God Builds Faith by Giving a Dream by Rick Warren

Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes. Ephesians 3:20 (LB)
When God wants to work in your life, he'll always gives you a dream—about yourself, about what he wants you to do, about how he's going to use your life to impact the world.

There are many examples in the Bible of this. God gave Noah the dream of building an ark. God gave Abraham the dream of being the father of a great nation. God gave Nehemiah the dream of building the wall around Jerusalem.

How do you know when a dream is from God or when it's just something you've thought up yourself? The Bible tells us that God, "by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes." (Ephesians 3:20 LB)

In other words, if a dream comes from God, it will be so big in your life that you can't do it on your own. It also will never contradict His Word! If your dream is something that the Bible speaks against, it's not from God.

Talk About It –

God may be speaking to you now, but you just don't recognize it for what it is. Do you have a dream that you believe will serve other people? Where do you think that idea came from?
What dream has God given you? What are you going to do now?

I've got the Power!

Love Would Not Let Me Be

"They" could have made me hate myself,
But Love would not let me be

Would have had me filled with self-doubt and fear,
But Love would not let me be

Had me distrusting at every turn,
But Love would not let me be

Love hoped in me, trusted in me.
Kept no record, of my wrongs.

Was patient with me falling short,
Showing me nothing but His kindness and grace

Love loved me in my unloveliness,
Helped me to "see" the beautiful in all things.

Saw through my rudeness, the expression of hurt,
Pulling me closer, than at arm’s length.

Showed me without competition or envy
That there’s room for us all to grow,
Freeing me from all that confined.

Love drew me to the secret of intimacy.
When haughtily puffed up, I would have walked away.

Love looked out for me at every turn.
Refusing to budge, when I provoked no love,
By passion, His gaze solely fixed on me.

Love rejoiced over my every step.
Always; believing in me,
Always seeing the good in me.

When others mocked at my past mistakes
Love cheered me on, till truth prevailed.

What would I have done without you love?
How could I bear this without you there?
Lifting up my head, helping me to endure.

I owe my all to you love; I owe all of me to love.
I owe my heart to the most eminent of hearts.
The greatest of those who do not fail.
The one who by faith, against all hope,
Believed in the hope, that I founded in love,
Would in love at last be found…

© OluPero Mettabel, May 25, 2012




1 Corinthians 13
New King James Version (NKJV)

The Greatest Gift
13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;

5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

 For we know in part and we prophesy in part.

10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

"Princi-pearls"

The people who make history are the ones who refuse to take no for an answer or accept status quo...

ZEITGEIST! - The 'spirit' of the times!

Zeitgeist : interesting word this is, meaning: ‘The spirit of the times’ - Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era. The sons of Issachar had Zeitgeist:

  1 Chronicles 12:32

Of the sons of Issachar who had an understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command; The child of God who catches the zeitgeist of the times, feels the pulse of the universe and the heart of God, feels the direction of the flow of the blood and the Spirit and can move in that flow… they are not afraid of it, neither do they distrust it, for the beat echoes in their hearts and the same blood flows through their veins… Let your prayer, my prayer, our prayer today, be to catch the Zeitgeist of our times and seasons, and the heart of God for the ‘now season’. But he who will catch the Zeitgeist must be well acquainted with the originator of the spirit and must be able to discern the direction and dimensions of His breath…. The ‘Ruach’, interestingly also means Spirit or breath of God… Oh how my heart yearns to catch the wave of His Spirit, for surely He is here, and I MUST know Him! In Him, through Him, and by Him, I MUST catch the zeitgeist of my time, my kairos, my ‘now’ moment….

ZEITGEIST! What a word!

The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age: Mark 13:2-4

2 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” 3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?”

Shalom,

Mettabel.

The book of Remembrance

Is there such a thing as 'The book of Remembrance'? Does God actually keep a record of the things we have done for, and in Him with a purpose to reward? The bible records that He does.

  In my research, I found the following writing:

'This Book of Remembrance holds every act of faithful service done for the Lord. Every encouraging word, every unselfish deed, every sacrifice made, the Lord has carefully placed there as a witness to the universe that you are indeed His child'. Author: Amazing Discoveries™.

A lot of God’s children, I hear His Spirit saying, at this time, feel, as though they have been forgotten by God, that He is not making, or has not made good on His promises concerning them. Despair and discouragement have become their daily robe, wrapping it around them to protect them from the hope that they feel will Surely be dashed to pieces again….

I write today at the direction of the Lord to these dear people of God, that they should be encouraged, that God says that He is getting ready to open up the ‘Book of Remembrance’ concerning them, to make good on His promises. He says that He is not unfaithful, neither forgetful, but has kept a record of their faithfulness, and acts of kindness, has recorded the deeds, and kept them, that He might establish His promises concerning them, at the set time.


  Psalm 102:13
You will arise and have mercy on Zion; For the time to favor her, Yes, the set time, has come.

It has come, for you who have remained steadfast trusting the Lord, neither looking to the right nor to the left, despite the hardness of the times, and the leanness of the fat…

  His Word said concerning Mordecai, who had been faithful to the king and the kingdom, yet had not forsaken God’s people, but sought a deliverer for them – Esther who he carefully groomed for many years, hoping upon hope that there would be a voice  for God’s people, raised  to prevail against their enemies.

 Esther 6:1-12
6 That night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. 2 And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3 Then the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”
 4 So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. 5 The king’s servants said to him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”And the king said, “Let him come in.”
 6 So Haman came in, and the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?”Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” 7 And Haman answered the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, 8 let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. 9 Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’” 10 Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.” 11 So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!” 12 Afterward Mordecai went back to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. 13 When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him.”

He also made it so that the one who had sought to destroy him (Mordecai), was totally annihilated.

Another who had seemingly been forgotten, buried under the dross of broken promises by those around him was Joseph; but did the Lord forget what He had destined concerning him? No… At the ‘set time’, the right time, the records were pulled in heaven and the ‘Book of Remembrance’ concerning him, was opened, catapulting him to his destiny IN ONE DAY!

  Psalm 102:13
You will arise and have mercy on Zion; For the time to favor her, Yes, the set time, has come.

Yes, He will arise, and He will have mercy, He will arise and, He will remember:

Exodus 6:5
 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have REMEMBERED My covenant.

So again I say unto you who have been waiting, seeking, and holding on to my promises, the set time has come! I open the ‘Book of Remembrance’ and  will cause that which I have purposed to do, to be established and to be displayed, for all to see. Rejoice this day for on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, And there shall be holiness; The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. Obadiah 1:17 because a ‘Book of Remembrance’ had been written concerning them says The Lord.

Malachi 3:16

[ A Book of Remembrance ] Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name.

What shall we say to these things?

"Princi-pearls"

The expression of gratitude without the use of platitudes, changes the attitude, and shifts the paradigm of aptitude, giving one the latitude to attain higher altitude, and the opportunity to affect the lives of multitudes, with greater amplitude....

 © Adepero Mettabel Okulaja

Don’t sweat it! Everything Has Its Time…

Ecclesiastes 3:3
3 To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

Philippians 3:13
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

The rise of Woman, the fall of Eve and the resurrection of WOMAN By Adepero Mettabel Okulaja

This woman We know as Eve...

Before the fall, her identity was incorporated into man. Adam had given her the name woman  recognizing her as a part of himself Adam! Note that he had named all the other creatures, but none of them was his perfect fit.

Genesis 2:23-24

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.... so in essence Adam first named her Woman and her first name was Adam! i.e. Adam-Woman and Adam was Adam-Man.... This means that when the Lord came to fellowship with Adam in the cool of the evening, He did not just fellowship with Adam-Man, He fellowshipped with Adam-Man and Adam-Woman.

Then Adam-Woman who was supposed to be Adam-Man's wife wandered away from him and allowed herself to be tempted of the devil in the form of the serpent, which culminated in the fall of man and bondage under the curse.

Genesis 3:1-2

1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

After the fall, Adam separated himself from his wife when God came looking for them - Genesis 3:12

Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

Thus, began the blame game! Because of sin, that which had been cleaved from was now being cleaved away from, and Adam then gave her a name that identified her no longer with himself, but with him whom she had allowed herself to be allied to - the serpent.

So what this shows us is that in the beginning, there was no separation or differentiation between man and woman because they were one - They were both called Adam! but after the fall Adam separated his own identity from his wife... which is what sin brought - separation not only from God but from his helper Adam-Woman and  then renamed her Eve, note the difference - In the first instance - SHE  shall be called "Woman" and in the second, he started  the name-calling - Adam called his wife's name - notice the separation: his wife...

Genesis 3:20

20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

So Eve now under grace now must go back to her first estate Adam-Man, and Adam-man must accept her back and restore her back to HER original estate - Adam-Woman, ending the blame game, the curse, and the Tyrannical Lordship that was a consequence of the fall, back to the place where Adam said: This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man....

I AM WOMAN, MY NAME IS ADAM-WOMAN. That is why under grace the bible states prophetically in the book of Isaiah speaking of God's children  said:

Isaiah 34:16

16 “Search from the book of the Lord, and read:
 Not one of these shall fail;
 Not one shall lack her mate.
 For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.

I AM A WOMAN!

"I am She.
 My name is Woman,
 Female, Lady, Damsel,
 All that embodies the completion of male...."

Copyright, The Voice of One Woman by Adepero Mettabel Okulaja