COMMITMENT WITH GOD:

 Getting committed with God is a great and awesome avenue every child of God (‘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) should follow without delay lest the seed of God’s glory planted in us will be made weak and inactive by laziness, bad-company and fear {“Everyone, no matter how firmly he thinks he is standing must be careful he does not fall” 1 Cor.10:12}. This entails the following

Praying consistently [1 Thess.5:17] by way of speech, behavior, actions, thoughts e.t.c that portray righteousness and also getting involved in mental prayers continuously

Digging deep into the word of God (“How I love your Law! I ponder it all day long. You make me wiser than my enemies by your commandment which is mine forever. I am wiser than all my teachers because I ponder your instructions. I have more understanding than the aged because I keep your precepts” Ps.119:97-100)

Choosing, accepting and maintaining honest Christian friends just the way Christ chose you [‘you did not choose me, no I chose you…’ Jn.15:16] since “…Bad company corrupts good ways” {1 Cor.15:33} but ‘a loyal friend is a powerful defense: whoever finds one has indeed found a treasure…whoever fears the Lord makes true friends, for as a person is, so is his friend too’ (Sirach 6:14-17)

Getting rid of all junk; junk in the life of a Christian are those things that distracts us from righteousness like pornographic pictures, videos, songs, novels, books, websites, clothes, lustful discussions and teachings, co-habiting with opposite sex e.t.c. One should also flee depraved and bad groups like cultism, partying-spirit, fashion-maniac, money-mongers e.t.c  [‘turn away from the passions of youth, concentrate on uprightness, faith, love and peace, in union with all those who call on the Lord with a pure heart’ 2Tim.2:22]

Maintaining your loyal position with the sound and profound teachings of the One, Holy, Apostolic and Catholic Church instituted by Christ {Mtt.16:18} thus “keep as your pattern the sound teaching you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. With the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, look after that precious thing given in trust” [2Tim.1:13-14] and so with you as you are eager to have spiritual powers, aim to be rich in those which build up the Church’ (1Cor.14:12).

Always maintain fellowship [“do not absent yourself from your own assemblies, as some do, but encourage each other; the more so as you see the day drawing near” Heb.10:25] with the Church of Christ because it is the pillar of truth {‘…in the Church of the living God, pillar and support of the truth’ 1Tim.3:15} and there you will always be given the sound doctrine “You must keep to what you have been taught and know to be true; remember who your teachers were and how ever since you were a child, you have known the holy scriptures – from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and useful for refuting error, for guiding people’s lives and teaching them to be upright. This is how someone who is dedicated to God becomes fully equipped and ready for any good work” [2 Tim.3:14-17].

DEPRESSING THINGS:

“There are two things which grieve my heart and a third arouses my anger: a warrior wasting away through poverty, the intelligent treated with contempt, someone turning back from virtue to sin—the Lord marks out such a person for a violent death” [Sirach26:28]

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE TO NIGERIA:

Please Offer this unique prayer for Nigeria with attention, dignity and devotion since it is our PIN {Personal Identity Number} with the Heavens as a Nation.    Arise O Compatriots…

For Our President;

Lord give an undivided heart to Jonathan our president to keep your commandments, your decrees and your statutes, to put them all into effect and to build our country into a palace for which You have made provision {1 Chr.29:19} Amen.

For Other leaders;

Father of Heaven grant them the wisdom that sits by your throne and do not reject from amongst your servants that supported by your grace and mercy they may help the president and the citizens to actualize a just and Christian society where injustice, greed and pride may give way for peace, love, charity and fear of God to reign. Amen.

For Citizens;

Eternal God open the eyes of our mind that we may allow righteousness that dwells within us to bear fruits of genuine and sincere love for one another as we co-operate with the righteous injunctions of the state as well as rejecting the ungodly ideas and principles of this world. Amen.

For a new month;

Thanks to you, Almighty God for the gift of a new month which you have given in the first place, we implore your mercies for the past months as we seek your face in order that we may remain steadfast in bearing honest witness to you this month and the remaining months of our Life. Amen.

REFLECTIONS:

“This is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel when those days arrive – it is the Lord who speaks. Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people” {Jer.31:33}

‘I will make an everlasting covenant with them; I will not cease in my efforts for their good and I will put respect for me into their hearts, so that they turn from me no more’ (Jer.32:40)

“You, my sheep, are the flock of men I shall pasture and I am your God – it is the Lord God who speaks” [Ezek.34:31]

As a child of God are you still walking in line with the new covenant of Christ on the cross of Calvary with a ransom beyond sordid currency; the blood of Christ, never a lamb so spotless and pure as our victim {1 Pet.1:19}?

Always have these at your sub-conscious and conscious mind ‘but anyone who stands firm to the end will be saved’ (Mtt.24:13) and “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]

The word of God is deeply engraved in our hearts waiting for that decision which unlocks the latch of our hearts from within (“look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one of you hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share a meal at that person’s side” Rev.3:20)

The covenant is everlasting hence God will not cease in His efforts to draw us to himself until our biological death [‘the dead cannot praise the Lord, those who sink into silence’ Ps.115:17] but if we honestly, sincerely and eagerly accept his call rarely will he allow us to fall back to our old sinful nature {“…My Grace is enough for you: for power is at full stretch in weakness…2 Cor.12:9} unless we begin to deny dependence on Him and count equality with God (‘the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. their deeds are corrupt and vile not one of them does right’ Ps.14:1)

HUMILITY:

No matter how important you portray yourself to be for the people around you or outside your environment, there is always someone/group who will try at times successively/in-futility to deflate that egocentric nature (“…who say here, there is no one else but us” Sirach36:9) whether you publicly accept it or not [‘you will come to know the truth and the truth will set you free’ Jn.8:32]; the lesson therein is that when deflated/insulted/humiliated one should see it as a message on the nothingness of man (dust you are and dust you shall return)being humble in spirit {“He must grow greater, I must grow less” Jn.3:30} as well as a call for a closer desire to improve on ones dependency on God who alone exalts (‘commend what you do to God and what plan will be achieved’ Prov.16:3) hence take the lesson and leave the offence {“remember this, my dear brothers everyone should be quick to listen but slow to human anger; God’s saving justice is never served by human anger” James 1:19-20}.

HUMILITY:

No matter how important you portray yourself to be for the people around you or outside your environment, there is always someone/group who will try at times successively/in-futility to deflate that egocentric nature (“…who say here, there is no one else but us” Sirach36:9) whether you publicly accept it or not [‘you will come to know the truth and the truth will set you free’ Jn.8:32]; the lesson therein is that when deflated/insulted/humiliated one should see it as a message on the nothingness of man (dust you are and dust you shall return)being humble in spirit {“He must grow greater, I must grow less” Jn.3:30} as well as a call for a closer desire to improve on ones dependency on God who alone exalts (‘commend what you do to God and what plan will be achieved’ Prov.16:3) hence take the lesson and leave the offence {“remember this, my dear brothers everyone should be quick to listen but slow to human anger; God’s saving justice is never served by human anger” James 1:19-20}.

THE COURT OF GOD:

Low and behold one member of God’s court. God’s court and council, the angels. These include satan, the accuser, who is responsible for testing human beings in their faithfulness to God. He is later identified with the spirit of evil thus “one day when the sons of God came to attend on the Lord, among them came satan. So the Lord said to satan, where have you been? Prowling about the earth, he answered, roaming around there” (Job1:6-7) hence as a human being in this earth are you prowling and roaming around fulfilling the detects of your flesh/concupiscence or the Holy Spirit/tender voice?

Whatever you do or intend doing remember, you will face the court of God and council as either a loyal servant to God having testified for him on earth with consistent righteousness {‘but anyone who stands firm to the end will be saved’ Mtt.24:13} thus “…come, you whom my Father has blessed, take as your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world” (Mtt.25:34)or a disobedient servant [‘Rebellion is a sin of sorcery, presumption a crime of idolatry’ 1Sam.15:23] who chose stubbornness in sin (“your stubborn refusal to repent is only storing up retribution for yourself on that Day of retribution when God’s just verdicts will be made known” Rom.2:5) thus ‘…go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’ {Mtt.25:41}.

Do you think there will be comfort for you and I in a place prepared for the devil and his angels while we are human beings made in the image and likeness of God?

WHY PRAY FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED IN PURGATORY:

“all then blessed the ways of the Lord, the upright judge who brings hidden things to light and gave themselves to prayer begging that the sin committed might be completely forgiven. Next, the valiant Judas urged the soldiers to keep themselves free from all sin, having seen with their own eyes the effects of the sin of those who had fallen; after this he took a collection from them individually amounting to nearly two thousand drachmas and sent it to Jerusalem to have a sacrifice for sin offered, an action altogether fine and noble, prompted by his belief in the resurrection. For had he not expected the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead, whereas if he had in view the splendid recompense reserved for those who make a pious end, the though was holy and devout. Hence, he had this expiatory sacrifice offered for the dead, so that they might be released from their sin” (2Macc.12:41-45)

‘…Though he himself will be saved; he will be saved as someone might expect to be saved from a fire’ (1Cor.3:15)

Eternal life grant unto them Oh, Lord

Let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace. Amen.

Our Father…

Hail Mary…

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit…

May they rest in peace. Amen.

MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE GOOD AT READING AND CITING THE SCRIPTURES:

After sharing the word of God with anybody use these passages to cross your ‘T’ and doth your “I”. These passages can also be used to help a preacher ponder on his/her own life after sharing with you anywhere, any day and any time you encounter them.

“You pore over the scriptures, believing that in them you can find eternal life; it is these scriptures that testify to me” {Jn.5:39}

‘Besides, I know you too well: you have no love of God in you’ [Jn.5:42]

ERRONOUS SIDE OF PURGATORY

Yes there is purgatory, somewhere in this one Kingdom of God (‘…though he himself will be saved; he will be saved as someone might expect to be saved from a fire’ 1 Cor.3:15) because there is a sin unto death (mortal sin) with its reward as a place of eternal punishment/torture [Hell-fire] and there is a sin not unto death {venial sin} with its reward as a place of temporary punishment/torture [Purgatory] hence Christ retorted ‘the servant who knows what his master wants, but has got nothing ready and done nothing in accord with those wishes, will be given a great many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know but has acted in such a way that he deserves a beating will be given fewer strokes. When someone is given a great deal, a great deal will be demanded of that person; when someone is entrusted with a great deal of that person even more will be expected’ (Lk.12:47-48) and his beloved apostle St. John re-affirms this statement thus “if anyone sees his brother commit a sin that is not a deadly sin, he has only to pray and God will give life to this brother – provided that it is not a deadly sin. There is 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}

The words of St. John the apostle is a clear indication that one should not make purgatory a target as well as a directive to flee from any form of sin/unrighteousness [“Sirach 21:2] just as many people excuse grave and heinous sins they commit with these clauses ‘God is merciful’, “after committing this sin, we shall go to confession”, ‘after all there is purgatory for the weak’, “Grace is made manifest in weakness, later I shall repent”. If you are in this category of creature remember purgatory and hell-fire has the same punishment/torture just the time-frame (Lk.12:47-48) or the hope of seeing God some time for the purgatorians while those in hell-fire will live with life worms/maggots and anguish eternally {“and on their way out they will see the corpses of those who rebelled against me; for their worm will never die nor their fire be put out and they will be held in horror by all humanity” Isaiah 66:24} also ‘if it is hard for the upright to be saved, what will happen to the wicked and to sinners’ (1Pet.4:18), “…you were a God of forgiveness to them, but punished them for their sins” {Ps.99:8}, ‘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] and “there is no favoritism with God” (Rom.2:11)

As you commit sin with the hope of going to purgatory, remember you are presuming the mercy of God which is a grave sin against the Holy Spirit and is rarely forgiven as well as bearing in mind that currently some people are in the pit of hell-fire who gave the same reason we are giving today for wallowing in sin while presuming purgatory/extinguishing the fire of hell with their populace(number)/outsmarting God [‘don’t delude yourself: God is not to be fooled; whatever someone sows, that is what he will reap’ Gal.6:7] now wishing they had the second-chance you and I are wasting that they may reprimand us {“so he said, Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house since I have five brothers. To give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too” Lk.16:27-28} while looking for excuses to insult the spirit of grace inside us {‘this is how an adulteress behaves: she eats, then wipes her mouth and says, I have done nothing wrong’ Prov.30:20, “and you may be sure that anyone who tramples on the Son of God and who treats the blood of the covenant which sanctified him as if it were not holy and who insults the Spirit of grace, will be condemned to a far severer punishment” Heb.10:30} and the time [‘so stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming’ Mtt.24:42] as well as the place (“and there will be no one to say, look it is here! Look, it is there! For look, the kingdom of God is among you” Lk.17:21) rapture will take place.

If there is anything you can do to save your soul and that of others from hell like consistency in prayers, decency in dressing, evangelism, fasting and prayers, daily attendance of Holy Mass, Weekly attendance of confession/whenever your conscience is not at peace, mortification of the senses, worthy reception of holy communion, making honest and sincere effort to obey the ten commandments, being selective of relationships/videos/pictures/books/discussions e.t.c one reads or is involved in, midnight prayers, reading the Bible, listening to preachers with the aim of drawing closer to the call of consistent righteousness with God e.t.c do it now because next second might be too late {‘his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth’ Mtt.24:50-51} and leave the discernment for which is venial sin that deserves purgatory and mortal sin that deserves hell-fire for the Supreme judge [“…you have come to God himself, the supreme Judge…” Heb.12:23] bearing in mind that our ways and thoughts are different from His (‘for my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways declares the Lord’ Isaiah 55:8) as well as that all unrighteousness is wickedness [1Jn.5:17] and must be accompanied with a punishment whether committed knowingly or unknowingly {“be sure of it, the wicked will not go unpunished, but the race of the upright will come to no harm” Prov.11:21} then ‘we have been given possession of an unshakeable kingdom. Let us therefore be grateful and use our gratitude to worship God in the way that pleases him, in reverence and fear. For our God is a consuming fire’ (Heb.12:28-29) and some people who misused their time/talent/Grace/wealth/Opportunity/span on earth are currently blazing in hell-fire while wishing for a second chance which will never be given to them {“so he cried out, Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his anger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames…but that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed,  to prevent those who want to cross from our side to yours or from your side to ours” LK.16:24-26}.

“…Look anxiously to the ordering of your lives while your stay on earth lasts” (1Pet.1:17), ‘think of our Lord’s patience as your opportunity to be saved…’ {2 Pet.3:15}