Thriving Words

Question: "Is gambling a sin? What does God says about gambling?" Answer : The Bible does not specifically condemn gambling, betting, or the lottery. The Bible does warn us, however, to stay away from the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10; Hebrews 13:5). Scripture also encourages us to stay away from attempts to “get rich quick” (Proverbs 13:11; 23:5; Ecclesiastes 5:10). Gambling most definitely is focused on the love of money and undeniably tempts people with the promise of quick and easy riches. What is wrong with gambling? Gambling is a difficult issue because if it is done in moderation and only on occasion, it is a waste of money, but it is not necessarily evil. People waste money on all sorts of activities. Gambling is no more or less of a waste of money than seeing a movie (in many cases), eating an unnecessarily expensive meal, or purchasing a worthless item. At the same time, the fact that money is wasted on other things does not justify gambling. Money sho...

It’s a #NoBraDay. It’s all about Breast Cancer Awareness for every female.  There is this story written by my very good brother, Akan Imoh, the KOWA party candidate for the Lagos State House of Assembly (Ikeja Constituency II). Read, enjoy and learn from the story: BRASSIERRE . . . PROLOUGUE With hot salty tears forming long cooked lines on his face, he slowly opened a part of the casket, brought out something from his suitcase, a piece of fabric. His hands were shaking, he couldn’t stand still; everyone froze, a murmur of silence went round the graveyard…the tears couldn’t stop, his eyes shone with pain…as he dropped the fabric into the casket. BRASSIERRE He would never forget the day he discovered the burden she had been carrying. He was always been seeing her checking out herself in front of the mirror and he thought it was just a girl’s thing. Then on one very unfortunate day, he saw it. He saw the tiny dots, looking like rashes around her left ni...

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge... - Hosea 4:6 There is not an iota of doubt that  K nowledge is Power . Power originates from the state of fearlessness and fear exists till there is lack of knowledge. Knowledge is “the state of awareness and understanding gained from experience and education and acquiring specific information about the various phenomenon taking place around us. A well educated and well informed human being can make intelligent decisions based upon their understanding and awareness of everyday situations and overcome difficult condition prevailing at a particular time. Power in this post should not be considered as brute power or muscle power. Well, power is said to be the ability or capacity to act or perform effectively and without knowing this ability to perform effectively is not possible at all. Knowledge  is a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as  ...

What does it mean to be happy? Does God want us to be happy? Many of us view happiness as solely depending on what  happens  to us. In fact, the root of the word happiness goes back to 'happenstance.' So if happiness is all about what happens to us then we are going to have lots of moments when we are not happy, right?  When it comes to happiness we've all heard the statement, “ Money can't buy happiness. ” Here is what the research shows: to a certain level, money can buy happiness if you are very poor. Money can give you the ability to meet your basic needs. But once those basic needs are met, and once you have a basic aspect of security in your life, more money won’t make you happy. In fact, the research shows that if you go past a certain point more money will actually make you dissatisfied with the things you have. You may be sitting out there feeling a little cynical like the guy who said, “Okay, money can't buy happiness. But I'd still like to have...

The effect of a good coach is always evident in a soccer match especially if, during the first half in spite of the team’s best efforts, things do not work out for them. They take a half-time break and after they come back, the coach introduces a player so that within minutes, the new player either scores a goal or assists another team member in scoring a goal. That new player is usually called a game changer. In Isaiah 32, everything appeared dreadful until God’s Spirit was poured out and from that moment everything that was not working began to work. In Genesis 1:2, the earth was without form and darkness covered the face of the earth until the Holy Spirit moved.  The Holy Spirit is the Game Changer! No matter how bad the situation appears, always remember that God’s Spirit is there for you. Many times, we leave Him at home after we have had our morning devotion and go about our business without involving Him. You cannot be overwhelmed when you have God’s presence (Psalm 2...

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. .. - Genesis 1:31 For Six days, God was busy creating. At the end of creation, He looked at all thatHe has created and saw that they were all very good. One of the first attribute of God is His goodness. He always do good things. Everything He created were not just good but very good. After creating, God took review of his works. God has hereby set us an example of reviewing our works. Having given us a power of reflection, he expects we should use that power, see our way (Jeremiah 2:23), and think of it, Psalm 119:59. When we have finished a day's work, and are entering upon the rest of the night, we should commune with our own hearts about what we have been doing that day so likewise when we have finished a week's work, and are entering upon the sabbath-rest, we should thus prepare to meet our God and when we are finishing our life's work, and are entering upon our rest in the grave, that is a time to ...

Jesus asked his disciples ‘How many loaves have you?’..... - Matthew 15:32 As the days shorten and the year draws to an end, the Scriptures invite us to take stock of our lives. We are the stewards of all that we have received. Life itself is a gift. Despite our many failings, the Father has adopted us as his children in his Son Jesus Christ. I work in an establishment that takes stock every year? It’s quite an undertaking, but so good for the management to see how the business is doing. This really helps to see which was a good product and in demand, and which there’s no longer any use for. Can you imagine the amount of time it must take to count what’s currently on the floor, what’s down in the basement in storage and factor in what has been sold or returned? The establishment needs to close down for however long this procedure takes… painful and tedious as it is. We, as Christians, need to do this in our very own lives as we see the New Year dawning. It’s cr...