Thursday 12 December 2013

How does nature reveal God?(Psalm19:1-6)

     
image is coutesy birdswallpaper
The Bible tells us that the world God created was perfect in  every way(Gen 1:31).But scripture  also reveals that sin has altered the natural world(Gen 3:17,18).Prior to the fall,only beautiful useful plants were found upon the earth.God "never made a thorn,a thistle,or a tare.These are satan's work,the result of degeneration".Ellen  G White, Testimonies to the Church Vlo6 Page 186.Nevertheless,there is still great beauty in the changing of the leaves in autumn,in a vivid sunset,and in the opening of a rosebud on a sunny morning.
image is courtesy Teresa Kasner
       Bible writers often refer to the phenomina of nature as a revelation of Gods majesty and greatness(Psalm8&104).Consider the universe! on a clear night one can see with the naked eye thousands of stars.However,our Milky Way galaxy has about two hundred billion stars and thats only one galaxy several hundred billion galaxies that we now can see.Who knows how many more are beyond our telescope!
       Distances in the universe boggle  the mind:Apart from the sun,the nearest star to our earth,Alpha Centauri,is 4.28 light years away (one light year is the distance light travels in one year 5.9trillion miles).A spaceship travelling 100,00miles per hour would require about 29,000 years to get there.In contrast,our Milky Way has a diameter of 100,000 light years! The largest galaxy known thus far is Markarian,with diameter of 1.3million light years.

Friday 6 December 2013

How God communicated In the Beginning

image is courtesy Mark Mallet


    This series started some days ago with our first post which explains the medium through
which heaven reveals God and communicates with humanity read it up here Heavens Means of Communication.
    Today we are taking a step to better understanding this series,to do this we have to take a conscious retrace back to the origin,the Beginning and through this retrace we can by Gods grace find answers to our nagging question which is,How does God reveal/communicate Himself with humanity?.
     In the Garden of Eden God spoke with Adam and Eve face to face(Gen3:8). However,after that fateful day,when they blatantly disobeyed their Lord,they no longer were allowed to enjoy His presence(Gen3:23,24),as they were chased out of the Garden of Eden,and their face to face communion/communication with God ended.We must therefore take thoughts for ourselves as sin is a great thing that seperates us from Gods presence as the more we dwell in sin the deeper and faster we loose contact with our creator,as His creatures we must therefore keep distances from sin so as to keep our communion with  God.
     What do the the following texts(Gen32:30,Exo33:11,Judges6:22) tell us about face to face encounters with God?.When we look at those texts we would see that at different occasions, some persons had epressions like "I have seen the Angel of the Lord  face to face".Frequently the Old Testament identifies the Angel of God or the Angel of the Lord with God Himself.Jacob refers to God and the Angel in the same way(Gen48:16);the Angel of the Lord appears to Moses in the burning bush,yet,it is God who speak to him(Exo3:2);the Angel who appeared to Gideon is identified with God(Judges6:11).In all of this text we find out that God appears to humanity,but whenever God manifested Himself to human beings in a bodily form,it was always in a humanlike manifestation.
      In John1:18 John says "No man hath seen God at any time,the only begotten son,which is in the bossom of the Father,He had declared Him".The Divine Being,therefore,Who appeared to the people in the Old Testament must have been Jesus not the Father.Ellen G White tells us that "after the transgression of Adam,the Lord spoke no longer directly to man;the human race was given into the hands of Christ,and all communication came through Him to the world.It was Christ who gave the law on Mount Sinai".Fundamentals of Christian Education pg237.238.As Christians we must strife on daily basis to live a life free from sin so that our dear Lord can commune with us.Next week we would look at How God Communicates with us through Nature.
       Let the Akpa Chigozie Blog Newsletter come to your email every week to help renew your spiritual life.When you're torn apart,worn out and distracted by the world,take a moment to be inspired by stories of what God has done in the past with his people and be energised by news of how He is moving in dramatic ways around the world.Click on this link to subscribe to the Akpa Chigozie  Blog Newsletter today and experience an important part of sustainable Christian living.
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        Till we talk again
         Remain blessed.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Heaven's Means of Communication

image is courtesy emergingyouth
Text for the day:Hebrews 1:1,2
      For many years and through all of history,the question has been on virtually everyones lips,How does God communicate/reveal Himself to His people?,but the answer is,does He really have a medium,an avenue of revealing Himself and passing down information to the human race? or is our God mute.This questions are very important as they would lead us to getting answers from the word of God and the reality of God's communicative medium with humanity.
      Yes! God has means of communicating and in this post we would find out those mediums through which our God reveals Himself.There are two basic ways in which God has revealed Himself to humanity:Generally and Special revelation.General revelation is God's revelation of Himself to all people t,rom1:20). God's  revelation through nature and conscience(psalm19:1,rom1:20).God revelation through the prophets as recorded in scripture,especially His revelation through Jesus Christ,is special revelation.Through this means God appeared to the Old testament patriachs and prophets in order to make His will known.
       He revealed His power and purpose through Isreal's history(manna from heaven,red sea departing to give dry land,a pillar of cloud at night,the destruction of pharaoh and his army etc.).

image is courtesy supernatural life












Then,later,He sent His only begotten Son,Who, in the garb of humanity,revealed the Father in a unique and powerful way.
          In the coming days we would be looking at both types of revelation as it have to do with our christian journey.The coming posts at a glance:What is general and special revelation?,What can nature teach us about God?,What can it not teach us?,How does the revelation through Jesus Christ differ from God's other revelations?,so join me as we go through Gods word together.
          Let the Akpa Chigozie Blog Newsletter come to your email every week to help renew your spiritual life.When you're torn apart,worn out and distracted by the world,take a moment to be inspired by stories of what God has done in the past with his people and be energised by news of how He is moving in dramatic ways around the world.Click on this link to subscribe to the Akpa Chigozie  Blog Newsletter today and experience an important part of sustainable Christian living.
         Please if you love what you've read on this page don't hesitate to share it to your friends and loved ones as well,God bless as you use the share button to do so.Dont forget you can also comment by using the comment link.


Till we talk again
Remain blessed.

                                                                                         

Saturday 23 November 2013

Why you should Give

                                             image is courtesy noblesville
    Some days ago while i was in church i got a mail from a fellow brother,as i opened to read this mail i was amazed at this fascinating story,the principle illustrated in this story is in line with Gods principle of giving which is found in His word 2corinthian9:7 "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart,so let him give;not grudgingly or of necessity:for God loves a cheerful giver".Please take your time to read through this
      
A young man, a student in one of the universities, was one day taking a walk with a Professor, who was commonly called the student's friend, from his kindness to those who waited on his instructions.
As they went along,they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes, which they supposed to belong to a poor man who was employed in a field close by,and who had nearly finished his day's work.

The student turned to the professor, saying: "Let us play the man a trick: we will hide his shoes, and conceal ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them."
"My young friend," answered the professor, "we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor. But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of this poor man. Put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how this affects him."

The student did so and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes.
While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes, but feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his countenance. He gazed upon the coin, turned it around, and looked at it again and again.

He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and proceeded to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin.
His feelings overcame him; he fell upon his knees, looked up to the heavens and uttered aloud a fervent thanksgiving in which he spoke of his wife who was sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom this timely bounty, from some unknown hand,would save from perishing.

The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears. "Now," said the professor, are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick?"

The youth replied, "You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget. I feel now the truth of these words, which I never understood before: "It's more blessed to give than to receive."Please dont forget to subscribe to my blogs mail list follow this link to do so Akpa Chigozie Blog Newsletter.
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Monday 18 November 2013

His word is alive

Romans 8:38-39
"For i am convinced that neither death nor life,neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future,nor any powers,nor height nor depth,nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord".

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Friday 2 August 2013

Archaeologists might have found pieces of Christ cross

Archaeologists working at an ancient church in Turkey think they've unearthed a piece of the world's most famous cross, the one used to crucify Jesus.
They found a stone chest during excavation at a 1,350-year-old church, and the chest had a number of relics inside believed to be associated with the crucifixion, a historian at Turkey's Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts tells the Hurriyet Daily News.


Thursday 30 May 2013

TOWER OF BABEL

           " The strongest bond of human sympathy outside the family relation should be one uniting working people of all nations,tongues and kindreds"Abraham Lincoln,perhaps uncle Abraham foresaw the state in which our world would have fallen when it comes to the aspect of being a unified entity, this I suppose gave rise to his quote .The world was once a united entity and this drive shook the very foundations of heaven and earth at the same time, men who differed every differences of theirs to create a tower of oneness, men who could envision the future and accomplish their aim by being co-ordinated in unism.The tower of babel was built by one person,thats what unity can do,this project of a united group of people caught the attention of God and He had to do what He did obviously to stop this project cause this united force were never unwavering in achieving their purpose.
One big family
             The world would never achieve its aim of unity until we all see each other as one blood,as our origin is of one source,"The world is my country, all mankind my brethren, and to do good is my religion" Thomas Paine. The problems we face today in our world is as a result of seeing our differences not our similarities,its not American,Nigerian,Chinese,Haitian,Mexican etc. its my world, its my brethren, its my country the universe is for us all and until we see it that way we would never come together as one united entity,the defining factor in being in unity is the act of being kindhearted, ask yourself this question if mankind is my brethren then what good would it be unto me to see one suffering in abject poverty and not extend my hand of brotherhood to such, this can help solidify our unifying factor if we practise it properly ."We cannot live only for ourselves.A thousand fibres connects us with our fellow man." Herman Medville, we are one in blood, from one source this is the connectivity that we share, that we were born from one parent (Adam & Eve), therefore mankind should be my purpose,I cannot live on the earth in isolation,I must unite with my brethren to make any meaningful achievements.
               The fact that we are people of different attitudes and people of different behavioural pattern makes mankind unique, therefore for us to be united we must be able to address our weaknesses, differences and diversity, Wayne Muller puts its right in his quote "Within sorrow is grace.When we come close to those things that break us down, we touch those things that also break us open.And in that breaking open, we uncover our true nature."When we appreciate our differences we can close up the gap inbetween and then unite as one entity.
Yes we can
                The daunting task we face most times is that we dont see the good of other people rather we tend to focus attention on their worst side, this ideology also becomes a challenge when we seem to relegate some people to the background believing that they have no relevance to our existence which is an outright barbaric assumption or believe "As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser"Plato.We all depend on each other no mater how wealthy or famous you are you still need people who are not up to your social class in the society to gain enough strength to carry on and thats unity"In union there is strength"Aesop Fabulet, when we unit like the broom sticks unite to perform the function of cleaning then we are not easily broken and we would also be able to do some cleansing, thereby providing the platform for us to cling on each other for strength.
                 "So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth" Bahaullah, UNITY BRINGS PEACE CLOSER, LET UNITY DWELL AMONG US ALL.

Monday 25 March 2013

MAD MEN

       The very existence of any created being(human) on this planet earth is dependent on the ability of the human male or female to decode the puzzles possed by the very daunting dreams that appears to him or her regularly.Dreams have said to be a journey without an ending C.S Lewis said in his quote "You are not too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream" this means that as long as we live this dreams keeps coming to us.
        Dreams are the grounds on which we lay our entire life on,its the propeller that keeps us going when all other things around us tells us to stop."If you can dream it you can do it.Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse" Walt Disney Company,anything at all is possible ,this possibility is what we first achieve in our visionary dreams,a dream that sees tomorrow"Dreams are today's answers to tomorrows questions"Edgar Cayce,every single invention started out with a visionary thought called DREAM.
        Dreaming can be the most amazing thing to do or can be the craziest thing to do,whoever thought that the dreams of two young boys can create flying bird in the sky(aeroplane) "Dreams are often profound when they seem the most crazy"Sigmund Freud,so don't be afraid to be a big dreamer,cause the bigger your dreams the bigger your achievements.
        Dreams do come true,yes they do,but sometimes or most times they don't cause the dreamer fears his own dreams and feels its too much to come  true Paulo Coetho said that"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve:the fear of failure"."Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself.Go forward and make your dreams come true"Ralph Waldo Emerson.The only thing between you and your dream is that four letter word"FEAR" kill it before it kills your dreams.
        When your dreams becomes your life in its entirety you would become better for it G.K Chesterton is quoted as saying that "The centre of every mans existence is a dream".
         I ask you today can you become that crazy dreamer,a mad man or woman who sees beyond the ordinary,whose dreams are unstopable,cause your dream is your willpower which supersedes your fears.When there is a will to do the extra-ordinary there will surely be a way to achieve those dreams of yours.WELCOME TO THE DREAMERS WORLD.
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