It has become so natural for many of us Christians in particular to continue living in the past. We naturally forget about today. The presence is so far to many of us. Christianity of today is to deal with our ability to link the living of today into that of yester-years and forge a way to sustain our tomorrow.

Living in the past

Many times we find ourselves far behind schedule. We have to develop things that would make us move forward. There must be changes in our concepts and mentality. successful people aer specially trained to explore where there is weakness and that is where there are things that will make you move forward. Success concepts looks at places of weakness. That is where the opportunity is! It is by being the best in that area. what is the rational behind fight a man in his strongest area.
A football match is won by exploring the weakness of the opponent. That is why we need to understand as Christians that your opponent is not your enemy. The opponent brings out the best in us and that only happens when we are alert to the environment. The opponent has understudy you so that is how they understood your weakness.
Christianity has nothing to do with age; I have seen a miracle happen through a five-year old just as well as an eighty year old. The strategy is that you have to think that, this thing that I am doing, I have to be good in it so that if tomorrow some one else comes to challenge me would I still be the best in that thing?
It is the life we live today that is going to influence our tomorrow. This means we need the power of the Holy Spirit for now and to manifest the future.

So when we talk about integration, we are talking about people who are willing to make themselves viable, inclusive to whatsoever that happens in the society. In Amos 3:3, it reads can two walk together except they agree? This is where we have problems! A husband and wife who are not in agreement how can they work together and do things in common. How can two business partners work together except they agree?

Our Development

So how can you fit into and benefit from a new community except you first agree to integrate with them. In that case you become a threat to the society. For success to come we have to learn to belong into the community.
This is the way christianity too is; when you know the Word of God and you continue to acquire more of it, in time it begins to take a strong hold of your life. You are able to link from one Word of God to another and most importantly the Holy Spirit is now more able to remind you (John 14:26) of it as you even relate it to real life situations.
The Holy Spirit CAN only teach you when you are prepared to learn. God can choose to use anyone to speak to us. Do we want to listen? Don’t we normally say that “They are unbelievers, what do they know?” or “How can I listen to him/her?” But the Bible says in (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21) that believe all things BUT test all things!

Do you know this hard truth?
Those that you think do not like you, are the ones that actually tell you the truth.

You do not like to be with them because it is natural that you do not hear the truth so you can continue to bury your head in the sand like an ostrich. If you are able to integrate into the new place you find yourself, you grow faster because you are able to use what you already know and blend it with what new things you have learnt.
Integration is very important. What you know is supposed to help you fit into the new society demands. No matter who you are, when you do not fit into the community you belong to you become a story-teller and a complainant.

This continues from Fire Room Prayer
Putting prayers into sections can be very difficult for a lot of people. Just as in writing a letter, prayers have sections too.
I shall make it clear here that at times, some people can be pardoned for not knowing how to do this. Novice Christians are those who pray to impress people around them. They pray so people can hear them praying. Generally, effective prayer sections are like those that Jesus emphasised in Matthew 6:9-15.
Do it like this:

Running off Prayers

If after a Christian activity, a prayer session or a little ceremony, you no longer need to have a 30 minutes prayer to sum up a 45 minutes occasion. To run off prayer, take this example;
“Father we thank you for being here with us. We thank you for the support, we also thank you for the [here you mention the people who spear headed the occasion that just ended]. We thank you for the praise and worship and we also thank you for all you have done in Jesus’ name. Dear Lord grant us a safe journey back home. Amen.”. This is a simple running off prayer.
There is a big difference between starting a prayer and ending one.
Read this simple format. PLEASE IT IS A FORMAT or FORMULA. Do not start reciting it:

Opening Prayers

This is where you are communicating what you are just about to start in the Lord’s Hands.
“Father I want to thank you for bringing us into your presence today in Jesus’ name. Amen. Lord we want to ask you Oh God to guide us through all today/tonight’s activities [you can mention the activities’ names here]. Lord we are asking that you see us through and also protect those on their way here, hasten their footsteps. Thank you Father. Touch the lips of the man of God and also those going to lead the various activities [you can mention them here] in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Read Isaiah 58.
What is the right way of doing prayer? In that Isaiah chapter, it asked us if our way is the right way of fasting and prayer? We say we are Christians but are we living that way so that the people would call us so? Why do we not live as Jesus said to us; “Do unto others as you want others to do unto you”? Does your heart condemn you when you are doing anything? Read Psalms 58 so it guides us before God!

Fire Room Prayer

Find out how you can reframe your prayers. Prayers that God would give his ear to.
In Matthew 7:7, it reads that we should ask and it shall be given unto us, it went on from there… So also in Jn. 14:14, Jesus wanted us to know that ask anything in the name of Jesus Christ and God the Father would do it for you.
Jesus sounded a note of caution that do not just pray; but when we pray, we should pray in a particular fashion. Pray with the format by first praising God the Father in Heaven… Matt. 6:9-15.
Today, how do we shape our prayer life so it is unique. For that reason we are launching what is called fire room prayer. Where nobody tells you what to pray for but you know that it is between you and God (Unless specific prayer points are raised). A prayer in which you are not distracted. In this type of prayer, you set your time as to how long you want to pray for. There, you are going to wrestle with God for a solution.
In this type of prayer, you empty everything with God. Make sure you put of phones, etc.. As soon as you connect, do not disconnect till your prayer is over and you set the time and agenda. Read your Bible, especially the verses about prayer or that has to do with prayer.
Better to prayer for 10 minutes and get a conviction that the prayer is answered than to pray for an hour and feel nothing.

Continue with Effective Prayer Sections

What is the differences between our yesterday, and our today? Many times we christians go on and ask these types of questions. If you are a Christian, and nothing has changed in your life from last year to this year, then you might like to re-consider your Christianity. One thing you can tell about someone who is a christian is that they are first Born Again – A true Christian.
There must be a reason why you are a Christian. So why are you a Christian??? Do you go to church as a social event or to please God? Do you live your life just to please God and build on the Word of God already in you?

Social Integration

How do you integrate yesterday to today? Integration is our ability to inter twine ourselves into our new-found community in the environment we are. It means taking our culture to balance into the ones we find ourselves.
Imagine you find yourself in a different locality or community, in order to be integrated into that community, you need to let some things go whiles you incorporate some new ideas from the new community.
Two questions need to be asked here;
a) Do you want to stay in the new community and integrate there in the long-term or
b) Do you plan staying staying just the short-term?
If the plan is to go with the option A, then we need to study and learn the lifestyle of the people there to feel included so that we are respected and valued in the long run.
However, in the case of option B, since you are just passing by, you can choose not to do any thing to integrate. But even there, there are still somethings that you need to learn in the new land.

One of the hardest things we pass through in life is our adaptability to change. What scares us most is change even though we know it is the only constant thing in life. Successful people anticipate it whiles the rest are scared of it.

What scares us?

Change can be so subtle or so violent; for example ignore something for a bit longer and the first Law of Motion which Issac Newton describes as Inertia would actually set in. When you do not know what is happening around you how can you plan for change? It very difficult to adapt to change when you do not know what is changing.
We are all changing but into what? What are we changing into? Our inability to recognise change is a big personal battle everyday. We are scared, because we do not see ourselves good enough to stand up to challenges in challenging times. Christians over emphasies on evil forces but they do not prepare for a rainy day.

You are your own greatest enemy.

They are so adamant to learn new things even so relactant to study. We fear innovation! But if we can or are perpared to learn (2 Tim. 2:15), we can share ideas. In sharing ideas, we individually gain more than we think (Isa. 1:18-20). We have depressed situations because we find it difficult to redirect our thoughts to positivity and we therefore get frustrated.
God knows the thoughts He has of us (Jer. 29:11). He wants to give us an expected end. What end? The end that we expect. To prevent us being scared, we need to turn (2 Chron. 7:14) and return to the power of God on earth; the Holy Spirit. He is a gentle one who would never come in unless you allow Him (Rev. 3:20). You are God’s investment on earth so He put Him watch over you (John 14:16; John 16:13)

This post is a continuation of our greatest asset.

In Achieving the dream, Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to enter into the kingdom of heaven than for a rich man. The rich man thinks that he has self actualised and therefore does not need change. He cannot be malleable nor flexible. Wisdom is needed to be malleable and flexible. Knowledge is needed to even spot the eye of a needle. Change is the only thing that does not change and that is where we have to be double delivered.

Achieving the dream

In John 3:1-7 we read that except a man is born again. Born again means to get the knowledge of a thing first. You need to be born of spirit and water after born again; that is wisdom is needed to enter. We all can see the goodies in the land however, you need the wisdom to enter and take your possession.
Until you discover the mysteries in God’s kingdom, you are still dueling in the foundations and the fundamental principles. These elementary principles Heb.6:1-2 is what most of Christianity is today. Christians are eager to show off their new attire in church, ask what church do you go to?, who is your pastor; name, origin, etc.. What is that nonsense all about? Go back and read what all those child-ish discussions as Paul called them! Let us study and learn what it means to be of better use to our society by being productive and effective work force for our various countries as a whole.

Perfection

What is perfection. Digging deep! Let us move from these minor things. Even the devil can preach these things. Let us not be prayer collectors but we should be anointing distributors.
In achieving the dream, there are always opportunities out there however, it is for you to decide it the way that has opened for you is the right one for your success concept. We all have our destiny and therefore dream. There is a structure in every fulfillment of the dreams. When the dream is achieved, we then live on our dreams and get fulfilled. Those persons mentioned above saw their dreams from the past.
A dream about the future is what led Ruth to declare herself to follow Naomi. She saw herself in the next few years where she would be. DREAMS!

Coming to think of it, who are you? What do you perceive yourself to be? You are what your greatest asset tells you that you are. Dreams are our greatest asset and you are your dreams. At the least of times when all seems down, you only have your dreams. Your dreams are your thoughts.

Our greatest asset

Knowledge is a fundamental requirement to developing wisdom. What do we need wisdom for what? Wisdom to get things moving in life to the next level, wisdom answers all calls; wisdom and money are friends (Ecclesiastes 7:11-12) and therefore wisdom without money is poverty and annoyance.

A person with a dream is a person who does not breakdown due to the pursuit of the dream.

David had a dream, so did Joseph (Gen. 37:5-7), Peter had a dream too. What of Abraham, Esther and Deborah (Judges 4:8-9). We can remember Ruth (Ruth 1:16), Joshua and Moses and many like that including Paul and Titus. They had a dream which was their driver; It is to be number one. One thing we all need to understand is that as Christians when you read the Bible you have to find yourself in it. Let those words jump up in your spirit.
Jephtath (Judges 11) was thrown away but never gave up. Peter never gave up too. Elisha had a dream to be at the top (2 Kings 2:9). They all never gave up and they all believed that it might not see the end of their dreams but they can pioneer the dream so that future generations can build on it. Dreamers can fail and see it as an opportunity to continue more intelligently.
Many of us cannot tap into your dreams due to fear. Fear makes you to see the failure only. Many of us dream to be the heads and not the tail. We want to get the prize but do not have the ability to pay the prize to realise the dreams.

Next achieving the dream.

We have read many times that it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). God is a rewarder of he who diligently seeks Him. Why is faith an essential ingredient for our human existence? Faith that works propels us to newer heights.

Faith that works

It is easy to teach someone how to do a thing however, it is another thing for that person to do that thing. If that person does not understand why he/she has to do that thing, then even if those things are done he/she would not learn from its lessons.
Innovative processes comes to those who are prepared to learn a new thing. Have you taken time to ask yourself a question as to why some of us go for a training yet we do not actually know what we have learnt.
Take a good look at the senior England football team, and ask why do they just lack faith at the final hurdle? Why do they panic over minnows? They seem to have no crisis management skills at hand. Why is it that even though the team initially seems confident yet they seem to have no plan B on the field when the “cheap” opponents are seemingly a walkover?
Panic, worry and fear seems to engulf us at the extreme circumstances when we are thrown into situations. From the Hebrews 11:6 we understand that without faith it is impossible to please God. It is also impossible to understand His creative power. Without faith no one can be creative. When most of us are asked about our faith we say we do have faith but what we imply is that one day God would do a miracle for us. That is a natural concept.

People of faith

People of faith are those who create an enabling environment in that each step they take is creative. It was by faith that Noah made that ark (Gen. 6:9-22). It was not normal. Faith that works is your ability to go beyond normal ways of living to create a way of improvement in your day-to-day living. Faith is therefore a source of strength to re-energise a man or a woman who has decided to make a difference in their world. However, in their acts, they accept that in the process they might face unlimited challenges and some of these would break the normal weak vessels. The strength of faith in them determines whether they collapse or get motivated to innovate in order to come out with a needed result. Faith that works would say “Don’t give up!”. Don’t give up your creativity.
Normal lifestyle would say “You’ve tried men!” “Even God understands” but at that extreme level, there is still some one or two persons out there who refuses to give up. Why and how is it that some do not give up trying even though people are still mocking them? Faith is the key into all things. That is why no matter the concepts been taught out there if you do not have the faith to believe what has been taught, you would never learn from it. What faith tells you is that it enable you to perceive the future from now. It enables you to be in control of yourself. This is the test of your faith.

Faith

Many times when Christians go through disappointments they ask “Oh where is our God?”. The question God also asks is that “Oh yeah, where are you?”. How can God stand up for you in times of challenges when you His physical representative has taken flight and given up so early? Challenges are what build our faith to be stronger so that when we even seem to lose, we can see the opportunity for a brand new re-start. Faith gives you hope for a better tomorrow and because you believe there is a better tomorrow, you are prepared to learn to achieve that which you hope for. This faith allows us to accept defeat and success. (It takes a large heart). Faith that works energises and re-energises us. Faith is a catalyst that causes an action to take place. We all have faith but it all depends on how the individual applies it.

Upon The Heaven; Upon The Earth

Our testimony would not come until there is a complete transformation in us just as the earth shook when Christ resurrected from the dead. It is the regenerated Christ that is the answer to all born again Christians. It is the Christ in you that is the hope of glory. We are no longer looking for Jesus, No! What makes a difference in our lives is the Christ in us. Somebody once asked, how do I encounter Christ. The answer is He is already in you from the day you became born again. All you needed to do is to activate or trigger Him.
Many people follow either their visions or those of others when they have bought into them or can testify that a personal positivity has occurred. A personal testimony will make you stick and worship the Lord and be constructive. An counter with the a fulfillment of a vision makes us stick and remain in a place. Your personal testimony will drive you to another level in christianity. At that level, upon the heaven, upon the earth means that heaven has concreted the earth and earth has connected heaven. My level of christianity is not based on what others have preached to me. It is based on my own personal testimony. Christianity is how much you are able to understand that it is how much you have being able to connect to your own reality. In Joshua 10:12, Joshua had a testimony he remembered about his personal testimonies. A christian without a testimony has no charismatic roll-out. There is nothing to boast upon unto the enemies about the goodness of God unto your life. Remember life is not normal! It is all about our ability to change situations!
Christianity is how much connected you are with reality of your own personal living. Until you develop a certain or an amount of confidence in yourself and believe that the same God you serve is able to do some certain things…I know it is quite dehumanising to serve the people you know you are higher than.
Do you want to know that God is not far from you? No one would change you when you are defined. When many people say a thing about you, listen! Take something on board. A man with a dream never fails and a good man does not die untill he fulfills his part of the good dream.