Month: December 2020

“in every situation [no matter what the circumstances] be thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5:18‬

I hope you have enjoyed the Christmas holidays so far? Today marks the last week of this year. As we wrap up, let me mention a word, thanksgiving. Many people feel offended at it already. “Why should I be thankful?” “What did this year bring?!”. It is okay to be abrasive about this. The greater majority of the world have been traumatized.

However, with all that 2020 brought our way, there is still a moment for us all to end this year with an attitude of gratitude. Why? Because of the scripture quoted above, it is the will of God to thank Him. Secondly, we thank Him IN every circumstance not FOR every circumstance.

What is the difference? God doesn’t want you to thank Him for the pandemic which has kept almost the whole world under siege for nine months. And then look at the devastating effects of it: deaths, sorrow, job losses, fear, economies shrinking etc. God is the not the author of confusion, nor the source of evil and pain in this world. So why thank Him for it?

Rather, in the unpleasant circumstances we have found ourselves in, thanking Him in it means:

i. Not allowing the circumstances to affect your praise of God- you rather thank Him and admonish Him that He is God over EVERY situation, and HE ALONE can make a way of escape out of this mess.

ii. It will not affect your confession and profession of who God is- humans can be fickle. We claim to love you till it becomes inconvenient on our part and cry foul. Unpleasant times are truly a test of our devotion to whether we hold firm our beliefs.

iii. You will not allow tough times to affect your demeanor- we have all battled with that one this year. This really hits home to majority, if not all reading. It is such a pain and an exercise to develop a cheerful countenance.

Being thankful can be arduous. Why say that? It will depend on the mood of your soul. You aren’t always a ‘happy-go-lucky’ kind when that moment comes up. Like David, we can learn to speak to our soul to bless the Lord- that is whether we feel like it or not. Look at the passage below.

“Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!” Psalms‬ ‭103:1‬ ‭

If you are reading this, there is EVERY CAUSE to be thankful. The year might not have gone according to how you planned it. Yet still, IN ALL, let us be thankful and end this year on a good note.

God bless you all and thanks for reading. I appreciate all the love, support, feedback shown me over the past year. It is impossible to sail alone without you. Thanks again.

Happy New Year!

Till I come your way again…

Peace & Love

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”Romans‬ ‭12:2‬ ‭‬‬

Like I said last week, we want to focus on dealing with strongholds. I hope you all had a great weekend, and are looking forward to the festive week ahead.

Today’s text is a central key on dealing with strongholds of the mind. Dealing with strongholds according to this scripture passage means it is God’s work. You can’t deal with strongholds on your own, no matter your resolve.

Secondly, from this scripture passage, God wants to transform us into a new person. When the issue of change comes up, it is a difficult path to tread on. It means some unlearning and relearning will have to take place. It also means you will be stretched beyond your environs. No one (including me) likes that, especially when you have been comfortable in a zone for sometime.

Thirdly, you can see that being a new person all depends on thinking, not necessarily habits or character per se. If God wants to change us into a new person, He will work on our thinking which will in turn affect our habits and a change in character.

Looking at this scripture, one can ask, “how does God change people into new persons? What does He use?” Let us look at how God changes people. Consider this scripture passage.

“Every scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for showing mistakes, for correcting, and for training character,” 2 Timothy‬ ‭3:16‬ ‭

God will change us through the scriptures (the Bible). The Bible is an inspired book of God that has a four fold purpose in the life of every reader: teaching, showing mistakes, correcting and training character. God through the Bible will give you new ideals IF ONLY you read it. It is in that process that old mindsets and certain destructive thinking patterns will drop off. In addition to that, you will also know God’s will which is good, pleasing and perfect. People often ask me, “how do I know God’s will?” It is simple: read the Bible.

God is interested in your transformation, but you will also have to be committed for that to happen. I pray that in this season, one of the best gifts you can invest in is a good Bible- your key to transformation.

On this note, let me leave you with an advice an apostle gave his parishioners after teaching them the Bible.

“Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]. The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [in daily life], and the God [who is the source] of peace and well-being will be with you.” Philippians‬ ‭4:8-9‬ ‭

Next year can truly be a new year when it starts with a ‘new you‘.

Thank you for reading, and I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Till I come your way again…

Peace & Love

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭10:4-5‬ ‭

There is a warfare that takes place in the mind of every human. It is the pitting of ideas against another; each idea wants to be the dominant one. It is a real struggle.

What caught my eye in this Bible text is strongholds. Based on this, let us look at this word and define it.

A stronghold is a castle or a fortress. It has the idea of fortifying and holding things safely. So how does a thought become a stronghold? It is when you have a particular train of thought (either good or bad) that has built a fortress in your mind. In today’s world, we will call it a mindset. A mindset is simply a fortified thought.

Ideas entertained over a period of time builds a thought pattern in our lives, which defines our very existence and being. Man is the summation of his thoughts and beliefs on which he acts.

So someone may ask, “how do I identify strongholds in my minds?” Look at the most dominant train of thought. An example of a positive stronghold, is one who determines he can’t fail at an exam, no matter how difficult it is. He may pass because he has put in the work and hours of studying, but undergirding that state of preparation is a mental resolve. A bad example too could be one who believes, nothing good will come out of him. It shows in his demeanor- normally timid. People like that rarely contribute in meetings thinking they are stupid. They will even fight you if you compliment them on a good point they made, believing they are stupid indeed.

So strongholds manifest in our thought patterns, what we say and believe, and what we do (our manner of life). So after knowing these, how do we deal with especially, negative strongholds?

God willing, we will look at that in our next post.

Trust you were blessed reading? Please leave a comment underneath this. I look forward to reading and correspond as always.

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Till I come your way again…

Peace & Love

Hello, glad to come your way again after a month’s absence. All too soon, an eventful year (2020) will come to a close. I believe all of us have a story.

Today, I want to look at our thought life. Your outlook in life is determined by how you think. Healthy thinking produces a healthy life, stinky thinking produces a stinky life.

“For as he thinketh within himself, so is he…” Proverbs‬ ‭23:7‬

It is important to think, however it will be more prudent on our part to monitor the state of our thought life and improve upon our thoughts. That will help us to think even better. With that said, how did we get the thoughts we are accustomed to? What influences a particular way of thinking?

Please, join me as we look at a few of them.

1. Words– they come in the form of conversations we are engaged in, books we have read/are reading, movies we have watched and music we have listened to. Words create images and when they are created, it registers in your sub conscience which becomes a train of thought in the process of time. The way we think is not a happenstance, it is time invested to create that.

2. Environment- when I talk about this, I am looking more at your surroundings or neighborhood you grew up in or where you currently live. Environments create climates or an atmosphere. They impact our way of thinking. For example, people who grew up in an abusive place end up becoming abusers, generally speaking. The force of that environment forces you to think in a way and you gradually become your thoughts. People who haven’t let their environments determine their destiny are often hailed as heroes. It is a difficult feat, yet not impossible.

3. Culture- culture is a way of life. It has to do with people. That and environment are closely related, but there is a difference. Environment is a physical place, and the influence that shapes the people in the environment can be culture. Culture is knowing why this group of people think or act this way which affects how they live. With environmental influence, once you move out, the power of an environment is broken over you. With cultural, moving doesn’t do it. You have to commit to unlearn some things and relearn to break its hold.

It will be good on our part after reading to consider the impact of words, our environment and culture on our lives. It will definitely give us cues to why we think the way we do. A quality life is antecedent on quality thinking.

May God bless our minds!

Let me know what you think by posting in the comments section underneath. I love reading your comments and feedback.

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Till I come your way again…

Peace & Love