Thriving Words

If you are a Nigerian, if you live in Nigeria, if you know about Nigeria, then read this: Just like Ighalo squandered that scoring opportunity and then swiftly turn to ask for aid (penalty), so are we as a nation. We waste resources, and then turn to blame colonial masters, trade partners, the world etc. If that penalty was given and we moved to second round, it would have been a cosmetic success, which will not last. That same scoring opportunity Ighalo missed was the same Ante Rebic, that Croation striker utilized to secure their first goal, a game they eventually won. Same way developed nations, baring their difficulties harnessed their limited resources to position their countries on a prosperous path. Resources everywhere is limited, you must harness it effectively and efficiently to make good out of them. And please, do not give me that crap that Argentina was better or that we played a stronger team, Argentina was never different from the Icelandic team we met even wit...

Some people are hurting to the extent they can't even pray for themselves. So many are going through difficult trials that we may or may now realize. This is why we need to pray for them. Every of our prayers should ways include intercession. We should intercede for our family, friends, loved ones, communities and countries. We shkd also intercede for the less privilege, the folks in the mission field, folks in authority. We should intercede for victims and those who are in danger. Our prayer shouldn't be self centred as that wi be selfishness. Because you live in peace doesn't mean everyone is living in peace. Because you can eat three times a day doesn't mean everyone can. Intercessory prayers is an act of love to humanity. Every of our prayer points shouldn't just be request based. We must also learn to pray intercessorily. Jesus shows us an example when He pray ( Luke 22:32-40 ). The early church also showed an example when Peter was arrested, t...

Have you ever felt an unexplained burden on your heart to pray for the masses, for unnamed others, for your community or the world at large? The Bible is filled with examples of men and women who lifted up others in prayer, and Ephesians 6:18 tells us to: pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests . With this in mind, be alert andalways keep on praying for all the Lord's people. What is Intercession and Intercessory Prayer? The primary principle of intercession is simply to tell God what He tells us to tell Him as the means of releasing His power. He tells us what to pray in His Word. We can pray the Bible. It is profoundly simple. Intercession is God’s brilliant strategy for including the saints in ruling with Him in power. Its mystery is in its weakness, simplicity, humility, and accessibility to all. God has chosen intercession as the primary means in which He releases His power now and forever. Jesus operated in the principle of inte...

“And Simon answered and said unto Him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”  (Luke 5:5KJV) The Bible tells us that the multitude were so hungry to hear the Word of God that they pressed against Jesus. Being by the lake and seeing two boats, Jesus stepped into one of them and asked the owner, Simon Peter, to push the boat a little from the shore and He sat down and taught the people from inside the boat. When Jesus finished teaching, he turned to Simon Peter and told him to move into deeper waters and cast his net for a big catch of fish. Peter and the other fishermen had been trying to catch fish all night with no success. Nevertheless, Peter obeyed Jesus’ instruction and just as He said, they caught so much fish that their nets broke and they had to call on their partners in the other boat to help them. The Bible says both boats were filled with fish. Friend, according to the Bible, Peter and th...

He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty - Psalms 91:1 Recently, I came across a song sang by the Dunamis Choir in Abuja, Nigeria. The song was composed by Pastor Paul Eneche, the presiding Pastor of Dunamis International Gospel centre.  The song ministered to me and I believed it will minister to you as well. There is a place we all need to find, that place can only be found in God. Find below the lyrics of the song; Verse 1: I have found a place where I can pour my heart I have found a place where I can be myself A place where I can have no secret to hide A place where I am still safe after it all Chorus: With You Lord I can be naked and not ashamed With You Lord I can be open and have no fear For I found in You a Friend that I can trust That is why You will remain my Great Physician Verse 2: I have found a place where I can find True Love I have found a place where I can be value...

For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith   - 1 John 5:4 God does not expect any of His children to be failures. There is nothing wrong with failing. It's part of learning. No child learns to walk without falling down multiple times. But they do not stay down, they get back up. No one is a failure until they accept and believe they are a failure. Growth is a process. We learn and then make adjustments. No one is born mature. So don't be discouraged by your present state. Don't give up just because you have fallen over and over. Get up and go again! Victory is in our DNA as a believer. We are born of God therefore we walk in victory over sickness, over poverty, over fear, over powers of darkness. Victorious is ours because we are born into a victorious family. You are not a loser, you are born to win As you go into this week, be expectant to win, believe to win, and see yourself wi...

As iron sharpens iron, so does a person sharpens another. - Proverbs 27:17 The past week, posts on Thriving Words blog has been centred on Depression, the causes and how to prevent it. Over the course of this past week, different folks reached out to me, both those who are close to me and those I don't even knkw I realize so many things, most of the folks that reached out to me look pretty okay outwardly, some have a nice job, wonderful and a beautiful smile ateast on the outside but inside of them,  it's a different world altogether. Some are surrounded by people but are so lonely. Some are going through abuse (physical and emotionally).  One question up for me, how often do we check on our friends and loved ones? I am so guilty of this (I rarely call). A call, a text, a visit could go a long way . perhaps, you haven't seen a particular friend, neighbour of yours for a while, check out why. Check on Your colleagues, your classmates, your church members. N...

Depression is a medical condition caused by an imbalance of brain chemicals. Depression causes physical changes in the body that you can see. Medications and cognitive therapy are the best treatments for depression. But that doesn’t mean the spiritual side has to be ignored. Giving hope is a powerful way to battle depression. Praying to God can bolster hope if you are depressed. It’s the hope that God paying attention to you and your troubles, and that a positive solution is possible. Prayer is both inspirational and motivational. Prayer can heal emotional wounds by offering a safe way to vent the anger and anxiety that depression produces. While prayer is powerful, prayer shouldn’t be the only tool used to deal with depression. Prayer can ease emotional turmoil but it won’t heal the physical problems of depression.  Prayer:  Father thank you for every life reading this now. I pray specially for readers suffering from depression, anxiety disorder, sucidal Idea...

When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb - 2 Samuel 17:23 Suicidal thoughts, or suicidal ideation, means thinking about or planning suicide.Thoughts can range from a detailed plan to a fleeting consideration. It does not include the final act of suicide. Suicidal thoughts are common, and  many people experience them  when they are undergoing  stress or experiencing  depression . In most cases, these are temporary and can be treated, but in some cases, they place the individual at risk for attempting or completing suicide. Most people who experience suicidal ideation do not carry it through, although some may make suicide attempts. Anyone who has suicidal thoughts should ask for help. If a loved one is having these thoughts, measures should be taken to help and protect them. A per...

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. - Psalms 9:9 Emotional abuse is painful and extremely real. When people think of abusive relationships, they often associate them with physical violence. You can see the bruises or broken bones, but this isn't the only type of abuse there is. There are other kinds of abusive behavior that can be directed against a partner, family member or even colleague.  Emotional abuse is a form of domestic violence , and it can have devastating effects on the mental health of the victim. The first thing you need to understand is that  emotional abuse is a crime , and you do have places to go to seek safety from an abuser. At their core, all forms of abuse are behaviors the abuser uses to control, coerce, and maintain the power they've acquired over their victim through fear and intimidation. The victim of emotional abuse has been groomed by the abuser to accept the abuse as "normal." The...

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. - 1 Corinthians 10:13 We continue on ways to overcome Sexual temptation: yesterday, we learnt that's we are to flee from likely sources of Sexual temptaion... Use God’s Word to resist. When Satan tried to tempt Jesus in the desert, Jesus’ defense was to speak the Word. Satan could not argue with Scripture and gave up. This speaks to the importance of knowing and memorizing scriptures. If Jesus, who was the Word, fought temptation with the Word, what better line of defense could we employ? Don’t lie to yourself. Most of us think we can handle a lot more sexually explicit material then we can. We aren’t always aware of the subtle influence and desensitization that happens with regular exposure to this material. We deceive ourselves and think w...

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. - 1 Corinthians 6:18 One major problem most folks (both make and female) faces is Sexual Temptations. There is this need to be accepted sexually. This is more difficult for most men. Our DNA is pre-loaded with the strong instinct to feel attraction and desire, yet life and morality demand that we are able to control those instincts.  While women are by no means immune from sexual temptation, generally speaking, men struggle with sexual temptation to a much greater degree. Far more men commit adultery than women. In premarital relationships, men are far more likely to seek sex from their partners than women. But nowadays, the trend is changing, a lot of both men and women struggles with Sexual issues. Even though our culture is obsessed with serving up sex on every possible platter, we don’t have to give in to these tantaliz...

Depression is very real. It can cause us to feel isolated, alone, and hopeless…like everything around us is falling apart. Satan uses depression to steal a person’s spiritual power and freedom—he seeks to fill our minds with darkness and gloom and bring us down emotionally. However, God wants to help us live free from depression. He wants to fill us with His joy, hope and expectation of good things for our lives. An important part of battling depression is winning the war over our feelings. We will always have feelings…they will never go away. However, we can make our feelings line up with our decisions. When depression attacks, what we feel like doing is giving up. However, the way we respond to depression makes all the difference. First Peter 5:8-9  says to resist the devil at his onset. It’s so important to resist the feeling of depression immediately, because the longer we allow it to remain, the harder it is to resist! All of us will deal with disappointments from...

And he spake a parable unto them [to this end], that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;  - Luke 18:1 How is your prayer life? Are you meeting Him and sharing your heart? We have been studying reasons why you should make sure it is on your to-do list everyday, all the time.  What We have learnt so far:  Prayer is our communication line to God. Prayer is what we do to activate victory over battles of life. Praying through breaks us through  Another importance of Prayer is that Prayer changes us. We often think prayer changes God. This simply isn’t the case. Prayer changes us. When we spend time with God, He is working to change our heart to be more like His.  The more time we spend with Him, the more we are like Him. Our habits and lifestyles change. We no longer live a self-centered life, but one that is focused on others with a pure and sincere heart. Prayer changes us inside out. Prayer changes everything ab...

And he spake a parable unto them [to this end], that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;  - Luke 18:1 What we have learnt so far, Prayer is our communication link with God our Father. Secondly Prayer is how we win spiritual battles of life. Thirdly Prayer is what we resort to when we need breakthrough . One of the most important aspects of prayer in your life is the breakthroughs that come. Sometimes we are faced with devastating circumstances and feel we have nowhere to turn. It’s at that point we should pray (although there should have plenty of prayer beforehand, too).  There is this famous story about a man called Jabez, he needed a breakthrough in his life, he prayed into God and ask for breakthrough of increase and enlargement. Beautiful thing there is that God answered him, God  answer you too if you could pray to Him sincerely.  Fasting and praying is powerful, too. Sometimes you need a message from God and you need to ...

And he spake a parable unto them [to this end], that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;  - Luke 18:1 We can all agree that prayer is very important. Firstly Prayer is our hotline to God. Secondly, Prayer is a spiritual and effective weapon  that is used to fight spiritual battles against forces of darkness.  Sometimes we forget just how powerful prayer is. We aren’t fighting against something imaginary. Our prayers are fighting against spiritual battles that linger in dark places.   Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  The power of prayer is so great it has the power to defeat the devil and his power over us. He wants to destroy us, but God wants to bring us closer to Him. Prayer is our tool to win that battle. Prayer gives us the strength and th...

And he spake a parable unto them [to this end], that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;  - Luke 18:1 Have you ever asked yourself 'why do I pray?' What is the effects of prayer. Prayer is one of the most important things a Christian can do. It is a time they are communicating with God and it should be taken very seriously. While there is deep theological meaning in prayer, it doesn’t have to be something that is complicated and difficult. It’s something anyone can do anywhere at any time Prayer is important for a great number of reasons: Firstly,  Prayer is a communication between you and God.  It’s impossible to know someone if you don’t spend time with them. Prayer is an opportunity to spend time with God. To really understand the heart of God, you need to pray. I see so many people worried, laden with burden and looking for whom to share it with; Prayer is an avenue to pour out you heart to God. Communication via prayer is not one ...