Beauty in Brokenness

By: Deaconess Oluchi Mfon

BROKENNESS can mean a lot of things to so many people. Brokenness, in His eyes, is to be broken, crushed, and torn in spirit over sin. In the life of David we see beauty of Brokenness Psalm 51. A diamond is just a stone until it’s broken for the sparkle to be revealed.

Gold is very dirty until it goes through the fire then the shine is revealed. Olives are crushed to extract oil.  Beauty in Brokenness is revealing who we are for a greater  purpose.

Brokenness helps us to see less of  us and more of God. It looks out for the mind  of God over any issue and helps us to prefer  and see others through the eyes of God’s  love. Brokenness is a process we go through and it can take some time, where God exposes our fleshly attempts to have core needs of love, acceptance, worth and security met in our own strength and it shows how it is truly impossible to live the Christian life we want to live.

Brokenness is necessarily painful because ever since Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden all human being ever born have an inbuilt desire to rebel against God and try to meet our needs in our own ways. God can take what has been broken and remake it into something better or beautiful, something He can use for His glory.

Only when we surrender our struggle to Jesus Christ can we be restored and transformed in the image of His beauty. Such surrender requires a brokenness on our part, denying ourselves those things of the flesh or habit that hinders our growth in Christ (Luke 9:23) God delights in making beauty out of our brokenness if we let Him.

He restores the beautiful vessel He can use for His glory. Because of His son Jesus Christ, He will give us beauty in our Brokenness, in Jesus Name. Amen. Humility is beautiful.

You will have good success this 2019.

Remain blessed. 

Shalom.

Ashes of Arrogance

From Our Pastor's Desk

Proverbs 8:13 –“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” One of the most potent killers of anointing and grace is pride/arrogance. It is a common trait from the vessels of wood (2nd Tim. 2:20); wood that needs to be burnt into “ashes” so that the beauty of humility can arise.

God extremely (exceedingly) hates pride. 1st Peter 5:5-6 – “Likewise, ye younger, submit  yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be  subject one to another, and be clothed with  humility: for God resisteth the proud,  and giveth grace to the humble.

Humble  yourselves therefore under the mighty hand  of God, that he may exalt you in due time” Pride means trust  and reliance in self; self-admiration and aggrandizement. Arrogance/pride is the best warning sign that someone is a potential source of erroneous doctrine.

People who trust their own opinions on all matters are destined for error.  Pride/arrogance was the original sin. You see, satan was really impressed with his beauty & gift. He just loves to hug himself.

And this sin of pride has spilled into man. We are all born with and into pride and need to pray against and be careful about this spirit.  For our God “…giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble”- James 4:6

May the Lord grant us wisdom to walk more in humility & grace of God, in Jesus Name. Amen. Humility is beautiful. You will have good success this 2019.

Remain blessed. 

Shalom.

Count Your Blessings

By: Bro Smart Olasehinde

Count your blessings has different meaning to many people. To some it’s a reminder, to some it’s a call to duty and to others it’s an act of worship. 

Regardless of which of these three categories you subscribe to, bottom line is we need to be thankful no matter what situation we find ourselves. 

How many of us needs to be reminded to go to work or school? So why do we need to be reminded to appreciate God for all His wondrous deeds in our lives.

If we subscribe to the definition that counting our blessings is an act of worship definitely we  won’t need to be reminded. Counting your  blessings is a double edged sword. It  makes you to see the good in every  situation and rather than being bitter or angry or worse be depressed you become thankful.

It  also makes you an avenue for additional blessings. Our God inhabits the praise of His people therefore by thanking Him we are only positioning ourselves for more of His blessings  In 1st Thessalonians 5:8, we read “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you”  In this verse we are admonished to give thanks in all things. 

I must tell you brethren that unless you are someone that counts your blessings and name them one by one you just might not be able to thank God when all is not well or when tragedy strikes (God for-bid).

In conclusion always count your blessings and give thanks. God bless you in Jesus Name. Amen.

You will have good success this 2019.

Remain blessed. 

Shalom.

Burnt to Ashes

From Our Pastor's Desk.

Isaiah 61:3 says “to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.”

Ashes refer to the adversities in life, a time of test, reproach, mourning, weeping, and fire.. Beauty refers to how the Lord can turn around those adversities that He may be glorified, a time of testimony, completion, dancing, laughing, rejoicing, joy.

Luke 4:18-19, 1 Samuel 30:6. Ashes come from wood that is burnt not wood that is not burnt.  Just because something bad happened to you does not mean that God does not care for you.

He allows His children to face great battles because He has greater victories for them. His plan is to give us beauty eventually. So, when we feel God seems a million notes away; when we pray but nothing happens. We rebuked the devil, but it doesn't change anything. We confess our sins, we fast, still nothing. We then begin to wonder how long this spiritual gloom might last. Will it ever end?

“What is wrong with me?” we ask. The truth is nothing is wrong with you. We all go through the refiner’s fire. It's painful and disconcerting but it is absolutely vital for the development of our faith. Knowing this gave Job hope....Job 23:8-10.

Even our  Lord Jesus Christ cried out "Why have thou forsaken me". Everybody you meet is fighting a great battle. God is in the ashy situation with you, He will see you through, and you will not die in it.

There shall be beauty for ashes, that is the promise of God, just believe and trust in Him, and victory will be yours at last and forever, in Jesus Name. Amen.

You will have good success this 2019.

Remain blessed. 

Shalom.

February 2019 - Our Month of Beauty For Ashes

From Our Pastor's Desk.
 
Welcome to this our new Month of Beauty For Ashes in Jesus name. In Isaiah 61:3, Isaiah prophesied, "To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called tress of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."

On the outside, do you seem to have it altogether, but on the inside you’re hurting? Maybe your heart has been broken or someone has wounded you deeply.

If so, God wants to pick up all of the broken pieces and make you whole again.  Ashes refer to the adversities in life and beauty refers to how the Lord can turn around those adversities that He may be glorified .

Look at the people who came to the Lord in tears and see how the Lord wiped their tears. Hannah was in tears. 1st Sam 1:7 says, 'Hannah wept sore and did not eat'. But God came through.

He turned her mourning into joy. When little Samuel was born, she started rejoicing in the Lord. The Lord who wiped away the tears of Hannah & many others will do the same thing for us. He is exactly as concerned about us as He was to Hannah and Hezekiah.

He is the same yesterday, today and forever. If He did it for them, He will do it for us. He will give to us beauty for all our ashes. this month, in Jesus Name. AMEN

The Latter Glory

From Our Pastor's Desk


Acts 3:2 – “And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple”
Remember the story of this lame man.

A story of ugliness at the beautiful gate; Wickedness at the gate of Mercy; Evil at the gate of Good; An eyesore at the gate of Eye Candy;  Filth at the gate of Faith; Odor at the gate  of Glamour; Gory sight at the gate of Glory  bright.

Daily it was a  routine to drop him off at the Beautiful Gate  in Jerusalem. Day after day, it was the same  routine; begging because he had no choice  and not fulfilling his destiny. 

During  Jesus' earthly ministry, he  passed through this same  gate. We are not sure what happened, maybe this lame man  was not around that  day or it was just the day for Jesus to drive out the greedy lots in the temple. 

In Jeremiah 29:11 of the Amplified version, the Lord says, 'I know the thoughts (and) plans that I have, for you, says the Lord, thoughts (and) plans for welfare (and) peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome." Begging was not the final outcome for this lame man at the beautiful gate.

Beloved, shame and reproach is not your final outcome; neither is disgrace and despair your final outcome nor your expected end. No matter what we may be facing today, the difficulties, challenges, heartbreaks, disappointments, or failure, we should not lose hope.

These, too, shall pass. The God of glory has better plans for us. Our latter days cannot but be greater than our former days, most definitely, in Jesus Name. Amen.

You will have good success this 2019.

Remain blessed. 

Shalom

Of Jesses and Samuels

From Our Pastor's Desk

1st Samuel 16:10-11 “A gain, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children?

And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither”

 In this scripture, there were two people, Jesse & Samuel having a deciding interaction about the destiny of another, David. 

Jesse represented David’s past, and Samuel his future, his destiny. While Jesse was his past, his natural “father”, Samuel was his future, his spiritual “father”. David was a man scorned, reproached and disgraced in his father’s house.

He said in Psalms 69:7-8 – “Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children” Then God sent Samuel to him.

Within a few hours, things turned around for him. A rejected, dejected, discarded out-cast and shepherd boy became anointed as the king of a mighty nation. Within a few hours. God is sending our “Samuel”, that would change our former to latter glory.

As like the old days, our “Samuel” will bring our good news, change our situations for better & wipe our tears away, in Jesus Name.

Amen You will have good success this 2019.

Remain blessed. 

Shalom.