From: Su Fun PRAYER BEFORE STARTING WORK
My Heavently Father, as I enter this work place I bring Your presence with me. I speak Your peace,Your grace, Your mercy, and Your perfect order into this office. I acknowledge Your power over all that will be spoken,thought,decided and done within this walls. Lord I thank You for the gifts You have blessed me with. I commit to using them responsibly in Your honor. Give me a fresh supply of strength to do my job. Anoint my projects, ideas and energy, so that even my smallest accomplishment may bring You glory. Lord when I am confused, guide me. When I am weary, energize me, When I am burned out, infused me with the light of Holy Spirit. May the work that I do and the way I do it bring faith, joy, and a smile to all that I come in contact today. And oh Lord, When I leave this place, give me travelling mercy. Bless my family and home to be in order as I left it. Lord I thank you for everything You've done, everything You're doing, and everything You're going to do. In the Name of Jesus I pray, with much love and Thanksgiving...Amen Have a Blessed working day..!! GBU ============================================= From: Bayo Afolaranmi Dearly Beloved, BE THANKFUL ALWAYS "Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]" (1 Thessalonians 5:18, AMP). The story was told of three men that went to thank their Creator. The first one had just a piece of cloth to cover his body. He would have to be naked for the period he washed and dried the piece of cloth when it was dirty. The second had just underpants. The third one did not have anything. The first one that first expressed his heart of gratitude thanked God for the piece of cloth that he had and also thanked God that he was better than the other two men. The second one also thanked God for his situation though he had only underpants. He was grateful to God because he was not like the third man that did not have anything. One would wonder what the third man that did not have anything would thank God for, but he also expressed his heart of gratitude to God because, to him, he was better than the dead. He believed that there was still hope for him that it shall be well with him soon. This is an old story that teaches us that we should be thankful in any situation we find ourselves. When there is life, there is still hope. No matter the situation, if we ponder very well, we will have causes to thank God. That hymn writer (Johnson Oatman, Jr.) said: When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Lord, I thank you for who I am and all what you have done, is doing, and will still do for me. Thank you Jesus! NB As we begin the second half of this year, let me express my heart of gratitude firstly to our God Almighty who enables me to continue this online ministry in spite of all odds, then secondly to you for what you have allowed God to do through you in my life and this unique online ministry. Your occasional reactions and even criticisms help me a lot. Let me share this with you as we enter the second half of the year: the Lord will cause all things to work together for your good. He shall perfect your concerns and show Himself strong on your behalf. He will never fail you nor forsake you. You will surely see the goodness of the Lord in Jesus' name. Amen! "Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]" (1 Thessalonians 5:18, AMP). My last week message was based on an old story of three people that thanked their God in spite of their bad situations, and the thrust of the message is that we also should learn how to thank God no matter our situation. The message was more meaningful to me some hours after I sent it to people in my mailing lists that day. I was listening to a national television network news program that evening when I saw reasons why I should thank God more than before because of His protection over my family members and me. Three pathetic incidents were reported in that news bulletin that night. One, a ghastly auto accident that involved two vehicles where about twenty-four people were burnt to death. The security operatives and the people around the venue of the accident had to give these dead people mass burial because they were burnt beyond recognition! Two, about five-year old boy was kidnapped and his two hands were maimed. He was left in a bush to die, but he survived it. After his recovery from a hospital, the hospital management is looking for philanthropists that will help him to secure artificial hands that would have to be replaced every two years. Three, a man and one of his children (about a year-old boy) were bathed with acid. They lay critically ill in hospital beds both of them almost totally disfigured from the effect of the acid. They urgently need a huge some of money for treatment. I could not continue to listen to the rest of the news bulletin as I went to bed dejected for what I have just heard and seen on the television. It was then that I remembered the message I sent to people earlier that day. Here I am with my family members healthy, safe and secure. My children, my wife and I travel everyday at least to our working place and school. God always protects us. We are not kidnapped. None of us is on sickbed. We are not in desperate need of assistance from anybody. In fact, I saw many reasons to thank God that night, and I did thank Him for everything He is doing in my life. While I am still not happy about those reported incidents, I still have causes to thank God even though He has not done everything I want Him to do for me. He really deserves my constant gratitude. What of you? Do you realize that you ought to thank God always? Do you always thank Him? If you ponder very well you will realize that in deed, "It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High" (Psalm 92:1, NKJV). Lord, I thank you for who I am and all what you have done, is doing, and will still do for me. Thank you Jesus! In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor). +234 805 515 9591 http://www.afolabayo.org/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritualdigest2003/ "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. FOR TO ME, TO LIVE IS CHRIST AND TO DIE IS GAIN" (Philippians 1:20-21, NIV). ============================================ From: Bayo Afolaranmi Dearly Beloved, HOW LONG? "How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked be jubilant? Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?" (Psalm 94:3, 16, NIV). I was reading the headlines of an online newspaper recently when I came across this headline as a special spotlight, "Christians Kidnapped And Forced Into Islam In Northern Nigeria!" Intuitively, I clicked on the headline to read the story. In the story I discovered how the Muslims in the northern part of Nigeria are abducting Christian children and forcing them to become Muslims by hiding them from their parents and teaching them by force the tenets of Islam. Unfortunately, the security operatives there are helpless as the perpetrators of this evil act continue their nefarious activities unchecked. It is such an alarming story to me that I had to copy it and send it to all the people in my address book and those in my Yahoo Messenger list. (Read the story at http://www.thetimesofnigeria.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1959/ .) As if this is not enough, just a week after its publication, it was in the news again that some Muslims pupils killed a female Christian teacher in that same part of the country because she confiscated a copy of Koran from one of them during an examination. The prompt intervention of the police prevented the incident from becoming a riot. (Read the full story at http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21562007.htm. Also read a related story at http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2007/mar/28/national-28-03-2007-01.htm). A similar incident led to the death of many people and destruction of churches and properties of Christians in such areas. As usual, the security operatives, who confirmed the lynching of the lady, said they are investigating the crime. Such investigations are never conclusive, and even where they are conclusive, the perpetrators usually go unpunished. Surprisingly, some people do not see anything bad in these atrocities! The question that always comes to my mind when I hear of such stories is "How long will this continue unchecked?" This will make me allude to a message I posted after the July 7, 2005 bombings in London. Here are some of the questions I asked then: for how long will these heartless people continue to break the hearts of people throughout the world? For how long will they triumph in their inhuman acts? For how long will they be jubilant in their hiding places for their seeming success? Who will rescue the world from these terrorists that are making life unsafe? Will they continue in these callous acts unchecked and unpunished? Who will rise up against these people and avenge for the evils they have done? The psalmist also asked similar questions in Psalm 94 when his nation was facing some calamities. However, he found solace in God, the Judge of the earth. He called on Him in verses 1-3 to rise up and avenge. Interestingly, in verses 8-11, he described the senselessness of these wicked people and the fact that God was, and still is, not indifferent to these situations. He gave a reassuring fact in verse 14, ".the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance" (NIV). No matter what these wicked people may be doing, the Lord "will repay them for their sins and destroy them for their wickedness; the LORD our God will destroy them" (Psalm 94:23, NIV). So, if you are have been doing evil, know that the Lord will repay you one day according to your deeds. In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor). +234 805 515 9591 http://www.afolabayo.org/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritualdigest2003/ "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. FOR TO ME, TO LIVE IS CHRIST AND TO DIE IS GAIN" (Philippians 1:20-21, NIV).
