Practical Ways to Honour Your parents

Your parents deserve honour irrespective of who they are. Your parents may be educated or illiterates, they may be rich or poor. These make no difference.You should respect and honour them simply because they are your parents...

How to Study the Bible Effectively

When you study the bible you are looking at the word of God carefully. This may include making notes of what you are understanding, running a reference check, checking the meaning of words in a dictionary, looking up the root words in Hebrew and Greek dictionary and comparing scriptures among other things.

Living an Outstanding Life

True Christianity is not seen in your going to fellowship or church and neither is it in your singing in the choir. Your true Christian life will be seen in the way you live. You must choose to live different from the people of the world.

When should I study the Bible?

You can read the bible anywhere anytime as the circumstance permits. You may not be able to do so with studying the word of God because studying the bible requires settling down to dig deep into the scriptures to get the understanding of the word of God. You should read your bible daily. You may however have scheduled time for personal bible study.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

PAY ATTENTION TO THE LEADINGS AND THE CAUTIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

I have personally learned that the Christian life can be burdensome and uninteresting when we are not following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Your life will be very pleasant and enjoyable if you chose to always be in tune with the Spirit of God. As believers filled with the Holy Spirit, we need to pay attention to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The plan of God is that we should be led by His Spirit, not by our brains or emotions. You are a spirit being and you are filled with the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is constantly communicating with your born again spirit. The problem is that most Christians are not paying attention to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Our brains can’t be smarter than the Holy Spirit, and it is to our benefits if we are careful to follow His leading. The Holy Spirit wants to lead you every step of the way but He can’t drag you along with Him, you have to choose to follow Him willingly and deliberately.

The Holy Spirit has the blueprint for your life and He can show you what you need to do and how to go about it. It’s useless struggling through life with hard labour and nearly nothing to show for it while the Holy Spirit is always inside you and eager to show you what steps to take, what decisions to make, where to go and what to do at every moment John 16: 13. Your life becomes stress free when you consistently follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. The bible tells us that God will lead us beside the still waters Psalm 23: 2. That is a peaceful place. The Holy Spirit wouldn’t lead you into crisis and problems. He would rather show you how to avoid troubles and problems so that you can enjoy your life to the fullest in God. Christians are not to hop in and out of problems. The Holy Spirit wants to lead us through peaceful paths but He will not force us. We have to follow Him by ourselves. He is a peaceful Spirit and He doesn’t impose His will on anybody. He wants us to submit our will to His leading.

You need to keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is inside you John 14: 17. He is not in heaven waiting for you to call on Him. He is right inside your heart (spirit). He wants to lead you every time and He will do that by communicating with your spirit. You will perceive this communication in your heart. The Holy Spirit doesn’t lead through emotions or feelings. Your emotions and feelings are subject to the manipulations of your flesh. God and His Spirit have nothing to do with the flesh. The flesh is a fall out of the fallen human state. The flesh works to produce sin Romans 7:5.

Anytime the Holy Spirit wants to lead you, he will give you the message in your heart. It may come in the form of a perception or a knowing in your heart. It is usually not a loud or dramatic thing. It is often simple and soft. If you don’t pay attention you may not even know that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. Some other time, the Holy Spirit might give you some kind of restraints or cautions in your heart. These kinds of restraints happen when you are about taking a step or making a decision that may not be the right or the best one. You will do yourself a great deal of good to exercise caution any time the Holy Spirit flash you the red signal. If you are about doing something and you suddenly feel a restraint in your heart about it, hold on on it, don’t hurry into error or mistake. Keep in mind that Holy Spirit has the blueprint for your life and if you are about making a wrong decision or taking a wrong turn, He knows. The cautions and restraints of the Holy Spirit sometimes may be what will save you from danger. The Holy Spirit won’t just watch you walk into danger or error. He will try to stop.

If you are about finalizing a business deal and you suddenly feel a check in your heart, hold on on the business. Take some time to pray in the Spirit to get better clarity on what the Lord want you to do. If the restraint persists, then forget about the business deal. If you are in a relationship and the Holy Spirit is flashing you the red light, you might not want to proceed into marrying that person. The Holy Spirit knows what you don’t know. The Holy Spirit knows if the man will abandon you in ten years. Pay attention to the leading and the cautions of the Holy Spirit and you will enjoy a beautiful and pleasant life. 

It is well with you in JESUS NAME.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

QUESTION AND ANSWER


QUESTION

Good afternoon sir. Thank you for the truth of the word of God you have been teaching. I am especially blessed by the teachings on speaking in tongues. I am a born again Christian. I accepted Jesus seven years ago. I used to think that something is wrong with speaking in tongues but I now know better. I will love to be able to speak in tongues. What should I do?

ANSWER

I appreciate God that you were blessed by teachings on speaking in tongues. In response to your question, you need to be filled (baptized) with the Holy Spirit before you will be able to speak in other tongue. So what you need to know is how to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gives the ability to speak in other tongues.

One easy way to get baptized in the Holy Spirit is to have someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit and who knows how to minister the baptism of the Holy Spirit minister to you. By the time you are filled with the Holy Spirit you will be able to pray in tongue because speaking comes with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I will recommend that you should read my comprehensive teaching on the baptism of the Holy Spirit and Speaking in Tongues at www.sanmiakintayo.com This will give you a better understanding about the Holy Spirit, Speaking in tongues and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. It will also help you to get clarity in any area that you may need clarification. I personally believe that no Christian will be able to reach the peak of their Christian experience unless they are filled with the Holy Spirit. You can also contact me at the email on this magazine if you will like me to send you further teaching on the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongue and any other area that you need clarification. I pray that the Lord will give you a pleasant experience in the Holy Spirit. God bless you.

NB: Please feel free to send your questions to me via campusxtians@gmail.com or to this mobile number +2348155178580. You can also inbox me on my facebook account www.facebook.com/SanmiAkintayo.Please,indicate your email address and phone number when sending your questions as answers will be sent to you via these media.God Bless you.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

DRESSING AS BEFITTING FOR A CHILD OF GOD


There has been much discussion on the issues of dressing for Christians. I will present a balanced viewed of what you should look at as standard in dressing as a child of God.

1. Get the purpose. The reason why people go into error many times is because they do things without a clear cut purpose for what they do and at other times they do it for the wrong purpose. You must dress for the right purpose and reason.

2. What constitutes the right purpose in dressing? 1 Cor. 10: 31 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” 
You should dress with a mind of glorifying God. If you keep this point in mind you will remain on the side of caution in your dressing. A lady whose dressing is revealing part of her breast can’t claim that her dressing glorifies God. 

3. Don’t dress for attention. This one common reason for which many people dress.

4. You should not dress to appear sexy as the unbelievers do. If you do you will be dressing for the wrong reason you will be stimulating lust in people that are watching you.

5. Decency and modesty should be your watchwords. This is probably the number one safety measure you can put in place to remain on the right side in your dressing.

What does decency means? It means behavior or attitude that conforms to the commonly accepted standard of what is right and respectable. You should always ask yourself if your dressing will appear right morally to people and if it present you as a respectable person. If your answer is not in the affirmative then something is wrong with your dressing. Always endeavour to dress in a respectable way. A dressing that is revealing your privacy is not respectable and you should not wear such.

Modesty: 

a. unwilling to draw attention to yourself

b. to be reserved in appearance especially in relation to sexual matters.

c. to be moderate

A modest dressing does not draw attention to you unduly and it is not sexually suggestive 

6. You should avoid clothes that unnecessarily accentuate your body part.

7. As a child of God you should not follow the worldly fashion trend. Satan is the god of this world and fashion is one of his tools for luring Christians into errors.

8. Don’t attempt to copy the dressing of a friend who is not a child of God. This can mislead you. Look at what Romans 12: 2 says “And do not be conformed to this world…” 

Consequences of wrong dressing

1. It gives a negative impression of you to people

2. The respect people have for you wear down if you start dressing indecently.

3. It can damage your Christian reputation.

4. It may hinder you from being an effective witness of the gospel. People want to see the difference between you and them before listening to your message.

5. It can bring you disfavour with people that matters.

QUESTION AND ANSWER


QUESTION
Please, I have a problem. I don’t know what makes me pick small things that belong to others like my roommates. What I pick are usually small things that in most cases I don’t need. I vowed not to do it again several time but I end up doing it again. Please what is wrong with? - C. O

ANSWER

What is happening to you is often caused by demonic activities. It is an uncontrollable desire to pick things especially things that are not needed by you. People with this tendency are referred to as kleptomaniacs. I recommend that you go for deliverance ministration to get free from the grip of this demon. You also need to renew your mind and load your spirit with word of God. Refuse the devil from taking you over again by taking authority over the spirit behind that tendency and declaring that you are free in Jesus name.

Monday, April 30, 2012

PRACTICAL WAYS TO HONOUR YOUR PARENTS

God wants us to honour our parents and this is very clear from the bible. In fact the bible didn’t mince words on this issue.
 
Ephesians 6: 1- 3
 
Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honour your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth”
This was Paul writing to the Christians at Ephesus. What he wrote here is a reaffirmation of the command of the Lord to the Israelites in the 10 commandment as seen in Ex 20: 12

In order to obey this bible instruction we need to adopt practical ways to honour our parents.
 
1.    Respect your parents. Your parents deserve your respect irrespective of who they are. Even if other people despise them you should always and constantly show them respect. Your parents may be educated or illiterates, they may be rich or poor. These make no difference. You are not to respect your parents because of their economic ability or their level of education. You should respect and honour them simply because they are your parents.
 
2.    Obey your parents within the parameter of godliness. Obeying your parent is top on the list of practical ways to honour your parents. If you don’t obey them when you should I wonder how else you intend to honour them. In our early lives, obedience is the paramount way of honouring our parents. If you obey them you honour them and if you disobey them you dishonour them. It is as simple as we have said it.
 
Ephesians 6: 1- 3
Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
The only exception to this is when your parents want you to do things that are against the word of God. Even at this you should not dishonour them. You simply let them know that what they want you to do is wrong and unacceptable before God. You should express this in a simple respectable manner. For instance, if your parents want you to steal, will you do? Will you go ahead and steal? You certainly must not do that. However you must be respectful in letting them know what they demand of you is wrong and that you won’t be able to carry it out.
 
3.    Listen to them. I have seen people who don’t in anyway listen to their parents. There are even some that the voice of their parents is like an irritating sound to them. You should not pick up this kind of dishonouring attitude to your parents. Simply listening when they talk to you signifies honour. Learn to do this if you have not.
 
4.    Don’t argue with them. There will be times that you will have different views from your parents on issues. This just shows that you are thinking differently. Make your view known to them as simple and as respectful as possible. Don’t drag them into an argument because they are not getting your points. You should just find a way to make them see what you want them to see. If they are still not seeing your point then you should drop the issue. It is better to drop the issue than to allow it spoil your relationship with you parents.
 
5.    You should not be rude to them irrespective of what they might do or fail to do. Be careful not to look them in the eye. They are your parents and they deserve your respect all the same.
 
6.    Speak to them in a honourable manner. You shouldn’t speak to them as you would to a colleague or someone younger than you. Let your words to them always be adorned with honour.
 
7.    Greet them appropriately as required by your culture. You shouldn’t try to copy western practice to ignore the honourable way that your culture expects you to greet your parents. The bible is not against our cultural values as long as they don’t contradict the word of God.
 
8.    Don’t speak ill of them. This is something that is very important. Don’t talk negatively about your parents to people. If you parents have done something that is not good enough you should just find an honourable way to point their attention to it. Don’t speak ill of them.
 
9.    Don’t look down on them. They may have weaknesses that are known to you. This does not give you the right to dishonour them.
 
10.    You shouldn’t do anything that can cause them shame. Strive to bring honour to them through your achievement, pursuit and what you stand for.
 
11.    Don’t do anything that will contradict the values they hold e. g getting into sexual activities before marriage, getting pregnant outside wedlock, stealing and other similar things.
 
12.    Appeal to them if they get displeased with you. You shouldn’t just ignore them.
 
13.    Always ask after their well being. Don’t just ask for money if you are a student. Parents are happy when their children care enough to ask after their well being.
 
14.    Run errands for them. It makes them feel happy.
 
15.    Spend time talking or interacting with them. It is the joy of every parent to see their children come into fellowship with them.
 
16.    Defend and stand for them as necessary at any time. You should not be indifferent to people who wants to dishonour or take advantage of your parents.
 
17.    Affirm your love for them at every available opportunity. Let them know you love them and you care about them.
 
18.    Respect their privacy. As much as you should be free with your parents you should also learn to respect their private moments. Many people overlook this.
 
19.    Deliberately speak well of them to people in their presence and when they are not there.
 
20.    Celebrate them. Find ways to make their special days really special to them. Plan a surprise birthday celebration for them. Have your friend call them on their birthdays to wish them a blissful day. Mark their wedding anniversaries in unique manners. Do something special just to celebrate them.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

QUESTION AND ANSWER


QUESTION

If you prayed but didn’t get answer to your prayer, please what could be responsible? - J. K

ANSWER

A number of reasons can be responsible for a Christian praying without getting an answer to his prayer.

1. If you pray to God for something you need to believe that God has heard you and that you will receive the answer to your prayer. If you don’t believe that God will answer and respond to your prayer you will not get any result from your prayer. God expect us to pray and receive our answers in faith? If you didn’t ask in faith you might not see any result.

2. Failure to forgive people can also hinder you from getting answers to your prayer. You need to forgive anyone who offends you.

3. You should also know that the fact that you have not seen what you prayed for doesn’t mean God didn’t answer your prayer. There are times that you will get answers to your prayer almost immediately after you have prayed and there are other times that it may take some time before the answer to your prayer manifests. If you have prayed in faith just wait for the manifestation of the answer.

4. Satan and his demons can also hinder people from receiving the result to their prayers. If you prayed and the answer seems not forthcoming you can pray against any hindrance that might be on the way of the answer.

5. You should know that God is faithful and He will answer your prayer if you pray in faith and in line with His will.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

BECOMING A LIGHT ON YOUR CAMPUS !

God wants us His children to influence the people around for His sake. However what we have seen over time among many students is the reverse. The bible calls you the light of the world.

Matthew 5: 14- 16

You are the light of the world- like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one light a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, LET YOUR GOOD DEED SHINE OUT FOR ALL TO SEE, so that everyone will praise your heavenly father. NLT

You are to be a shining positive influence in your class, your room and on campus at large. The people around you who are not saved are in darkness and God wants your light to shine to them and thereby bring them to the same light that is shining in your life. God wants your life to be a light on your campus. He wants people around you to see your life and clearly see the difference in the way you live your life and that of other people around who are not saved. This is how you can be the light that God calls you.

Some Christians on campus forget that they are light and they join the darkness- the wrong way of life on campus. They live in sin like other people do. This is like lighting a lamp and then putting it under a basket. It is of no use since no one will be able to see its light. You are a light and God want everyone around you to see this light.

You will determine whether people around you will see your light or not by the way you live. Let your life be an example of Godliness. Live in such a way that when friends and colleague see your lifestyle that they will be willing to live the way you are living. This is when you will be the true light that God calls. If your light will shine is left to you. Your light will shine through your conduct.

How to Make Your Light Shine


1. You need to live with a consciousness that your life is to be a positive and godly influence. If you don’t have this mind you will probably end up doing what everyone else is doing. Most people live for themselves and not for God.

2. Do what is right and godly at all time. You can’t afford to compromise in any aspect of your life if you will be a true light that others will see and glorify God. You have to live right consistently.

3. Don’t join any negative trend on campus. You should not be among your people who live in fornication, cheat, lie and do other negative thing. You should not be one of people who cheat in examination. If you join the negative trend your light will not shine.

4. Your dressing should speak godliness and modesty. While many students on campus dress to attract attention and many others especially girls dress to seduce people, you should be different. As a lady, you should not dress with part of your breast showing outside. Your dressing should be decent, modest and presentable. I have not said you should dress in rag or bad clothes to show you are children of God. Modesty and decency should be your gauge when dressing as a child of God.

5. Let what comes out your mouth be wholesome. If you make jest of people, make coarse jokes, mock people or insult people you will not be a light. Let what you say be good, decent and words of encouragement. Don’t utter words that will dishonour, reduce or demoralize others. Are people happy or sad after they talk with you? You have to be a light by what comes out of your mouth.

6. Make godly sacrifices. You can do this by being of good help to others as the opportunity comes. Always look for opportunities to help and bless people. Most people care just for themselves. When you genuinely care for people your light will be shining. Look for simple ways to be a blessing to your friends, roommates and your classmate. Lend a helping hand to people from time to time. Don’t be too preoccupied with yourself alone.

7. Give to others. There are so many Christians that have not learned the power of giving. Many times your gift will speak louder than your voice many times. We are not saying you should become a Father Christmas throwing around your resources. However, endeavour to give when you are capable of doing so but be sure the people really need it. You should be careful so that bad people will not take advantage of your kindness.

8. Share the gospel with others. This is most important in you shining as a child of God. If you do every other thing we have mentioned without telling people around you about Jesus and how they can be saved your light wouldn’t has shown well enough. The message of Jesus is what can save people and also bring them from darkness into God’s light Colossians 1: 13, John 8: 12. Encourage your friends, roommates and classmate to give their lives to Jesus. This is how they can also become a light to other. They should not just see your light, they should become light themselves.

9. Invite your friends and other people to your church or fellowship. This may be the avenue through which God will save them. Many people will not go to church or attend a fellowship meeting unless someone encourage them to come. You may need to keep encouraging them over a period of time until they respond. You should not get tired of this.

10. Pray for your friends, colleagues and roommates. You should commit your unsaved friends to God in prayer. There are many things that will only respond to your prayer. In fact it takes God to save someone but you should pray for God to save them. You should also pray for your school. Pray for the peace of God on your campus. Pray for other Christians too so that they will also be lights in your school.