“If a man dies, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change comes.“

There is no man who keeps his gaze on yesterday who ever sees a better future. Every man that ever became great kept looking forward. In fact, one outstanding attribute of small minded men is their ability to focus permanently on yesterday. If what you achieved yesterday still looks to you like a very big deal then you’ve not been making progress lately.

The delight of God for us is that we move ahead each year, each month and each day. It is June only and I can tell you already that the amazing 2020 aspirations of many may have expired. After the very terrifying situations imposed on us by COVID-19 over the last three months, hopes have become shattered. I understand, it is easier to shift focus and lose steam in a world where attention span continually wanes. See, dear brother; in times like this where you look determines where you go.

Many have been stuck in the traffic of life because they were looking at other men. Many are held bound by their admiration of their own success stories. They have seen the comfort of Egypt and thought that Canaan was not necessary. Some are held down by their faith in men. The man by the pool of Bethesda is a good example. He wasted thirty eight years because he was looking in the wrong direction. Thirty eight years; all because his gaze was on men! In the very worst case scenario some people look down. In that moment when they have lost all faith in God and in life; they feel like the world should end. At that moment they resent life and hate themselves. In some instances they are cursing the day they were born.

Cheer up dear sister. I have got news for you dear brother. Isa 54:1 says to you “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child “ For the time will change in your favour.

But what exactly is restoration of hope?
*. Help that you lacked hitherto. Brethren, do you know that no one in this life can move an inch ahead if he is not helped from on high? As the Bible says; the arm of flesh shall fail you. Jeremiah 17:5 says “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD“ What you need this year to go up is not connection it is revelation. Your help is not with any man. “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth“ (Ps 124:8) The reason you haven’t found help is you look too much to men. If you begin to look up to God, help will show up for you.

*. Restoration of hope means fresh direction. Isa 30:21 says “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left “ Our most enviable inheritance as children of the Kingdom is God’s leading. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God“ (Rom 8:14) If your gaze is on the eternal order of Heaven then I can assure you that your life will not be like amoeba. See, the greatest frustration in life is to keep going with no knowledge of your destination. And believe me sincerely, many in life are running with zeal and very fast heading nowhere. What a sorry tale. If your life will not be like that this year, you’ve got to listen first to the instruction from on high before you start running.

*. Restoration of hope means favour from God and honour among men… “For I will make you and eternal excellency… “. If you have ever known shame you will appreciate honour. Some men who thought themselves important have been asked away from the seats of more important men. At that moment the embarrassment is better imagined.

In addition to Help, Direction and Favour; Restoration of Hope means the absolute presence of God. You can travel alone and sink but you cannot travel with God and sink. The boat of life may face turbulence like Peter did on the high sea but be sure the storms cannot wreck you.

Dear believer, looking backward will keep you away from Jesus, it will keep you away from help, from grace, from honour, from progress, direction and health.

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith“

Philippians 2:9-10
9.Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.

The way we use the name of Jesus when speaking to the Father is totally different to any other uses. Jesus said, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son“(John 14:13).

“23. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 
24. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. 26. In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
27. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God“
(John 16:23-24,26-27).

The way we use the name of Jesus in prayer to the Father is unique. When the Father recognises the user as a person who loves His Son He is more inclined to hear us. Jesus told His disciples, “whatever you ask in my name I will do”, but a day is coming when you can ask the Father directly in my name. He will answer you as if I was the One asking. So, there is no need to present, as it were, many faces of Jesus before the Father by using the name over and over. Simply round up your prayer by saying: “All this I ask, in Jesus’ name. We are not using the name here as a key to gain entrance, or a weapon to gain victory, but as a currency, a medium of exchange. When I pray in Jesus name the Father only sees Jesus.

The Name Of Jesus As A Weapon
Where confusion comes in is that in many other prayer situations we can use that name as frequently as we deem fit until the job is done. In the following texts we see that the Name of Jesus is used as a key, a weapon, a shelter. The more stubborn the situation the more we apply the name.
Mk 16:17, “ And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;“We use the name several times to drive demons out one by one.
Prov 18:10, “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.“We can call upon that name in times of danger or temptation as many times as required.
Col 3:17, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.“Clearly here the name of Jesus can be part of our action plan.

2 Kings 13:18-19, “Then he said, ‘Take the arrows,’ and the king took them. Elisha told him, ‘Strike the ground.’ He struck it three times and stopped. 
19.The man of God was angry with him and said, ‘You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.’

When used as a weapon the more repeatedly the name of the Lord is used the more thoroughly the enemy is dealt with.

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name”.
We only need to use the name several times in the face of a stubborn situation.

Mango is a fruit which grow to a height of 25m.
The fruit is oval with a thin yellow, orange, or greenish skin, and a hard flat pit. There are different species of the fruit such as cherry, yellow, German and English.
They are noted for their aroma, delicate flavor, dietary and healing power.
They contain small amount of magnesium and iron. Mango can be eaten fresh or use in preparation of juice, jam and jellies.

It protects the arteries and nourishes the skin

It helps lower the blood glucose level of non-insulin dependent diabetics.

It prevents high blood pressure

It prevents cancer

Mangoes are available in market now, this is its season.

JUNE BIRTHDAY

Bassey Daniel Aniekan - June 2

Timothy Olaniyan - June 6

Sis. Yahaya Kumbi - June 7

Ademeso Temidayo - June 10

Onogbo Gift Eseoghene - June 11

Egbebunmi Ayomide - June 11

Akpata Abigael Praise - June 13

Adeluola motunrayo - June 19

Akinade kehinde - June 19

Delight Akpata - June 23

Bro. Egbebunmi Ayoola - June 24

Akinade Gold - June 24

Olami shile - June 30

6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

Labor is good but labor is not enough. Effort is good, it is even needful. But effort is never enough. Education is necessary. It is important to go to school but a spectacular education does not guarantee victory in life.

I am reminded yet again of the story of Joseph. Despised by his brothers, sold into slavery, wrongly accused and left to rot in prison but Joseph still went all the way to the throne. Joseph speaking of the dimension of Grace that aided his ascent to the throne in Gen. 45:7, says “ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ” We talk daily about discipline and chastity but in spite of both it was God’s involvement in the story of his life that took him to the throne. God had an assignment that must never fail.

Moses by all standards was a great man. He was yet in many regards an ordinary human. Moses was stubborn and doubtful yet he was one of the greatest that ever lived because he leaned more on God than he did on self.

Having understood the limitation of the flesh in realising the mandate of destiny it is important to lay out some of the important pillars of working in the spirit and for activating the spirit in our assignment and journey in life:

Faith.
The Bible says he that comes to God must believe that He is. Why is that necessary? - Because without the capacity to accept the spiritual as being real more than the natural we will deny God. Heb. 11:1-6 explains in detailed manner why faith in every instance is a demonstration of our assurance in the finished work. When we step out in faith we are claiming what has been delivered already. Faith is the very essence of the spiritual.

Prayer
The very fact that we pray is a demonstration that we believe in the ability of the spiritual to remake our reality. Our spirit communes with the spirit of God. When we do this often we demonstrate that we are helpless without him and each time he will step forward when he sees that our strength begins to fail. Christian who do not pray struggle in their strength. That’s often a terrible life to live as God himself has curse people who will struggle entirely in their strength “By strength shall no man prevail”

Prophesy
Prophesy is the word that goes ahead; the word of the Lord over your life. Prophesy can either be written (in the Bible) or given though an anointed man of God. The Spirit of the Lord speaks the future to us. Many times we do not look like anything close to it but that’s the exact reason that God spoke it because He likes to do the extraordinary. By laboring in the word we work out the fulfillment of our prophesy (Is. 55:10-11).

Happy new month.

“Just to be close to You; is where I want to be; Let me hide myself inside Your heart to find my destiny... “

The words are so deep and convey so much of our cry unto God.

We all want to find our purpose, our very reason for living in God. That′s why we pant after God - He alone is our heart′s desire .

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.“
Psalms 42:1

- and that′s why He has promised us His abiding presence.

And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exo 33:14

Lord, may we find You as we seek You, may we be filled as we thirst for You and may we be satisfied as we long for You in Jesus′ name Amen . Your presence is heaven to me!

But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. Deut 4:29

The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord , At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. Psalms 97:5

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,
Hebrews 6:19

So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Gen 32:30

Awesome Testimony! Seeing God face to face preserved Jacob′s life. So in God′s presence our life is preserved. AMEN Hallelujah

In this season, as we are locked-in, we should desire to have such an encounter, to see God. I so desire to so do. Yes to behold God just like Moses did and His face shone!

Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.
Exodus 34:29‭, ‬35

May God grant you an open door to His abiding presence in Jesus′ name AMEN

“And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee.” Exodus 3:11-12

Have you ever had a Holy Spirit-inspired dream, a dream of doing something really great for Jesus? A dream of being so prosperous, for instance, that you can finance a nationwide revival? A dream of leading thousands of people to the Lord?

At one time or another, you probably have, but perhaps you backed away from it. You thought, Oh my, I couldn’t do that. Satan’s kept me defeated for so long I have a poor self-image.

If so, I have some good news for you. If you’ll believe God, even a poor self-image won’t keep you from success. Look in the book of Exodus and you’ll see a man who proved that. His name was Moses.

Moses didn’t have a very good self-image. He’d made a terrible mistake early in his career. It was a mistake that drove him into the wilderness and kept him there for 40 years herding someone else’s sheep.

He’d once dreamed of being a deliverer of God’s people, but no more. As far as he was concerned, he was finished...a failure...a flop!

But God didn’t think so. In fact, when God came to Moses in that wilderness, He didn’t ask for Moses’ credentials. He didn’t mention his shady history. He just told him to go see Pharaoh and tell him to let God’s people go.

Moses, however, was still wrestling with his poor self-image. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” he stammered.

You know what God said in response? He just said, “Certainly, I will be with thee.”

You see, it didn’t matter who Moses was. What mattered was that the living God was with him. The same thing is true for you today. You don’t need a history of successes behind you to answer God’s call. You don’t need a string of spiritual credentials. All you need is the presence of the Lord.

Think about that when the devil tells you you’re a failure, when he says you’ll never be able to do what God has put in your heart to do. Put him in his place. Tell him it doesn’t matter who you are because the living God is with you.

Then dare to follow your dream!

Just as School Teacher must have basic qualifications in the subject they teach, the Parents must be qualify to teach children spiritual and moral lessons.

The following are the qualifications a Parent must have before he/she can successfully raise good and Godly children.

As a Parent, you must have had an encounter with Jesus and be vast in the scriptures.

You must have a solemn behavior. Children learn more from what they see. Therefore, to train them, you must have a good character.

You must possess the ability to communicate the gospel convincingly to your children.

You must be patience and tender. Children are weak and fragile; They tend to get discouraged over little things so much that they may not want to have anything to do with God. Therefore, be patient and tender in dealing with them.

You must have a large heart. This means that you must love your children dearly. They should be able to lean on, trust and confide in you.

You must live in obedience to God’s word and make your children to emulate you.

You must be approachable. A fierce countenance and harsh tone scare children away.

You must be very prayerful. Spend time to pray for every of your children regularly so that they will receive the grace to live righteous and holy lives.

You must practise what you teach your children. In other words, teach by examples; be a good role model to your children.

Zara Patrick Nwanegbo -May 1
Bro. Akinwumi Adedayo -May 2
Bro. Bunmi Jembola -May 6
Bro. Patrick Nwanegbo -May 6
Bro. Olumide Ayodele -May 6
Akinwumi Emmanuel -May 7
Oduniyi Oluwatomisin -May 11
Daddy Kayode Ogunfowora -May 13
Rachel Seidu -May 20
Bro. Olugbemi Alamu -May 20
Nwanegbo Andrepatrick -May 26
Sis. Olabooye Sumbo -May 26

So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite.
And the ark of the LORD continued in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months: and the LORD blessed Obededom, and all his household.
2 Samuel 6:10-11.

You are welcome to a new month and a new quarter. To God be the glory for divine qualifications to be partakers of the gift of life.

It gladdens my heart to note that which ever side of coin is flipped, the child of God is never at a disadvantaged but rather he is blessed. Romans 8:28. Harnessing this 360 degrees blessings however, depends on knowing what to do and deploying the right attitude to do it. David, in the verses of the anchor scriptures dumped the Ark of God in the house of Obed-edom believing that the Ark would harm the Gittite - Obed-edom. To the contrary however, it turned out to be such a blessing. In about three months, the story and songs of the Gittite changed. His fame spread and his blessings could not be hidden as he became a national evidence of the manifestation of divine presence.

Beloved, in the next couple of days all over the world, where assembling together of believers is not possible for now, our homes are our worship Centres - compulsorily. The Ark must abide in our homes. However, your experience after now will depend on your understanding of and relationship with the Ark of God.While some homes and lives will emerge stronger and better blessed, God forbid, some may not. How do you therefore make the best use of the Ark at this time? Find some suggestions listed below :

1. Increase your study of the word of God as you stay home.
You can do this as an individual and with your family. Give yourself a target.

2. Revisit some other pending assignment like book writing, tracts production or other projects to keep yourself busy in this season of staying at home.

3. Use this time to touch base with your family value to upgrade it as you redisciple members of your family.

4. Your couple′s altar that have suffered neglect can be revived and the family prayer life can be reactivated.

The above is just a guide, the idea is for us to turn this around for our benefit and blessing at the end of the day. David thought the Ark was going to be a curse but not so for the Gittite - it was a blessing. Global pandemic may have thought to weaken our spiritual fervency and kill the fire on our altars but let us prove it wrong and once again- “let the devil make another mistake”. 1Corinthians 2:8.

Fathers, it is time to take up your priestly roles in the families and mothers it is time to be the Deborahs of your families.
Therefore, let us look away from the distractions and let us not fear their fear. Though it is good to be informed of what is going on globally but please don’t dwell there. Rather dwell in the word. Brethren, the Ark is in your home now, repair the Altar, put in more wood and ignite the fire so that we will come out of this as firebrands.

This season shall be to your lifting and greater glory in Jesus name.
May the Lord visit and bless you and your family this season in Jesus name.

1.The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2. Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3. To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

Peter and John speaking to the Council of Rulers and Elders of Israel said “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard“ Acts 4:20

There are proofs and there are infallible proofs. It is Bishop David Oyedepo who said that “It is only a fool who doubts proofs“.
Just three Bible Chapters before Peter began to address the council in Israel he was an obscure, insecure, timid and thoroughly ordinary man incapable of anything of note. But with his very eyes and instigated by the power of the living God he saw an impotent man rise up to walk and possibly run.

Dear reader, the people who deny the reality of God are always those who have never seen God beyond the narration of their Pastors from the pulpit. It is impossible for men who experience God at close range to wake up one morning and say that he does not exist again. It is just not possible. Proofs rub you of the luxury of such dangerous liberalism.

“1The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:“

I imagine what the hypocrisy of the world would have been today concerning the times and life of Jesus Christ, were he not to have shown those infallible proofs. Even Thomas, who said he would need to see the hole in the palm of Jesus and dip his finger in it was totally converted.

If there is one prayer that the body of Christ needs to pray today it would be “Lord show yourself unto us again by infallible proofs at a time like this and always“.
Proofs strengthen our Christian faith. If for instance you have a blind man well known to you in your neighborhood; you may even know him from infancy. If such a person is then raised by the power of God in a crusade and made whole, then it becomes immediately impossible for anyone to lessen your belief in God by mere explanations of science.

As the whole world continue to struggle with the Covid-19 crisis, there is one proof that God will give His own people yet again in this season. According to his word in Ps 91:3 “3Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.“
When all of this Corona Virus pandemic is over, you shall be numbered among the living. According to the word of the Lord, nothing living in your house and family will become dead. You shall not suffer any loss. The Lord shall establish your exception yet again as a proof of His faithfulness over your life. So shall it be, in Jesus’ name.(Amen).

Happy new month.