Akinsuroju Femi

"Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg." - Luke 16:3 The fear of becoming a professional beggar should drive a man unto diligence, the fear of becoming less of a man should make everyone re-strategize unto becoming more productive. If one ends up a beggar it will never be God's fault. It is not even every form of disability that should lead to begging of alms, the world has gone beyond that stage. While we can even excuse some disabled, have you ever wondered why people who have their physique intact resort to begging, even in good health? It is an anomaly. It may not be by choice to become a beggar but many people have found themselves in such a state, when a man refuses to be diligent in what has been committed to his hand, the fate that will stare in his face will be begging. Nothing takes away the dignity of a man more than professional begging. I am in no...

"he said to them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' So they said to him, 'We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.'" - Acts 19:2 How long will you be in church yet not give a good consideration on the subject of the Holy Spirit? The people Paul talked to were Christians who had surrendered their lives to Christ and had their water baptism unto repentance, but they have never really heard about the Holy Spirit. They never really bothered if the Holy Spirit was necessary for them; but thank God that Apostle Paul visited them that day; and thank God the gift of the Holy Spirit was bestowed upon them. Today, I bring this matter to the believer who is reading this piece, I am led to ask you if you have received the Holy Spirit baptism after you have given your life to Christ, the response of the twelve brethren of Ephesus was an honest one - they never really heard of a Holy Spirit. It is possible that you have heard abo...

"But we all, with an unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." - 2Cor 3:18 The mirror is one of the most priced asset of a lady, even guys may not be left out in this matter, many take time to stand in front of the mirror adjusting, taking different pose, sometimes even demonstrating, all in a bid to give an impression to the people they come across. Where there is no mirror, we often lose a sense of identity, one may not know what he or she looks like and may have to depend on people to be the mirror. Legend has it that the mirror was one of the monetary reward of slave trade. The slave masters gave mirrors to slave traders in exchange of a human being. A person may become so obsessed about how he looks that he could value his image on a screen more than the life of a person. As regards our opening text, we would try to understand what Apostle Paul was ...

 "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." - 1Tim 1:15 You are not beyond His redemption, your sins are not too thick for the blood to make clean, your guilt are not too deep, that His love cannot take away, your past is not so hurting that your future with Him cannot heal, don't write yourself off! Though I know it may not be possible, but something inside of me after experiencing the awesome mercy of God through the blood of Jesus and obtained by faith; I feel that, if Satan decides to give his life to Christ and repent; I believe God is still faithful and just to forgive him. The devil is not beyond the power of the blood of Jesus. It doesn't matter what you have done or you are doing, your life is not beyond the redemptive plans of God. Some people have kept themselves in the miry clay of fate, thinking, nothing can be done to save them from themselves, they have come ...

"At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, 'Ask! What shall I give you?'" - 1Kings 3:5 It all becomes exciting when it is the Lord that ask us to make that one request, we humans are naturally wired up to make request to God even without permission and of course we know He is always willing to answer or grant our petitions, but when we have an opportunity like the one Solomon had, and we are given an open cheque to request something from Him, what would our request be? Would it be for something as temporal as riches, or you will ask for something that would naturally come to you... Wisdom was what Solomon requested for, and God was impressed with his request; I often wonder what my own request would be and whether God would grant my request, on second thought, I know He would grant it, since He asked me to request that one thing, but I am not too sure that I even know what to ask for. Something eternal, something tangible that wou...

"So He said, 'Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.'" - Luke 21:3-4 In the passage above, I see a woman who wanted to give herself much more than the little she had and that she did, she had the least of substance, but she gave the best offering. How come that which appeared so little became so much in the sight of God? By this simple but profound scene of the scripture, I realise that our offerings goes beyond what we put into the box, our offering is a show of our commitment to God; our offerings is also about us, and yes God demands our offering. When Cain and Abel offered to God, the scripture says that God had respect for Abel and his offering and not upon Cain; this also gives me a clear understanding that, it is not everyone that should bring an offering to God. If you have not accepted Jesus, he ...

"Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience." - 1Tim 3:8-9 They chose seven men to serve tables and it turned out that while a certain man named Stephen joined in this menial job of the church, he became an instrument of power in the hands of God. If you've ever served food in a church congregation, you will agree with me that you need more than stamina to do this; you will really need to be spirit filled, among those who have not been served, or those who think you are being partial. Many anointed fellow today would long for the pulpit rather than the kitchen, we have come to see ministerial appointment as just for honour and not for service; this is not to say that a call into the ministry of devoid of honour, in fact they are, but it is a call to service too. With all his anointing, this man agreed to serve people and made sure that there was no quarrel...

"And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd." - John 10:24 Dear Lord, sometimes this sheepfold may be too dull for me to continue to be among them, and most times I feel I am of a different specie and I may want to be excused from the fold. But in this folly of mine, I may begin to wander away, and from this same foolishness, I may not even be a sheep anymore. How do I remain a sheep, meekly obeying, meekly following, listening to the voice of the Shepherd, stupidly, yes stupidly following through the paths? I know this shepherd has my best interest at heart and in fact at a time He gave His life for me. I wonder if the Lord has sheep at all, I am convinced that the Lord is all He is, and a Shepherd inclusive, but to state that this Shepherd has sheep I am in doubt using my stubborn self as an example. A sheep is bent on following the Master all the way, but I am noth...

"He must increase, but I must decrease" - John 3:30 If it is a must for my Lord to increase through me, then it must be a must also, for me to decrease, the Lord is exalted above even the heavens and the highest of heights are beneath His feet, but as regards the life of the believer, for Him to be so exalted, it will have to take me suppressing the self, silencing my opinions, subjecting my will and depending on Him alone to have Him increased. The matter before us today is not about a struggle to exalt Jesus, it is about a yielding to the Lordship of Jesus, sometimes it is a difficult thing to observe, but I honestly think that for God to be glorified, we may have to be less pronounced in ourselves.. We would only do what He commands, we would become less in our projections, but more in proclaiming His name and praise. There are times when people are pronounced as much as Jesus is, they carry the message of Jesus, but they seem not to glorify the Sender. It is poss...