Happy New Year!

Welcome to the year of our Lord 2016

Photo credit: Pri 2015

Photo credit: Pri 2015

Lay a sure and solid 

foundation for a safe and successful year by making God's Word your compass and standing on His unfailing promises.

Reach out for the top! Set goals (for personal spiritual life, career, ministry, family, etc) for the year; outline your game plan and connect with the God of all grace for support. 

Avoid the mistakes of the past, be diligent and determined in the pursuit of your goals. Aim high and be thorough. 

Above all, live with eternity in view. The rapture may take place at any time. Wisdom demands that you are found ready, not just preparing!

Here is wishing you a big, bright and beautiful 2016! Happy new year!

How do you and your nation fare on the generosity index?

"It is more blessed to give than to receive" Acts 20.35

"Givers never lack"

"A nation's economic prosperity doesn't automatically translate to generosity" - CNN

Which is the world's most generous country? 

 By Milena Veselinovic, for CNN

The World Giving Index ranks countries of the world by activities of Charity. You may want to find out the performance of your country. Much more than that, you should evaluate your individual contribution to the performance of your nation and your personal attitude to giving.

A global survey of charitable giving conducted on 135 nations might give us a renewed sense of faith in humanity. The World Giving Index 2014 examined whether people donated money to a charity, volunteered their time to an organization or offered assistance to someone they didn't know who needed help. 

Making Steady Progress in the Year Ahead

As a new year beckons, it is important to note that God wants it to be a year of unstoppable progress for you as a child of God. He wants you to prosper and be successful. He wants you to move forward. 

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 1.2)


"Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant." (Psalm 35.27) 

 "And the LORD said... speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward" (Exodus 14.15)

Here are some tips on avoiding stagnation and recording remarkable progress in the new year.

Identify and neutralize impediments to your progress

If barriers to progress are not eliminated, trying to make progress or achieve set goals would amount to trying to hold water in a porous container. Barriers to making progress and attaining our goals include laziness, procrastination, poor time management, lack of focus, indiscipline, unhelpful personal habits, ignorance, carnal indulgence, being chained to the past, fear of the future, vision-less contentment and lack of personal drive. 

GRACE 2015

A Spirituo-Academic Conflux for Tertiary Institutions in South-Western Nigeria

 There are three essential ingredients for a meaningful existence. 

You need a Goal in life. A goalless life will be barren, bland and boring.  

But a goal without a Game plan will be a grand illusion, a mirage. You need appropriate strategies to achieve your goal.

However, even when you have a goal and a game plan, there is still a vital link that is needed to lubricate the machinery of your game plan and propel you towards the accomplishment of your goal. This is Grace.

Grace carries you beyond the limitation of human efforts. Grace prevents disgrace, disruption and defeat.

It is on this note that I am inviting you to GRACE 2015, a gathering of members of the intellectual communities in South-Western Nigeria. This great gathering will take place at Deeper Life Campground, Km. 10, Oyo-Ibadan Expressway, Deeper Life Bus Stop, Moniya, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, from 28 October to 1 November, 2015. 

Thank God it's Grace time. Come and stack up your spiritual, academic, financial, health and other problems against God's grace and discover the power of His grace.

God has promised to re-position participants to transcend all limitations and to empower them with unlimited grace for greater exploits. And God delivers on His promises!

Please get in touch with the Deeper Life Campus Fellowship/Church on your campus for transport arrangements to the venue.

Come believing and come prepared to partake of the moment of Grace!





 

Human nature versus God's grace

THE DIFFERENT MOTIONS OF NATURE AND GRACE

THE VOICE OF CHRIST

MY CHILD, pay careful attention to the movements of nature and of grace, for they move in very contrary and subtle ways, and can scarcely be distinguished by anyone except a man who is spiritual and inwardly enlightened. All men, indeed, desire what is good, and strive for what is good in their words and deeds. For this reason the appearance of good deceives many.

Nature is crafty and attracts many, ensnaring and deceiving them while ever seeking itself. But grace walks in simplicity, turns away from all appearance of evil, offers no deceits, and does all purely for God in whom she rests as her last end.

Nature is not willing to die, or to be kept down, or to be overcome. Nor will it subdue itself or be made subject. Grace, on the contrary, strives for mortification of self. She resists sensuality, seeks to be in subjection, longs to be conquered, has no wish to use her own liberty, loves to be held under discipline, and does not desire to rule over anyone, but wishes rather to live, to stand, and to be always under God for Whose sake she is willing to bow humbly to every human creature.

Nature works for its own interest and looks to the profit it can reap from another. Grace does not consider what is useful and advantageous to herself, but rather what is profitable to many.

The fundamental questions of life

Read this incisive article by R. K. Sepetjian. The article was originally posted here. 

Life's 4 fundamental questions

Did you know that what you believe about Life’s 4 Fundamental Questions can have an enormous impact on your worldview, way of life and the decisions that you make?

What are Life’s 4 Fundamental Questions?

1. Who am I?
2. Where do I come from?
3. What is my purpose?
4. What happens when I die?

Every people, tongue and tribe across the globe, and down through the ages, have struggled to discover meaning and purpose in their lives through an apprehension and understanding of the answers to the four questions above. In fact, every social and religious system in the world, attempts to answer these questions in a meaningful and inspirational way.

How would you answer these questions?

1. Who am I?

Candid quips

These insightful quips were posted to Daily manna, a WhatsApp group, by Sunday A. I reproduce the full post below.

Permit me to give you these words of wisdom. It will also be a great blessing to you. Please read and meditate on them:

1. ON EARNING:
Never depend on single income. Make investment to create a second chance.

2. ON SPENDING:
If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.

3. ON SAVINGS:
Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.

4. ON TAKING RISK:
Never test the depth of a river with both feet.