In His Presence..........

  A dear customer of mine who has become a dear friend called me up one day and said she would like to make some items for her family members using the colours of their birthstones. These are precious stones that are associated with different months, for example, amethyst is the birthstone for those born in February, and diamond is the birthstone for those born in April. This would be one of the most exciting projects that I have ever embarked upon, also because before this time I didn’t know much about precious stones. I have seen and read about them, even in the bible but never given much attention to them by looking them up to see what they really look like. The only precious stone I am familiar with is the diamond, I guess this is because it’s the most popular, and the one most people wear. After concluding that project, anytime I stumbled on precious stones in the bible I got very curious. Revelations 21: 14-27 talks about the New Jerusalem ‘Now the wall of the city had 12 found

  Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Hebrews 4:9-10 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. There is a rest for the people of God, but many haven’t entered this rest. Jesus Christ is asking us to come to His rest and to find rest for our souls. Are we troubled? anxious? or fearful? God is calling us into His rest. Are we encumbered by the concerns of this life? E.g school fees, house rent, bills to pay, a troubled marriage, etc. Jesus is saying do your best and leave the rest to me. Worrying too much about all these things will not make much of a difference, instead, we must live and walk by faith, this is the only condition to entering the rest of the Lord. Knowing without a shadow of a doubt that of a truth

  Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” A few days ago I asked my children this question. ‘Why did God make you?” One said so that I can complete my mission in life, which is to share the gospel, another one said, “He made me because He wants me to succeed in life and to do well, and to be a good person and to go to heaven”, and another said, “He made me so that I can go far in life”. I found their answers very interesting because it is obvious that they know God made them for a good purpose, to do good things, to generally have a good life here on earth, and then go to heaven. 1.        We are God’s workmanship. The dictionary describes Workmanship as a skill in making things, especially in a way that makes them look good, for example, if you say that handbag was made with excellent workmanship, it is the degree of skill used in making the bag. God made us perfectly, Genesis 2

  I remember what it was like many years ago in Airforce Primary school when I dreaded my class teachers’ painful cane (popularly called Pankere) so much. My wonderful teacher Mr Essien would ask us to buy a cane and bring it to school with us on resumption day, imagine after having a wonderful holiday, what a way to welcome children back to school. He would have about 40 canes in different sizes lined up behind his desk. It was a dreadful sight to behold, and he didn’t hesitate to use any cane at will on us, I dreaded that cane. We had to cram our numeric tables because if Mr Essien called anyone to the front of the class to recite it and they missed out only a number, Ah!!! It was doom for that person. It was a dreadful sight, seeing the faces of my classmates change to a mask of pure shock, their eyes suddenly got huge and, their faces became red. I can never ever forget my numeric tables now because of my experience with Mr Essien I can probably recite them while sleeping. The re

  John 4: 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  Living means alive, to live means when something continues to exist. So, to drink living water means to drink a particular type of water that makes you exist or makes you alive, but it doesn’t only make you alive it also makes you to never thirst again. John 7: 38 ‘Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. ’ In other words, rivers of eternal life will flow from within them. This means that this living water doesn’t affect the believer alone but also everyone and everything that is connected to the believer because it flows out of him or her like a river. What is flowing out of you and I? Whatever it is can either ruin an entire generation or save an entire generation. After accepting Jesus Chr

Matthew 20: 1-16 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.   He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.  “About nine in the morning, he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.   He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’   So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing.   About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’   “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’   “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about five in the after