THE CALVARY OF OUR LIVES:

Is your present job/hobby/career/time-table/schedule/event/activity/vocation e.t.c for each day that with which you can draw/muster courage to say “consumatum est” {it is finished; Jn.19:30} to God should death meet you at that point or ‘as for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation and the time has come for me to depart. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come for me now is the crown of uprightness which the Lord, the upright judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his appearing’ [2 Tim.4:6-8] since our Lord’s sixth word on the cross at the Calvary confirmed the fear most men are unwilling to admit {‘since human beings die only once, after which comes judgment’ Heb.9:27} that we can die any second of the day whether rich/poor/married/single/barren/potent/righteous/unrighteous e.t.c [‘your pride has been flung down to Sheol with the music of your lyres; under you a mattress of maggots, over you a blanket of worms’ Isaiah 14:11]which will be followed by a detailed account of how we utilized or misused the Grace, Talent, Span, Intelligence, Honor, Immortality, Power e.t.c poured on us at creation (“the Lord God shaped man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils and man became a living being” Gen.2:7) and baptism {‘I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know the master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. You did not choose me, no I chose you; and commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name’ Jn.15:15-16} as Christ did [“I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do” Jn.17:4] which gave him the boldness to commend His Soul (‘…Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. With these words he breathed his last’ Lk.23:46) as his last word on the cross to the One who alone could save him and He was heard for His righteousness {“During his life on earth, he offered up prayer and entreaty, with loud cries and with tears, to the one who had the power to save him from death and winning a hearing by his reverence, he learnt obedience, Son though he was, through his sufferings; when he had been perfected, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation and was acclaimed by God with the title of high priest of the order of Melchizedek” Heb.5:7-10}

BEFORE EACH DAY RUNS OUT TRY TO CROSS ANY OR SOME OF THESE HURDLE:
Abstinence from Food and Drinks supplemented with mental prayers and selfless encounter with other human being; Esther did with Mordecai and few Jew which saved them from the devious plan of Haman thus “whereupon Esther sent this reply to Mordecai, Go and assemble all the Jews now in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink day or night for three days. For my part, I and my waiting-women shall keep the same fast, after which I shall go to the king in spite of the law and if I perish, I perish. Mordecai went away and carried out Esther’s instructions…He looked up afire with majesty and blazing with anger, saw her. The queen sank to the floor…but God changed the king’s heart, inducing a milder spirit. He sprang from his throne in alarm and took her in his arms until she recovered comforting her with soothing words. What is the matter, Esther? He said. I am your brother. Take heart, you are not going to die; our order applies only to ordinary people. Come to me” {Esther 4:15-5:1}
Give alms to the poor and let your love for others exude from your inner-heart for it washes away multitude of sin (‘above all preserve an intense love for each other, since love covers many a sin’ 1 Pet.4:8) when performed with good intention [“almsgiving is a most effective offering for all those who do it in the presence of the Most High” Tobit 4:11]
Let your actions, dressing, speech, intentions, silence, diligence, commitment e.t.c relay the message of righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit {Rom.14:17-19} to your soul and others bearing in mind the imminence of death, judgment, hell and Heaven (Col.3:16-17)
Why you should start practicing these and many more other virtues consistently and continuously:

“You love uprightness and detest evil. This is why God, your God has anointed you with oil of gladness as none of your rivals” {Ps.45:7}
‘Be sure of it, the wicked will not go unpunished, but the race of the upright will come to no harm’ [Prov.11:21]
“Uprightness makes a nation great by sin whole race are disgraced” (Prov.14:34)
‘It is hard for the upright to be saved, what will happen to the wicked and to sinners? {1 Pet.4:18}
“Uprightness will be the belt around his waist and constancy the belt about his hips” (Isaiah 11:5)
‘He never commanded anyone to be godless, he has given no one permission to sin’ {Sirach 15:20}
“But anyone who stands firm to the end will be saved” [Mtt.24:13]
‘love virtue, you who are judges on earth, let honesty prompt your thinking about the Lord, seek him in simplicity of heart; since he is to be found by those who do not put him to the test he shows himself to those who do not distrust him’ (Wisd.1:1-2)

PRAYER:
Lord, in answer to our prayer give us patience in suffering hardships after the example of your Only-begotten Son, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

HAPPY NEW MONTH

Thank you Lord, for the gift of a new month, ushering all and sundry into the last quarter of the year 2012 {the year of the twelve tribes of Israel with regards to the old testament and the twelve apostles of the Lamb as we have in the new testament hence a confirmed year of masticating the Scriptures; THE WORD} as we pray Him to grant us mercies on the past mistakes (sins) “and it is for the Lord our God to have mercy and to pardon, since we have betrayed him” {Dan.9:9} also seeking his Grace, and the full activation of His seven Spirits [Rev.4:5] within us in order to desire and consistently bear witness to the truth in all our endeavors. Amen.

IF GOD DID NOT SPARE HIS ONLY SON {Mtt.27:46}? We cry out in travails and make excuse for ourselves why we should betray our Creator in order to steal from our parents/neighbors/offices/schools/relations/enemies e.t.c, defile our body and soul in masturbation/sudar-daddy & mummy affairs/pornography/adultery/fornication/lesbianism/homosexuality/incest/prostitution/drug trafficking & addictions/smoking/gluttoness/drunkenness/insults on parents/lying lips/partying-spirit/envy/jealousy/heresy/apostasy/indecent projection and exposure of our body parts in the lodges/streets/internets/markets/offices/schools with tight & mini tops/gowns/skirts, show back/breast/underwear/laps clothes, transparent clothes, boxers, bomb-shorts, trousers, strapless tops e.t.c with a back-up phrase of ‘God will understand & His mercies endures forever’ even those who wear long gowns and skirts which they easily roll up for a fling, quickie, fingering and five minutes sex under the belief that nobody saw you remember ‘…I know about your behavior: how you are reputed to be alive and yet are dead’ (Rev.3:1) and amidst all these and many more which Christ saw in us he decided to take our curse on himself that we might be saved {‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by being cursed for our sake since scripture says: Anyone hanged is accursed’ Gal.3:13} hence fulfilling the will of the Father under agonies and pain yet His Father did not spare him (“it was God’s good pleasure to crush him with pain; if he gives his life as a sin offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his life and through him God’s good pleasure will be done” Isaiah 53:10) thus he cried out “And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eli, eli, lama sabachthani? that is , My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mtt.27:46) It is a cry in the mysterious language of Hebrew to express the tremendous mystery of a God “abandoned” by God. The Son calls His Father, God. What a contrast with a prayer He once taught: “Our Father, who art in Heaven!” In some strange, mysterious way His human nature seems separated from His Heavenly Father and yet not separated, for otherwise how could He cry, “My God, My God”? But just as the sun’s light and heat can be withdrawn from us by the intervening clouds, though the sun remains in the sky, so there was a kind of withdrawal of His Father’s Face in the terrible moment in which He took upon Himself the sins of the world. This pain and desolation He suffered for each of us, that we might know what a terrible thing it is for human nature to be without God, to be deprived of a Divine Remedy and Consolation, but did not give up rather believed, trusted and commended His soul to His Father ‘…Father, into your hands I commit my spirit…’ (Lk.23:46) thus in moments of family crisis, life- challenges, sinful-desires stick-in with God and his righteousness because “after the ordeal he has endured, he will see the light and be content…” {Isaiah 53:10} and ‘you love uprightness and detest evil. This is why God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness, as none of your rivals’ [Heb.1:9]. For those who say there is no hell-fire because God cannot allow his creatures that he professed to love [‘God has appeared to me from afar; I have loved you with an everlasting love and so I still maintain my faithful love for you’ Jer.31:3] to suffer eternally under pain, torture and agony in hell-fire (Rev.20:15) have you forgotten what happened to Korah’s family and the 250 levi who protested against Moses and Aaron as we have in people who are today dividing against the one Church instituted by Christ on Peter and the obedient succession of apostolic link of the Holy, One, Catholic and Apostolic Church (‘…these banded together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, you take too much on yourselves! The whole community, all its members are consecrated and God lives among them. Why set yourselves higher than God’s community?...Moses said, this is how you will know that God himself has sent me to perform all these tasks and that I am not doing them of my own accord…the moment he finished saying all this, the ground split apart under their feet, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their families, all Korah’s people and all their property…fire then shot out from God and consumed the two hundred and fifty men offering incense’ Numb.16:1-35) and the God of that period has not changed neither is he dealing with another people apart from his creatures sprung from the race of Adam and eve down to Jacob and Sarah {“No; I the Lord, do not change; and you have not ceased to be children of Jacob” Mal.3:6} or suffer the effects of mortal sins already forgiven [‘… you were a God of forgiveness to them, but punished them for their sins’ Ps.99:8] or venial sins not forgiven (“…there is a sin that leads to death and I am not saying you must pray about that. Every kind of wickedness is sin, but not all sin leads to death” 1Jn.5:16-17) before death in purgatory since we refused to atone for them here with mortification (Acts.13:2), alms-giving {Tobith 4:11}, living a life of testimony for Christ (Mtt.10:32-33), honest and sincere repentance using the sacrament of reconciliation [Jn.20:22-23] from evil desire to a craving for holiness in all ramifications {Heb.1:9} bearing in mind that “nothing unclean may come into it: no one who does what is loathsome or false, but only those who are listed in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev.21:27). Finally, if God did not spare his only beloved son that pain and agony on the cross in order to provide us with all the heavenly Grace, Strength and Power to overcome the enemy in moments of trials to prove our loyalty for Him which men of old like Enoch, Elijah, Abraham, Moses e.t.c showed even without their encounter with God made man (Christ) how do we think God will spare our sinful-generation who have both the knowledge {“…by his knowledge, the upright one, my servant will justify many by taking their guilt on himself” Isaiah 53:11} of the law complimented by Grace of the Calvary in forms of water and blood from His precious wound (‘…through his bruises you have been healed’ 1 Pet.2:24) hence as you excuse yourself in any sin remember “if after we have been given knowledge of the truth, we should deliberately commit any sins, then there is no longer any sacrifice for them. There is left only the dreadful prospect of judgment and of the fiery wrath that is to devour your enemies” {Heb.10:26-27}, ‘there is no favoritism with God’ [Rom.2:11], and “He never commanded anyone to be godless, he has given no one permission to sin” (Sirach 15:20), then those who are yearning as well as walking in righteousness remember “Everyone, no matter how firmly he thinks he is standing, must be careful he does not fall” [1 Cor.10:12], ‘but anyone who stands firm to the end will be saved’ {Mtt.24:13} and “I am coming soon: hold firmly to what you already have and let no one take your victor’s crown away from you” (Rev.3:11).

We cry out in travails and make excuse for ourselves why we should betray our Creator in order to steal from our parents/neighbors/offices/schools/relations/enemies e.t.c, defile our body and soul in masturbation/sudar-daddy & mummy affairs/pornography/adultery/fornication/lesbianism/homosexuality/incest/prostitution/drug trafficking & addictions/smoking/gluttoness/drunkenness/insults on parents/lying lips/partying-spirit/envy/jealousy/heresy/apostasy/indecent projection and exposure of our body parts in the lodges/streets/internets/markets/offices/schools with tight & mini tops/gowns/skirts, show back/breast/underwear/laps clothes, transparent clothes, boxers, bomb-shorts, trousers, strapless tops e.t.c with a back-up phrase of ‘God will understand & His mercies endures forever’ even those who wear long gowns and skirts which they easily roll up for a fling, quickie, fingering and five minutes sex under the belief that nobody saw you remember ‘…I know about your behavior: how you are reputed to be alive and yet are dead’ (Rev.3:1) and amidst all these and many more which Christ saw in us he decided to take our curse on himself that we might be saved {‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by being cursed for our sake since scripture says: Anyone hanged is accursed’ Gal.3:13} hence fulfilling the will of the Father under agonies and pain yet His Father did not spare him (“it was God’s good pleasure to crush him with pain; if he gives his life as a sin offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his life and through him God’s good pleasure will be done” Isaiah 53:10) thus he cried out “And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eli, eli, lama sabachthani? that is , My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mtt.27:46) It is a cry in the mysterious language of Hebrew to express the tremendous mystery of a God “abandoned” by God. The Son calls His Father, God. What a contrast with a prayer He once taught: “Our Father, who art in Heaven!” In some strange, mysterious way His human nature seems separated from His Heavenly Father and yet not separated, for otherwise how could He cry, “My God, My God”? But just as the sun’s light and heat can be withdrawn from us by the intervening clouds, though the sun remains in the sky, so there was a kind of withdrawal of His Father’s Face in the terrible moment in which He took upon Himself the sins of the world. This pain and desolation He suffered for each of us, that we might know what a terrible thing it is for human nature to be without God, to be deprived of a Divine Remedy and Consolation, but did not give up rather believed, trusted and commended His soul to His Father ‘…Father, into your hands I commit my spirit…’ (Lk.23:46) thus in moments of family crisis, life- challenges, sinful-desires stick-in with God and his righteousness because “after the ordeal he has endured, he will see the light and be content…” {Isaiah 53:10} and ‘you love uprightness and detest evil. This is why God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness, as none of your rivals’ [Heb.1:9].

For those who say there is no hell-fire because God cannot allow his creatures that he professed to love [‘God has appeared to me from afar; I have loved you with an everlasting love and so I still maintain my faithful love for you’ Jer.31:3] to suffer eternally under pain, torture and agony in hell-fire (Rev.20:15)  have you forgotten what happened to Korah’s family and the 250 levi who protested against Moses and Aaron as we have in people who are today dividing against the one Church instituted by Christ on Peter and the obedient succession of apostolic link of the Holy, One, Catholic and Apostolic Church (‘…these banded together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, you take too much on yourselves! The whole community, all its members are consecrated and God lives among them. Why set yourselves higher than God’s community?...Moses said, this is how you will know that God himself has sent me to perform all these tasks and that I am not doing them of my own accord…the moment he finished saying all this, the ground split apart under their feet, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their families, all Korah’s people and all their property…fire then shot out from God and consumed the two hundred and fifty men offering incense’ Numb.16:1-35) and the God of that period has not changed neither is he dealing with another people apart from his creatures sprung from the race of Adam and eve down to Jacob and Sarah {“No; I the Lord, do not change; and you have not ceased to be children of Jacob” Mal.3:6} or suffer the effects of mortal sins already forgiven [‘… you were a God of forgiveness to them, but punished them for their sins’ Ps.99:8] or venial sins not forgiven (“…there is a sin that leads to death and I am not saying you must pray about that. Every kind of wickedness is sin, but not all sin leads to death” 1Jn.5:16-17) before death in purgatory since we refused to atone for them here with mortification (Acts.13:2), alms-giving {Tobith 4:11}, living a life of testimony for Christ (Mtt.10:32-33), honest and sincere repentance using the sacrament  of reconciliation [Jn.20:22-23] from evil desire to a craving for holiness in all ramifications {Heb.1:9} bearing in mind that “nothing unclean may come into it: no one who does what is loathsome or false, but only those who are listed in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev.21:27).

Finally, if God did not spare his only beloved son that pain and agony on the cross in order to provide us with all the heavenly Grace, Strength and Power to overcome the enemy in moments of trials to prove our loyalty for Him which men of old like Enoch, Elijah, Abraham, Moses e.t.c showed even without their encounter with God made man (Christ) how do we think God will spare our sinful-generation who have both the knowledge {“…by his knowledge, the upright one, my servant will justify many by taking their guilt on himself” Isaiah 53:11} of the law complimented by Grace of the Calvary in forms of water and blood from His precious wound (‘…through his bruises you have been healed’ 1 Pet.2:24) hence as you excuse yourself in any sin remember “if after we have been given knowledge of the truth, we should deliberately commit any sins, then there is no longer any sacrifice for them. There is left only the dreadful prospect of judgment and of the fiery wrath that is to devour your enemies” {Heb.10:26-27}, ‘there is no favoritism with God’ [Rom.2:11], and “He never commanded anyone to be godless, he has given no one permission to sin” (Sirach 15:20), then those who are yearning as well as walking in righteousness remember “Everyone, no matter how firmly he thinks he is standing, must be careful he does not fall” [1 Cor.10:12],  ‘but anyone who stands firm to the end will be saved’ {Mtt.24:13} and “I am coming soon: hold firmly to what you already have and let no one take your victor’s crown away from you” (Rev.3:11).

Forgiveness from God/ Secrets from God

How do you feel after deceiving yourself at the sacramental confession (Jn.20:22-23)? Because you decided to either justify some of your sins as minor offences, despicable (no one should hear/know apart from me and the environment therein because of my position in the church/society/family e.t.c), professional ethics that are anti-God {‘adulterers! Do you not realize that love for the world is hatred for God? Anyone who chooses the world for a friend is constituted an enemy of God’ James 4:4}, the time it happened [distance between now and the present; childhood, teen-ages e.t.c], the position of the accomplist, the character of the priest (‘since you have been forewarned about this, my dear friends, be careful that you do not come to the point of losing the firm ground that you are standing on, carried away by the errors of unprincipled people’ 2Pet.3:17) and your lack of knowledge of the Word [“My people perish for want of knowledge. Since you yourself have rejected knowledge, so shall I reject you from my priesthood; since you have forgotten the teaching of your God, I in turn shall forget your children” Hosea 4:6] under this paraphrase:
“the ones I remember and the ones I do not remember; I am sorry for all of them” while you willingly held them to yourself i.e hoping to grant yourself pardon for all these other sins as opposed to this passage ‘And it is for the Lord our God to have mercy and to pardon since we have betrayed him’ {Dan.9:9}.

It will be in your best interest to open up such canker thoroughly to God through the priest for complete healing (‘when he saw them he said, Go and show yourselves to the priests. Now as they were going away they were cleansed’ Lk.17:14) or face the poisonous fangs of your conscience till death {“then the Lord God of Sabaoth revealed this to my ears, this guilt will never be forgiven you until you are dead, says the Lord God of Sabaoth” Isaiah 22:14} because the secrets of our hearts from conception till date is as clear as the day before God [‘my being held no secrets from you, when I was being formed in secret, textured in the depths of the earth. Your eyes could see my embryo. In your book all my days were inscribed every one that was fixed is there’ Ps.139:15-16] who will judge us according to all of them in Christ (“according to the gospel that I preach, God through Jesus Christ, judges all human secrets” Rom.2:16) whose life we are living {“because you have died and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. but when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too, will be revealed with him in glory” Col.3:3-4} hence we are going to be revealed with Jesus Christ in the glory of heaven if our actual lifestyles here on earth exudes righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit (Rom.14:17-19)

The question for thought is “why should I allow my flesh which will be eaten up by maggots and ants (Isaiah 14:11) one day to control my spirit that will face judgment with an imperishable reward of either burning lake of sulphur [Rev.21:8] while one can rarely stand the flame from the stick of a matches/candle yet I am unwillingly to give up incest {mother to son, father to daughter, cousin to cousin, brother to sister, son with aunty, daughter with uncle, sister-in-law with brother-in-law, father-in-law with daughter-in-law, mother-in-law with son-in-law}, adultery (with husband’s best friend, with wife’s best friend, with next-door neighbor, with office colleagues/boss/clients, with lecturers/students, with church members/clergy), the truth about the paternity of your child to your husband and the child which will be more disastrous when the truth finally comes from outsiders, lesbian and homosexual lifestyles, nude/hal-nude/dirty pictures/videos/comments/write-ups of yourself or others that you watch/download/upload/read/keep/use around [phones/laptops/rooms/ipods/ipads] us from the internet/market which brings about uncontrolled passions, evil desires, impurities and sexual vices like masturbation, fornication, rape, indecent dressing on women (show-back/breast/underwear, tight tops/skirts/gowns, mini/pencil skirts, sleeveless/strapless tops, trousers, transparent clothes, boxers/bomb-shorts e.t.c) and men {tight shorts/trousers, sleeveless, boxers, transparent clothes e.t.c}, anger, hot temper, malice, abusive language, dirty talk, heresy, glutton, drunkenness, partying-spirit, abortion, pride, lying, buying and selling on Sundays/holy days of obligation, insults on parents/enemies/age-mates/relations/friends, idolatry, sorcerer, stealing, cultism e.t.c or gain the free water of life (Rev.21:17) for those who aim at glory, honor and immortality by persevering in good deeds (Rom.2:7)

Just turn around from your enslavement to those secrets {“I made my sin known to you, did not conceal my guilt. I said, I shall confess my offence to God. and you, for your part took away my guilt, forgave my sin” Ps.32:5}; love righteousness and hate sin then God will raise you above your contemporaries (‘you love uprightness and detest evil. This is why God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness, as none of your rivals’ Heb.1:9) because he does not desire the death of a sinner (“shake off all the crimes you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why die, House of Israel? I take no pleasure in the death of anyone—declares the Lord God – so repent and live!” Ezek.18:31-32).

Love for worldly things = hatred for God:

‘Adulterers! Do you not realize that love for the world is hatred for God? Anyone who chooses the world for a friend is constituted an enemy of God. Can you not see the point of the saying in scripture, the longing of the spirit he sent to dwell in us is a jealous longing? But he has given us an even greater grace, as scripture says: God opposes the proud but he accords his favor to the humble’ {James 4:4-6}
An adulterer is one who is not contented with his/her spouse hence goes outside the bed of matrimony to obtain wealth, satisfaction and happiness yet returns with betrayal, diseases and emptiness which can only be filled by the Source of all our longings {“In the daytime God sends his faithful love and even at night; the song it inspires in me is a prayer to my living God” Ps.42:8} who made us (Gen.1:27) and is always ready to remold us, if only we are willing to return sincerely to Him [‘if you come back, Israel, the Lord declares, if you come back to me, if you take your horrors out of my sight, if you go roving no more, if you swear, As the Lord lives! Truthfully, justly, uprightly then the nations will bless themselves by him and glory in him’ Jer.4:1-2].

Are you an adulterer? Have you inactivated the Holy Spirit you received at the waters of Baptism by sin? Which type of sin? Or the unending quest for genuine love from men and women that cannot be trusted? The craving for money/fame/favor/societal-class/spouse/carrier/education and its related degrees/power e.t.c

These yearnings we use to replace the major desire of our heart which is righteousness and peace in the Holy Spirit (‘for it is not eating and drinking that make the kingdom of God, but the saving justice, the peace and joy brought by the Holy Spirit’ Rom.14:17-19) as Christ demanded of us “set your hearts on his kingdom first and on God’s saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well” [Mtt.6:33] nevertheless after getting all these things if God permits (‘so it is not a matter of what any person wants or what any person does, but only of God having mercy’ Rom.9:16) the soul’s emptiness and yearning for God increases thus a rich man whether cultic or righteous begins to seek God’s blessings with regards to the fruit of the womb (male/female/either sex), protection on family, business, partners, relations, state e.t.c. as well as eternal life just like the rich aristocrat “one of the rulers put this question to him, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?...” {Lk.18:18-23}
The woman who was a sinner “one of the Pharisees invited him to a meal. When he arrived at the Pharisee’s house and took his place at table, suddenly a woman came in, who had a bad name in the town. She had heard he was dinning with the Pharisee and had brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment. She waited behind him at his feet, weeping and her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them away with her hair; then she covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with the ointment…for this reason I tell you that her sins, many as they are, have been forgiven her, because she has shown such great love. It is someone who is forgiven little who shows little love…” (Lk.7:36-50)

Priests and would-be-priests as well as all of us (royal priests; baptized Christians; 1 Pet.2:9), who find it very difficult to descend a little low to aid the poor around us {face to face neighbor/sick relations/widows/orphans/religious extremists/unlearned/difficult parents/stubborn brothers & sisters/indecently dressed people/unethical office colleagues/annoying course-mates/friends e.t.c} with admonishing words, gifts and heart-warming presence remember “…now a priest happened to be travelling down the same road, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite who came to the place saw him and passed by on the other side…” [Lk.10:29-37] as you prepare to acclaim yourself ‘A CHRISTIAN’ or “A Sacerdotal Priests” before God on the last day (‘it is not anyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven’ Mtt.7:21)

Hence let all you seek in life be primarily rooted on the fear of God (“In fear be submissive to the Lord; with trembling kiss his feet lest he be angry and your way come to nothing, for his fury flares up in a moment. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!” Ps.2:11-12), love of God {‘My dear friends, let us love one another, since love is from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God’ 1 Jn.4:7}, garnished with self-control [“so with you, as you are eager to have spiritual powers, aim to be rich in those which build up the community/Church” 1 Cor.14:12] as we call to mind death (‘since human beings die only once, after which comes judgment’ Heb.9:27), judgment {“talk and behave like people who are going to be judged by the law of freedom. Whoever acts without mercy will be judged without mercy but mercy can afford to laugh at judgment” James 2:12-13}, Hell [‘but the legacy for cowards, for those who break their word, or worship obscenities, for murderers and sexually immoral and for sorcerers, worshippers of false gods or any other sort of liars, is the second death in the burning lake of sulphur’ Rev.21:8] and Heaven (“the curse of destruction will be abolished. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city; his servants will worship him, they will see him face to face and his name will be written on their foreheads. And night will be abolished; they will not need lamplight or sunlight because the Lord God will be shining on them. They will reign forever and ever” Rev.22:3-5)

A NEW MONTH FROM HIS LOVING HANDS:

“…May you be blessed Lord, God of Israel our ancestor forever and forever! Yours Lord is the greatness, the power, the splendor, length of days and glory, everything in heaven and on earth is yours. Yours is the sovereignty, lord; you are exalted supreme over all. Wealth and riches come from you, you are ruler of all, in your hand lie strength and power and you bestow greatness and might on whomsoever you please. So now our God, we give thanks to you and praise your majestic name” {1 Chr.29:10-13}
Thanks be to God [1 Thess.5:18] who has allowed us to share in the light of this new month August as we pray for the forgiveness of God on us for the ways we misused his Grace last month hence approaching the throne of Grace to receive mercy and to find grace as we are in need of help (Heb.4:16) this month to attain a higher ground within the knowledge of him who has called us by his own goodness and glory {2 Pet.1:3}. Amen.
Happy New Month!!!