Category Archives: Discipline
Love’s Comfort
Heb.12:5 “And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you”
Being at peace with others does not mean keeping peace. Being at peace with others is making peace. There is a huge difference between keeping peace and making peace. Similarly, there is a huge difference between correction and revenge. Read the rest of this entry
Action Time!
James 2:19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless [action]? [emphasis added].
Question 4: Am I taking action? The question you need to ask yourself to go forward is, “Am I taking action?” Walt Disney says, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing” –Walt Disney. This sounds simple, right? Unfortunately a lot of people just talk and do nothing. You have been talking about those business ideas forever; when are you going to start? The question you need to ask yourself to go forward is, “Am I taking action?” Some people spend several months just talking about developing themselves Read the rest of this entry
Vision
Ruth 1:16 “But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”
Our next lesson is from the life of Ruth. Ruth moved forward after she encountered God. Scripture introduces Ruth as a single woman, though she had been married but was now widowed and single again. As if that was not enough, this same Ruth was in the company of bitterness. Imagine someone trusting God for a life partner or someone waiting on God for anything, hanging around bitter people. The company of bitterness has a way of amplifying an already bad situation. But God came through for her.
On Track
1 Tim.5:22 [GW] “Don’t be in a hurry to place your hands on anyone [to ordain him]. Don’t participate in the sin of others. Keep yourself morally pure”
The King James Version for 1Timothy 5:22 reads, “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be a partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure”. The question to those who are thinking of going into a business is, is the person you are about to partner with worthy? It really does not matter if the person is your brother, or sister, or uncle, or your father. If you enter into a business deal with somebody that is unworthy, you are going to exit crying. In this life, worthiness is totally indispensable. Sometimes, people complain that they Read the rest of this entry
Knowing VII
Ph. 2:5 [NCV] “In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.”
Test #6 for determining God voice is: Does this make me more like Christ? God’s goal is to make us like Christ Jesus and God will not say anything that will make us less like Christ. Take note of all the Scripture references I have given these past few days. These tests are not made up. They are rooted in God’s Word and you can build your faith on God’s Word.
“In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.” One sure way to achieve this is, 2Cor.10:5 [GW] “We take every thought captive so that it is obedient to Christ.” Is the thought, the idea, the inspiration, or revelation obedient to Christ? Taking thoughts captive is something we must do on a day-to-day basis. Nobody is exempt, not even pastors. Read the rest of this entry
Knowing IV
Rom.14:4 [NIV] “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”
A lot of people just abuse the things of God with, “God said…”. Keep quiet! Does it concern your responsibility and is it your business? Telling other people about God’s will for their lives can easily turn into presumption and arrogance. Yes, God speaks to us about other people but take note of this – under certain conditions.
#1. If you are in authority over them, God will speak to you concerning them. For instance parents, God talks to fathers about their Read the rest of this entry
Protect Them
“Your sons born in your youth are a protection, like arrows in the hand of a warrior. Happy is the man who has his quiver full, for they will help and protect him when he is old… for his sons will stand with him against his enemies” Pr. 127:4-5 [Voice]
For two days now we have been learning how to take charge of ourselves, take charge of our minds, and take charge of the content our children are consuming on different media platforms. As parents we are responsible because God has entrusted the lives and the destinies of these children into our hands. Statistics show that in just one year, a typical teenager has been exposed to visual input of fourteen thousand [14000] sexual encounters. In one year, the child will Read the rest of this entry
Watch Out!
“Then He said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” Luke 12:15 [NIV]
The default mode in conflict situations, even when you are tender hearted, is to be tough and deal with the other person. But each time you go that route, you are going against scriptures and God cannot bless you. Every time I read this portion of Scripture I wish God could have said not offending one another. Would that not have helped us a whole lot more than having to forgive one another? But God did not stop at just forgiving one another, He gave us His method Read the rest of this entry
Trust God!
“People with integrity have a firm footing, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall” Pr. 10:9.
If you have walked the path of integrity, you will have nothing to hide. You need to determine what is more important in your life, is it truth or is it things? If things are more important to you, you will compromise easily. Greed is the fastest route to compromise. If truth is more important, regardless of what it is, God will keep you and hold you.
#2. In compromising situations, the second thing you do is Trust God For Your Future. Sometimes you see unethical people and it appears that they are prospering. Do not worry; it is just for a short time, believe me. But again it is not even your business; just trust God for your future. You trust God for your future. “Don’t envy evil men but continue to reverence the Lord all the time, for surely you have a wonderful future ahead of you.” Pr. 23:17-18 [LB, emphasis added]. How certain? Surely! I can tell you this because I stand at the pulpit and I sit at the pew. Meaning, I face the same challenges you face.
I run a business and there was this solution I had an idea of. So I pushed the proposal to a friend that was the Chief Technology Officer of a bank at the time. It was going to save them millions of naira and overtime, hundreds of millions of dollars. My friend saw the proposal, jumped at it and he removed the commercial page. So he got a blank cheque approval for it. I was excited about the approval until I discovered he had removed the commercial page. He said my quote was too small. I need to multiply it by fifteen because of all the people we have to “settle”. That was my first business in the year. I thought, what kind of temptation is this? I needed that money, I have a family to feed.
But in compromising situations you do the right thing. I refused to connive with him to defraud the organization by inflating the price. And that was the end of the deal. The second thing to do in compromising situations is to trust God for your future. He ran into a mutual friend and recounted everything to him. But our mutual friend laughed and said, Femi would never do a thing like that. When I heard it I felt very happy that at least people know. I pray the same would be said of you.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to reverence You at all times and trust You completely for the future You have planned for me, in Jesus Name.
Budget!
“...Stupid people spend their money as fast as they get it” Pr. 21:20 [GN]
Every advert is channeled at impulsive buying. Buy now, think later. Do not get me wrong; this is not a campaign against buying things. Everyone has legitimate needs which should be addressed but do not shop impulsively. I sent some phone credit to my wife as a good husband and she loaded it. Then the network multiplied what she loaded by four. And she was excited about the free talk time. I told her the network’s goal was to lure her. She did not agree with Read the rest of this entry
