people did not know God [Jer 9:3 ]

I know it makes good TV to see people wash their dirty linen, [real and contrived] on the airwaves, and maybe hosts like Jeremy Kyle are really altruistic and desire to help [while getting the megabucks]. But it just doesn't seem like a few hours of counselling after the show are going to solve such deep-rooted problems. As I began telling God this wasn't my problem and I didn't have the solution, He pointed out to me that these are still His beloved children and He wants to help them. He told me I didn't have to find the solution, He had; the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ was the solution [1st John 5:11-12]

We can try all kinds of intervention, counselling, social engineering etc, but these won't work until the people know Christ. I thought about trying to reach out to all the disenfranchised and downtrodden people that exist in our world today, and the magnitude of our task seemed overwhelming. It really brought home the scripture, "the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few" [Mt 9:37 ]. So I pray for more labourers, and for those of us who do know God, to become more effective in reaching out to the lost sheep. For us to actually desire to help the "lost", rather than sit in self-righteous judgement of them [which I've been guilty of in the past too].

The words of a Diana Ross song inspire me, "reach out and touch somebodies hand, make this world a better place if you can". This is our great commission, to show love and care to everyone we come in contact with [Luke 10:27, 1st Jn 3:17-18]. If the secular world can respond and empathise with the sentiments expressed in that song, [It was nos 1 in the charts for a long time] then we as Christians should be compelled to act in love to one another, and bring in addition the redeeming knowledge of Jesus Christ.

As the title of this piece says, "my people perish for lack of knowledge" [Pr 29:18]. Let us that have the "knowledge" pray for the increased ability and desire to share it with others, so that none may be lost. Its an onerous task I know, but if all of us who profess to be Christians, reached out to help someone in need, then this world would indeed be a better place.

FRIENDS & FAMILY

'Friends and family', this has become a very popular catchphrase recently. Even the phone companies have picked up on it, with their ever popular 'Friends and Family discount'. But who exactly are friends and family??? I say God chooses our biological families and our friends are the families we choose for ourselves. Thus I'm often heard to remark, "we can choose our friends, but we can't choose our families". An aunt of mine qualified it further saying; "we choose the members of our families we want to be close to."

I'm sure most people can relate to this sentiment and if you can't, pleeeeeeeeeeeease I'd love to meet your family, honestly!!! Do you ever wonder why it's so hard to get on with some members of your own family be it siblings, parents, aunts, uncles or cousins??? Do you ever question the saying, "blood is thicker than water"??? If you do, then welcome to my world. I firmly believe God placed us in our families for a reason. So that we have to learn to love that "difficult" family member regardless...!

It's often easier to relate to our friends, which is not surprising considering we picked them ourselves, and are thus likely to share similar interests, thinking patterns, common values and a sense of humour. Friends stick with you through thick and thin when sometimes your biological family doesn't. It's amazing when you consider that you've shared a womb, parents and grown up in the same environment as your siblings but may find it impossible to get on with them in later life.

The cohesive bonds of family are sometimes irrevocably shattered by quarrels, feuds, envy, deceit and in some cases, even murder. [Remember Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, Gen 4:8-9, 27:34-36,  41.] As I was growing up I often thought the envy and disunity in families was as a result of polygamy, with the attendant problems of numerous children and unfair distribution of resources. Later as I observed relationships within monogamous families, I thought it may be due to the preferential treatment of one child over the others, particularly when in the earlier half of the 20th century some African families could only afford to educate one child. This engendered jealousy in the other children who felt deprived and denied...

Now I observe families where all the children have had a university education,  all are professionals and reasonably comfortable, but there is STILL envy and jealousy within!!! I wondered why, AND then it finally came to me one day. Cain and Abel, the 1st reported brothers in the world ever, yet Cain killed Abel... So why was I surprised if today's families didn't get along. I've come to the conclusion, [maybe wrong] that all families are dysfunctional, and some more so than others. This might sound very depressing and disheartening but it's not the end of the story.

As I alluded to earlier, I believe God places us in families so we can learn to love. Yes, we have to love our family members, even when their behaviour is atrocious!!! We may not like them at the time, but we do have to love them. Its the 2nd great commandment, "Love thy neighbour as thy self" [Matt 22:39]. So where better to start than with our "nearest and dearest"?

I hear some of you say, "they are difficult, hateful, dishonest, malicious, etc", yes I agree, but we do have to love them nevertheless. I know it's not easy, but think, how easy is it for God to love us, when we are difficult, hateful and malicious??? Remember; God loved us even before we loved Him [1st John 4:10-13, 19]. He loved us even when we were all these dreadful things, and true love conquers all. Because as we come to realise, recognise and receive that love from God, we become more loving ourselves and it is then easier to love unlovable people.

I've found that as I try and grow in love, it then becomes easier to forgive, to empathise, to let go of real or imagined wrongs. I begin to pray for and about family members that I have a difficult relationship with. And our God who answers all, sees the desires of my heart and takes away the hurt and lets love grow. An older christian friend of mine once commented that a lot of disunity in families arises because people don't recognise their role in the family. Some are the providers, some are the organisers, some encourage and cheer people up, but all have a valuable role to play. I also think some are the black sheep or mischief makers, they serve to bring the family together in a concerted effort to solve their problems.

So for peaceable relationships don't always expect your family to be your friends, they each have a defined role to play. You're really lucky if you find at least one member of the family who understands and supports you in your journey through life, as for the rest, just love them anyway... I wonder if I'm speaking to someone out there who has a difficult relationship with a family member. I hope you will be encouraged to live a life full of love for all and sundry. Lets continue to grow in love and tolerance so that in a little way, we become as much like our heavenly Father as is humanly possible.

By Christie Nonye Akumabor 25/01/2010

Love conquers all