Friday 22 November 2013

You and Yourself!

" Have you ever had a door of opportunity slam in your face? A job application...that you did not get; a loan...that was turned down; a friendship or relationship...that ended; a proposal...where the answer was no.

When this happens in pursuit of your dream, don't focus on the closed door. Crawl through a window or tear a hole in the roof! Step back and do an assessment. What happened? What did you discover about yourself? What do you need to do? Who must you become to move forward in your life?

Whatever you do...don't give up simply because it becomes challenging. Don't expect life to make it easier for you to reach your goals. Make the decision to become a better person in order to accomplish your goals. 
Believe this - there will be other doors and more opportunities. Know that you will be stronger, wiser, more capable and better prepared to take advantage of them, because of what you have discovered about yourself, and how you have changed in the process. 

You have GREATNESS within you!!"

Thursday 14 November 2013

The Home front …………..Single or Married.




In life, there are different stages, there are
different seasons and as the scriptures says time for
different things, “…a time for every purpose under
heaven” (Ecc.3:1). There is a time to be single and a
time to be married.

It is essential that we first and foremost recognize
that as children of God, that the source of
our joy, fulfillment, wholeness and sense of
accomplishment in every stage of life, every season of
life (whether single or married) is the Holy Spirit
(Zech.4:6) and He is inside of us, inward and not
outward, which goes to say that our wholeness as a
person does not depend on any single outward and
physical factor. It is the Holy Spirit who equips us,
helping us through every stage of life and guiding us
to the one, enabling us to be the best that we can be,
always being vessels into honor in His hands in every
stage.

It is equally important that we bear in mind always
that we are firstly Christians, children of God, a
peculiar people, a royal priesthood…(2 Pet.2:9)a
people set aside for God. We are primarily God’s
people (Ps.100:3), then secondly a single person or a
married person. Our marital status is secondary to our
spiritual status. We should let the truth sink in that
at every stage of our lives, regardless of our marital
status, God wants 100% of us, He wants all of us, and
we should enjoy freely giving it all to Him.

Being single and by that I mean the stage when one is
unmarried is a great experience, a wonderful and very
exciting time in the life of an individual. It is a
time when you take decisions by yourself, (especially
if you’ve left home and parents) you decide what you
do and when , where you go and when , who your friends
are, who you spend time with and how much time you
spend with them and of course you decide when and what
you want to eat, when you want to cook and so on…,
but most importantly it is a time when as a child of
God, you have all the time and liberty to serve God to
the highest ( Cor.7:32-34). You have more than enough
time to study God’s word and to get to know Him more.
It is fundamental that you feel absolutely fulfilled
within yourself and with God, trusting Him, walking in
His favor and leading, and being available to him at
all times and for the next level where God would want
to lead you and be able to help others.

We have scriptural examples of great people who worked
out wonderfully well this season of singleness and
really got God’s best. We know the story of Ruth who
after she lost her husband at a young age, shunned the
idea of going back to her pagan people and remarrying,
and tenaciously stayed with her aged mother-in-law
Naomi because she desired strongly to remain among
God’s people and in God’s will (Ruth 1: 16-17) and she
sure got it and a wonderful husband.

Apostle Paul, by the leading of the Spirit followed God
without second thoughts, without reserve and he was
and still is one of the greatest apostle of all times.
He was unmarried (1 Cor.7:7) and his testimony is
that he fought a good fight, kept the faith …….and of
course there are several other examples in the bible.

As much as marriage is an equally great time in our
lives, it is a stage that brings with it extra cares,
added responsibility and the joy of coming together
with another individual to build a life together. It
doesn’t necessarily stop one from serving God like you
might have done as a single person, but it sure opens
a totally new and exciting way of serving God together
with your partner and this entails joint decision making.

In summary, we’ll share some truths that are
guaranteed to help you continue as a fulfilled and joyous
Christian single brother/sister.

¶ Accept that being single is a real and normal stage in life. 
It is a blessing and part of God’s divine purpose.

¶ Don’t waste the wait, make the most of your single
status.

¶ Busy yourself with studying God’s word.

The word of God has the ability to redirect
your focus to what is truly important.

¶ Worship God all the time, making melodies in
your heart to God (Eph.5:19) There is something about
worship that is so releasing.

¶ Always wear a smile. A cheerful disposition, a merry
heart makes a whole lot of things a lot easier (prov.
15:13)

¶ Turn your thoughts towards others. Think of
different ways to be a blessing to someone else life
to make someone else’s life better.

¶ Practice talking section with God, the words of your
mouth, your confessions are part of the core of who
you are.

¶ Get busy in the house of God.

¶ Constantly fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

¶ Think on things that are true, noble, right, pure,
lovely, admirable and excellent (Phil. 4:8) Remember
the scriptures says that you are what you think.
(Prov. 23:7) and what you think in your heart is what
comes out of your mouth.

When you’re busy doing these, you can’t help but be
content while in the exciting season of life until it
pleases God to provide you with a partner and lead you
to the next season whenever and however He sees fit. 

Above all, remember that your marital status does not define who you are. Marriage does not guarantee happiness and satisfaction.  Marriage does not provide completeness. It is definitely not a land flowing with milk and honey. 
It has its own challenges and if you go into it for the wrong reasons, you will find that it might be the single most costly mistake that will mar your destiny.
God bless!!!.

Being Graceful.

Is “the graceful woman” lost in today’s “anything you can do, I can do better” world? Does it end with having a flourishing career? Has being graceful been reduced to just the outward appearance, being well made up? 
I find the study of women in society and how drastically they’ve changed over the years to be positively riveting. And I like to ask questions about it. “Why?” "How?" "Are we better for it?”
 Gracefulness conjures up a number of characteristics: poise, eloquence, refinement, beauty amongst other attributes.
I think of the Proverbs 31 woman as graceful. Not “fragile”, though gracefulness surely must contain “delicacy” in her demeanor, but also a strength and dignity that exudes from the carrier. I picture calmness, stateliness, a self-controlled form in movement and carriage. I imagine, since “the law of kindness is on her tongue” that her words come from a disciplined spirit (it’s a law that rules it!) and carry a certain weight of dignity and import because they are meaningful and not wasteful.
It is hard to find gracefulness these days. I’ve tried. And when I do see a woman who displays the rare manners that were once highly sought after and cultivated, she stands out.
I’m not talking about “putting on airs” nor pretending to be what you're not. But I do find it perfectly acceptable to constantly learn from others and I encourage every woman to “practice” gracefulness until it becomes habit.
The Bible speaks of letting our adornment be of the “inner man”…a meek and quiet spirit. And as we seek those characteristics that Christ Himself so perfectly demonstrated, our outward demeanor will meet it.
I want to be a woman whose inner character spills into her outer deportment. I want to be a woman who blesses the world around her, whose words bring help, peace, joy, laughter and healing. I want to be a woman whose ways inspire others. A woman of grace and true beauty, not the idolatry of beauty found on the magazine stand. I don't want to be harsh, brash and careless, not in my words and not in my ways.
What is “gracefulness” to you? Perhaps we have been so influenced by "civilization" and the masculine sirens of the feminist movement that we must revisit some basic etiquette. I’m thinking out loud…would love to hear your thoughts!