Happy Birthday to....?

Welcome all,

Welcome to a blogville first..it's a DOUBLE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!!!! for Nyemoni and Believer.

Allright, first a very happy birthday to my girl...the one and only NYEMONI!!. Today (22nd September) is her birthday (and mine..yay!) and although she will not be online, please make her feel extra special on Monday when she logs in. Anyways, i trust y'all.

Happy Birthday, my darling sis..you are adorable, beautiful, creative, delightful, fun.....inspiring, joyful, kind, lovely.....sweet, talented, understanding....and xtraordinary. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday mate.

As you add another year to your life may the Good Lord continue to enable you to increase in strength, wisdom, knowledge, favour as you grow in Him. May you always be aware of His Presence in your life as your guide through life's journey. As a leading lady of the Lord, may He grant you all you need to excel as a wife, mom, sister, daughter..on the job and in all the roles He has set out for you as you walk towards destiny. I thank God for the many more birthdays to come as He keeps you, guides you and causes His face to shine upon you. It is your day..so celebrate!!!

I'm really grateful to God for another year, that I'm still here and though sometimes things have been rough and I've made a couple of bad turns, He's still with me like He promised He would. I thank God that I'm in a different place from where I was this time last year and that His joy will continue to be my strength. I am grateful Lord for family and friends; those who have stuck with me on this journey, even when I haven't always been lovable. I'm thankful that every morning I open my eyes and I have somewhere to be and something to do. I'm thankful that even in the difficult places the Lord has held my hand and sometimes given me a piggy back ride. I'm thankful for stumbling onto a blog and entering into this seemingly new world where I have met some terrific people who encourage, inspire and motivate me, reminding me to stay strong and always stir up the gift on the inside of me. Lord, I thank you and I know that as your word has promised that as the length of my days, so shall my strength be. I have what it takes to be an OVERCOMER and I face the future knowing that as long as I allow you to lead me, I can never go wrong. I love you Lord.

Ok, so this first cake belongs to you (ignore the name on it!!!LOL!) and all the other Man U fans out there..have a slice please. For all the others, you are not left out..help yourself to some cake.

Allright, menu, menu..help yourself to some pounded yam/egusi or jollof rice and grab a glass of juice!!! Bon apetit! Remain blessed and highly favoured. HIP, HIP, hurray!

This place

You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with JOY in your PRESENCE, with eternal pleasures at your right hand Psalm 16:11 (NIV) capitals mine

a place of strength
a place of joy
a place of restoration
a place of communion
a place of peace
a place of beauty
a place of grace
a place of hope
a place of miracles
a place of new beginnings
a place of inspiration
a place of correction
a place of transformation
a place of purpose
a place of transparency
a place of LOVE

I was thinking about what being in His Presence meant to me personally. There is no experience that can be compared to being in His Presence. Truly, anything can happen. You can never remain the same.

Lord, I thank you for your presence and the wonders you are working in my life today. I pray that all who come this way experience your presence in a new way that will leave them asking for more of you.

Remain blessed and highly favoured

Me

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIJAY!!!!!!!

Hi all,

Trust you are all doing allright. Today is Aijay's birthday. Please pass by her page and show some love.

As you add another year my prayer for you is....

more wisdom to make the right decisions,

more strength to overcome obstacles,

more favour for open doors,

more peace when storms rage,

more perseverance when life is difficult,

more joy in spite of it all,

more reasons to smile as you celebrate great achievements

and most escpecially

many, many, many more birthdays even happier than this one

Hope you liked your cake!!

Remain blessed and highly favoured

Update: For manda, ok I have sliced the cake o so we can share it equally. LOL!!!!!!!!!

Life A-Z; G is for growth

growth (noun): the act or process, or a manner of growing; development; gradual increase. (Dictionary.com)

And the child GREW and became STRONG in SPIRIT....(Luke 1:80a)

And the child GREW and became STRONG; He was filled with WISDOM, and the GRACE of God was upon Him (Luke 2:40)

And Jesus GREW in WISDOM and STATURE, and in FAVOUR with God and men (Luke 2:52

And the boy Samuel continued to GROW in STATURE and in FAVOUR with the Lord and men (1st Samuel 2:26)

All Scriptures from the New International Version (NIV), capitals mine.

Hmm, G was a difficult one to get. At first, I couldn't think of anything that started with G then thanks to all the suggestions from my fellow bloggers, I had too many too choose from but when the word growth dropped in my spirit, I just asked the Lord to reveal to me what He wanted to teach me.

Growth...........as I celebrate another birthday in a few weeks, I am undergoing a process of self-evaluation. I'm asking myself questions like; Where am I now? Where am I going? How have I changed? from last year, 5 years back? What is God saying? I think the basic question is; Am I growing? I know I'm adding another year to my life but am I growing spiritually, mentally and emotionally? I think I've passed the stage for physically because any increase now will be horizontal and not vertical!!!

The verses above allude to John the Baptist, Jesus and Samuel. Not only did they grow physically (in stature), the Bible also records that they grew in the intangible (Spirit, wisdom and favour). I love the definition of growth as a process of gradual increase and development. We give birth to babies and they grow through different stages of life until they become fully grown adults.

So am I growing? I think yes, in some areas but I know there is still a lot of work in this heart of mine for the Holy Spirit to work on. Am I growing in wisdom? I shouldn't be making the same poor decisions I was making last year, 10 years ago. Am I growing in the fruits of the Spirit? Am I more loving, more kind, more peaceful, more gentle, more self-controlled, more faithful, more patient and more gentle (Gal 5:22)? I think the reason why these characteristics are fruits of the Spirit and not gifts are because we are expected to grow in them. A fruit does not appear overnight but manifests when a tree has been cultivated in the right environment for fruit development. The same with us, as our spirits are cultivated in the right environment by living and being led by the Spirit of God we also will manifest ALL the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

As I was meditating on this topic, the Holy Spirit revealed something to me. For proper growth of any living thing, adequate nourishment is required. Food is to our physical body what the Word of God and communion with the Holy Spirit is to our spirit. Remember that who we really are is spirit but encased in our natural bodies or flesh. When we become born again, our spirits receive life from God. It is with our Spirits we interact with the GodHead but the thing is that we tend to forget that our spirits also require nourishment. We feed our natural bodies, exercise and take care of it, giving it what it requires for growth but our spirits are not nourished so does not grow.

This is why sometimes we struggle with temptation because our flesh is stronger because it has been fed better. The word tells us that John, Jesus and Samuel grew both physically and spiritually so we need both to be effective in the ministries we have been anointed for. This is why although physically Samuel was at a young age, his spirit was mature enough to handle hearing things from God even when there were people older than Him (Eli and his sons) present (1st Samuel 3).

When we choose to grow spiritually, God can reveal more to us and anoint us to do even greater things for Him. We need to desire it. It's no longer enough to have known the Lord for x number of years but have we grown? Can we truly say we know more about Him now than we knew then? Paul addresses the church in Corinth..Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly-mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk and not solid food, for you were not ready for it (1st Corinthians 3:1-2a). Physically, it would be strange to see an adult existing on a diet of milk only. So also, we should desire the solid food of God. This is someone described by Paul in 2nd Timothy 2:15 as ...a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Also, the stronger our spirits are, the better it is able to renew (reprogramme) our minds (our thinking patterns, process) to no longer be conformed to this world but to be TRANSFORMED to the way God wants us to think (Romans 12:2).

My primary goal now is to grow spiritually. I know there is so much God has in store for us if we are willing for Him to use us. I think I'm getting a bit tired of this milk and need some spiritual 'chicken wings'.

Remain blessed and highly favoured

Me

I am anointed!

To anoint is defined in different ways by different people but the definition that resonates most with my spirit is 'to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry out a certain task'. For a while now, I'd been afraid as I allowed the enormity of the different challenges I was (and in some ways still am) facing to overwhelm me. Like Peter, I had been looking at the waves instead of keeping my eyes fixed on Jesus 'the author and finisher of my faith'. I thank God for His grace over my life. His Word is so true when He says that He will never give us anything beyond what we can bear. The Word that set me free was simply "You have been anointed for your assignment".

To receive the anointing is far more than dipping your hand in oil and smearing your forehead or 'shaking' or 'falling' under the Spirit. I have no issues with these acts but sometimes we believers get carried away with rituals and lose sight of the power behind the actions. I have been anointed for my assignment. This tells me that God has empowered me for a specific purpose, for a specific calling and I am not, in short I cannot do what God has called me to do of my own wisdom, strength or ability but with God working through me.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has ANOINTED me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted , to proclaim freedom for the captives...Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 4:18-19 (Capitals mine)

But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses..Acts 1:8 (Capitals mine).

Even Jesus had to be anointed before He began His earthly ministry. Of ourselves we can do nothing. In the Old Testament, a king had to be anointed with oil as a symbol of God's approval and acceptance of Him. After Saul was anointed, he was able to prophesy. After David was anointed, He was able to slay Goliath.

the 11 disciples were anointed to change the world with the Gospel
Paul was anointed to witness to the Gentiles
Daniel was anointed to interpret dreams and visions and occupy a place of authority in an ungodly kingdom
Martin Luther King was anointed to give black people a voice and bring an end to segregation
Bishop T.D Jakes is anointed to reveal deep mysteries of the word of God
Paul and Jan Crouch, Marcus and Joni Lamb are anointed to take the Word to the world, building churches without walls via television

The question then is, what have we been anointed for? I have been asking the Lord to reveal more about my assignment on this earth to me but I am beginning to see that I have been anointed to teach, to love, to give and encourage. Your assignment will not necessarily put you on CNN or the BBC because we all have a role to play and we can never really be fully fulfilled until we walk in the purpose God has designed for us. Some of us have been anointed to be in the jobs we are at, so that we can be the salt and light in our companies. Some of us have been anointed to remain on our knees in prayer for family members who don't know the Lord or interceding for the sick. Others are anointed to walk in certain dimensions of wealth not for themselves but to be used for God's work.

To be anointed is different from being gifted. The anointing takes your gift to a different level. Some people can sing but when an anointed person sings, even the sick can get healed. Some people can write, but an anointed person writes words that can pierce even the most hardened heart. The anointing took stuttering Moses and gave him the boldness to speak to Pharoah, King of Egypt.

The thing to remember is that the anointing has a price. Joeseph was anointed to be in the palace but He had to go through the pit, slavery and prison before he got there (Psalm 105:9). Immediately after Jesus baptism and the Holy Spirit descending upon Him (Matt 3:16-17), we are told that..Jesus was led by the SPIRIT into the desert to be tempted by the devil (Matt4:1) so know that challenges, trials, temptations will come but remember that you have been empowered from on High. I'm learning to look challenges in the face and boldly declare that I have been anointed for such a time as this, to be in this place and at this time so I know that God is able to do through me exceedingly and abundantly, above all I can ask or think, according to the POWER at work in me (Eph 3:20). Also, the anointing is able to break every yoke (Isaiah 10:27b).

How do we get the anointing? We ask, seek and knock (Matt 7:7&8). Elisha asked for a double portion of the anointing on Elijah's life (2nd Kings 2:9) and he received it because He was willing to pay the price and also because he asked with the right motives, remember that He sees our hearts.

So I'm encouraging you today, remember that greater is He in you (1st John 4:4) than anything you may face, with Him all things are possible so ask Him to anoint you and empower you to do what He has called you to do and be who He has called you to be.

It is well, I am praying for you and cheering for you!

You are blessed and highly favoured

Me

Vote G-Force!

I'm kinda back, it's just really busy, need to catch up on my reading and other stuff. Just wanted to appeal for some votes for my peeps G-Force. More info can be found on their Myspace webpage. I'm not really a fan of rap music but I think it's great to see young black men in the UK making great achievements like this and I think it's time we celebrate and encourage them rather than allowing the 'gangsters' get all the airtime. So please vote G-Force for the Music Of Black Origin (MOBO) award. It just takes about a minute online.

Remain blessed, September is our month of fulfillment at KICC and I know that the Lord will surely bring to fulfillment, the great dreams and desires that you know are on the inside of you. Remain blessed and highly favoured. Keep shining! Below is a short message you can copy and paste to send to your friends. Please vote and spread the word!

Hi people,

G-Force have been nominated for BEST GOSPEL ACT @ This year's MOBO'S. Help Support by voting on http://www.mobo.com/.

Pls spread the word!!! copy & Paste & Forward to your friends

You can get their latest Album "Destroy and Rebuild" and preview it at

http://profile. myspace.com/ index.cfm? fuseaction= user.viewprofile &friendID= 56712135

Let's support our own..Thanks