In Psalm 34v1, where King David wrote the words “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth”, his life was in serious danger and he was running for his life but yet, he penned such powerful words to remind us so many years later the importance of praising God, giving Him our ‘halal’ no matter what!

I am yet to get to the level King David was at. I still have days when issues weigh me down so much that all I want to do is feel sorry for myself and cry all the “why oh Lord?” tears and forgetting to say anything to God let alone praise Him; however, I am striving, striving to get to that level where no matter what happens, I’ll break into a crazy ‘halal’ to my God even in my tears…to bless Him at all times and allow His ‘halal’ to continually be in my mouth…to have a lifestyle that praises Him always.

I just want to encourage you in whatever situation you may be in and no matter how hard it may seem, to strive to praise God ‘halal’-style, to worship Him endlessly and then watch and see our God move on your behalf in amazing ways!!

Word of the day…

1 Thessalonians 5v18 - In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

We all have a past and many of us never want to remember what we have done or some bad decisions we have made. A large number of us are held in bondage by our pasts and it always seems like we can never get away from those horrible things we have done or even forgive ourselves. It’s a terrible place to be and can be a lonely place sometimes when you cannot speak to anyone about it (or them) for fear of being judged or disappointing those you love and who love you very much. My experience however has taught me (just like Mary Mary sang in “Forgiven Me”) that letting go of me, running into the open arms of God, holding on to Him and forgiving myself released me from the hold that my past had on me.

Yes, you have done those really awful things but God has certainly not cast you aside, He still loves you no matter what and He still loves you unconditionally. His unconditional love is the reason He sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins those many years ago (John3v16). He’s such a loving Father that He awaits (with loving arms) our return home when we stray or walk away from Him like the prodigal son did in Luke 15v11-32. When the Father has forgiven you and received you back to Himself, the worst thing you can do is not forgive yourself for those things you have done! Mary Mary sang that the “past has passed away”, let it go. I know for a fact that it’s a hard thing to do and every possible thought will come, haunting you BUT you’ve got to keep keeping on. The most important thing is that you forgive yourself; everything else should be left to God to deal with on your behalf as you daily talk to Him about how you feel and what you may be going through. I’ve been there and I am a testimony to God’s grace, favour and massive massive love.

Have a listen to “Forgiven Me” if you haven’t heard it before or you just want to hear it again. I have included the lyrics so you can have a read or sing-along whilst listening to it.

Stay blessed and at peace…

Forgiven Me by Mary Mary

Verse 1
I hold a memory of myself
Reflections of what I used to be
These broken roads that brought me here
They make it hard to face reality

But a new day is here
It’s time that I embrace it
Can’t wait another day
Right now I gotta face it

(Chorus)
I never ever wanna press rewind
Never wanna go back in time
Not much glory
In that story but it’s mine so I’m
Loving who I am today
Past has past away
Finally I have forgiven me

Verse 2
I hold a memory of myself
So young and foolish and not knowing(Oh5x)
Careless decisions that I made
I wish someobody would have told me

But a new day is here
It’s time that I embrace it
Can’t wait another day
Right now I gotta face it

(Chorus)

(Bridge)
The mirror on the wall it
Lets me see today that I’m
I’m not that foolish girl
Time has brought a change a
Transformation the old into the new
When I let go of me and held on to you

(Chorus)x2

Word of the day…

Lamentations 3:22-23 – Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

I need not write too many words as the words in this hymn says it all. As you read each line, don’t just run through it, read each line and meditate on it. If you know the song, and I expect many people to know it, don’t just sing it and enjoy its melody, allow each line to permeate your soul…THEN, do as the wordings of the song asks you to do and I’m pretty sure you’ll have a smile on your face all day…NO, scratch that…ALL WEEK!!

Count Your Blessings (written by Johnson Oatman Jr. 1897)

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Chorus:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Are you counting?? I AM!!

Word of the day…

Psalm 103v1-5 – 1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (NKJV)

You see, my entire office went upside down when this guy dropped his invitation.

No 1. We didn’t believe he was getting married

No 2. We didn’t believe he was getting married to who he was getting married to! The question on everyone’s lips was, “what on earth did you tell her?”

To ease your confusion at my chagrin, the deal is, my colleague is not the most organised guy who ever lived, he’s relatively young (pushing 30 though), quite scattered, jokes around a lot and is generally not someone you take too seriously, couple that with the nail biting and sometimes disjointed dress sense, add that to the fact that he’s getting married to an absolute chic and every one is in a state of shock, it’s like…how????

So, why am I writing a piece about this? Just go deal with it right? Well, beyond the surface, I learnt lessons from this event….

My colleague is also my friend and I found myself subjecting him to a round of interviews, just trying to understand the making of this dream, what happened, how did it happen, what did you do?

No 1 tip according to him was, Pray in tongues!
Ok, granted, you wanna get married to your dream man/woman? Pray in tongues! Pray that fabulous man into existence!

But after talking severally with him, my own conclusion differed slightly. Putting it all together, I reached one conclusion, this guy did more than pray in tongues, he did his homework! And the pretty fiancée? She ditched appearances and went for what’s inside, and she was wise. And I’m happy for them both.

So, my colleague, he wanted a good thing, he desired a good thing, prayed for a good thing and he found a good thing. And he went after it guns blazing. He had studied the way a woman’s mind works (thankfully, he had a bio sister to learn from), he had the right words, created the right atmosphere, and knew what was most important, be her friend first! I asked him why he didn’t just tell her ‘God said you are my wife’ and he said, ‘I studied the kind of person she was and did what was appropriate.’ You see, this guy understood that it wasn’t about him. He knew that if he wanted to get this lady into his life, he had to delight her, speak her language, please her and make her see why she belonged with him! In the end, the ‘finding’ was his responsibility and he did it with all the gusto he could muster. He treated this lady like she was a prized possession, a price catch, like she was the only thing in existence. What truly amazed me was how much thinking went into the process, how much learning, observing and deliberate planning went into the process. Who knew this clown of ours was this serious and deliberate in his search for a wife!

Maybe that is where justice was served…while we were talking and talking and screening by tall, dark, handsome, our guy was learning, learning, learning, studying the psyche of a woman, planning his strategy, and praying in tongues!

Even after the relationship was well underway, the surprises didn’t end, the endless gifts, the devotion, and simple but so thoughtful marriage proposal. I honestly didn’t know my nail-biting, ‘un-posh’ colleague had all that in him!

This leads me to the second key learning block…pretty damsel who disregarded the outward appearance. You need to meet my colleague to understand, he’s quite unpolished, his diction needs tremendous improvement, his shoes…who wears those kinda shoes? he’s scattered and all over the place, his ringtones are pathetic… and trust me, that was all we saw. We were completely blind to the fact that he’s the one you can go to when you need help with something, he’s the one you can completely be yourself with, he’s a listener, he’s sensitive, he’s patient, he never lets a compliment pass by – you have a new hairstyle, he notices, you wear new shoes, he notices, you have a new pimple, he notices, he can make you laugh out of any anger, you just could not stay angry with this guy. But o’l boy, we didn’t pay any attention to all these qualities, all we saw was the ’scatteredness’, the ‘un-poshness’, the bad belt, the bitten nails and oh how we tortured him, we just went on and on about those things. Fix this, fix that!

But this girl, she saw them too but passed them up and went for the substance that we all took for granted. What’s more, she started dating him when he was driving this horrible matchbox, the car was the joke of the year, I wondered how on earth anyone could be caught in it. Never mind that he now drives his nice jeep, she chose the ‘un-posh’ guy with the match box car.

In one of our talks, he said she sees his rough edges but she corrects him gently, her feedback is in quiet suggestions, gentle and constructive, she doesn’t treat him like a bad thing that needs to be fixed and she loves him just as he is. He got way more than he asked for and I am so happy for him, he found a good thing. The beauty is that he knows and he handles her accordingly.

And all these got me thinking…this preoccupation with certain external characteristics….he has to look this way, walk this way, talk this way, smell this way…yet he has to be spiritual, kind, patient, understanding, loving, caring…hmm! and the wait goes on! and on! and on!

Perhaps, just perhaps, there are only 300 guys in the world that fit this bill…and only 10 where you are and there are 300 million girls vying for them? But then perhaps there are these rough, uncut several that have the inner qualities we’re looking for? But that we don’t give a sliver of a chance? We don’t even allow them to speak! No, they’re the wrong height!!!!!! And wear the wrong colour of trousers!!!!! Have you seen the effect of a woman on a man? It’s a rarity to see an unpolished man married to a polished woman and still stay unpolished one year after marriage! There’s always a before and after, that’s one of the key specialties of a woman but before that, there needs to be an unconditional acceptance of this man. And this can only happen when the right priorities are set and we realise a drop dead gorgeous guy with a lousy personality can suddenly look like a monster! That character transcends all and will stand the test of time, a long marriage cannot be built on the foundation of looks and poshness. These things are transient and can come and go….

We should take a learning from God honestly…He never seems to go by outward appearance, that’s why the Pharisees missed Jesus, how can a common, measly carpenter be the messiah???? Well, they should go check Him out now!

These are my thoughts…right now, I’m just thinking, looking, learning, most importantly, my mind is wide open.

Word of the day…

Proverbs 18v22 –  He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the LORD (NKJV)

What strikes me most about those times is how easily I forget certain things, especially the many great things God has done and continues to do for me, and most importantly, who I am in Christ! To be perfectly honest, it can be pretty hard to remember these things when you’re so overwhelmed and feeling so weighed down but when we do, hope really does spring!

Recalling who I am (in Christ) only requires me to remember one out of a list of many, and the rest come rushing…

- I am a child of God (Romans 8v14 &15)

- I am totally free from condemnation because I have been redeemed and all my sins are forgiven (Romans 8v1; Colossians 1v13 & 14)

- I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5v17)

- I am God’s heir and a joint heir with Jesus Christ (Galatians 4v6 & 7)

- I am the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Matthew 5v13 & 14)

- I am more than a conqueror through Him who loved me (Romans 8v37)

- I am a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a person belonging to God (1 Peter 2v9)

- I am able to do all things through Christ Who gives me the strength (Philippians 4v13)

- I am the head and not the tail, above and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28v13)

- I am Kunbi Balogun, princess of the Most High God!!

WHO ARE YOU?

Word of the day…

John 15v5 – I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Today as I reflect even further, I am reminded over and over again that I AM HUMAN and Him and only Him can keep me going. I am reminded that without Him, I am nothing and can do nothing. I am reminded that I am not perfect, but can be perfected in Him. I am moved to tears thinking about the abundant love He has for me, the bubbling over and over AND OVER kind of love that is inexhaustable. Thoughts of Him permeates my being, lifts me up from my zombie-like mood as I remember a song “My Exceeding Joy” because that is what exactly He is:

To God, my exceeding joy
You are the world to me

For there is none like You
No one can do the things You do
So, I lift up holy hands to You
My Exceeding Joy, Yes
My Exceeding Joy
No one compares to You my Joy
My Exceeding Joy

(My Exceeding Joy – Rhema Worship & Praise)

You may be going through a couple of things in your life right now that just do not make sense. It may seem like all the nine planets have aligned and have something against you, and you have no clue whatsoever what to do or where to turn. You may be confused, distraught, afraid and forever close to tears. I can tell you: He’s right there with you all the way and He will guide you and see you through it all. Hold on to Him, never let go! Your testimony is right at the tip of your tongue and I pray we get to hear or read about it one day! So…hold your head up high, shoulders square and walk tall because He will forever be our exceeding joy!

Word of the day…

Psalm 42v5 – Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God.

Without mincing words, to be part of this promise, you need to have a relationship with the Father (God). Note that the verse says “Say ye to the righteous…”; this means that to partake of this promise, you MUST be born-again! Yes, I typed it!! In recent times, I have realised that we so easily hang on to the blessings of God in the Bible without actually finding out what the conditions or instructions that go with the blessings are. For example, the blessing in Isaiah 3v10 is that it shall be well, the condition is being righteous. We also easily pluck one verse of the Bible and isolate it, without reading back or reading further to fully understand the context of that scripture verse. For example, verse 11 of Isaiah 3 goes on to say “Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” (KJV). In one sentence: verse 11 is the fate of a sinner or backslider.

My question is this: what are you doing with your life? The fact that you’re alive is enough testimony that God loves you and He is giving you chance after chance to come to Him with your sins. You! Yes you reading this piece, are you born-again?  Have you asked Jesus into your life? Is He your Lord and personal Saviour? If your Maker calls for your soul today, will you enter into His rest? You may already know this, but I’ll tell you again: Jesus died on the cross of calvary for your sins and mine. He’s asking you to come to Him today. All you’ve got to do is confess your sins and He’ll forgive you. It’ll be like you never sinned because all your sins will be wiped out…clean slate!! Isaiah 1:18 says “Come now,and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet,they shall be as white as snow;though they be red like crimson,they shall be as wool.” 1 John 1:9 also says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”(KJV)

It’s so easy to roll your eyes and overlook this, especially if you’ve heard it so many times or if you’re a regular church goer and you know the Bible. Believe me, I’ve been there done that, but I never found real joy, peace from deep within until I went on my knees and genuinely asked Jesus into my heart, my life. I had backslidden so many times that I figured there was no point and that I was destined to perish but thank God for His mercies. Our God is a merciful God and He’s calling out to you today. He loves you much more than you can ever imagine. There’s a lot more that God can offer you than anything this world can ever offer. All you see around you is temporal, only God can offer you anything everlasting and He wants you to enjoy His favours and blessings on this earth and everlasting life with Him in heaven.

If you know deep down in your heart that you’re a sinner, and you believe that God loves you so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for your sins (John 3:16), all you’ve got to do is take that step of faith and say this prayer:

“Father, I know that I have sinned against You and my sins have separated me from You. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

The aftermath of saying this prayer is the beginning of a whole new life. The bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”(KJV). If you haven’t got a bible believing church you attend, find one closest to you so as to enjoy fellowship with like-minded believers who can help in your spiritual growth. If you already have one,begin to worship with newness of heart.

Word of the day…

Psalm 46v1 – God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble (Amplified Version).

“You gave me courage to believe that all your goodness I will see
And if it had not been for You standing on my side where would I be“

I took time out with my family to reflect on 2009, and we could not but marvel at how God moved so mightily in our lives. Really and truly, if it had not been for God, where would we be? For all the battles, if it had not been for the Lord. For all the hazards we faced, if it had not been for the Lord. For all the hurt and pain, if it had not been for the Lord. For all the delays and disappointments, if it had not been for the Lord. For the time of waiting, waiting, and waiting, if it had not been for the Lord. For those lessons in patience, if it had not been for the Lord. For all that we went through and all that we did not go through, if it had not been for the Lord, where would we be?

Again and again, I am reminded how my life would have no meaning, whatsoever, without Him and how I am totally and completely dependent on Him. If it had not been for Him, I cannot bear to think how my life would be. It was not always rosy, don’t get me wrong, but those trying times were bearable because of Him.  I am indebted to a God Who never gives up on us despite all the debts we owe Him, a God Who craves a relationship with mankind even with the way we treat Him and all that concerns Him, a God Who is not man that He should lie, and Who does exactly what He says He will do!

My family and I read Psalm 124, which is where the title of this piece was taken:

¹ “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,”
Let Israel now say—
² “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,
When men rose up against us,
³ Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;
⁴ Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The stream would have gone over our soul;
⁵ Then the swollen waters
Would have gone over our soul.”
⁶ Blessed be the LORD,
Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
⁷ Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers;
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.

He’s an awesome God, and an absolute wonder. The only One who amazes me every single day and I know I ain’t even seen nothing yet.

2010 is here! What are you going to do with it? What are you going to do with God? What are you going to let Him do with you? How much of yourself are you going to give to Him? Where are you going to place Him? Where is He going to place you? What are you going to do with that which He has entrusted to you?

If you haven’t done it yet, GET WITH THE PROGRAMME! God is real, Jesus is real…best believe that!

Happy New Year!

Word of the day…

Lamentations 3v22 – Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.

As a single Christian, all of these have got me wondering how we are supposed to cope with such ‘pressures’ that our society seems to place us under nowadays. First things first, let’s refresh our memories with what Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7: 33-35. He mentions that an unmarried man cares for things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord whilst a married man cares about how he may please his wife (same goes for the ladies). We all know there’s nothing wrong with getting married and Apostle Paul mentions in the same chapter that whoever marries does not sin, but we’ve got to be careful as single Christians not to get carried away with the tidal waves rocking the entire ‘singledom’. Everyone’s getting married, and I’m sure a number of us are left asking God when ’the time’ will be. Well, we don’t need to worry as He tells us in Matthew 6:31-34; we however need to be careful not to get fixated on marriage such that it leads to desperation.

I recently listened to a great woman of God preach on this topic, she made mention of a lady she once read about who was so desperate to get married that it became her ‘life’. This lady made a few pointers based on her own personal experience and I have listed them below,

- People consumed with the desire to be married usually become less and less attractive because the message is unconsciously transmitted through body language, facial expressions and the like

- When you begin to think of marriage as an essential, you make an idol of it and we know our God cannot tolerate any idol

- When you make marriage issues so paramount in your life, you become miserable, life becomes less enjoyable, your spiritual life also suffers

- You begin to compromise your standards (basically, anyone that comes your way would do), do things you usually wouldn’t do all because you have to have a man or woman to get married to

- You begin to have more lows than highs, not realising that what you want is in God not in a man or a woman

I don’t know about you but believe me I do not want to experience any of that. As singles, let’s not lose time of effective service for God. We all know there’s a time and a season for everything (Ecclesiastes 3v1), we all know that God has thoughts of good toward us (Jeremiah 29v11); so we just basically, need to chill, enjoy God, and serve Him with all we’ve got (Luke 10:27). We need to have a mindset that what we are looking for is a relationship with God and meaningful relationships with those around us. We need to get true friends around us who can replenish us and help us fulfill our God ordained purpose in this life.

Now if you are going to move from such a fantastic single state to a married state, then the man or woman must have something unique to make you want to move. If he or she doesn’t have this ‘uniqueness’ then it’s not worth your while leaving your single state. If you’re going to have a good marriage you cannot afford to be hasty. Hey, it’s a lifetime for crying out loud so what’s the rush. Yes, sometimes we might feel lonely and all that; loneliness is natural, but we’ve got to remember that the most important thing is for God’s will to be done.

Focusing on God is really the ultimate for me, I believe there is so much of God to enjoy as a single Christian lady (or gentleman) and I’m all out for that. I’m all out for serving Him big time and in grand style. If and when this man does come, hey he better be unique ‘cos I ain’t leaving ’singledom’ for anything less than unique by the special grace of God. Amen!

 
Word of the day…

James 4:7&8 – Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands,you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Knowing God involves accepting and acknowledging that you are indeed a wretched sinner, and that even your righteous acts are like filthy rags before Him (Isaiah 64v6) because He is pure and holy. Knowing God is accepting that Jesus Christ died on the Cross of Calvary for your sins, and accepting Him into your life as your Lord and personal Saviour. Knowing God is forsaking all the sins in your life, never to go back to them again. Knowing God is giving your all to Him, realising that without Him you are nothing and can do nothing. Knowing God is obeying His word and pleasing Him daily. Knowing God is trusting Him completely and totally, handing over your life to Him, and allowing Him to chart the course of your life so that the destiny and purpose He has planned for you CAN be fulfilled. Knowing God is communing with Him on a daily basis and allowing Him to Father you.

God is a loving and merciful God (Psalm 100v5; Joel 2v13) and His love for us goes on and on and on. We can never understand or fathom His love for mankind because even with our unfaithfulness and awful attitudes, He still loves us and wants to bring us to Himself. However, His love cannot take precedence over His justice. God is a perfectly just God, Who can never and will never stand sin (Deut 32v4; Isaiah 13v11), and because of this, we will ALL be judged based on how we lived our lives (Hebrews 9v27) on the surface of this earth where His grace continues to abound TODAY! On that day of judgement, there will be no mercy for those who refused to give their lives to Christ (and ultimately God), and the grace which abounds today will cease to exist. Unfortunately, those who have not lived their lives according to His word and His precepts will perish forever (Revelation 20v11-15).

I am not trying to bring doom and gloom but all I have said are true facts. If you are reading this and you still do not know God, His GRACE and MERCY still ABOUND for you TODAY; you still have a chance to go to the Father, pleading and asking for mercy. Trust me when I say He is waiting with open arms to welcome you, waiting to wrap His arms around you, waiting to love you with a love that has not quenched since human existence, waiting to show you off as His own (Luke 15v11-24).

Don’t waste much time. Tomorrow may just be too LATE!!

Word of the day…

Deuteronomy 30:19 – I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.