GROWING TOGETHER IN CHRIST

“ The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not lack.” – Psalm 23:1 This is one of my favorite’s psalms by David. Before he became the king of Israel, David was a shepherd boy guarding his father’s sheep. And the work of a shepherd is to guide his sheep towards the right path away from danger. When sheep are not properly guided, they tend to walk astray. So, it is upon the shepherd to ensure they don’t walk astray. And we also know that sheep are not usually that smart. Really, the work of a shepherd is to feed, guide and offer protection to his flocks. When David wrote, ‘ The Lord is my shepherd ’, he wrote it from a personal relationship with God. As with David, the Lord has always been our Shepherd. God being the Good Shepherd, He has ensured His (people) flocks are fed with His provision. Each day He renews His Grace upon us. For it is difficult to do anything without His grace. He also guides us to the right path. And when we get lost in our ways, He guides us back to His fold. God’s cou...

“If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.” – Isaiah 1:19 By habitually obeying God’s voice in our lives, our relationship with God continues to grow stronger and God also reveals Himself to us more. When we are drawn closer to God through our obedience to Him, we get to know Him even better. The true nature of God gets revealed to us, thereby strengthening our faith and love. Through the close relationship that we develop with God, we understand His faithfulness to His word. Our willingness to obey God helps us to understand who God really is. When we obey His command, we then understand that God is always faithful to His word. Very often, we have heard God speaking to our hearts; instructing us to do a simple thing but as usual we argue with His voice. Like Moses, when God instructed him to back to Egypt and deliver His people. He came up with excuses and questions of “What if they won’t believe me” and “What if pharaoh won’t let us leave?” but when he did ...

“ Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” – Lk 11:28 Our obedience to God is very important. When we obey God’s word, we are able to receive His blessings. Obedience unlocks God’s blessings in our lives. God has the very best things in life for us to enjoy when we obey Him. Remember, obedience comes from the place of love. When we love God, we are then able to obey Him easily. And He opens the doors of blessings to our lives as a reward for the obedience.  Naaman was an army commander for the king of Syria. He was very successful, well accomplished and very respectable man but he was a leper. When he heard that there was a prophet in Israel who could cure him of his leprosy, he journeyed to Israel to find this prophet. When he arrived, prophet Elisha sent a messenger and commanded Naaman to go dip himself seven times in river Jordan. When Naaman heard this, he became furious and angry. He questioned why the prophet didn’t come before him and call out the name of th...

“ If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands.” – [John 14:15]. From the time we were young, our parents taught us how to obey them and why we should obey them. We also learnt that by obeying our parents and elders; was a show of respect even when sometimes we didn’t agree with their opinions. This is because, they had a better experience than ours, they knew more than we did and they expected us to obey them because they loved us. They simply didn’t want us to stumble in our ways. In similar manner, our heavenly Father also expects us to obey Him. God speaks to each one of us in various ways. One of the ways He speaks to us is through His word, the Bible. Other times it is through a soft voice in our hearts. And when God speaks to us in whatever form He chooses, He expects us to obey Him. Obedience is really important to God. He said, “If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands.” – [John 14:15]. Obedience comes from a place of love. We should obey God’s ...

‘Where is your faith?’ -  Luke 8:25 Jesus Christ asked his disciples, ‘Where is your faith?’ It happened when they were sailing in a boat from Galilee to the country of the Gadarenes. As they were sailing, Jesus fell asleep and the windstorm came upon them. Being afraid that they would die in the storm, they woke Jesus up. And Jesus was able to command the storm to calm down. After calming the storm, He asked them: ‘ Where is your faith? ’ I believe the same question is being asked of us when we are faced with life’s challenges, when the storm is right upon us, when our loved one dies, when we lose our jobs, when we lose all our finances, when we are facing divorce, or when life is exactly the opposite of what we expected? Where is our faith? Where do we lay our confidence, in whom do we lean on when our circumstances become unbearable? The disciples of Jesus acted in fear even though Jesus was right there with them. Why were they afraid? Is it because they forgot the great work...

“The Lord Himself will provide.” – Genesis 22:8 For each one, God has placed dreams, visions, purpose and dreams for us to achieve and accomplish in life. The dreams and visions that God places in us are usually big and beyond our means. The question is, what has God placed in you? Do you find yourself from time to time wondering how you can ever make it happened? Worry not, because anything that God orders; He pays .  In Genesis 22, God told Abraham to take his only son Isaac, and offer him as a sacrifice. What God asked Abraham to do was difficult, big and beyond him; to sacrifice his only son in place of a lamb. In obedience, he rose early and went to the place God instructed him to offer his son as sacrifice. As they were heading up the mountain, his son asked, ‘Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?’ But Abraham replied, ‘The Lord Himself will provide’. When he was about to do it, an angel of the Lord stopped him, and instead a lamb was provided for the sacrifice.   Li...

“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures” – Psalm 16:11 How wonderful it is to do life with God. Without God, all of our ways fail. That’s why when we pray, we ask that God may guide our paths, make our crooked path straight, and rough paths smooth. We need God to succeed, we need God to make our life easier, we need Him for peace in a world that is very chaotic. Basically, in everything we depend on the presence of God; for we can’t do anything on our own. Imagine this, when people of influence pay you a visit such as King, Queen, or President you are definite that you have found favor in their sight. When other people see this, they will want to associate with you, great opportunities will come your way, and your life will change for better. How much better will your life be when God’s presence always surrounds you? When God’s presence is with you; your strength is renewed which enables you to fight bigger giants. When the presence of God is always...

“For I know the thoughts and plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). Has anyone ever surprised you with a gift, kind words or simple act of service? How did it make you feel? Of course, things like these gives you joy, and uplifts your spirit especially when you know that someone was really thinking about you. I like to surprise my wife with gifts and sometimes with simple acts of service to express my love for her and to show that I’ve been thinking about her. And when I do it, it touches her in a special way and it gives her more joy.  If we can do amazing things to our loved ones, family and friends; how much more can our Heavenly Father do for us? In the same way, God wants to surprise us with His goodness, His mercy and favor even when we least expect it. He said, “For I know the thoughts and plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremi...

Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. -James 3:10 There’s power in the words that we speak. Words can bring blessings and can also bring curses into our lives. The words we speak from our lips have the power to change the direction of our lives. When you speak words of failure, discouragement, defeat, or hurt your life will take direction into a life of defeat, failure, and despair. When you speak words of faith, hope, victory or success; you are actually setting direction of your life towards success, hope, faith and life. When God created the earth, the universe and everything that is in it; He spoke words of life and the world came into being. It is important that we learn to speak words of positivity to set our lives into the direction that God intended for us. Our words carry both life and death in them. Words can unite or cause disunity. It can bring peace or disharmony. It can uplift or cast down your spirit. The choice lies with us on how we decide to use them...

Life is seasonal. There are seasons like winter, autumn, spring and summer. That is how it’s been and it will always be like that. When it comes to weather, we understand it perfectly well. When it is cold season, we put on heavy cloths to keep us warm because it fits the season. When the season is hot, we adjust our outfits. We put on lighter cloths suitable for the season. We do this easily and confidently without fear or worry because we understand the timing and the season, we are in. In the same way, our life keeps on transitioning from one phase to the other. There are good times and hard times. Time for joy and time for sadness. Time to wait and time to grow. Very often, when we transition from one phase of life to the other, we are faced with doubt, fear, and anxiety. This is because we resist resist change. When you transition from hot season to cold a season, you gear yourself with proper clothing to keep you warm during the cold season that is ahead of you. Without the...

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.   -James 4:3 Are you really jealous right now? Have you prayed for something but only your friends keep having what you’ve been praying for and you don’t get it? What are you jealous of? Are you jealous of your friend’s partner, the things that they have or their unique qualities that come so easily to them? By this time, you already know that you can never have everything, I too don’t have everything. Often, we are tempted to desire the things that other people have. We then pray to God and ask Him to bless us with the same things He blessed our friends, neighbor or family member but our prayers don’t usually get answered. Why? It is because our motive for asking is wrong? Do we ask God for such things in order to show off to other people what we have? Most of the time, we don’t get what we pray to God because our motive is wrong. Our motive is not aligned with the will of God and that is ...

"I will never leave you nor forsake you" - Hebrew 13:5 What do you do when you suddenly become lonely; when you are used to be in groups of people and for some reasons you are not there with them but just by yourself, lonely? There are a lot of reasons that may result to loneliness in your life. When going through lose, or friends forsaking you because of your current circumstance, or loneliness could be work related. But what do you do when you find yourself in such a circle of loneliness? Quite often, when one feels lonely, you tend to be by yourself in a corner feeling sorry for yourself. You alienate yourself from the rest of the world. When you find yourself in such circumstance of loneliness, remember that you are never alone, God is right there close to you. Friends may forsake you; your colleagues may forsake you; and those close to you may also forsake you. But God will always be by your side. When you are lonely, God is the friend to call and He’ll be your friend. W...