A resemblance

I thought I saw a resemblance adieu 
An emblem surely of once her youth 
Which did bring a concentrated eye 
Studying each expression brought joy aloud  -
Oh you must be her long lost twin
A sibling or descendant spring from 
fountains found in Aphrodite’s field.
O dreary heart cease thy joy
For once it raptured just as much
 For her when a sudden sorrow bloomed
Because our union she did decline.
Now in front a mirror display 
Of her perfections deeply engrave
In thee whatever your name may be
In obtaining you I’ll gain her too.

K.Oni

It still Lingers

It still lingers vividly strong 
The wind and tide disperse it not -
Toxic but sweet; yielding a fragrant scent
Toxic because I cannot have it at all.
I wish it gone like my long lost past
Yesterday dies as midnight arise
But this remains lingering strong
Weakening my heart as each day death draws both nigh.

K.Oni

The way of holiness

Holiness is misunderstood in our day and age. Many think of it as if it was an unpleasant thing, as if it is the hostile friend of pleasure. Holiness is associated with an un-happy life evidence and reduced to the life of religion and those who are enemies of culture. Holiness occurs not in the thinking of many men even among those who are called to holiness because the God who redeemed them is holy. Some do have a desire to be holy, but they too have failed to see the pleasure and loveliness of having such an attribute so they adorn themselves with an hypocrites vest and walk around gloomy as if there is but death in following God’s commands and laws and they disfigure their faces as if they would rather be indulging in the pleasures of their flesh; but they pursue this drowsy holiness because they don’t want to go to hell and have misunderstood what true holiness is.

I wonder what your view of holiness is - do you desire to be clothed in it and if so what are your reasons? Scripture firmly says ‘strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the lord’ (heb 12:14). It is clear that man in order to see the Lord must strive - that is with great violence of energy, with a earnest desire for the holiness in which God has commanded us seek or else we shall never see his face; we shall never enter his rest and take our place in that Mansion which Christ our heavenly beloved has gone to prepare for us. But what is the holiness we are to strive for?

The holiness we are to strive for is that holiness which is a conformity of the heart and life unto God. It is that holiness which eluded the Pharisees because they thought holiness to be an outward thing rather than the conformity of heart unto God. This holiness is also a conformity unto Jesus Christ for He was man without sin and we are called to imitate his life. If any man should live their lives like Jesus as presented to us in the gospels then no man would ever be in the dark of what is meant by true holiness. This holiness is also a conformity to God’s laws. By God’s laws I mean God’s precepts and commands as they are delivered to us in the gospels and those contained in the letters.

The nature of this true holiness is a most beautiful, lovely thing. There is nothing in it but what is sweet and ravishingly lovely. As Jonathan Edwards put it:

'Tis the highest beauty and amiableness, vastly above all other beauties; 'tis a divine beauty, makes the soul heavenly and far purer than anything here on earth-this world is like mire and filth and defilement compared to that soul which is sanctified-'tis of a sweet, lovely, delightful, serene, calm, and still nature. 'Tis almost too high a beauty for any creature to be adorned with; it makes the soul a little, amiable, and delightful image of the blessed Jehovah. How may angels stand with pleased, delighted, and charmed eyes, and look and look with smiles of pleasure upon that soul that is holy!’

My friends, Holiness is what we were and are created for, when we live in holiness we find that our souls finds rest; and communication with God is as smooth as butter and our hearts and will will have no differing opinions.  Jesus died for our sins and clothes us in His perfect righteousness. The evidence to show that this is ours, this perfect righteousness whether it has been reckoned to us and that we are on our way to heaven is that we truly have a desire to be conformed to God by pursing his holiness.

Edwards helps us with application points to test our hearts to see whether we are on our way to heaven or being conformed to God in his holiness:

• Meditate on the holiness of God, and see if you cannot see a conformity, a likeness in your mind. If those that think themselves in the way to heaven, that are unholy in the meantime in their hearts, would compare themselves and their nature to the holy nature of God, such a glorious light as the holiness of God would quickly discover their rottenness and unsoundness.

• See if you can see any resemblance in your life to the life of Christ.

• Is there an agreeableness between your souls and the Word of God? Have you love to all God's commands and a respect to them in your actions? Is it your delight to obey and hearken to the will of God? Do you obey them of choice? Is it what you would choose to do if God had not threatened to punish the breach of them?

I encourage you all to holiness in as much as I encourage myself not as a means to obtain your salvation because if you pursue it this way you will fall by the wayside. Pursue it with joy and great diligence exclaiming with the Psalmist “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander away from your commandments!” Psalm 119:10.

K.Oni

Indebted to Jonathan Edwards sermon titled The way of Holiness.  http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/wayofholiness.htm

Isles of Wonder

As the six-month countdown to the Olympic & Paralympic Games began, the artistic director Danny Boyle revealed the theme of the opening ceremony. Boyle’s inspiration for hisIsles Of Wonder is derived from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest in which Caliban refers to the wondrous beauty of the island. “Our Isles of Wonder salutes and celebrates the exuberant creativity of the British genius in an Opening Ceremony that we hope will be as unpredictable and inventive as the British people,” said Boyle.

“Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises,” declares Shakespeare’s Caliban. This week I have been more aware of the island’s noises than its beauty. Amid the rumours of the allocation of bonuses, the clanging of the decline thereof and the cacophony of calls for stripped knighthoods, it’s hard to detect any sense of wonder, beauty or unpredictability. For all the while a predictable British exuberance of a less noble quality abounds.

And yet, when we delve into history, these isles indeed knew a sense of wonder, a kind of genius that combined nobility and entrepreneurship; an understanding of citizenship that measured success in terms of communal wellbeing rather than personal enrichment.

A historic glance would, for example, shine a light on George Cadbury: "We can do nothing of any value to God, except in acts of genuine helpfulness done to our fellow men". Such commitment to the less privileged shaped the working conditions in the Cadbury factories, as well as housing, pension, medical and dental care for their staff. Every summer, Cadbury provided food and entertainment for 25,000 children from the deprived areas of Birmingham. Reflecting on his life, he wrote: “I have for many years given practically the whole of my income for charitable purposes….”

“’Charitable’ is too narrow a description; ‘reform’ would be more apt. Successive generations of Cadburies were catalysts in a wide range of social reform. The wider Quaker community only made up 0.2 per cent of the population, yet its contribution to British society is massive. The business and banking ethic of Cadbury, Rowntree, Boots, Barclays and Lloyds was derived from their Christian faith, as they followed “the Divine Light”.

Historically, the English Protestants understood the whole of life as a vocation – a sacred space of worship through deeds of love, righteous service and commerce. “What mattered was not worldly riches but a richness towards God expressed in gratitude, generosity and a life of virtue,” writes Peter Heslam in Transforming Capitalism.

Isles of Wonder indeed.

Recent research by the University of Essex concluded that the British are less honest than we were a decade ago. The business and political commentator Jeff Randall voiced this week a poignant question: “What kind of people have we become?”

The script God has given us continuously engages us in a dialogue who we want to become. Whatever our vocation, we daily make choices affecting communal wellbeing and personal integrity - choices which either accommodate the dominant culture or align with the alternative script.Critically, it will not only shape our personal life but also the institutions we are part of. We can all pursue a vocation that has its home in faith and virtue and is concerned with the wellbeing God intended for the wider community.

As the eyes of the world are upon us, may the Olympic ceremony celebrating the best of Britain be genial, inventive and exuberant. Beyond that, may we see the growth of the city on a hill comprising a people whose character is pure, merciful, humble, peace-building and just. In the words of the creative director: “the light of the world”.

Marijke Hoek, Coordinator Forum for Change - Evangelical Alliance

Fasting

Fasting is a practice of self-denial. In the old testament there were different motives why people fasted, for example Hannah, who was greatly distressed on account of her childlessness, “wept, and did not eat” (1Sam 1:7). Violent anger produces the same effect (1Sam 20:34). According to 1Kings 21:4, Ahab, “heavy and displeased” on account of Naboth's refusal to part with his estate, sulked and “would eat no bread.” David demonstrated his grief at Abner's death (2Sam 3:35) by fasting. Ezra fasted to show that he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles, (Ezra 10:6) and the Jews in Ester’s day mourned with fasting, weeping and lamenting when they learned of the king’s decree to kill all of the Jews (Ester 4:3).

Fasting was also used to appeal to God to move him to pity. For example David pleaded to God on behalf of his child with Bathsheba that God will let the child live after God declaring that the child will die. When the child dies David stopped his fasting concluding that it was useless to fast when the child is now dead (2 Sam 12:16-23).

Ezra proclaimed a fast at the river Ahava, ‘that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods’ (Ezra 8:21).  Fasting is a way of seeking divine protection and favour, it displays one’s urgency to see God move or act very quickly in a situation.

The Pharisees in the New testament accused Jesus’ disciples for not fasting, they said to Jesus  "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink." And Jesus replied, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days." (Luke 5:33-35)

The Pharisees associated fasting with abstaining from food and drink and a similar pattern is found in the old testament. But it is also abstinent from washing, anointing and sleeping. Dan 10:3 says ‘I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.’  Fasting can be of short or long duration of time; what’s important is that after one has declared their period of fasting that they keep to it - so let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Also in the New testament Jesus gives us principles for when we fast, "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (Matthew 6:16)

Fasting can be opportunities when God reveals his will to the church when done corporately. Act 13:2-3 says ‘While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.’

 There is the soul of fasting, that is fasting from sins, having a pure heart and delighting in mercy rather than sacrifice. As the Lord says in Isaiah 58:6-7  "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

God is seeking after true worshippers, those who will seek him in spirit and in truth. The same principles hold in fasting, God is looking at your heart and wants you to worship him in spirit and in truth. Fasting can show our urgency to see God move in our situations or it can display our grief and sorrows. Fasting should always be focused on God, should always be a time to seek him as well as a time to love humanity which ought to be our constant duty - both are our daily task.

What burdens your heart or what would you like God to do so desperately? Why not fast about it and really seek God’s face.

This is not a detailed assessment on fasting so please ask questions or post what you think on the comment box. I hope this gives you an idea of what fasting is or something about its nature.

K.Oni

Short poems

I need I for inspiration
Initiation and imagination put another I 
Make it an ignition.
In-saturated constantly imitated 
Infiltrating now the infiltrated.
Call it a scene spectators speculating
Calculating schemes my enemies all eradicated.


                                                                  It seems baby whenever I am home with you

                               You make me feel like I’m whole again

Something seems to happen that ain’t static

                                         Far from being tragic the opposite of reality

Its magic albeit pretty astonishing 

Rushing like water, flushing, constantly blushing.

Washing away formalities tenderly inspiring

                                        A love song thrillingly makes me ecstatic.

Yea we on this again

Like tomorrow aint coming around

Drum beats sound the trumpets

Like  it’s the end of time

 Rah

Everybody wanna shine

Take mine 

Smash the shrines

Make a line 

Yea 

Cuz tomorrow aint coming round

K.Oni   

My outline for UWECU sermon - Why we do mission

1. Because God is missional

- John 3:16 For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him will never perish but have eternal life

In this text we see the missional heart of God - For God so love the world that is God the Father loved the world and this love was not a passive love but active - He looks at the whole of creation
 - it made him give and what did he give - His Son Jesus Christ who is the exact representation of his being as Hebrews tells us

- and Jesus is God john 1:1 and became flesh John 1:14  - Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep John 10:15 and vs. 17 and 18 says For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord and I have authority to take it up again.

We see the missional heart of God - in Love he sends his Son to die so that whoever believes will not perish but have eternal life. And if God has given his son to die for us beware of doubting his kindness and love in any painful providence of our daily life….


2. Jesus commands us

-  John 20:21, “Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you”.  What is Jesus sending his disciples and followers to do? Matthew 28:19 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you . And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.  - Jesus knows our feeble nature so He comforts us with a promise I am with you till the end - wherever you go I go- you asking your friends to come to an event in the mission week jesus says I am with you - you are sharing the gospel with your hostile flatmates Jesus says I am with you - you are laying your life down for your friends and you are getting no recognition Jesus says I am with you -

The great commision is not optional it is a command -just as the Father sent Jesus into the world to save sinners likewise Jesus sends us into the world to bring the goodnews of the gospel to the universities, to the societies to the world - to your flatmates and course mates - it is not optional as a christian - your life is a witness - a witness of the of  the glorious gospel of christ that bids sinners to come and live, for failures and sinners to be made righteous….

- John 14:15 If you Love me you will keep my commandments - there’s a test for you right there - a sure sign to know that you genuinely love Jesus is always that you are obeying His commandments and that with great love and joy - Jesus says love your enemies - bring this gospel to those who do not yet know it - will you do that this mission week, for the rest of your lives?

3. For our Joy and theirs

- 1 Cor 9:23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings -  what does Paul mean by doing it all - that his the way he lives -his whole lifestyle is all for the spreading and knowledge of the Gospel of Christ so that they may share in its blessings -  how does he do this  -
1 cor 9:19 for though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them -  who is them - that is those who have not come to share in its blessings - what are some of the blessings? it is said that the highest form of selfishness is that of the person who is content to go to heaven alone - Paul wasn’t content - so to the Jew he became as a Jew in other to win Jews - to the weak he became weak in other to win the weak - he became all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. There was a furious jealousy in the heart of Paul for people to treasure and savour Christ - for them to rejoice and be glad in Jesus  as - The psalmist says “Let the peoples praise you O God, Let all the people praise you. Let the Nations be glad and sing for joy”  - why - so that God be glorified in His Son Jesus Christ. How are they going to do that? If they have not believed and how can they believe if they have not heard -and how can they hear if there is no on willing to tell them and show them - to spend their lives with them like William Carey who lived among the Indians for forty years and known as the Father of modern missions….

And I want to pray for you guys the same prayer that Paul prayed for Philemon in Philemon 1:6 And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ…..

K.Oni