Still another chance for you!
Everyone has at one point in life fallen down and it wasn’t a nice experience honestly. If you were lucky enough, you never hurt yourself or broke any part of your body.You either looked around to see whether anybody saw you and dusted off the clothes and went on your way.
What if you fell down and decided to remain there and felt sorry for yourself waiting and hoping for someone to come and comfort you? That would be a very disappointing and humiliating experience to undergo.
God’s Word has a remedy for those of us who feel have fallen down and don’t know what next. Solomon the wisest man who ever lived wrote down these very encouraging words “For a righteous man fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity”(Proverbs 24:16).
So here is the point that any man or woman who has a ‘right standing’ with God or to paraphrase it who has a good relationship with God, though he or she may fall from time to time because we are still human flesh(does not mean an excuse to sin),will still rise again because God who is our Father and uplifter will enable him or her to rise again.We could be cast down but that does not mean we are out, but we bounce back because our God cheers us up and gives us the strength to rise again.
So as the year comes to an end,how did you perform this year? You can’t keep feeling sorry for yourself and stay down there as if your God is defeated to help you.
“Rise up and shake off the dust” and face the New year with a new zeal and determination with your focus on God who is the winner.!!
Yes the year ends with my two latest releases !
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Taking stock of year 2021
As we come to the close of this year 2021,what are the key take aways that resonates with your mind?Am sure each person has very key things to point out that happened and they either messed up one’s life or shaped up your life. Irrespective of how one may look at it, at least something or certain things happened that need close examination and careful thought so that one can draw lessons for future reference.
The Pandemic of Corona virus still kept rearing its ugly head and claimed lives every moment, people lost their loved ones and lives were messed up forever. Imagine that still in the midst of these chaos, there are those who became creative, and decided to take a positive view of things and out of it reaped or have reaped very positive results and made great strides in life. Who could have thought that apps like zoom could quickly become an instant way of people meeting to communicate and even hold virtual online meetings not necessarily in person? Which has now altered the way people meet and communicate. And through such rents have been saved, buildings have been rendered empty and useless, IT knowledge on how to operate our phones and laptops became necessary to almost everyone who cared.
So on your own, what are some of the lessons the year presented to you that you are ready to embrace as you enter into the new year of 2022?What are some of the things that you hold dear and feel that would want to work on in the coming year? Have you asked yourself this question? How long are we going to have this mask on for? How can you be better prepared just incase something else unpredictable hits this earth again? Is there anything positive that you think would want to embark on in the coming year?
Do you list and as you start the year promise yourself to stick to it to the very end of the year and you will be amazed to see how much progress you could have made in that year.
It is said in the book of Ecclesiastes 7:8 “The end of a thing is better than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit”
So aim to start strong and end strong in the year 2022!!
All the best !!
How many steps forward?
Many times in our own lives, we tend to spend so much time talking or reflecting on past victories, defeats, shortcomings, betrayals ,disappointments and the hurt or pain caused to us and end up feeling helpless and disillusioned, while in the meantime we loose focus and strength that could have made us stay on course and achieve much in our lives.
Getting stuck in the daily happenings and spending a whole lot of time only deprives us of great and amazing opportunities that could be knocking at our door to be embraced and exploited in our favor. So much time,effort,resources spent on one thing and not being insightful and aggressive to explore new things, can only be likened to making one step forward and two steps backwards and in reality that is no progress at all but rather mark timing at the same place.
This is my suggestion for you today, stop dwelling on the past for it is already gone and you can’t do nothing to change it, but rather have every present opportunity that you can embrace and use to turn around your life. Remember that it is never too late to start a fresh if you wholeheartedly and willingly want to see change in your life. It is the first little step that counts and a journey of a thousand miles starts with that first step and as you progress steadily you will be amazed to see how far you have moved and reached and what you can achieve as long as you remain persistent.
So how many steps do you want to take today? One forward and two backwards or one sure step forward and forward ever? The choice is YOURS!!!!
Developing the spirit of Gratitude
Let me start today’s blog by asking a simple but profound question? When you wake up in the morning and see the sun risen, rays penetrating through the window, hear the sound of birds chirping while jumping from one tree to another what comes into your mind immediately?
That is why I have decided that today I would want to remind us the importance of developing the spirit of gratitude to both God and those around us.So what is gratitude in a nutshell? It is the quality of being thankful, appreciative for and to kindness extended or received from someone. So are there instances in your life you have been a recipient of kindness? How big was the kindness, how did it touch or transform your nagging and bothering situation?
Let us take an example from the gospel according to Luke 17:11-19 of Ten Lepers Cleansed. These men when heard and saw Jesus in a certain village in Jerusalem, lifted their voices and said “Master have mercy on us” and Jesus’ response to their request was “Go, show yourselves to the priests ” and it was that as they went they were c;eansed.Remember my friend that leprosy was a contagious disease and is talked of so much in the book of Leviticus and how those who had it were treated and the process of cleansing from such.So what happened in verses 15-19,brings us to our discussion today on gratitude for we are told that one of them,when he saw that he was healed.returned,and with a loud voice glorified God.
Quick lesson from this man healed of leprosy; he recognized of the healing upon his body,knew that he would not be separated from other people any longer once he showed himself to the priest,Could mingle with others again and thus accepted into community,realised and recognized the source of his healing and finally felt compelled by the compassion shown to him by Jesus that he needed to be thankful for this great miracle of healing and cleansing.
There are countless good things that God has done to you or thousands of bad things He has saved or protected you from and yet might have not recognized or be thankful about and yet without Him showing compassion to you, you would not be where or what you are today. It is time to pause and do a thorough search of how thankful you have been or how ungrateful you have been for the many blessings or things done for and to you. The one Leper who came back to be grateful to Jesus must be a lesson to us knowing that once you and me were sinners and separated from the family of God but when we called upon His name in sincerity, He forgave us of our leprosy of sin, cleansed us and accepted us back into His great family of believers where we enjoy the family fellowship together continually. Jesus Christ is our High Priest who did it for us once and for all and we no longer need to go and see priests to declare us cleansed for Jesus Christ Himself us cleansed us from all sin.
Let me finish this segment on gratitude with these words ;
“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your achievement, you should include all things in your gratitude” Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Easter Celebration
Easter Celebration is one of the festive seasons that is globally celebrated by Christians in commemoration and remembrance of Jesus Christ who is Lord and Savior of their lives. We have grown up to hear stories or skits prepared and played out in different places of worship during this time that centers on the life of Jesus and more precisely His betrayal,arrest,trial,hanged on the cross,death and finally His ascension from the dead.And it is His ascension that climaxes the entire life that He lived here on earth and its significance to us as followers.
If we carefully sit back, pause and ask ourselves why He came, why He accepted to suffer,why He bore the rejection and accepted willingly and joyously to go to the cross on our behalf, then we would have solved the most intriguing riddle of who Jesus is to us and of what significance His death and resurrection has brought to us all.Could you probably for the first time, take this step and ask these questions honestly and see how much God loved you to send His ONLY BEGOTTEN Son to come and redeem us from the grip of Satan?
Understand that Easter festive holiday is a time that should be of deep reflection and soul searching though many view this as a season and time to merry ,drink, eat and gather together. And in the process many miss the real meaning and significance of Easter to one’s life. Start today and it is never late to take a turn around and view this season with the prism of the Holy Spirit. This is a life transforming season that its inception and originator is Jesus Himself and you too can allow it through the help of the Holy Spirit to be the start of a new season that points us to the soon Coming of the Messiah to take us home where we would be united together eternally.
Lessons from the Pandemic !
The year 2020 started well as any other year with great plans, but by mid March things that nobody,no government,no organization ever thought of unfolded with the Corona virus taking center stage globally. It looked like a small thing and most likely many gave it a pass that it was a passing cloud only to realize that life was going to take a completely different dimension. Many lives were lost and still going on, many jobs were lost, many businesses were closed permanently, many governments lost control of the spread of the virus, economies were grounded and still many are not on track yet as it will take a long time.
You and me know very well that fear gripped the entire human kind and masks, social distancing, and washing were seen an a way to curb this deadly virus that seemed determined to wipe lives away. But still even with these measures in place, there are still those who considered those measures as mere PR and even downplayed and still downplay this deadly virus while it is still taking the lives of many friends,family away.So why this kind of confusion in our society?I guess there are those who seem to benefit out of the whole pandemic or who love to downplay things for their own reasons.While the truth of the matter is one life lost is not worth any amount of dollars that can be received(Life is priceless)and worthy living.
A Quick look at the past one year i have learnt some lessons that i thought would want to share here as here under;
Nobody can easily know what lies ahead or comes next in line
Nobody may be fully and completely prepared to face the unforseen
Some things like the Corona Virus brought all people into the same level and the issue of status was no more
One had to fight for life by himself or herself if the pandemic knocked at the door of your life
It required faith,strength,stamina,exercise,positive attitude to get out of this mess otherwise one would quickly feel defeated and loose hope to hang on
The pandemic seems to enforce individual discipline quietly (social distancing,masks and hand washing)
A new norm has emerged where people are cautious and want to stay alert
Many businesses will never even come back
Many have been rendered jobless and still have not idea when they will ever get a job
Many have become dependent on their governments,organizations to help them be on their feet again.
Many go angry and malnourished population has emerged
Travel restrictions have been put in place by airlines,governments
Any little sign of cough,your neighbor looks at you as a case of Corona infection
Many children have become orphans as a result of losing their parents
Many recreations and gatherings are no more
A new norm of communication has emerged Online Virtual platforms to hold meetings
Many real estate properties rendered unoccupied and wasting away slowly in revenue collection
The list is count less and out of all this i would want to say that’
“We shall overcome all these if we remain hoping for the best” and keep praying unceasingly.
Making use of the time
This year started well with great hopes of achieving much and staying on course with the goals laid out at the start of the year.Nobody and I repeat nobody ever thought that by the month of March,things would take a complete turn around globally and the unthinkable happened;the onset and onslaught of a pandemic by the name COVID-19 virus that has completely and mercilessly altered human life globally.
So where are we up to this month after about three months?Lives have been lost,economies have been destroyed, jobs have been lost,people have been quarantined mandatory in their homes,hospitals etc.travel has been disturbed and disrupted completely and above all panic has gripped the entire universe and nobody understands what to do next to get out of this unpredictable situation.
We at least now have free time at our disposal that we can deliberately purpose to use either constructively or look at it going to waste by doing nothing.Remember that the clock still ticks on and time keeps moving forward and cannot be rewound back.
The biggest challenge right now is how best you can decide to plan this free time and make maximum use of it for your benefit.Understand that there are innumerable things that you can embark on doing at this time and though some may seem minute and insignificant,as you take a step and start doing something,you will be amazed with the kind of progress that you could have made and how much value you could have added to your life and those around you.
So ,the decision is yours and you can still start afresh.It is never late to start if you have the passion and drive to start.Let us Go and GO!!!
achenchikefa 