The temptation of Eve

Recently, I started studying the book of Genesis and I went through the temptation of Eve. I had to pause and take a critical look at the story as recorded in Genesis 3:1-7.

I realized something about the way the serpent approached the woman Eve. He came as a subtle voice of questioning or reasoning. You know that Nigerian slang of “Oga, you too reason am na”. It is not a bad thing to ask questions but we as believers need to know the purpose or motive behind the questioning. The devil came as a deceiver to twist the Word of God. Eve in her zealousness for God quickly jumped to defend what she was told. “Oh No! God our Father didn’t say that. He only told us not to eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden.”. To prove the point that she heard God clearly, she went ahead to say “We will die if we just touch it not to talk of eating it.” That was the loophole the devil was looking for. 

“Did God actually tell you that you would die if you touched it? C’mon! You won’t die. You will just be like God.” You see, our great mother fell for this trick and the devil is still in the business of using this same trick on all believers. He did the same for Jesus. He tried to make Him prove what God had called Him and what He had been sent to do. 

Dear believer, the greatest temptation you will face from the devil is the crisis of identity. He knows very well what identity means to a human so he tries so hard to get us to prove it before the appointed time. To think about it, Adam and Eve would have eventually eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was created for them but they needed to mature before they would be allowed to eat the fruit.

Let me bring this home real quick. If God has given you the healing anointing, be certain that the devil would visit you, subtly telling you to prove the anointing you have. If you have been anointed as a Scribe to communicate the heart of the Father to the world, he will try to get you to either see the writeups as your own inspiration or get you to promote your works before God is ready to introduce you to the world. 

Dear believer, God has called you by name and that settles it. You do not need to fight tooth and nail to prove it to the world. Once you do, you have lost the battle to the enemy. Blessed is He who believes even without seeing. You might not even see it now, stay with the convictions. You might not look like it but be sure of the Word God has given you and press into it. No addition, no subtraction. 

Another thing that stood out for me was that Eve lost the battle the very moment she entertained the serpent and began to converse with it. That was the difference between the temptation of Eve and that of Jesus. Jesus listened to what the devil had to say but He didn’t try to justify or correct Him. When the devil introduces negative thoughts into your mind, you shouldn’t try to rationalize it or correct that thinking, you should engage the Word and war with those thoughts. You should go ahead and remind yourself of what God had called you. You should declare over yourself the very identity of Christ you carry. 

C’mon guys, you are a royal priesthood and a holy nation. The Father has ordained His praise from your mouth. He created you in His image with all His wisdom and endowments. Gosh! God’s validation of your assignment is all that matters. You do not need to seek approval from the world. Even if God’s instructions do not make sense to you, stay with it and be convinced about it. You can seek counsel from the people He has set over you but you don’t need to go about explaining what God has told you to everyone who cares to listen. There is no need to prove anything. God has validated you, that is all that matters. 

Another side of this lesson is for you to be fully comforted that God has your best interest at heart. Whatsoever he has asked you not to engage at the moment is for your benefit. If He does not give you what you desire, it could be that the time is not right. It might be that you need some growing up to do. Rather than feel betrayed or unloved, why not ask God to open your eyes to see what He sees? Why not ask Him to show you the things you need to do in preparation for the gift? Remember that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. God is intentional about you. He won’t give you what you are not ready to handle. Remember that when the enemy tries to paint God as a taskmaster or liar. You will overcome because Christ already overcame.  

I celebrate you. 

© Teemag 

Photo Credit: Unsplash.com

THIS THING CALLED PURPOSE

was spent pursuing purpose and for the larger part of those years, I hated myself. Let me give you a little background story so you’ll understand where I am coming from.  

I came as the first child of my family and the first grandchild from my maternal side. I really had no one I could easily relate with or look up to, coupled with the fact that I had an interesting personality growing up. I wanted people around me yet I didn’t want them too close. I kept to myself a lot and I was always in my room majority of the time. The older I grew, the more I began to see people walk in purpose according to my definition. These people happened to be creatives. They could really do a lot of things with their hands, be it event planning, artistic works, baking and lots more. 

I, on the other hand, was just brilliant at school work. I always passed in flying colours even though I was never the first best in class. I was really frustrated. I wasn’t creative and I couldn’t fully excel at schoolwork. I was just between the world of creatives and excellence in school. I then decided to go in search of purpose as a leverage ground.

I began to read articles and posts on the subject matter. A lot of people suggested trying out different things and settling for the one that an individual is passionate about. “How?!” was the question that troubled me. I further went ahead to say, “I am a 100% introvert. I can’t even think of any new thing I can try out and for the ones suggested by the articles, I am too shy to try them out.🤦🏾‍♀️” I spent the larger part of those years crying, being angry at myself for being plain and praying to God to open my eyes to my purpose. 

Along the years, I discovered I loved to put my words into writing. I just loved sharing whatever I was reading with others. I also loved to tell as many that were interested in the new things I was learning at that time. Well, I didn’t pay any attention to that because I never excelled at my English essays😂😂. Don’t get me wrong, I always passed but not enough for the teacher to mark a distinction🤪. I always typed on Facebook anytime the inspiration comes😂😂. Starting to write might be hard for me but once I begin, I just couldn’t stop.  

Later on, I graduated to WhatsApp and my friends began to call me “Epistle Mama”. I was not comfortable with the name because I could sense sarcasm🙄 (well, that was back then). A couple of others who could talk to me advised me to stop with the writing stuff as my major focus of writing back then was to celebrate my loved ones and godly stuffs as per the church girl that I was and still am☺️. The most amazing part of the epistles about my loved ones was that I wrote based on my current feeling. I would just sit down and think about the person alongside all we have shared. Boom! The words just begin to flow. They honestly meant well with their advice as I always put my heart out there which was not too wise. 

I am on the journey to 25 and it has been an amazing ride. Am I walking in purpose now? I will say Yes! Because I now have a better understanding of what purpose means. I have learnt in the past 2 years that purpose is not a figment of a man’s imagination conjoined together to form a fine statement. Purpose is God’s given vision. He is the one who crafts it and hands it over to you. The best part of it is that you are born with purpose. The Father placed it right inside of you the very day you were made and became flesh. 

Let me repeat that for emphasis. The Father (God) placed purpose inside of you the very day you were born. Don’t forget He knew you even before you were born and had a plan for you right from conception. So you don’t have to go in pursuit of purpose on the outside and spend years thinking you are not enough like I spent mine. 

Now, there are various ways God can call your attention to the purpose He has placed inside of you. He could verbally communicate it to you via His written word (Scriptures). Many got the idea of what they were called to do for the first time right from the Scriptures. Isn’t that just amazing?! 💃💃. He could decide to call your attention to it by taking you through experiences that speaks to the very thing you were born to address. Another could be showing you problems happening around that you could solve. Be rest assured that you are not just a statistical number in the population of the earth. God has a purpose for you. Oh yes! He does. 

Going further, we as believers have one purpose on earth which is to serve God and show forth His glory. Yes, I said that. The ways we achieve this is what differs. Some glorify God with their gift of writing, others with their analytical mind. Some others do with their voice and lots more. Let me categorically state that you don’t have to fulfil purpose with just the works of your hands or body parts as the case may be. The popular ones being singing, dancing, creating contents, designing and lots more. Fulfilling purpose starts from the mind and it is expressed through our body parts (mouth, hands and legs). 

You have a very beautiful mind because you have the mind of Christ. You are a co-creator with God. (Now is a great time to burst into tongues and praise God!). You don’t have to be overly worried about what you are called to do. It gets clearer as you proceed in your journey with Christ. The way we manifest purpose is through our assignments and they differ per season. 

The same individual that gets assignments done as a primary school student will also get assignments done as an undergraduate student. Life is in phases. You will do a lot of things on earth for God so you should never box yourself. Various expressions will come out of you so you don’t know all there is to you. However, if you are able to settle it in your mind that you have been called to serve God and manifest His glory, you would be able to effectively carry out His assignment in alignment to His will. 

This thing called purpose is not stagnant. It is a call to work and walk with God so you will constantly evolve. The more you evolve, the more assignments you get to take on. So, my brothers and sisters, take a chill pill on the pursuit of purpose and just walk with God. Anything He lays in your heart to do at the moment, jump right on it. 

The very person who felt she wasn’t creative is now one who has come to realize she always had the gift of writing but just never knew. She was looking on the outside for what was already on her inside. I am currently known as an epistle writer🤭, daily confessions has entered (one of my teachers recently called me Confessions Mama🤭🤭. It means a lot coming from the mouth of my ordained teacher. Glory!) and many more things will arise. Am I saying I would only serve God as a writer? No! But the beautiful part is that I am on a journey with God to unravel all He has placed inside of me because I have to die empty. I am evolving and so are my gifting. I am serving purpose in my little sphere of influence. It might please the Father to make it a global affair few years down the line but I will not trade the joy of going on this adventure with God for the anxiety of the future. I am a co-creator with God and that is all that matters. This purpose thing is my walk with God and work for God. I will do it well. I am God’s partner. Anything He lays my hands on, I will run with it. Glory! 

I celebrate your evolution. See you at the very top. 

© Teemag

Maximizing your youthful age

Today, I will be writing on what you should do with your youthful age. I hope many people get clarity from this blog and many others are encouraged to continue doing great things for God.

I will love to start this blog by telling a story about myself. Right from university days, I had always wanted more from life. I mean the picture of getting a good job, living comfortably, getting married to a man who is the best thing after chocolate😋 and having children was just too shallow for me. I knew there had to be more but you know what? I had no idea what the MORE was all about. I also had no idea how I was supposed to step into more. 

I am still on the journey to discovering more but I will be sharing a few things I have learnt on the journey by the help of the Holy Spirit. 

Before we proceed, I will like to highlight some things that makes youthful age attractive to the spirit realm: 

1. It is the age of strength Proverbs 20:29a 
2. It is the age of teachability Psalms 71:17 
3. It is the age of seeing visions Joel 2:28 

There are lots more but I will like to capitalise on these 3. A kingdom that wants to prosper needs these 3 things as they are strong tools in the hands of the one who controls the Kingdom. 

Our youths are majorly targeted by the Kingdom of darkness for these 3 reasons. Once the strength is a youth is hijacked by the Kingdom of darkness, He is empowered to do a lot of bad things with his strength. An example is what happened with the hoodlums in the ENDSARS protest. We didn’t see any old man/woman as the case may be in their midst because the strength of the old is limited. The same thing goes for teachability and seeing visions. Once a youth is taught evil things and he imbibes it, He acts on that knowledge. Also, a country that has visionary youths will go far. 

I had to remind us of these things above so we can understand the importance of youthful age.

It is a little sad however that most youths just live life without direction. They are fine as long as they hustle. We call it the “hustling spirit“. We tell ourselves “It is fine even if I just have few minutes of intimacy with God daily. He understands that I have to hustle for my daily bread“. 

For others, they are in a position where I was a few years back. Knowing there was more but not knowing what more means. If you are in this position, I pray that you receive clarity to start the journey to more. 

Some others are in a state of overwhelm, they are full of activities here and there. They have so many roles they have to juggle. They do all these things yet there is no fulfilment whatsoever. Today, receive the wisdom to balance your time. 

Going straight on, what should you be doing in your youthful age? 

There is only one thing to do and that is partnering with God to ensure His agenda is accomplished right here on earth. 

As simple as this answer is, it has a lot of children because even though God’s agenda is one, it has various branches. There are different mountains of influence that God is looking for partners. Mountains such as Arts and Entertainment, Government, Education, Media, Religion, Family, Business/Economy and lots more. So there is a lot of work to be done!

Someone might then ask how do I partner with God? 

You can partner with God in the following ways: 

1. Raise prayers for clarity of the vision He wants to hand over to you for the now. 
2. Read wide and far on what others who have gone before you have done in that field. This is what I mean. If God is calling you to raise sexually pure children for Him, you need to know those who have done that before, study them and know your portion in it because you see no vision is just starting out. It is a continuous work. We are only invited to do our own part and release the baton to another. 
3. Pray! Pray!! Pray!!! I can’t overemphasize this. A lot of things happen in the place of prayer. Business ideas and ideas that will transform the world or the spheres of life you are sent to can be downloaded in the place of fellowship. 
4. Your finances. You can sow your money into fertile grounds where lives can be transformed for God while you are still trying to get clarity of what God will have you step into. You see that a mission-focused ministry around you needs funds and you are capable of giving something, please give. Your Father’s business (God) cannot be in lack while you have abundance. C’mon!
5. Volunteer: This is a powerful tool that works. You can maximize your youthful age by volunteering. See ehn, even if you do not seem to know yourself, you will discover yourself in the place of service. Throw yourself into service and grow. 

I will also like to address the issue of overwhelm. I know that there are a lot of amazing men and women handling big things here and can’t seem to carry it all at once. I am here with good news. You don’t even have to carry it yourself as help is available. 

A mentor once said, “If any area of your life is not working, it is because you lack the wisdom needed for that area.” 

To master your time and address overwhelm, you need to do the following: 

1. Identify what you do with your time. 
2. Identify the activities that consume your time. 
3. Prioritize the activities and draw out a priority list. You can prioritize your activities by asking yourself the following questions:
   • How important is this activity?
   • Does doing this make me better or give me fulfilment knowing it makes others better?
   • How urgent is this activity?

4. Stop procrastinating!!! I just couldn’t get anything done because I always procrastinated. I decided to take the matter to God, and he has been helping. You can also decide to try that out too.
5. Schedule things. There is time for everything under the heavens, so the scripture says. Scheduling is your best friend. You can actually beat overwhelm when you have your plans for the day drawn out on a paper or itemized on your phone instead of just having it in your head. 

To be more specific, how can you maximize your youthful age? 

1. Surround yourself with a community of go-getters. A community where everyone is encouraged to become the best versions of themselves. A community where your goals and dreams are challenged.
2. Take up a coaching class: I was never a preacher of this until I tasted it and my life changed. I will confess to you that coaching opened my eyes to see that I could become more. We have a lot of godly personal transformation coaching company out there. The basis of their teaching is Christ and they are doing an amazing job. Let me give you an inside gist. They will actually not throw Jesus in your face but give you real models and principles that work but if you are a person of the Spirit, you will be able to tell the difference. Don’t tell anyone I told you that oh. 
3. Read to expand your mind. I can’t stretch this enough. Read! Read!! Read!!!  Read books on finance. Read books on emotional wellness. Read books on personal development. Read books on parenting. Read books on how to be a better wife/husband-in-waiting or just a better wife/husband. Read and expand your horizons. We are in the decade of knowledge, please ride on this. 

4. Walk closely with the Holy Spirit and let Him teach you how to become like Christ. In the process of becoming like Christ, burdens are handed over to you so you can mature. You begin to do great things as well even in the process of becoming. 

I am a lady who is passionate about encouraging others to step out of mediocrity. I encourage people to leave their comfort zone and step into the stretch street. So I close with this charge…

Dear Youth, you are created for MORE. You were not sent here to just be a WIFE/HUSBAND, MOTHER/FATHER, ENTREPRENEUR or CAREER WOMAN/MAN. You have gifts locked inside of you that the world needs for its transformation. You are not called to complacence. Christ lived an exemplary life of excellence. He did not do a shabby work of being the Saviour of the world. He worked with the Holy Spirit to fulfil God’s agenda. God is calling you into partnership. He wants to leverage on your pain to reach others. You don’t have to worry about how this will happen. Just stay with God and allow Him to take you through your growth plan. Dear EPIC lady/guy, you are created for greater things than these. A lot of women/men have stepped into God’s purpose and are living their lives bringing others to God to also discover and fully explore their potentials in God. You are no different from them. The only thing that differentiates you from them is that they dared to be MORE and sought God for MORE. You can do that too. This generation is waiting for your A-game. We hope you don’t disappoint us by saying no to God’s invitation to live a bigger and higher life. You are a woman/man with lots of potentials. You are called to MORE. Let God introduce you to you. 

Teemag 2020.

I love and celebrate the amazing individual you are growing into. See you at the top.

Dear Youth,

Sometimes ago, a generation of believers came into existence. This generation loved the Lord and served Him wholeheartedly. They learnt to equate involvement in activities to loving God. They had a true heart and desired to please God even as they slightly titled towards the demands of culture. They accepted majority of the teachings that was handed to them without question. Just before you crucify them, please note that they worked with the information they had at hand and did their best. They went ahead to raise another generation who were inquisitive in nature and would not accept anything until they knew the motive or voice of reasoning behind it.

Consequently, the inquisitiveness of the young generation led them to seek answers. “Why should I refuse to do this? What is in it for me? Can I hear the voice of God or the voice of culture in this doctrine?”. These and many more were the questions that plagued the heart of my generation. A lot of us went in search of answers from different walks of life. We encountered new light as touching various issues. Boom! We felt like superstars and concluded we had found something our parents did not find. Oh! We faulted their ways of serving God and called them old school. We were quick to discard their opinions as touching spiritual matters and concluded too soon that they have failed us by accepting a lot of things without questions. If only we had a deeper understanding of things…

Truth be told, it was not a bad thing to search out the truths. It was actually a great thing to do. It was just that venturing out to seek the truth made some of us wake up the wrong way. They call it woke where I come from. Many did not see the need to uphold the ancient landmarks set by our fathers.

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.
Proverbs 22:28

Our parents were vocal about their Christian values and forced it on us without explanation. This made many of us to rebel against Church doctrines. Many even left the church because they could not keep up with the rules and regulations. The mannerism employed by a generation in enforcing their belief system and godly values on people led to the rebellion of a younger generation. My generation seems to be the new thing. Yes! We are in vogue! We are so quick to correct the errors of our fathers publicly. We have forgotten so soon that we have a younger generation that looks up to us. We are so quick to behave as we please explaining it away as being in the era of grace.

Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father. 
1 Timothy 5:1 (NLT)

What shall we then say to the coming generation (teenagers) who worship us as their heroes? They are not blind to the things we do outside of the church that contradicts the very things we say therein. How do we instill Christ-like values into our teenagers just like our parents did? Our parents might have failed us in some people’s words but some turned out well with the fear of God because they would not just leave us alone right from a tender age.

Today, we see our teenagers as young ones who would not understand our faith even if we try to share it with them. They are little in our eyes whereas they are already building values from the media! We want to be very careful not to repeat our parents’ errors yet we are unconsciously creating another kind of error. When will my generation (the youths) arise and be vocal about the ancient Christian values that emanate from the Scripture and not culture? We rebelled because we saw some Christian values and doctrines wrapped heavily inside culture. We searched out the truth  yet we cannot effectively communicate this new found truth with the younger generation. 

Dear Youth, you have a voice whether you believe it or not. 

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My Natural Hair Journey

Hello Everyone, 

Today, I will be taking you through my natural hair journey, lessons I have learnt and how they apply to all-round growth.

I had never felt beautiful with my natural hair. I had a hard time growing my hair whether relaxed or in its natural state. It was just so difficult to have healthy and long hair. I went to the University believing there was a problem with my hair and that it wasn’t a beautiful sight to behold. I was blessed with a fine hair texture. It means my hair is not thick. Now, imagine the appearance when relaxed. You are laughing at that image, right?

I decided to go natural to see if my hair would be better. You know? Have more volume and grow longer but I was wrong. Totally wrong! It just wasn’t growing. I started using home remedies to grow out my hair. I tried out a lot of things which didn’t seem to work back then. You don’t really want me to go into details of how I used onion juice, pepper, rice water and lots more. I think the only ingredient left to prepare a delicious meal on my head was maggi (a type of seasoning) which I didn’t use.

The growth was just so insignificant. I then proceeded to buying natural hair products…I really did spend money on them. After few months of using these products, I began to see changes. My edges began to show up. I was excited about the growth. Then something happened.

I got so used to the changes and it began to look like the hair was not growing anymore. I mean I wanted to see more results. I was hungry for more. I had to switch my hair products again because I was getting really frustrated with the growth. Let me bring it home. 

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A Voice of Hope

The world was in total chaos some months ago. Everything had to come to a stand still and world leaders took a step back to understand, strategize and respond to a problem they were never equipped to solve. The same happened to a lot of businesses and individuals. The world went on lockdown. A single virus had done the impossible.

But things are different now, it is a new dawn. The world is rising out of its fear and the lockdown is being eased as weeks go by. Life is slowly returning to normal and with the return to normal, a new fear is taking hold of the hearts of many.

For some, it is fear of lack. For others, a fear that their chance at survival post pandemic is close to none. Countless people have lost their sense of direction. They are in a state of confusion, they do not know the next step to take.

The dying moments of the pandemic has also birthed a glaring exposure of social evils, from racism to rape, with many victims boldly stepping out to share their stories and make demands for justice.

These events have produced a world wide movement that has left many perplexed as to why a loving God, if one does exist, will allow such evils to plague the earth.

It’s no surprise that the world doesn’t take God as important. Even those who claim to be Christians no longer remember their first love – God. We have become so absorbed in the recent happenings that we have neglected God. And many more are certain that He exists but are angry with Him for being inactive. They might actually not be wrong for feeling these things, the happenings in the world right now are overwhelming.

In the mind of thousands, there seems to be no hope, no future. Everything looks bleak and we are tempted to give up.

But if we, the people who are named of God, really take a moment to ponder on these things, we would find that, God has raised us up for seasons like these. Dear believer, this is not the time for you to despair, nor is it a time to keep quiet and watch those around you drown in fear.

This is because you have something the world does not have. You have not received the spirit of fear as they have; but one of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. You have the Spirit of God in you and you should be a voice of hope to those around you who do not have this advantage.

You have been delivered from fear and the one who has been delivered should arise as a voice of hope for those still in bondage. The one who has tasted of God’s goodness should remind the doubtful ones of God’s faithfulness. The one whose faith has been encouraged should arise and lend his voice to those whose faith are weak at the moment.

Dear brethren, we were raised for a time like this. You were raised to be a voice of hope to this generation. You need to remind them that God still exists and He is very much interested in the affairs of men.

In a world where there is confusion between the good and the bad, you should use your voice. God took you through the experiences you’ve had so you can inspire and encourage someone with your story. The young ones coming behind us will not hear of God’s mighty power and wondrous dealings if we stay silent.

The world needs to hear your story, the body of Christ needs to hear your voice. You need to arise with the gifts that have been placed inside of you and offer hope.

Now is the time to arise. We must not give in to despair as the world has, we need to raise our voice as did John the Baptist, proclaiming the goodness of the Savior. We have heard the stories of the Heroes of Faith, we need to hear yours. We heard theirs because they used their voices and gifts to lend hope to the hopeless.

Why not arise today and decide to use your voice? Why not be a voice of hope wherever you find yourself? And by this the world would know, that we are the salt of the earth.

Arise and shine for your light has come!

Image Credit: Unsplash.com

I almost dropped out of school

It was the beginning of an end. The start of a new semester, the very first semester of my last year in school. It was just a few nights to resumption when it dawned on me that I didn’t have the money to pay my school fees.  

My parents had tried their best to source for the money during the break to no avail. At first, I had hope that they would somehow get the money, after all, this was not the first time that they’d not have the money to pay my school fees. But as the resumption date drew near, I lost hope. I had cried out to God but he seemed to have forgotten me. All my options seemingly boiled down to one thing: Dropping out of school.

I approached my parents and asked them the situation of things. My dad told me he didn’t have the money and encouraged me to keep trusting God. To say I was livid would be an understatement! “Keep trusting God? When I am supposed to leave for school in two days? How can I do that? How am I to avoid the shame of being an unregistered student when school resumed?” Worried thoughts filled my mind.  

I took a deep breath, looked deep into my parents’ eyes and told them I thought it was time for me to drop out of school. Since they had no money to pay for my education, I  believed that I had to stop schooling at that point. Admitting my situation out loud with that statement pushed a river of tears down my cheeks. I had never been one to fancy learning a trade but was starting to consider that path as my new fate. And I hated it. 

My mum hung her head and silently wept even as my dad gave his best impression of a macho man and tried to encourage our faith. That man has always been one blessed with the gift of faith. He chastised us for being of little faith and asked if we had been paying the previous fees by our own strength. But I was having none of that. 

I wiped my tears and stomped back to my room. I was so angry with God. And with all the rage of a scared girl, I prayed: 

“Father, things haven’t always been like this. I have always had more than enough money to meet my needs. Why is it that I am suffering lack now that  I am more serious with you? Why has everything suddenly gone bad?”  

I cried my heart out that night, but things remained as negatively normal as possible at home. We were all hoping for a miracle. But up to the day I packed my bags and left for school, that miracle did not come. 

To be honest, I actually left for school with a little amount of money and as luck would have it, a friend decided to house me pending the time I’d get a room in the school hostel.  

I told myself that I had come to school to get an idea of what was going on and all. I did not mention a word of the happenings at home to any of my friends and thankfully, none of them noticed. Some of them even discussed the courses to take with me all while I wondered on the inside how I could actually select any course when I was not even sure of my status as a student.  

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The Journey to God’s heart

Hey Lovelies,

Recently, Yours truly decided to start working out. How I started is quite funny actually, but I’d like to keep the tale short.

I woke up one day, went on Instagram and saw a post a friend shared with me. It had something to do with workouts.

Coincidentally, my house mate also decided to choose that day to start a new exercising habit and after a little consideration, I decided to start exercising daily too.

Mind you, part of my goals, for this year, was to become an active gym member before the end of the first quarter. A goal that somehow didn’t materialize into reality.

So, decision made, I sat down to think about the best way to approach exercising. I knew I had an issue with finishing things I start (another story on this later), so I decided to go with something I would be very comfortable with: searching on google playstore to see workout apps.

After a while, I found the perfect app. The reviews were just perfect so I downloaded it and shared it with my housemate, who took one look at it and bought into the idea. She also got me to join her for a run around the estate (ha ha, me? run? Oh well).

My feet were on raw fire that very first (and last, hehe) day of jogging. I had previously planned that I would start every day with a morning jog and end with an evening workout in my room. And I did just that on the first day, which was amazing, but my body had a library of aching stories to tell.

After my workout on the evening of the first day, I told myself the truth; If I really wanted to finish this thing (and I had every plan to do just that) I had to ensure that I didn’t get caught up in too many things at once, lest I lose interest.

Due to my personality (read, my body aches), I knew I would easily back out of the jogging spree as I don’t like to draw attention to myself (and my inability to run for long). So I happily cancelled that out.

The next morning, I told my house mate I wasn’t going to be doing the jogging stuff anymore and she accepted my reasons (glory hallelujah!).

Well, I would definitely love to do jogging and running thing some time in the future with my loving husband and this way, the attention can be on the both of us.

That done, I stuck to the home workouts. And geez! It was so much fun and at the same time tedious but I wasn’t willing to give up.

Over the past couple of months, I had come to learn that, If I sincerely put my heart to anything, I could get it done, even if hell itself stood in my way. 

But a few days after I started, I had to stop for natural reasons. My muscles relaxed and the soreness built up from exercising slowly eased off. Five days was too long to go without exercising, and I longed to get right back to it.

As soon as the five, necessary, days were over, I jumped right back into my workout routine and the amazing thing was that my muscles did not ache as much as they used to when I first started.

This doesn’t mean that I magically became the perfect athlete, I still wasn’t getting some of the exercises right and there were instances where I had to take longer breaks than dictated by the workout app, which made each workout a long ordeal, but I ensured I finished every single one, and I promised to try harder, next time, on the poses I could not get right.

This reminds me of a pose that I struggled with for a while, it’s called the child’s pose. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get it right!

But guess what? After a week, I could finally say “Eureka!” Though in my case, I didn’t find a solution to some scientific phenomena, but I did it! I got the child’s pose! (So same same).

And just as I achieved this small feat, a thought dropped into my mind.

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There was light and I knew it not…

Hello Everyone,

Not long ago, I had an experience that I would love to share with you all.

Before now, the light in my kitchen had been faulty and I have been using my phone as an alternative whenever I needed to cook at night.

Needless to say, my phone torch doesn’t provide sufficient light to illuminate the whole of my kitchen so I recently got the light repaired but I am yet to get used to it.

Well this fateful night, I was hungry and I decided to cook beans. I needed light to pick beans in the kitchen so I switched on my phone torch. However, I soon realized that I was picking stones with the beans because my kitchen was not properly illuminated.

And at that point I remembered that the light issue had been resolved and all I needed to have done was flick the light switch on.

Well, I turned on the light and joyfully continued to pick my beans in a well lit environment.

After this happened, something dropped in my heart.

I realized that my experience is similar to that of most Christians today. Many of us celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ, however, we are not utilizing the benefits of the resurrection power to the fullest.

Just as there was light and I knew it not, so also many Christians suffer because they do not know that the resurrection has given them access to all they can ever need.

Christ has made healing, prosperity, wisdom, blessings, breakthroughs and every other good thing available for everyone who confesses him as Lord and Savior and all we need to do, after that, is activate the finished work of the Cross. However, we forget this most of the time and end up looking for alternatives.

Jesus has conquered death on your behalf, why are you still scared? He went into the deepest part of hell and made a public show of demons just to give you victory yet you still tremble before them.

The Scripture says the power that raised Christ from the dead is the same one that lives inside of us. But what have we done with it? Are most of us not ignorant of what Christ has done for us?

Are you not ignorant of the price he has paid on your behalf when you don’t make use of the benefits that that price purchased? Do you know the value of the blank cheque you got when you were adopted into the family of Christ?

Will you continue to be ignorant of what has been done for you or will you seek that knowledge so you might know it?

Jesus promised that when the Holy Spirit comes, He would teach us all things and bring things previously taught to us to our remembrance. So it is okay to forget some of the victories that have been won on your behalf however it is not okay to remain in that ignorance. 

Just before you go ahead to lament on any problem or get so worked up and worried, ask the Holy Spirit if the solution to that problem is part of the resurrection package.

Right before you crumble before that circumstance, be sure that a solution is not part of your package as a Child of God (which is not possible because Christ said it was finished right there on the Cross of Calvary). I believe that, it is time for us to arise as Sons.

While we are yet in the euphoria of the season, be sure to know all that Christ went to the cross to do for you and take full ownership of it. It is yours to possess, stop allowing the devil to cheat you.

If you aren’t aware of the benefits provided by the resurrection, ask the Holy Spirit, read a book, listen to a message, let God guide you but don’t let this season pass by and leave you in dry ignorance. Don’t go through the stress of looking for alternatives that won’t satisfy when all you have to do is to switch on the light.

Make good use of the light now that it has been repaired.

I celebrate you

With love from Teemag.

Image Credit: webstaurantstore.com

THE PROFILE OF GOD BEFORE YOU

THE PROFILE OF GOD BEFORE YOU

There is a reality of God an individual gets based on their walk with God. This reality in turn gives an assurance that God is still very much around. This reality cannot be seized from a man easily. There is a difference between the perceived reality of God that gets handed down and the reality of God one experiences as an individual. God has a profile before each and every Christian. He takes us through baby steps before taking us through giant steps.

However, we forget the revelation of God that took us through baby steps when it is time to take giant steps. We suddenly forget the various things God has brought us through and it is like God is no longer with us. God has a profile and the profile He has before each individual differ. There is a need to keep record of the various hurdles God has made you cross and the various victories He has given you. This record strengthens our faith when challenges arise.

The Israelites knew God as Jehovah. Moses introduced Jehovah, the God of their ancestors to them while they were still in bondage in the land of Egypt. They gladly accepted this profile because they knew the dealings He had with their ancestors. Yes, these people believed but had little doubts not until He brought them out of Egypt. He added feathers to His profile before them. For a while, they could still reckon with God as the one who brought them out of Egypt but the moment they closed God’s profile before them, they misbehaved and became fearful beings. What exactly am I driving at?

There will be seasons in our lives when it will feel like God is no longer there. You will feel forsaken or deserted. You will only get through those moments by going over the profile of God you have. You will be encouraged to stay with the promises of God even when people see you as being crazy for waiting on God.

 In my final year, God honored his promise over my academics. He kept his side of the bargain even when I didn’t fully fulfill mine and now I am encouraged to keep my part of the bargain as I am assured He will always keep His own side. He also showed up as the one who never disappoints and now, I am assured that I will NEVER be put to shame no matter how hard things might get. 

As we move towards the end of the 1st quarter of this year, I challenge you to go down the memory lane and check out the profile of God before you. Has any of His promises fail? Has He said a thing to you before and He never did it? He is not one to say a thing and not do it. When we lose touch with the profile of God before us, we get discouraged and start looking for solutions where there are none. We tend to lose faith. We tend to lose sight of the reality of God we once enjoyed and preached fervently, we then begin to believe the reality of things happening around us.

I beseech you this day brethren, go back and check God’s profile. He has never failed you before and now is not the time for Him to start. He wouldn’t have increased your faith to  this level only for Him to crush it again. He is never late. He will definitely add feathers to His profile before you; not because He has to prove Himself to you (there is no need for Him to do that) but loves you too much to allow you remain as a baby. He wants you to grow into son-ship and learn to trust Him more. His joy is to see you grow and bear fruits.

I want to encourage you to take steps of faith this month. Go ahead and do whatsoever He lays in your heart. You have walked with Him before. You have seen what He can do, trust His profile before you. Please trust Him to come through for you again. However, if He does not have a profile before you, you can borrow His profile with others to build yours. You are not alone, believe His words.