What??

God: You've asked me how, you've asked me when, you've sung the 'Why me' single but my question for you is What? What contribution are you making to the Kingdom of God? What are you doing for me? What have you done for me lately?

Believer: Still thinking about it..

Selah

Prayer changes things

We've been having a season of prayer and fasting in KICC. Please feel free to join us in church or online (www.kicc.org.uk). I just felt led to share the prayer points from yesterday's prayer session. You have Pastor Dipo Oluyomi to thank for them. I believe that God is working and meeting us all at the point of our needs.

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

I decree and declare that because the Lord is my shepherd, I will not lack any good thing, financially, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, materially, physically. I shall not lack the resources I need to achieve my destiny in Jesus name.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,

I declare that because the Lord is my Shepherd, He will guide me to the best places for me. He will make me lie down in green pastures, leading me to my place of breakthrough and testimony. His quiet waters speak of creativity and rest. There is no quiet in war, thank you because the WAR is over and rest is my portion.


he restores my soul

No more wahala (trouble) in Jesus name. I declare that because the Lord is my Shepherd I receive divine restoration of ALL that the enemy has stolen from me. Favour, blessing, peace of mind, joy, glory, finance, all that belongs to me from the spirit realm I receive back in Jesus name


He guides me in paths of righteousness, for his name's sake.

I declare that because the Lord is my Shepherd, anything that will make me stumble and fall is removed from my way in Jesus name. I am walking in the righteousness of God.


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.

I declare war against fear. I will fear no evil, no evil shall come near my dwelling or that of my family. I shall live and not die to declare the goodness and glory of the Lord. I know that you are with me.

You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I will prosper in the presence of my detractors and all those who are plotting against me. I will flourish in the land of my 'captivity' like Joesph. Father, thank you for a new anointing of joy, grace, love and peace.

Surely goodness and love will follow me,all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

I decree and declare that every day for the rest of my life God's goodness and mercy shall follow me. The nothing broken, nothing missing power of God is provoked over my life in Jesus name.

AMEN.

Carnal believer...me?

Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith; test yourself (2nd Corinthians 13:5a)

And now O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul (Deut 10:12)

Brothers(and sisters!), I could not adress you as spiritual but as worldly-mere infants in Christ......You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men 1st Corinthians 1:1-3 (bracket mine)

I woke up one morning, weighed down with issues I had been pondering (not praying...just pondering) on through the night. I opened my mouth to say thank you Jesus for a new day and was startled to hear this back.."Stop being a carnal believer!". I was like, who me? Yes, of course me. I'm sure it's a strange term to hear and I will admit it was a truth that was a bit difficult to swallow but along the way I had moved from being God-centred to 'other' centred.

So who is a carnal believer? I put in some notes from my study Bible.

"People fall into 3 spiritual categories that clarify how the revelation of the Cross by the spirit is received from the human side. First, the natural man, unregenerate and devoid of the Spirit has no appreciation for the gospel. Second we have the spiritual man, regenerated and possessing spiritual maturity...has a nature that responds to truth and unbelievers find him difficult to understand. The CARNAL man has been regenerated but lives much like an unregenerate, is a BELIEVER with childish ways.....an IMMATURE CHRISTIAN that lives more for human opinion than Christ. (Notes under 1st Corinthians 2:14-3:4 in the Spirit Filled Study Bible).

Yeh pa, although I have to say, I was convicted as I saw myself in one of those categories and not the one I thought I would find myself in. When we become born again, we are regenerated, new creatures in God. The use of the word born indicates that in this new kingdom we are children irrespective of what our age is in the natural and from that point on we should strive and our main purpose should be growing in things of the Spirit to catch up so to speak.

I've been busy, busy keeping up with all my 'roles'. Student, teacher, daughter, girlfriend, sister, friend, colleague, Committee Secretary e.t.c. In this busyness of life, my relationship with God had moved from being my first priority to one of the agenda's on the To Do List of my life; half hearted prayer in the morning as I prepared fro my day, singing songs but not giving genuine worship. Thank God for His mercy and grace. God showed me that this were signs and symptoms of a backslidden heart! Isn't that harsh you may ask? But is it really, I always used to see backslidding as an act; when a believer gave into temptation and 'fell' into some sin but backslidding is a thing of the heart when I place my idols (however good they may be) in a place reserved for God alone. The word says we should 'seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things will be added' but I had been seeking other things and expecting the kingdom to be added. I was tired, stressed, fed-up, angry, bitter wondering why things were not working as they should.

God is well mannered; oh so well mannered, when He is not King in my life, he does not act as if He is king, I don't get those instructions I need to work smart and not hard. I thank God for His mercy, He spoke to me as He did to the Israelites through Haggai.."Believer, give careful thought to your ways"

'You have planted much but have harvested little. you eat, but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but are not warm. You earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it' Haggai 1:6.

I couldn't have expressed what I was feeling more accurately and why?

.."Because of my house which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house v9

I know preachers use this scripture to encourage people give to the building fund but if we remember that we are now the temple of God, His altar being built in our hearts. How am I building it? Am I building it? or am I building the other areas of my life. Father, forgive me. God said we should love Him with ALL our heart, soul and might. I sing about God's presence being the air that I breathe and my daily bread but it's amazing how easy it is for me to exchange it for other things. If you had breathing problems what would you exchange for your oxygen tank? A new job, a promotion, a marriage partner, what? Nothing, because that oxygen is my life source. Nothing satisfies like Christ, David really knew this because he said his heart longeth for God as the deers for the streams of water. Selah!

I don't want to be carnal anymore; allowing myself to be tossed from one wave of emotion to the other, happy today, sad tomorrow. The carnal believer knows and believes God but has not gotten to a place where God is lord over every area. Hmm, I know I'm not there yet but that's the road less travelled I'm moving on these days, towards spiritual maturity in God. Keeping God as King over my life, making and keeping our 'dates' where we discuss deep stuff. Keeping my life holy so that there is always room for Him in my heart. I don't want to be carnal anymore; allowing the cares of this world to choke God's words that He has planted in my life; being angry, jealous and bitter. I don't want to be good for a few hours on Sunday and then different on Monday, Tuesday, I'm tired of religion, I want to depend on God for everything from when I open my eyes in the morning to when I shut them at night.

A prayer

Forgive me Lord for I have sinned. I have placed people, things, goals and dreams where you should be rightfully seated. I have not loved you with my all; heart, soul or strength. I have not loved my neighbour as myself. Thank you for your mercy and grace and persistence in drawing me back home to you where your love is waiting for me. I bless your name and give you praise for you are worthy to receive it. Teach me O Lord, create a hunger and thirst after righteousness in my heart in Jesus name. I don't want to be a carnal believer anymore. Help O Lord in Jesus name.

Total praise

Ten thousand clashing cymbals
A dozen or so tambourines
Four score and ten sekeres
Let's not forget the
talking drums,
or the stringed instruments
the saxophone
or the oboe
and most importantly millions of hands greeting each other
patewo
all saying in their own tongues
HALLELUYAH
Praise be to God Almighty
the whole earth is full of your glory
I am redeemed of the lord and I say so
I have breath so I'm counted amongst those
that are praising the Lord today
for indeed He has been good, His mercies endureth forever
HALLELUYAH
Amen

I feel like shouting, I've been singing and dancing but now I have company! Yes, I am crazy, crazy about my God. No, nothing happened, well at least if I can call the fact that I'm still alive and well nothing, or that my blocked nose is clear nothing, or the fact that my lunch is waiting for me in the fridge nothing, that the fact that there's no cash in the bank at the same time there are no bills to pay nothing! If I can say that my family is alive and well nothing, If I can say that my education is nothing or that some sales were made nothing well then nothing has happened! But these things I take for granted are not nothing because my God has got my back real good.

I am rejoicing, I am singing, I am dancing, I am jumping (on the inside), please join me, I know Remi is breakdancing so I'll just give her some space and do my running man at the side! Lol! But join me, let's give Him total praise. He more than deserves it!

Faith..

Zoe Believer: How, God, how? When God, when?
God: Don't expect something that began with the strength of faith to finish on the basis of sight!
Selah

Now FAITH is being SURE of what we HOPE for, being CONFIDENT of what we do not SEE (Hebrews 11:1)

'B' Thankful

So Aloted issued us a challenge, to look for 10 things that we're grateful and thankful for that start with the first letter of our names..I guess for me that's a B for Believer.

Lord, I'm grateful for,

Brains: Thank you Heavenly Father, I know I usually grossly underestimate the importance of the different parts of my body as I have grown so used to having them. Thank you for the complexity that is my brain, that my amyglada, cortex, limbic system and all the bits that make up my brain are functioning as they should. I can think, speak, walk, run and do all that I do because of my brain. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for my brain which I use daily and yet never think about, thank you because through this brain even more complex questions will be answered in Jesus name.

Blogville family: I don't know if Blogville is an actual word that can be found in the dictionary but I'm grateful for my blogville family. You guys are the best, I've got to know some people outside of Blogville and they've all been amazing, even though some relationships were for a season, I'm still grateful because my life has been enriched. I've met beautiful people, people who have been so open and trusting that they have challenged me to become open and trusting to. When I'm down, I know there's a 30+ who always has a prayer, word of encouragement or something that makes me laugh out loud. I can't even begin to put all your names in this space but I thank God for you, you never know the impact your blogs make on the world. From politics to weddings, education to weight loss, every topic is covered on blogville. You are blessed and I thank God for the opportunity of knowing you all through your words. These days when I mention the word friend, my family always asks 'real' friend or 'blog' friend! Lol!

Babies: I'm sure almost every minute, the world is blessed with a miracle called a baby. I'm grateful to God that we don't come to this world as adults knowing everything, being able to do everything. Thank God for babies, their softness, their total dependence on us which is a model to teach us that we ought to be totally dependent on God. His word says like newborn babes we should always desire the sincere milk of His word. I know babies are a lot of hard work but a parent would never exchange their child for anything, I'm thankful for all babies, those born in good health and those who we are still believing God for healing. I thank God for babies that are yet to show up to mums that have been waiting for them for so long, I know that in the season of time, there shall be a testimony in Jesus name.

Books: How could I forget this? I am because I read and I read because I am. Readers are leaders and don't let anyone tell you different! I'm always flogging (promoting..sorry I'm picking up a lot of slangs these days!) the idea of reading and not just reading anything but reading books that add value, that add wisdom. Successful people read. I thank God for books, that I can have an insight into other people's knowledge without even having a conversation with them. I can pick up a book and step into another world of mystery, cracking my brain to find out Whodunit? I can read about anything, how to read, how to write, proper etiquette for a lady, I can learn about the lives of people who died before I was born. Books are wonderful, they are my biggest investment! Thank you Father for good books and for the greatest of all that has stood the test of time the Bible.

Bible: Well, this deserves a whole post on it's own. Thank you Father for the Bible, the irrefutable word of God. Thank you for the logos which reveals to us the rhema which comes with great dunamis. Thank you for the different versions that the Bible comes in, some may argue about it but I'm grateful to have comparisons on different versions, thank you for inspiring people to prepare study notes to add to some of them, giving us novices more insight into what a passage means and the historical background associated with it. Thank you that the Bible speaks to every need in my life be it physical, emotional, financial, relational, there is always a word in the Bible that can calm my fears. Thank you that the Bible is more than just a book, it is the living, breathing Word of God, changing lives on a daily basis. Thank you Father for leaving us this mine of wisdom that we can draw strength from on a daily basis.

Bacteria: Well, well, well, an unusual point to be grateful for. Thank you Father for bacteria, for the bad publicity they always get as being these bad things that make people sick which I know some of them are (the baddies) but thank you that less than 5% of all bacteria are pathogenic (able to cause disease). Thank you for the goodies, those in our gut ensuring the baddies don't stay there, those involved in food/antibiotic production, those in the environment, ensuring that nitrogen keeps getting recycled. Thank you that although they don't get appreciated they still keep working because they have to and truly we couldn't live without them even though we don't know!

'B' family: Thank you Lord for this family that I'd prayed about for such a long time, at first with apprehension but now with gratefulness. Thank you for the testimonies you have done so far, indeed I know that your hand has been involved every step of the way and I'm grateful for what you will still do in the future. Thank you for the love and peace that exists and thank you for acceptance.

Believer: Thank you for Believer, I'm grateful for my life, I'm thankful for God's mercy and grace, his hand of favour upon it. God has been good, even when life goes up and down, He remains faithful. Thank you for everything that makes me me, thank you for those things that I complain about, thank you in everything both good and bad you remain a good God who has great thoughts and plans towards me to give me a future and a hope. Thank you Father in Jesus name.

Wow, well gratitude, always makes for a great attitude. I feel so much better having done this. The hymn writer encourages us to count our blessings and it will surprise us what the Lord has done. There are so many things I take for granted, so thank you Aloted for inspiring this. I am truly blessed and passing it on.