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I have found prayer and devotion does not bar unpleasant situations from happening to us all the time... Paul AremoOluwa My loyalty to the word of God is unshaken. More than ever, recently my appreciation for the Word of God has increased in an unprecedented way. The word of God can never be wrong. This year has been nothing short of trying and difficult challenges staring me in the face. It's like a surfer's experience against tidal waves. As you scurry through one upsurge the next is incoming. Then it's like your Christianity is shallow or your prayer life is weak, else why do you have to go through difficulties? Are we more or less of a Christian by the hurdles we face and scale? If Christians are heirs and sons of a living and all knowing God why do we encounter ugly situations? Where is God when you need Him? Why do we devote our lives to him only to encounter some unpalatable situation? Questions on my mind.

Paul AremoOluwa Arlington cemetery graveyard white tombstones           When I am dead. And my body lay in a temporal home.    All may seem lost and gloom may abound. “ Death is inevitable, ” I hear them say with shrill voices of agony and pain.

Solomon's war in the time of peace was the elusiveness of life's meaning... he unofficially became the founder of nihilistic thinking...  the purveyor of existential philosophy In Nigeria suicide attempt is a criminal act with a one year jail term penalty, but it has not stopped people from trying and others from succeeding. March 19, 2017, a medical doctor jumped into his watery grave from the top of the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge. October 16, 2017, a Kogi State civil servant owed months of salary hanged himself on a tree after ten days his barren wife delivered triplets. Uk, June 11 last year, Ceri Sheehan , 15, took his own life than have his parents tore him apart from his iPad. All these leave us, the living, to ponder the rationale behind suicide as we try to deal with the loss. Why do people take their own lives? Does the Bible offer explanations?

What is our excuse for not having great relationships with unbelievers or fetish people at the workplace... The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to DO and TEACH .  Acts 1:1 A believer fully understands Lord Jesus’ teachings by juxtaposing how the Lord lived with what He preached. He wouldn't say we do things that Himself didn't practice.  He rebuked the Pharisees because they say, and do not . They lay heavy burdens on men’s shoulders that they wouldn’t dare touch with their fingers. A He described them as hypocrites for doing that. How Jesus lived in the circumference of His relationships became His doctrine on relationships. It is important because we are not greater than our master but we are expected to be like Him. We can’t pay a price greater than the Lord’s in our Christian walk. If we neglect this view we would unavoidably misinterpret the Lord's teachings.

We were forced to finally learn the lessons of the first pages of the Bible –creation exists upon the framework of healthy relationships. The Good News is the good deal because God cannot do without man. Though a bold statement, it is a humbling thought. Angels and other celestial bodies are part of His eternal purpose as ministers and spectators . We however are not just part but at the centre of the eternal counsel of God. God is the author of relationship and we know from the design of His creation.

He (Jesus) elevated the righteousness of relationships as superior and authentic above the righteousness of rituals and doctrines Once in a while Christians need to pause and ask, why grace? Is grace all about the forgiveness of our sins? Could it be beyond wealth and health teachings? Did grace abolish the Law? How does grace affect all human relationships? Whatever we have known about God’s grace there is always more to learn.

Being a Christian and an  ordinary citizen  does not mean you are incapacitated to effect any change It ’ s been a while I made any comment on issues that border on governance in Nigeria. Beyond my personal opinions I was restricted within my own bowels to do so. However, I believe the Lord will have me share how we should pray for our nation about the current event of things.  How we should pray for all regions, for all in leadership and about the current occupation of the army in the South East.

WHAT THE APOSTLES TAUGHT Grace is Christ's finished work... until ourselves become the finished work... In part II we shall wholly consider what the apostles taught the early church, by the careful layout of their warnings. But before we do, I want you to keep in your heart the thought that warnings becomes a necessity where hazard is a reality. Let's begin from Hebrews.

...forming the assumption that... nothing can make you L ose your salvation Once saved always saved or Once saved forever saved , also known as Eternal security, you probably must have heard the statement before, or argue against or for it at some point. Perhaps you are just pondering on its meaning for the first time. How does it affect Christians? Some preachers, teachers and Christians preach, teach and say, respectively, that once you are a believer (Christian) you cannot backslide no matter what. This inevitably means that once you are saved nothing you do or don't do can take you away from faith or affect your eternity in Christ. Once saved then means you are forever saved .

My help comes from the Lord, who resides within me Partnership is a mutually beneficial relationship between two people. If you want to lift a piece of furniture and you don’t have enough strength to do so, you don’t go to the gym to exercise your muscles, you ask for help; someone that will partner with you and complement for your weakness. Not all believers of Christ are aware of the importance of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. There are many Christians who pray like orphans, who are overwhelmed by the feeling of helplessness and would cry about their lack of power and ability. They are in pursuit of human help to complement their inadequacies. Just what is the Holy Spirit doing in us?

What does the devil stand to gain in  that temporal moment a saint indulge in sin?   I weighted the theme I am about to address for weeks. I had written it half way and left it in my notes indefinitely until now. At first I could feel my reluctance to put my thoughts into words, I guess because such theme would seem like introducing the concept of the Old Testament during this Grace Revolution . Or perhaps it is a theme in scripture many would wish it disappears from the pages of the New Testament. Is the wages of sin DEATH under grace? Can believers still suffer consequences of sinful habits under grace? Do believers fall short of God's glory or virtue when we trifle with sin? How did the apostles communicate this gospel of grace?

The ultimate test of faith in prayer is revealed when prayer becomes a conversation with our Heavenly Father, when we make use of active and complete sentences and phrases as we discuss with Him P rimarily, prayer is we (believers) fellowshipping and conversing with our Heavenly Father. However, our Father has an expectation on how we should approach him while praying. If you listen and observe believers praying (especially here in Nigeria), prayer has become more of a super-religious exercising. People hold their heads screaming and shouting in prayer to God. Some would jump up and down while praying, and some believers would chant same words with their heads shaking vehemently. In so doing, prayer ceases from being a dialogue between the Father and His children and has taken a form of formal and human innovation to impress and get the attention of a supernatural being.

The New Testament presents a sharp contrast against the Old Testament way and manner of praying. That would suggest that the experiences in prayer under the Old and New Covenant are entirely on different scales...

While none of us would dare erect altars as Abraham did, we don't mind tithing like him...

God fully aware He'll bring both Jews and Gentiles together into one fold someday to become one new man...preached the two dispensations to Abraham...

God placed more emphasis on how the nation was governed over the religious ordinances which does not visibly impact the society. If we read the Old Testament as a book bearing careful records of how a kingdom (nation) sprang to being and how it was governed, we would have an illuminated perspective about human societies and God's concern for it. Far more helpful will its lessons drill purpose driven life into us. Rather than read through vast volumes only to see religious ordinances/laws, we will see vital lessons for national development. Undoubtedly, God spoke to Israel as a Nation and not as a religious organisation or institution. " And ye shall be unto me a KINGDOM (nation) of priests, and an holy NATION. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel . " Exodus 19:6

God didn't saddle  earthly governments with  the responsibilities of justice and equity. No sir! Lets stop looking for order within chaos. What flood your view when you say Abraham's blessings are mine? Do you see bars of gold stockpiled, a room filled with treasures or something beyond material possessions? Surely as I live I know Abraham didn't abandon family and friends in pursuit of God for cash inflow. There was something the Lord said to him that was far more than material possessions. " Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of (or from) thee a GREAT NATION, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. " Genesis 12:1-2

The Bible is that compass by which we can navigate through the woes of all human societies and offer precise solutions. If the church is a country colonised by heaven and believers its citizens. If tithes are taxes and offerings are miscellaneous levies. What are the basic amenities and social welfare packages put in place for citizens? Is there not perhaps an oversight in our midst? To what end then is the purpose of our offerings and tithes if Christians needs are not meet by the Church (country) they belong. If the structures of our assemblies cannot enhance infrastructures to solve welfare problems of her citizens we have failed. We cannot cede our duty to (earthly) governments. The Church is a government, a representation of a heavenly one.

Few years ago on live broadcast with a New-Age teacher and author Eckhart Tolle, Oprah Winfrey said, " I took God out of the box because I grew up in the Baptist church and there were rules and belief systems and doctrine. I happened to be sitting in church in my late 20s. I was going to this church where this great minister was preaching about how great God was and how omniscient and omnipresent and God is everything. Then he said, “The Lord Thy God is a jealous God.” I was caught up in the rapture of that moment until he said jealous. Something struck me. I was thinking, “God is all. God is omnipresent. God is all and God’s also jealous? God is jealous of me?”  Something about that didn’t feel right in my spirit because I believe that God is love and that God is in all things, and so that’s when the search for something more than doctrine started to stir within me.  I love this quote that Eckhart has where he says, “Man made God in his own image, the eternal, the ...

"...W e have brothers who are emotionally dead, having suffered a deathly “Stroke” in their feelings, incapable of sensing the feelings of others. As a result, Christian marriages and relationships is one of the most challenging ones not because of spiritual attacks but because we are emotionally deformed. " The phrase “Sisters Keeper” certainly doesn’t appear on the pages of the Bible. But I guess you’ve got a knack of all it’s about. It suggests being sincerely concerned for the state of being of female folks. In this context, I write strictly to the church of the Living God. On second thoughts this should have been titled, “Letter to insensitive brothers.” Let me indulge you for few seconds. Why do Christian sisters fall victim to deceivers? Why would they prefer to marry outside God’s fold? Why does it seem their heart is with God’s family but their eyes are ever wondering into the world (as it seems)? Why is there such an exploitation of your sister and my sister...