Counted Righteous

But the hard truth is that most Christians don’t pray very much. They pray at meals—unless they’re still stuck in the adolescent stage of calling good habits legalism. They whisper prayers before tough meetings. They say something brief as they crawl into bed. But very few set aside set times to pray alone—and fewer still think it is worth it to meet with others to pray. And we wonder why our faith is weak. And our hope is feeble. And our passion for Christ is small.
The Duty of Prayer
And meanwhile the devil is whispering all over this room: “The pastor is getting legalistic now. He’s starting to use guilt now. He’s getting out the law now.” To which I say, “To hell with the devil and all of his destructive lies. Be free!” Is it true that intentional, regular, disciplined, earnest, Christ-dependent, God-glorifying, joyful prayer is a duty? Do I go to pray with many of you on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m., and Wednesday at 5:45 p.m., and Friday at 6:30 a.m., and Saturday at 4:45 p…

The divine things are well enveloped, sealed and contained. Available to be open by him who seeks to find -

“Do you seek to find?”

“Everyone who seeks surely seek to find”.

“They ought to but not all who seeks seek to find. Some seek for seeking sake, some seek because they were told to seek - some seek out of curiosity but only a few seek to find. Those who seek to find are those who will find what they seek and in finding what they sought will their soul be satisfied unable to move to the next quintessence satisfaction. Many who seeks seek the wrong thing, for when they find that which they sought, they lived as if they never found it thus they never find what they are seeking for”.

“Have you found what you seek”?

“Yes my little entrepreneur. On my journey through the vast open road, I came to a little off road, very narrow and straight. Only I, my reason and soul could fit in - everything acquired thus far from the wayside of the vast road could not be taking in for there was only spac…

It’s almost been six months since our visit to Romania as an Ex woodlands foundation team but the thoughts of the children that we visited in the orphanage still brings back a concrete animation of our time there.
We flew to Bucharest from Gatwick, enjoying much the privilege of flying over land and thanking God for having the resources to do so. On our arrival we were picked up from Bucharest and journeyed to Constanta, the city of our short visit.
I adored our accommodation, I admired the friendliness of the Men who picked us up and the love of the woman who opened and gave us the key to our abode. I remember the first evening like one remembers a cool evening; it was relax, quieted and mellow. We had pizza for dinner and went for a walk to explore our new terrain. The morning felt like a cold evening for I was forced out of my own will to have a cold shower, but redeemed in the fellowship with my friends as we broke bread with one another.
We came to Constanta for two reasons, 1. t…

Mat 16:24-27 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done."

To preach the true gospel of Christ’s to unconverted souls in this manner, namely, the gospel call that tells them that they must forsake everything they own and carry their cross, if they should desire to follow Jesus Christ, will cast many waters upon their candle-lit desires. For if their desire to follow Christ was merely rooted in their entertainment, joy, wealth and privileges in this world, then those solid hard-hitting words of Christ will immediately quench their ente…

There’s a reason I’m loving you
It’s a reason I can’t explain
It’s like trying to explain immediate knowledge
I think therefore I am
I see you therefore I love you
Every-time you are in my view I’m in love all over again
You are a song I’ll never stop singing
A picture I’ll always draw
Even though our feelings are far away
Mine is a truth I cannot explain away
I’ve tried many times to colour it through
But your dye keeps coming through There’s a reason I’m loving you


It’s a reason I can’t explain K.Oni

And as I prayed for a brother, I could not help but believe my prayers, and as I gave communion to a sister I could not help but believe the words that I spoke; that 'in this moment the blood of Christ is being applied to our very hearts, cleansing away all of our sins and making us anew.' In this very moment was the ache of my heart lifted that indeed my name is written on his heart and never will I be forgotten by God but remembered. Not loving me less in my pitiful hour of sin and not loving me more in my happy minutes of righteousness because I am already seated with him at his right hand.

K.Oni

Many evangelical Christians are instinctively suspicious of the whole idea of creeds and confessions, those set forms of words that certain churches have used throughout the ages to give concise expression to the Christian faith. For such people, the very idea of such extra-scriptural authoritative statements of faith seems to strike at the very heart of their belief that the Bible is the unique revelation of God, the all-sufficient basis for our knowledge of Him, and the supreme authority in matters of religion. 

Certainly, creeds and confessions can be used in a way that undermines the orthodox Protestant view of scripture. Both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches invest such authority in the declaration of the institutional church that the church creeds can seem to carry an authority that is derived from the church’s approval rather than conformity with the teaching of Scripture. Evangelicals are right to want to avoid anything that smacks of such an attitude. …

There are many people in the world, alas, who are interested in religion, who talk about it and are always ready to have a debate about it. Many of them read books about religion and listen to lectures on the radio about it: perhaps they even listen to sermons in church about religion and are tremendously interested. But it is purely a detached, intellectual interest, something that they like to play with in their minds and to talk about to others. So the point I am making is this: Surely, this is infinitely worse than the position of people who say there is no God. Indeed, is there anything more terrible than a purely theoretical and academic interest in God and in religion and in the godly life?

 Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Dead Religion)

I AM not willing to accept the kind of Christianity that the last generation endured. As good as it was and as platformic as it was for us, yet I am willing that we should move to a greater degree of glory.
The kingdom of God is always advancing and I will not see it settle in my generation. I will, with all that I am, weak as I may be, give all my strength for the sake of Christ, so that this generation may have no excuse and not say that the lights hid underneath a lampstand. Collectively we shall shine as bright as the sun. It is God in us who will achieve his purposes but as long as I have this earthly tent, I am to live the best kind of Christian life possible, namely, that fullness of life to which Christ called his disciples.
This life is not an easy life, in all honesty it is a difficult one. But it is a life which has seen and tasted the goodness of God and seen the beauty of his face in the eyes of his beloved Son. Without this taste or knowledge, no man or woman will march …

Upon a time, before the golden rings circled the earth, and princesses clustered by streams, arose one of imaginable feat, singing a song of bliss not woe, tearing the rippling rain from full clouds, thundering rainbows beyond solar galaxies, was the one intelligible, zealed, winged with love, pure as the golden throne, chanted his refrain of honey for a nymph, whose eyes once caught by stammering seas, melted and roaring for she, at once the trees adulterated eyes, replacing Sun with her nourishing smile, earth opening to kiss her with pearls, gold scratching the fire to refine something for eyes to behold, a transcendence worth, clothed in purple cloth, hair brownish black, skin pale as white creamy dew, fragrance myrrh breath, ivory towered tightened skinned galloping chest, drawing gods from unknown dynasty to bow a rain of diamonds, etching love with blood at her regal feet.

The one zealed, winged with love from flower to flower flew, drawing closer to the nymphs beloved secret b…

Sinner: Dear Sir, it seems that I’ve wandered far away from God, away to my many imaginations and not to him. I have wandered into the lust of my heart, into the pride of my soul and into the conceitedness of my condition. This valley I have trodden far too long and in the end I have found that it only brings about my drowning in the sea of flesh. O the misery to my spirit that I have wasted many precious years which brings me now to repent with bitter tears; but I find it hard to stay the course of righteousness. Dear Sir, please help me for no more can my soul linger in the broad way for I am tired of sin and straying. My soul is sick, my heart is sore; please my strength renew.
Sir: My poor son in the faith, far you have wandered into the shadows of darkness but today come home. God is calling the prodigal, even though you have wandered far from his presence, yet he is calling you back. I am glad that you are sensible of your condition and do weep bitter tears for there are many who…

And I’m loving the love that I see in this community
The jubilee summer seems to have bud in Camilla’s soul
Kate rising high colouring the house Gold
Hames dancing bright, Harry smiling till the evening fold
Gotta open the curtains for the whole world to see
Something seems to change every time I come back in.
Watching Ben’s vision, He’s the Spirit’s Love guitar
Irresistable Louis, A true homie till my final breath
Always got to stare, Rachel is a bright star
Illuminating our minds with feelings that makes a brotha smile
I do believe God opens his curtains, for heaven to watch and see
The Love that I see in this Christ centred community.
K.Oni

It was in the beginning of the gospel truth that many had tried to supress and eradicate it. The Pharisees and the Sadducees tried to supress and destroy it by calling its preacher a friend of the devil. After failing magnificently to suppress the gospel truth, although they crucified its preacher, yet it travelled on and on to Jerusalem, Judea and to the ends of the earth. The preacher's disciples carried on the gospel truth after witnessing the resurrection of the preacher. In their sweet yet difficult errands, they were met by many oppositions especially those who were Judaisers who tried to turn the gospel into law, yet the gospel truth marched on. Then came the persecution of Rome, but Rome could not cage the gospel. With every martyr came ten new convert. After this, the institution of Rome moralised the gospel trying to remove the power of God from it, but their efforts came to no avail, for the gospel truth marched on in the hearts of the reformers and those within the Rom…

When autumn sheds her last remaining shells
The flowers do sigh,
for rushing winter
Begins their funeral march.

My heart redeemed, won again by God's gracious kindness. He, everyday, reminds me that He is my heavenly Father, not near to strike me at every manifestation of sin but one who is at hand to grant me mercy, so that I can be blessed for my spiritual poverty and in turn desire ever exceedingly the hunger and thirst for righteousness. He has won my heart with unending Love. Day after day his mercy speaks to me whispering of the ever overflowing blood of Christ which covers all of my iniquities. My good Father also tells me that his salvation is more than the forgiveness of sins. His salvaiton is as broad as the whole earth. Everything, upon the death of his Son, held on the tree by love, was restored and will be consumated in the day and hour of his return. The whole world has him wrong and None will ever comprehend his true nature if they do not see him through Christ. Oh I pray that every day I will see your heart through the heart of Christ my Saviour.

K.Oni

Every day I walk to work. If I leave at a certain time I see the same people almost in the same place where I saw them the day before. There is one particular person who I look forward to see every day in my journey and it is a woman with her two children cycling to school. I see them cycling, the children being adventurous in their drive and the Mom careful and steady making sure that her kids are ok. I am not even sure that the kids are necessarily hers but that’s my assumption. I love to see this woman and her kids because as she cycles past, she always smiles at me and I always innocently with great joy return her smile. There is something about that moment which touches the soul like a bird’s joy sucking the juice out of a lily. A simple smile can demonstrate the heart of a person. This is why I conclude that life should be lived with a smile and besides Jesus came eating and drinking. K.Oni

I am not in the manner to go in the way of some in the past. I am not a friend of controversy but I am a friend of the truth - this heart which has seen the beauty of Christ and experienced the love of the Father can only rise upon this worldly stage as to declare to you that Christ is the way, the truth, and life. In this market place of ideas of which the philosophers and my neighbour's bid me to cater, but O I cannot, for I must cater for the truth of Christ and his gospel which calls every other way wrong, declares man a sinner, God a loving righteous holy God, and Christ the only mediator.  This message I proclaim on the pillars of absolute truth. I am not first a servant of man but of God; and I call to memory the scriptures which must be proclaimed to this ignorant generation and if their portion is to be like it was for the people Isaiah was called to preach too then I must preach. They were ever hearing but never understanding. But I pray that the hearts of the people wil…

This rising feeling of speechlessness only with her
quietened conversations remained sealed in my heart
longing to speak of more romantic theme
settling only for the mundane speech.
My heart burns hotter than the sun
manifesting forth duller than the grey skies
only if these banks I could break for u to see the gushing waterfall of my heart for u my sweet
but speechless my love displayed
silenced by fear, kept trembling with rumours heard,
that she now taken,
ringed by a son from the midlands shores.

K.Oni

The Bible teaches us to expect mental jolts when we think about God. It teaches us that our familiar ways of seeing things may be replaced. For example, it says, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Romans 11:33). Or again, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9). One of the reasons (not the only one) that some people reject the biblical teaching of unconditional election is that it seems and feels to them out of sync with other teachings in the Bible - like the compassion of God for people or the moral accountability of people before God. It seems to many that God can't choose unconditionally to save some and not others and then also feel compassion for those he does not choose and hold them accountable for their sin. The problem here is that our instinct or intuition for what is …

While the new James Bond movie had the biggest Bond opening weekend in half a century, the sky seemed to literally fall in two days later when the Frankenstorm of the century raged through the Caribbean and smashed into the US East Coast. The trail of devastation is massive as US President Barack Obama declared a "major disaster". "Let the sky fall, when it crumbles
We will stand tall
Face it all together
At skyfall." While Adele's noirish ballad is a Bond theme song that beautifully accompanies the film, the violent forces of nature highlight the fragility of our humanity in which we can't always stand tall, as livelihoods, homes and lives were lost this week. The psalmist recognises that our shelter from life's storms is ultimately only found in God. "How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings" (Psalm 36:7). The prophet Isaiah similarly depicts Him as the stronghold to the need…