Emeka Anslem's Blog... Bringing knowledge to the people

TIMELY NOTES! Be consistent in well-doing. As a matter of scriptures, God doesn't like it when we're not consistent. The bible says we should not be weary in well-doing, for we'd reap it in due season if we don't faint. It also says we shouldn't cast away our confidence, because it would be compensated with a great reward. The bank may be far away, but you'd still have to get there to claim your cheque. We need to begin to see our positive engagements and investments as if we're going to the bank. We may encounter traffic jam on the way, we may have to refill our tank in a fuel station, sometimes we may even need to turn back or stop to attend to a more urgent matter. Delay is not denial. You may have done so much for your spouse, your boss, your relatives, or even your children, just to make them see reasons to change, but yet, they still have that very character that you so much despise. Sometimes, you may be discouraged, and you'd even feel like r

TIMELY NOTES! You can't get out of trouble by getting away from the trouble. You have to face it, and deal with it. For instance, If you want to have financial freedom, then be ready to simplify your lifestyle by spending less and saving more. If you want to resolve your marital problems, then create a win/win agreement that both of you will benefit from. If you want to do better in business, then be ready to solve those challenges that your competitors shy away from. If you want to do well academically, then you need to be well-informed about your academic works. Your five loaves and two fishes can feed five thousand, if only you'd invest them. Miracles are not mere accidents, they are deliberate acts of God provoked by the desperate acts of men. A miracle happens when God moves to resolves your challenges for you; but oftentimes, He doesn't move until you begin to make moves towards your challenges. In 2 Chro 20:17, God had already told Jehosaphat and his people that

TIMELY NOTES! I can eat my cake and still have it. I mean, what's wrong with that? This world is filled with ideologies of people who had some experiences in life. When they fail in a particular cause, they make a statement like "you'd need to be a superhero to make this work". When marriage does not work for them, they'd say "marriage is not for busy people". If they fail in school, they'd say "not everybody is wired to go to school". They just have a way of making anything that does not work for them a norm around them. These verbal blueprints have really affected our nations. Many people have signed up to live on their salary forever, because their parents had told them that "people who do business live a difficult life". The truth is, in business, you get paid for results, while in a job, you get paid for your time. Yeah, ofcourse you work had in the office, but think of the number of hours you spend doing nothing. It'

TIMELY NOTES! Faith is like removing a coconut shell. The process may be difficult, but it won't change the fact that you need to remove the shell to eat the coconut. Everybody wants to enjoy God, but the challenge is that they don't like to endure in faith. Faith is not the promises of God, it is accessing the promises of God with absolute obedience to God's commandments. Don't tell me you're "believing God for a blessing" when you've not "done what He commands to receive the blessing". We don't need faith to enjoy blessings. I've never heard anyone say "Praise God, I ate and drank with faith today". Faith is only required to remove the strongholds that try to hinder our access to blessings. We'd discover from scriptures that every time faith was mentioned, the next thing that follows is an obstacle. Faith came against the fig tree, the storm, and the lunatic man. Faith cured the woman with the issue of blood, fed t

TIMELY NOTES! Faith is not just about claiming a promise, it's about doing what has to be done to receive the promise. The bible tells us that we should follow those who through faith have received the promise. Heb 10:36 also mentions that we can only receive the promise after we have done the will of God. The ultimate of faith is to receive the promises of God, but to reach that ultimatum, the will of God has to be in place. It's more like saying the ultimate of a house is to provide shelter, but before shelter can be provided the house must be built. We're not supposed to struggle to receive God's promises just as a building does not struggle to provide shelter. The widow of Zarephat planned to prepare the last meal she had, so that she and her child can eat and die. I'm sure she had prayed and perhaps fasted for the promises of God to come to her home, and that's probably why God sent Elijah to her. But here was Elijah, instead of giving her the promise,

TIMELY NOTES! Faith gives uninterrupted access to blessings. In Luke 8, the bible records that; people were waiting for Jesus, Jairus needed Jesus to come to his house to heal his dying daughter, and at the same time, people were thronging Him - you know how it feels when the president is passing a community, everybody would be struggling to touch him. Everybody needed His attention, but it was just unfortunate that He was going to Jairus' house to heal his daughter. Now, here was a woman who didn't need His attention, instead, she only needed to touch the helm of His garment. And as soon as she did, her issue of blood ceased. Jesus turned for the first time and enquired about who had touched Him. His disciples were upset about the question because virtually everyone was touching Him. And when the woman unveiled herself, He made it known to the woman that she didn't need His attention because her faith had already given her what He would have given her. Faith does not n

TIMELY NOTES! Be positive about everything, even the things you desperately need to change. Many people are still on the same job because of their negative attitude towards their job. They have this "I deserve a better job" attitude; which affects their job, relationship with colleagues, and the company at large. The truth is; if your attitude towards people does not bring peace to them, you won't see the hand of God. Remember that scripture admonishes that we should follow peace with all men otherwise we will not see God. The salary may not be up to your expectation, the business may not bring as much profit, your spouse may not be as supportive, your teachers may not be as intelligent, your children may not be as brilliant, but be positive! I've lived with a mindset that "nothing comes to me for nothing; everything that comes to me comes for a positive reason, and that reason must be positively accomplished". Things may appear bad, but it doesn't c

TIMELY NOTES! Faith is like a spiritual subsidy that God has added to a believer so that things can be cheaply accessible to him. Before faith was discovered, Believers were not known to have valuable possessions, they called them "church rats". As at then, who would dare to buy a house, to buy a car, or to even get married? All that believers did was to preach, going to school was even a problem for most of them. When faith came, it became cheaper to do all those things. With a lesser effort, everything will be possible to a believer. Our bills may be heavy, but the subsidy of faith gives an assurance that we can and will clear those bills. It would interest you to know that it was in the new testament that believers were empowered to buy things. In Matt 25:9, the bible says "go to them that sell and buy for yourself". That also means that without the subsidy of faith, we cannot afford anything in life. But what a joy, God does not have any plan to remove the s

TIMELY NOTES! The weather is always cool in the morning; but don't expect it to remain like that all through the day. As a matter of fact, expect heat from the sun before noon, expect rainfall to wet the dry ground at anytime. A day without the sun and rainfall would be a very good day for most individuals, but this doesn't happen every time. Whatever the day may bring, nature is always ready to accept it. Even if the rain comes with a flood, the plants and the ground will find a way around it. Even if the sun begins to drop fire, nature would always prevail. Remember that a flood consumed everything on the earth in the time of Noah, but in the end, nature survived. Humans are survivors, come rain, come shine. We were created to outlast any storm. No matter what may be happening right now, we have capacity to overcome it, just like nature. It may take time, but don't let it take your life. The sun doesn't shine for 24 hours, and even if it rains for 24 hours, it won

TIMELY NOTES! Satan wants you to feel unworthy. Most times it's not the sin we commit that keeps God's blessing away from us, it's the feeling of guilt that follows. Satan wants you to feel unworthy to get married, he wants you to believe that after everything you've done, you don't deserve to be rich. He wants you to believe that you've aborted too many children, and that's why you don't deserve to have a child. If we do a census of people who have killed themselves, we'd discover that most of them did it because they felt "unworthy". The amazing thing is, even after God has forgiven them, they still feel unworthy. This is my take; since it's a lot easier to change your story than your worthiness, instead of worrying about changing your worthiness, change your story.  It's a lot faster and cheaper. Simply make a new and much more supportive story and live into that story. The wages of sin is death, and if you're still alive

TIMELY NOTES! Faith doesn't make sense. And that's because our natural senses were created by faith. Our minds may reason physics, chemistry and biology, it may even know the geography of the entire world, but it can't reason faith. Faith is a spiritual force, and it will take our spirit to have faith in God. This is why no matter how much my mind doubts the word of God, I still believe it all the same. Your mind may doubt it, but you should still believe it. It's not the doubt in your mind that God reacts to, it's the doubt in your heart. The bible tells us that if we can say to a mountain to be removed, without doubt in our heart, we shall have whatsoever we say. Haven't we noticed, that; it's easier to reason with the doctor than to reason with faith? It's easier to agree with the weather forecast than to agree in faith? It's easier to reason with landlords than to reason with faith? Jesus knew all these things, and that's why He told us n

TIMELY NOTES! Jesus told a parable of a certain master who was preparing to travel on a far journey and called his servants to give them silver - according to their level. After he had distributed the silver, he said to them "occupy till I come". We later saw in scriptures that most of his servants made good use of the portion of silver that was given to them; but one of them didn't bring a good report, and his master was greatly displeased with him. He believed that what his master gave to him was not sufficient to bring a good report. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave us faith, just as the master gave silver to his servant. And the reason why He gave us faith is so that we can "occupy till He comes". The truth is; the things that Jesus wants us to occupy are not vacant. Some ladies are not married yet because their God-ordained husband is lost in the hands of another lady. Some young folks are not in school yet because someone is sitting on the ad

TIMELY NOTES! Faith is demonstrative! The bible tells us that the gospel that we preach is not to entice people, but to demonstrate the power of the Spirit. Come to think of it, most of the lessons that Jesus taught His disciples began with demonstrations. Before He taught them how to remove obstacles, He first cursed the fig tree. Before He taught them how to fast, it was already clear to them that some demons won't leave them until they engaged a higher force. Before He taught them how to be calm in the face of heavy storms, He first rebuked the storm. He also explained the mystery of thanksgiving with demonstrations. He gave thanks to God, and five loaves with two fishes fed over five thousand people. He gave thanks, and Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, came back to life. Faith is not passive, it is the active part of God's word. The bible tells us not to be hearers of the word only, but also doers, otherwise we'd be deceiving ourselves. That also means that

TIMELY NOTES! Problems never go away, it's how we handle them that makes it look like they've gone. To be candid, as long as you're breathing, you will always have obstacles in your life. However, the size of a problem is never the issue, it is the size of "you". The bible tells us that there is no problem that comes to a man that is above the man. That also means that if a problem is too much for you, then you've not developed your size to overcome it. Faith is what determines the size of man. The more faith you have, the bigger your size, and the smaller big problems would become. Buying a house or a car may appear like a big problem to you right now; and that's probably because you think you need to have the money to buy them. True, but it's important to note that faith can buy everything money can buy - and even beyond. To me, if you can't increase your income, then increase your faith. There are many people who are still owing house rent,

TIMELY NOTES! Satan knows how to fight, but he doesn't know how to win. It takes faith to win, and only those who are born of God are qualified to operate in faith. The bible tells us that "He that is born of God overcomes the world, and faith is the victory that he'd use to overcome the world". Satan may become so fierce and deadly in a fight; he may even brake your bones, and probably take out your jaws; he may take all your money and suddenly turn you into a wretch; but in all these things, you're more than conquerors. He may beat you, but he doesn't have what it takes to win you. The righteous man may fall seven times, but faith will bring him up again. That's why all things work together for good to them that love God. Jesus was dead, but faith brought Him back. Lazarus had been buried for days, but faith cleared the horrible stench and restored his life. There's no closed nor dead case with faith; as long as your faith is still on, God is sti

TIMELY NOTES! A certain man was diagnosed with cancer, and was told he had just two months to live. He was also advised to frequent his visit to the medical centre, so that they could monitor his condition. The more he visited, the sicker he became. And that's probably because he never received any positive news from the doctors. As God would have it, some evangelists met with him, and told him about the love of Christ. He believed them, not because he was dying, but because he felt lighter with the positive words that came from them. He started attending church services; and mysteriously, each time he attended, the pastor would declare that "you shall not die but live to declare the goodness of God". Though it wasn't a direct declaration, but this man took it personal. The more he heard those words, the healthier he became, but the more he listened to the doctor's report, the more sickly he became. He decided to stop visiting the hospital, since it was alread

TIMELY NOTES! A cold wind was howling and rain beating down heavily, when the telephone rang at the residence of a rural doctor. The doctor struggled to wake up and noticed it was just 12:30am. Since he was a kind and compassionate soul, he picked up the phone and enquired who was calling. "it's my wife!" cried the farmer who called. She needs a doctor right away, can you please come at once? "Sure, I'd come," said the doctor. "But can you come and get me? Because my car is being repaired. "What, how do you expect me to come out on a night like this?" said the farmer. Many believers are like that farmer. They want to experience the good hand of God, but they like to get it without doing anything. Just like that doctor, God is available, even in the dead of the night. But are we ready to do what it takes to make Him intervene on our matter? Faith without work is dead. The farmer had faith in the doctor, but he was not willing to do the work

TIMELY NOTES! How do you feel when you're praying to God? God does not care about the form, the shape, and the vocabulary of our prayers. It is the feeling that counts to Him. A poor farmer, returning home from the market after a long tiring day, found that the wheel of his cart was about to come loose. He was in the middle of the woods, and his cart was loaded with produce. Anxiously, he searched his pockets for the little prayer book, which he always carried with him. To his dismay, he found that he had forgotten to bring it with him. He closed his eyes and began to pray thus, "Dear God, I have done something very foolish. I left my prayer book at home and my memory is not as retentive. I don't seem to remember a single prayer. So this is what I am going to do. I shall recite the alphabet - very very slowly - several times. Since You know all the prayers, please put the letters together and form the right prayer for me". God replied saying "This prayer is t

TIMELY NOTES! Be anxious for nothing; instead, pray about those concerns, and don't forget to appreciate God for the opportunity. But how would you pray or give thanks when the situation becomes really unpleasant? Many people would like to do the will of God at all times, but oftentimes, the challenges they go through take away their heart from His will. I've seen married men who had happy faces during the first two years in marriage, but afterwards, they live in clear depression. At that point, their minds have wandered far away from the word of God, and they'd need someone to constantly remind them - that God shall supply all their needs according to His riches, and not their riches. Come to think of it, most of the things we get anxious about are things we were first joyful for. Many people were happy to get a job, but they've become anxious because their job can no longer pay their bills. Many people were happy to get married, but now, anxiety has taken over the

TIMELY NOTES! Your testimony will come! Don't cast away your confidence in God, because it would surely be rewarded. The devil may try so hard to delay your testimony, but as long as your faith is still on, you'd win the relay. It's important to know that those who run in a race run till they reach the finish line. Faith is like a relay race, and every one who reaches the finish line emerges a winner. Faith is not about who finishes first or last, it's about who endures till the end. The bible tells us that "he that endures to the end will be saved". Faith is the tool that secures our salvation, as long as we don't give up the race, we'd be saved. There's hope for a tree that is cut down; if it sees a good weather condition, water, and a good soil, it would grow again. What those elements are to a plant are what faith is to man. The tree may not grow on the first day, or even the first year, but as long as those elements are consistent, it woul

TIMELY NOTES! Faith brings comfort, but you can't be comfortable when it comes. The bible says that "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God". In other words, we don't go to faith, faith comes to us, though we have to transport it from where it is to where we are by studying and understanding the word of God. And that's why we can't over read or get tired of the word of God, we just have to continue hearing it - until faith comes. But how do we know when faith has come? The bible tells us that "he that is born of God overcomes the world, and faith is tool that overcomes the world". That means, faith has come when you've overcome. So don't tell me "you've engaged faith but the problem is still there", faith is an ever-victorious tool, no amount of problem can withstand its power. If you're still struggling with problems, then it's because you've not settled in faith. Faith is light, it doesn'