Are You Struggling to Receive From God? Hmmm

There can be times in our daily workplace that take away our breath. I had such an encounter a few years ago.

 

I had been working the burn unit as a travel nurse when I was assigned to care for Doug, a 53-year-old man who looked 80. He suffered from a fatal bacterial flesh-eating disease called necrotizing fasciitis. Doug's condition had started as a painful pimple on his right inner thigh and progressed to his entire pubic area and left inner thigh. 

 I learned from veteran nurses that a patient diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis was not contagious but rarely survived this severe of an infection. Doug's unbearable discomfort caused him to tense up, scream in pain and speak harshly with whoever was trying to care for him. Morphine administered intravenously seemed to do little to ease his pain. Three times a day we performed extensive dressing changes. When I changed his dressing the first time, I felt as if I had stepped into an autopsy. I could see entire muscle groups, tendons, fascia and more. 

 

Doug tended to be a difficult patient, lashing out at nursing staff because of his pain. Despite his situation, however, Doug and I hit it off. Other unit staff noticed, so whenever I worked, I was assigned to care for Doug.

 

Doug and I had plenty of time to get to know each other. Throughout my 12-hour shifts, I checked on him often. During those visits, he talked about how he started using drugs when he was a young teen. He had joined a circle of friends in the drug world and began dealing on the streets. His prior drug use and poor self-care exacerbated his condition, making it even harder to fight off his severe infection. 

 

During those long dressing changes, we also talked about Doug's spiritual beliefs. He confided that it just didn't seem important to go to church, although he believed there was a God and that Jesus was real. 

 

Daily I would offer to pray for Doug. He always politely said, "No." 

 

Finally, one day I respectfully asked, "Doug, why do you resist prayer?"

 

"There's this man who bought drugs from me and never paid me my money. I want to settle the score before I think about church and God," he replied with a scowl.

 

I gently reminded him vengeance wasn't a worthy trade for his soul. Doug didn't seem to understand that he wasn't likely to survive. 

 

One day we received word that a severe burn patient was being flown in by helicopter. Because burn patients have priority, we moved Doug to a step-down unit to provide a critical care bed for the incoming patient. 

 

Before drifting off to sleep one night about a week after Doug was transferred from the burn unit, I silently prayed for Doug. Around 2:00 a.m., I was awakened from a disturbing dream. In it, I saw a barefooted Doug wearing his pale blue hospital gown. As he looked at me, I could hear his thoughts: "My pride kept me from letting you pray with me." 

 

I analyzed the dream and wondered if God had given me a message for Doug. I felt I should go to Doug and gently talk to him about pride. 

 

Two days later, when I returned to work, I headed for Doug's room. I walked in hoping that maybe now Doug would accept God's free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. To my surprise, his room was empty. My heart sank.

 

On the way back to my unit, I hopefully thought maybe Doug had been released, although that seemed impossible because of the extensive care he needed. But I also knew Doug didn't have insurance and might have been released if care could be provided at home.

 

I walked to our unit break room and sat down. Tina, a certified nurse assistant, was on break. Though we chatted a bit, I couldn't get Doug off my mind. I asked Tina if she knew what might have happened to him. 

 

Tina replied, "A couple of nights ago, Doug's condition got worse. They brought him back to the burn unit. Doug asked me to call the hospital chaplain. He wanted to make things right with God."

 

With compassion in her eyes, Tina said, "He died later that night." 

 

I was thrilled! God broke through Doug's pride and defenses. It would seem Doug made peace with God before he died.  

 

As Christians, we have the unique opportunity to listen to others' circumstances past and present. Doug was a difficult person whose intense physical care was complicated by his anger and challenging personality. Based on his past drug history, it would have been easy to avoid Doug or think he was reaping what he had sown. But Jesus tells us to be careful with our attitudes toward others, to not be scornful or think less of anyone, remembering He shows mercy to all people. 

 

By Liz Gwyn

FASHION: UNIQUE & CLASSY ASO EBI STYLES!!

When it comes two gorgeous wearing traditional attires, some people know the nitty gritty of how well to go
about it, how to combine the colors, gorgeous accessories that will complement the amazing attire and especially how to tie the 'Gele'. Enjoy and have fun ....
See photos below ----

4 exercises when you are nervous, depressed or tired.

Try these four exercises when you are nervous, depressed or tired, so let get started:

1 Plough Pose: Lie on your back. Lift your feet up and let down their head. Keep your legs straight with your heels together and drag socks on the floor. Pull both hands to toes. Hold this position for 5 minutes. Then slowly lower your spine back to the floor, vertebra by vertebra. Slowly lay your feet on the floor, arms at your sides.

2 Camel Pose: Sit on your heels. Clutching at the heels and lift your pelvis up and forward, zaprokinte head, pull the pelvis forward. Stay in this position for 3 minutes at a slow deep breath. Then gently lower the pelvis back on his heels. This exercise regulates the activity of the reproductive organs.

3 Luke Pose: Lie on your stomach. Clutching at the ankles. Dish up so that your spine looked like a bow. Lift the hips and head as high as possible. Hold the pose with deep slow breathing.

4 Stand on the shoulders: From a prone position on the back lift your legs to 90 °, then lift the torso and picked the lower back hands, leaning on his elbows. Keep your torso perpendicular to the floor and spread your body weight on the neck and shoulders. Chin rests on the chest. Deep slow breathing. This exercise creates pressure on all the organs and stimulates the thyroid gland.

End of The Wicked

TEXT: JOB 27:11-23

Key verse: “This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty” (Job 27:13).

Thomas Carlyle had a bitter experience with his manuscript. For months, he had, with all his resources, busied himself with the manuscript, which he hoped to turn into a book entitled, ‘The French Revolution.’ When he got satisfied with the level of efforts he put into it, Carlyle sent the manuscript to his friend, John Stuart Mill, for critical evaluation. Mill passed the manuscript on to Mrs. Chapman, who he thought would be able to make a fair comment.

Unfortunately, the lady, after reading it by the fireplace on the evening of March 5, 1834, before she went to bed, dropped the manuscript on the mantel. Her maid, who came the following day to clean the room and to start the fire in the fireplace, thought the manuscript was a waste paper and used it as fuel to kindle the fire. That was how the work of many months got burned up in a matter of seconds.

The catastrophe, which befell Carlyle, will certainly be a child’s play when compared to the punishment, which God will mete upon sinners, if they fail to repent. This is the fact Job laboured to expound to his friends. Job’s friends had voiced a similar opinion but had mistaken Job for a wicked man, simply because he was in great affliction. Job tried to set the matter in true light by teaching what he knew to be the mind of God and not mere human opinion.

Much as he shared his friends’ idea that as a mark of God’s judgment, afflictions must trail the wicked, he knew that they did not always come the way they thought. The wicked may multiply children and “heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay,” yet, he cannot escape divine wrath even though it takes longer coming.

All he trusted on earth - wealth and social connection - will be unable to save him from the storm of God’s wrath even as he dies miserably. The question is: what is your relationship with God?

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY No one ever gets away with wickedness; retributive justice is sure.

Finding Satisfaction When You Feel Invisible, Moms

Sometimes, it seems as if motherhood is about settling for less. 

We want to stay in shape, but we don't have time, so we settle for buying an aerobics video and working out with it three times before we consign it to obscurity in the DVD cabinet.

We'd like to travel the world, but we settle for going to the grocery store by ourselves.

We want to develop our intellectual abilities, but we wouldn't be able to get to a class, much less fit study time into our schedule or pay tuition. So we settle for memorizing the drive-thru orders for four different children at each of three different restaurants.

We're frustrated, particularly when we feel we have a gift or ability in a certain area but no opportunity to develop that talent. We chafe under the limitations imposed on us by our circumstances.

I understand that feeling. I've been there too, wishing I could further develop the area of my gifting. I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes when I've done well and performed at a high level. But right now, furthering this interest is simply not possible due to, well, life.

I was thinking about this the other day. I felt frustrated that I wasn't able to progress to the level of which I am capable. Sure, I'm working on the subject at a lesser level now, and I'm doing my best at it, but it's not as good as my "real" best. At least, that's how I saw it at the time.

I was wrong.

What God taught me when I was longing for what it's not possible to have right now is this: there are two kinds of best. The first kind involves doing the best of which I am capable, considering my God-given abilities and interests. The second means doing the best of which I'm capable, considering the circumstances God has placed in my life.

The first kind is what I had wanted, what I had thought would excite me. The second kind, I learned, is what will satisfy me.

I know it can be disappointing not to be able to pursue an interest or skill. Sometimes, it's extremely disappointing. But we make a terrible mistake if we assume that doing what God has said is not possible right now would be more satisfying than what He has said is possible.

We're wrong if we think that doing our best at what we want to be called to would be more satisfying than doing our best at what we are called to.

How can I say this? How can I claim that pursuing distinction at a once-a-week class is more satisfying than excelling at full-time study? Or that making an awesome PBJ sandwich can be more fulfilling than going to culinary arts school?

Because if God's design for your life right now is sandwiches made to the specifications of a two-year-old, you will experience His presence more fully when you get out the peanut butter than you would by going beyond His boundaries and enrolling in school. And that's what satisfaction is: God Himself. Not better skills, increased knowledge, or more excitement. God Himself.

It's not wrong to want to learn more or pursue a favorite interest. Not at all! The problem comes when we assume that God has given us the less-satisfying portion and denied us what would really make us happy. If that's what we think, we're finding happiness in our circumstances rather than in God's presence.

Where do you find your happiness? In participating in things you enjoy? Or in being in God's presence? If it's the former, you'll be disappointed every time things don't work out or God says no. If it's the latter, you'll never be disappointed. Ever. Because His presence is always available to you, regardless of the circumstances.

This is what Jesus was talking about when He told the Samaritan woman that she should be asking for living water, not just the regular stuff in the well. He was making the point that earthly things do not ultimately satisfy, but that God's presence does.

Do you want certain circumstances, or do you want God Himself? Do you spend more time praying that He will give you certain things so that you can be satisfied? Or do you spend more time praying that He will give you Himself?

For me, it's often the "circumstances" option. But I don't want that to be the case. I want God's presence to be more important to me than anything else in life. I want to draw my satisfaction from a well that will never run dry. I want to experience true fulfillment, not just temporary excitement.

I pray this is what you want too.

Hebrews 13:5 Be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Psalm 142:5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."

John 4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

Adapted from Megan Breedlove

Unfortunately destinies have been lost to hunger pangs!

Man must eat!

Really?

Is that all that matters?

If you want to know if someone has any self control at all, check their eating habits and their ability to resist food! More so when they they are hungry
You will be shocked what you will find.

Unfortunately destinies have been lost to hunger pangs!
Esau..exchanged his heritage because of porridge! PORRIDGE!!!!
Well, I don't know what their porridge tasted like those days, and if there was nowhere else where he could have got another food to eat!
He traded his generational rights and rights to have the greater blessing.....for a bowl of food.
But because God was bound by His covenants....God still made sure that the rightful person got the rights....so sad!

The young prophets.... Turned back and disobeyed God because of refreshment! God clearly stated to him how to go.....but the need to taste the hot dishes, he got him off the scale and he was wasted eventually! And the man who led him to sin was crying and mourning him loudly!

Eve did it.....Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it.

Where will your appetite for food lead you?

Where will your taste buds land you?

Will it lead you into the arms of the enemy?
Will it deprive you of your destiny?
Or will it just make you fall asleep too deeply that you will forget to stay awake and watch over the territory God has given you....?

My husband usually says...be wary of a pastor who expects and loves you to give him food when he visits.....his appetite will stop him from telling you the undiluted mind of God for you!he may end up speaking what God has not sent him when the food is too delicious.

1 Corinthians 6:12-13 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.

Do you need to check your appetite?

Do you attend a function and you are popular for carrying people's food which have not been given to you?

You say it is party food? God says you lack self control!
Even amongst us Christians....minsters are eyeing special minsters package of food after church programme!!!!
After child dedication, handbags are packed full of several cans of coke that you had picked without the celebrant's consent....ah! Even following a solemn worship in God's presence.
How many days will the food last you?
And you STOLE it....because it was not given to you ....if you took it without permission.

Hey! Where are we going with this?

Church members exchanging abusive words because the have not given you TAKE AWAY!

A man who cannot control his dietary appetite has lost the key to health.
Every action is weighed by God.....eat , eat and eat again......keep eating....but remember that it's possible for you to get to the point of making your belly to be your God!

This is not a sweet pill to swallow.....but let those who have ears hear what the spirit is saying to the church!!

Food is a bait, a good one for those who will fall by it.
Is your stomach and appetite born again ?

Will your taste bud withstand the furnance of corruption?

The same lord who saved from sin can save you from unbridled appetite...

By Sis Bola

THE Redeemed Christian Church of God, Opens Convention With Ordination Of 8,622 Deacons

A growing church should be one that continues steadfastly in fellowship, study and prayer. Each believer amongst them should grow and become strong in the Lord. The church that will grow must be a studying church, a sharing church and a praying church with manifestations of signs, wonders and miracles, just like the early church.’—Pastor Enoch Adeboye.

THE Redeemed Christian Church of God, reputed to be the fastest growing church in the world, will this morning ordain a total of 8,622 deacons and deaconesses to flag off the 62nd annual convention of the church which started in 1952 as a daily prayer group under the leadership of Rev. Josiah Akindayomi (1909–1980) after he had been involved in several other churches. He was a member of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church.

Thirteen men, including the then Brother Josiah Akindayomi (founder), Brother J.A. Fakunmoju, Brother Makun (the first ordained pastor in the church). Brother J.A. Adekoya, Brother S.K. Padonu and Brother S.A. Olonode, Brother Fadiora, Brother Ilenusi, Brother Okuwobi and Brother Fetuga started the group. The other three brothers were Brother Adefeso, Brother G. A Adefunwa and Brother Matiluko.

The 13 brothers continued to worship at 9, Willoughby Street, Ebute Meta, Lagos having been excommunicated from the Cherubim and Seraphim Church. In the course of their fellowshipping they needed to have their own identity.

Thus, the group was first called the Apostolic Faith of South Africa. Though it had no link with South Africa, it was documented in a booklet published by the church to mark its 50th anniversary that the first name given to the church was a “classic example of the innocence of Rev. Akindayomi…Sometime later, after learning that Nigeria is not in Southern Africa, he changed the name of the group to the Apostolic Faith Mission of West Africa.”

But all those names soon gave way to the current Redeemed Christian Church of God after a divine encounter the founder had with God. He was said to have been woken up in a trance and given its current name though he was not a lettered person. Bro. Olanode one of his lieutenants who was educated was said to have interpreted what the founder copied from the vision as REDEEMED CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF GOD.

In the early 1970s, Akindayomi started to look for an educated successor who was not at that time a member of the church. He chose Enoch Adeboye, a lecturer in Mathematics Department at the University of Lagos, who joined the church in 1973. Adeboye initially became one of the interpreters translating Akindayomi’s sermons from Yoruba to English. He was ordained a pastor of the church in 1975, and his appointment as leader of the church was formalized by the posthumous reading of Akindayomi’s sealed pronouncement.

Andrew Rice, writing in ‘The New York Times’, described the RCCG as “one of (Africa’s) most vigorously expansionary religious movements, a homegrown Pentecostal denomination that is crusading to become a global faith”.

Global faith

According to Daniel Ajayi-Adeniran, a pastor of the church, “In every household there will be, at least, one member of Redeemed Christian Church of God in the whole world.”

From that humble beginning, the church has grown by leaps and bounds to have branches in over 180 nations of the world including parishes in Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon and in nearly all seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates. According to figures released last year, the church now has 18 regions in Nigeria with varying number of provinces spread across the country.

This morning, the leadership will ordain deacons and deaconesses after an unusually expanded screening process to weed out undeserving persons. Ordination is the process by which individuals after a period of training, are identified for consecration, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination vary by religion and denomination.

To avoid undesirable elements from infiltrating the ranks of the ordainees, Pastor Adeboye made the process more transparent by the publication of the screened candidates, urging members’ involvement, declaring: “we have posted the names of members who have been screened for ordination, so that whoever has any reason why they should not be ordained should write a letter to us on why such a person should not be ordained, we will then investigate and if the findings are true such a minister would not be ordained.”

Last year, General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye presided over a similar ceremony where 8,850 men and women were ordained as deacons and deaconesses to assist the leadership of the church in the smooth running of the ever-growing church.

The ceremony is scheduled for 8.30 a.m. The only other event for the day, House Fellowship Leaders & Workers meeting is billed for 8.30 p.m. and it will be followed by Council meeting.

Source: Vanguard