Quote for the Day 30Sept2009

When you fill your mouth with praises to God, He will lead you and guide you in all the affairs of your life. Even if you are stuck with a problem, He will show you the way to go or make a way out for you. Either way, you will get the wisdom and help that you need! - Joseph Prince

Quote for the Day 29Sept2009

He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished. - Solomon (from Proverbs 28:19, 20 NIV)

Quote for the Day 28Sept2009

To the work! To the work!
We are servants of God,
Let us follow the path that our Master has trod;
With the balm of His counsel our strength to renew,
Let us do with our might what our hands find to do.
Toiling on, toiling on, toiling on;
Let us hope, let us watch and labor till the Master comes.
- Fanny J. Crosby

TO THE WORK!

Dearly Beloved,
TO THE WORK!
"For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat’" (2 Thessalonians 3:10 NIV).
"He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty" (Proverbs 28:19 NIV).
I seldom base my messages on people’s reactions to my past messages. However, I am led to base this message on the reactions of some people to my message last week. These people who are undoubtedly anti-Christian and are ready to say anything anytime against Christian messages disagreed with me that one should patiently wait for God’s miracle. However, they ignored the fact that I included the word "faithful" in the act of waiting. To these people, I am encouraging laziness. Unfortunately, as these people pointed out in their antagonism, many pastors nowadays indeed encourage laziness on the part of their congregations due to the pastors’ undue emphasis on prosperity without work, instant miracles, breakthrough, and the likes. Such pastors and their followers have forgotten that God does not bless idleness. He will bless only those who are doing something. No wonder, all the people that He called and used in the Bible were busy and hardworking people.
Apostle Paul addressed the issue of working hard against idleness in his epistles to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12; 5:12-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:10). He frowned at idleness and encouraged his audience to be hardworking. That famous Christian hymn writer, Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915), wrote, "To the work! To the work! We are servants of God, Let us follow the path that our Master has trod; With the balm of His counsel our strength to renew, Let us do with our might what our hands find to do. Toiling on, toiling on, toiling on; Let us hope, let us watch and labor till the Master comes." The writer of the book of Proverbs gave many admonitions in opposition to idleness and in favor of diligent work (see Proverbs 6:6-11; 10:4, 26; 12:11, 24; 13:4; 15:19; 18:9; 19:15, 24; 20:4; 21:25; 24:30-34). Today’s Christians are expected to pay attention to such admonitions.
From the aforementioned Bible verses, it is glaring that Christianity does not promote laziness or anything relating to it. Therefore, anyone who thinks that God will bless him when he is lazy is deceiving himself. Yes, miracles still exist nowadays, but if you want God to bless you, be diligent in your work. If you are unemployed, the Lord will soon provide a befitting job for you. If you are under-employed, that is, not well paid, continue to be faithful.
To the work!
In His service,
Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).

Quote for the Day 26Sept2009

Have you ever noticed that happiness is not a dependency, it is a decision? You don't actually need anything to be happy. It's not something that comes from outside, it comes from inside, and when you radiate a happy energy you'll be amazed what it attracts into your life. Don't worry, be happy. Decide now, be happy, and watch magic begin to enter your life. - Debra C.

Quote for the Day 25Sept2009

He who gains a victory over other men is strong; but he who gains a victory over himself is all powerful. - Lao Tzu

Quote for the Day 24Sept2009

Faint not, nor fear; His arms are near;
He changeth not, and thou art dear;
Only believe, and thou shalt see
That Christ is all in all to thee!
- John S. B. Monsell

Quote for the Day 23Sept2009

Don’t give up on your fellow believers. Look to see where God is working in their lives, then join Him. It is a great privilege to be like Barnabas and to invest in the life of a fellow Christian. This is the purpose of discipleship. - Henry Blackaby

Quote for the Day 22Sept2009

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure. - Colin Powell

Quote for the Day 21Sept2009

Has God been silent on you? Find out why. The Lord will intervene in your pressing situation. Some silence could be deliberate divine delays. Do not give up hope. Keep on trying, praying and making effort. Your answer will come. - EA Adeboye

WHEN GOD IS SILENT

Dearly Beloved,
WHEN GOD IS SILENT
"Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless" (Genesis 16:16—17:1, NIV).
Abraham was seventy-five years old when God told him to leave his people and go to a land that He would show him. This command was with a seven-fold promise that God would make Abraham into a great nation; that God would bless him; that God would make his name great; that he would be a blessing; that God would bless those who bless him, and curse those who curse him; and that all people on earth would be blessed through him (see Genesis 12:1-4). These promises were made to a man that did not have any biological child at seventy-five. Yet he believed God and obeyed Him. After some time, God reaffirmed His promises for him, but he wondered how the promises would be fulfilled since he remained childless. He even reasoned that his head servant would inherit his possession. However, God reassured him that "a son coming from [his] own body will be [his] heir" (Genesis 15:4, NIV), and that his descendants would inherit the land where he was a stranger. Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
However, when it seemed that God was silent and relented in fulfilling His promise to give him a son, Sarah, Abraham’ wife, and he tried to help God. They arranged that the maidservant of Sarah should bear children for Abraham. This according to their custom was right, but that was not God’s absolute plan for them. At eighty-six, Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant bore Abraham a son named Ishmael. It was as if God was still silent about His promises for Abraham for another thirteen years. Abraham might have been thinking that God would fulfill His promises through Ishmael. In fact, he argued in that direction when God appeared to him again after thirteen years when he doubted the fact that Sarah could still bear a son in her old age and told God to let Ishmael receive the blessings. God told him that His absolute will was for Isaac, the son that Sarah would bear, not Ishmael (Genesis 17:15-21). It might seem as if God was silent, but He had a plan for Abraham and Sarah, and He declared the plan: "…my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year" (Genesis 17:21, NIV). God did fulfill His plans and promises in the life of Abraham.
In what way is God silent about your affairs? Have you lost confidence in Him for His silence? Are you trying to help God? It may seem as if God is silent, but He is not. He has a better plan for you. He says, "For I know the 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, NIV). Hear this also: "‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed’" (Isaiah 55:8-13, NIV).
When God is seemingly silent about your affair, He wants you to "walk before [Him] and be blameless" (Genesis 17:1, NIV). That is, be faithful and wait for His miracle. It may be in a long time, but He will certainly do it!
In His service,
Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).
NB
This message was first posted on October 8, 2006.

Quote for the Day 19Sept2009

Have you responded to God’s open invitation? Come in awe and gratitude, for the God of this universe is willing to hear your petitions anytime. - C. P. Hia

Quote for the Day 18Sept2009

A better day is coming, a morning promised long,
When girded Right, with holy Might, will overthrow the Wrong;
When God the Lord will listen to every plaintive sigh,
And stretch His hands o'er every land, with justice by and by!
- Robert Lowry

Quote for the Day 17Sept2009

If you have been looking unto yourself, it is time to start looking unto Jesus. Look unto Him, the author and finisher of your faith. And soon, you will be looking at your healing and prosperity! - Joseph Prince

Quote for the Day 16Sept2009

Do not waste yourself in rejection; do not bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote for the Day 15Sept2009

There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it. - Dale Carnegie

Quote for the Day 14Sept2009

Have you been asking God to do something for you but He seems to be delaying it? Are you thinking of abandoning your initial trust in Him because of this? Do you doubt the worthiness of His praises and worship? Are you also at the point of being angry with Him for this? Never think so! He is worthy of your trust and worship. - Bayo Afolaranmi

ANGRY WITH GOD? NEVER!

Dear Beloved,
ANGRY WITH GOD? NEVER!
"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights" (Habakkuk 3:17-19, NIV).
As I was coming out of the US embassy after the third consecutive visa refusal, I was embittered. What really went wrong? Did I not pray enough? What of the prayers and prophecies of hundreds of people towards the success of this visa interview? What of my numerous fastings? Does God not answer prayers again? Why did He deprive me of overseas trip for further studies these three times? These thoughts were making me to be angry at life and with God. Is He still worthy of my praises and worship? Then the words of Habakkuk came to my mind: though God does not "answer" my prayers and there might be no visible evidence of His care, yet I will praise Him!
The book of Habakkuk portrays God as awesome, yet Habakkuk was complaining about why the wicked prospered while the righteous suffered. It seemed God did not acted as he had expected. Yet he concluded his prophecy with praises of God because he knew that there was a benevolent God behind the seemingly unpleasant circumstance. He would rather rejoice in the Lord than to be angry with Him.
Job, in his anguish praised God. Why? He remembered in his pains that God's purpose is always good. Hear him, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him…" (Job 13:15, NIV); "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God…" (Job 19:25-26, NIV); and "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10, NIV).
Have you been asking God to do something for you but He seems to be delaying it? Are you thinking of abandoning your initial trust in Him because of this? Do you doubt the worthiness of His praises and worship? Are you also at the point of being angry with Him for this? Never think so!
The psalmist boasted of God's care, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:4, NIV), and Solomon also said, "When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge" (Proverbs 14:32, NIV).
God has a purpose in your pain. This purpose is always good. The grief may be divinely arranged to re-examine our desires and reveal His better plan to us. Turn your anxiety to Him. He will prove Himself to you. He is still God. He is worthy of your trust and worship. Angry with God? Never!
In His service,
Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).
NB
This message was first posted on July 19, 2004.

Quote for the Day 12Sept2009

When you commit your life to Christ He will change you. He will deal with that thing which has crippled you spiritually, mentally and emotionally, and cause you to stand up straight. - Bob Gass

Quote for the Day 11Sept2009

If you always choose the easy way, asking for the peaceful valleys, you will never see God’s power displayed to enable you to take a mountain. Seek out the mountains, and you will witness God doing things through your life that can be explained only by His mighty presence. - Henry Blackaby

Quote for the Day 10Sept2009

The service that we do for God
May go unpraised by men;
But when we stand before the Lord,
He will reward us then.
- Sper

Quote for the Day 09Sept2009

The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible. - Richard M. DeVos

Quote for the Day 08Sept2009

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote for the Day 07Sept2009

"For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever" (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 TEV).

TREASURE IN CLAY JARS

Dearly Beloved,
TREASURE IN CLAY JARS
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us" (2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV).
Being a problematic church, Paul wrote his two known epistles to the Corinthian church to correct some of the anomalies that existed in the church. One of such anomalies was the erroneous view about the gospel message and the messengers of the gospel. This view is that the gospel, which is the New Covenant, is inferior to the Old Covenant given to Moses, and so, the messengers of the gospel, or the ministers of the New Covenant, were inferior to Moses and the teachers of the Law. However, in this second epistle to the Corinthians, Paul explained the superiority of the gospel to the Law. He considered the gospel message as a treasure kept in jars of clay. Such illustration was familiar to the Corinthians.
The gospel message is indeed a treasure that supersedes any human knowledge or philosophy. God has kept or entrusted the gospel message in "clay jars," the apostles, now the preachers of the gospel. Clay jars are undoubtedly fragile. As humans, the preachers of the gospel are frail and weak like clay jar but the gospel message is entrusted to them. It was not entrusted to the angels or any other super-humans. God did this to show that spreading of the gospel message is not by human power, knowledge or even experience, but by His all-surpassing power. So, we must not look down on ourselves that we cannot preach the gospel, or depend on our ability or wisdom to do it, but rely wholly on God.
The treasure, the gospel message, has been entrusted unto you to keep it and share it with other people. Are you jealously keeping it and zealously sharing it with other people around you? You do not need any special power or knowledge to do so. What you need is total reliance on the Holy Spirit who is there to teach, guide, remind, and strengthen you as you are keeping and sharing the treasure. No matter the pressure around you, He will see you through. "For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever" (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 TEV).
In His service,
Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).
NB
Hurrah! My new book on Internet ministry is out. To view the cover of the book and read the book review, people’s endorsements of the book, the contents page, and how you can get copies of the book in Nigeria, you can visit the website I created purposely for the promotion of the book: http://ministeringthroughtheinternet.blogspot.com/.
There will not be any formal launching of the book, but you can still identify with this success by contacting me at spiritualdigest@yahoo.com. God bless you!

Quote for the Day 05Sept2009

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the Cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings-ev'ry doubt will fly,
And you will be singing as the days go by!
- Johnson Oatman, Jr.

Quote for the Day 04Sept2009

No one ever cared for me like Jesus;
There's no other friend so kind as He;
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me-
O how much He cared for me!
- Charles F. Weigle

Quote for the Day 03Sept2009

Whatever our circumstances, Jesus is present with His love, compassion, and grace. He is proof, presence, and provision enough to carry us safely through. - David C. Egner

Quote for the Day 02Sept2009

Sometimes our plans are not the plans of God. Hence, it is pertinent to every time structure our steps in alliance with God's plans. - Anonymous

Quote for the Day 01Sept2009

Happy New Month! This month, no matter how dry the land becomes, you will remain fruitful and healthy. Your life will keep on producing joy ceaselessly in Jesus name. - Bayo Afolaranmi