clothed in righteousness, I stand by the blood of Jesus

Hello there,

Praise be to God Almighty, who has kept us safe through the COVID-19 pandemic, and He will yet keep us….

Welcome to August 2020 Newsletter, a rich compilation of previous month’s publications, upcoming events and a listing of partnership opportunities.  

August 2020 Highlights

“those who trust in the Lord {in hope and expectation}, shall have their strengths renewed, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” Isaiah 40:10. 

The above quote is my rendition of Isaiah 40:10. Naturally, it is impossible to Wait on The Lord  as some Bible translations present this portion of scripture, and yet to be making progress. However, Isaiah 40:10 ‘wait‘ speaks of trust, confident expectation, hope, in patience and endurance, leading up to faith and victory. 

We know that people may sometimes use empathy as a manipulative, enticing and control tool, that is when we see The Evil of Empathy, which ultimately aims to destroy the target or recipient. But truly, Jesus Understands. His empathy is genuine and fruitful. Jesus always cares enough to intervene and bring a positive change. His personal experience with hate, betrayal, death and resurrection, positions Him to express genuine empathy. And this gives us the assurance to approach Him boldly and confidently for our personal needs, knowing that God Never Forgets His Own. We know we can apply The Weapons of Our Warfare, including praise and worship To the King Eternal.

For me, I know that When I am Weak I am Strong, shining as Lamp on a Lampstand, equipped to say like Jesus; “Not in My Father’s House” to any attempt to make the Father’s Business a personal merchandise. 

Praise God!! 

Please follow these hyperlinks to read these edifying articles. 

Upcoming Events

This September, I am starting a new Bible study series; ‘The Whole Armor of God’.

In August 2018 through February 2019, I carried out an 8-part study on Ephesians 6: 11-19 on this blog titled “His Armor, Our Weapons & The Warfare“. Really long topic! Your question?…..so why do it again? Because I believe the Lord would have me do it again; I’ll trust and ride with Him. I hope you’ll join me every Friday……

Partner With Grace

You can now publish on this blog under the Christian Lifesaving Skill category. Kids also have an opportunity to share their best Bible stories under the Kiddies Eyeview category. Pastors’ Corner is a new category available for any Pastor to publish a brief exhortation. This slot is only available for Sundays.

Please note that all guest articles will be screened and published on a ‘first come, first serve basis’. Articles should be between 250-300 words with at least one Bible verse reference. Itemized content is preferable. Send as email to graceobomanu@gmail.com.  We apologize for articles that were sent to us which weren’t published. It is important that your article meet our guidelines to be eligible for publishing. 

Your freewill gift can help with running and maintenance charges for this site. Please give here.

You can order the kindle and paperback copies of my book on healing ‘When The Doctor Says No’ from your local Amazon store, and a subsidized pdf copy here.

To continue to be inspired, edified and blessed by similar articles as this one from our blog, subscribe here. 

September 2020 is already upon us, so let’s get started……?.

Till next time, Stay Safe; In The Word and In The Covenant

Love Always❤

Grace. 

I don’t really know much about the parts of a ship so I cannot say if the stern of every ship is a resting point. What I can say though is that the stern of ship where Jesus lay, asleep in the midst of a storm, was a place of faith, trust, peace and rest.

You know, as I thought about the uneventful ‘disappearance’ of the poisonous serpents, I realized that actually that is how life problems ‘pass away’ as we move our focus away from life’s troubling issues and rightfully fix them on Jesus and His Word.

May I always be a Vessel of Honor. Fit for Purpose. Preserved and Maintained by the Potter

Can we briefly reflect on the things that meant all things to us before the onset of COVID-19? Looking back now, can we say like Paul that we indeed abounded and still abound

The people are watching
They’re looking, anxious, expecting a miracle
Your power and glory are in full display throughout the universe.  But they’re expecting a miracle

They cannot see the drug addict who was heading for destruction Who found Christ and his life story changed.

The young boy that was once a heartache to his parents but who gained direction, discovered purpose because of Your power and love. 

The young girl that was becoming wayward and increasing her mother’s pains but whose life You turned around for good by Your power. 

The woman who was bound by the devil but whom You liberated totally by Your power. 

The young man who got his head completely twisted by pornography but who You reached down to the pit and pulled out by Your power. 

The 50 year old spinster who got married to her dream man and is enjoying One Flesh as You ordained it. 

The young lady whose marriage became a troubling challenge, whose hopes of finding love and peace were dashed, who didn’t know which way to turn but who You visited and changed her life experience. 

The young man who needed to make a decision for marriage and couldn’t make up his mind which of his lady friends to tie the notch with, but who You visited, gave direction, wisdom and purpose.
The woman who through faith in You, picked up her sickness mat and walked, and is still walking in victory. 

The young lady with low self-esteem because she didn’t know true parental love but who You became a Father to and gave hope and peace. 

The young woman whose husband suddenly died leaving her with 3 children and no job but who You picked up, loved, sustained and have remained faithful to. Her children are graduates from the best schools in the world.

This is a new blogpost series and I already see it taking us several weeks to conclude. I find this topic to be surprisingly very controversial. Surprising for me because, coming from a premise that the topic is centered on a ‘Christian man’, I have some expectations.

Should a Christian man have more than one woman?

Let’s start from the beginning. What do we mean by ‘Have’ in this blogpost?

We are told in 1 Corinthians 7:2;

“But because of (the temptation to participate in) sexual immorality, let each man HAVE his own wife and let each woman HAVE her own husband.”

And in Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5, and Ephesians 5:31

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined (and be faithfully devoted) to his wife and they shall become one flesh.”

So “HAVE” here simply means being married, faithfully devoted and committed to one woman or man. By the way, ‘man’ as used here is not generic but specifically refers to a male human!

Somebody says; ‘Grace your references are from the Bible!’

And I say; Yes! this is a Christian Blog site 🙂 and so though we try to adopt a rounded approach to life’s issues, our final reference is the Bible. And do I love the Bible? YES indeed! 🙂

In simple terms then, the questions we are looking at providing answers to in this blogpost series are; should a christian man be married to only one woman or can he have as many wives as he chooses? Should a christian man share his commitment and devotion between 2 or more women? Should a christian man keep concubines with or without his wife’s knowledge?

Because I counsel people and also have a blog site that focuses on providing Godly perspectives to everyday real life issues, when I meet logical and analytical men, I try to engage them to get their perspective  on specific man/woman issues.

I have in recent times therefore, tried to understand why men cheat on their women. And it’s been very surprising for me, in fact almost unbelievable, that most men that I talked with (Christians and non-Christians) strongly believe that a man’s physical build and biological constitution constantly predisposes him to ‘having’ more than one woman.  This then begs the question; is this assertion true, if true,  is it exclusive to men or can women claim same for themselves?

Further questions for me though are: is God not unjust in expecting a man to be joined, committed and faithfully devoted  to  only one woman (as we see from scriptures cited above), if He created man with an insatiable sexual appetite?  And why the emphasis on keeping away from adultery having put unbridled and fierce passions and desires in a man?

If this is really true, then I say it, that God has not dealt justly with the man!

In part 2 of this blogpost series, we’ll see from the scriptures if God has given man an irrepressible and unquenchable passions and desires towards every woman.

My love always……

Welcome back.

In the first part of this blogpost, we looked at what alcohol is, its health benefits and risks and we started the discussion on whether a Christian should drink alcohol or not.

My husband always says; ‘Grace if you want to be popular, handle highly controversial and provocative discourse‘. Well, I know ‘Alcohol & Christianity’ to be a highly controversial and sensitive topic, and No, …you’re wrong, I didn’t set out seeking cheap popularity, God forbid 🙂

So, yes, I knew I was delving into a precarious topic, but oh my! I would never have imagined how exciting this topic is. I mean, I have received many reactions to this blogpost in the past one week. And it may interest you to know that these reactions didn’t come from pagans or infidels neither did they come from my ‘orthodox Christian group’!  Nope!  All the responses received have been from my very revered ‘born-again group’!!

Imagine this one from North America;

“Hi Grace, where did you get the opinion that born-again Christians can’t stand the idea of a sip of alcohol?”

And this one from Britain:

“Sister Grace, I think you have to consider all the scriptures that talks about drinking wine before you arrive at a doctrinal position. ‘do not be drunk with wine’ is very different from ‘do not drink wine'”.  

Seeing therefore that there are divergent views on this topic, we will systematically look into the scriptures for direction. 🙂

I outline below, most of the Bible verses I could find on drinking wine/intoxicating drink with a few related ones. I admonish you beloved brethren; to patiently read each scripture, do not skip any of them. And please do not read them with your religious lenses on (learnt that from my Pastor).

“It is not for kings, O lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink; lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the justice of all the afflicted”   Proverbs 31:4-5

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9

“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: when either a man or woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazarite, to separate himself to the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice or raisins.”      Numbers 6:2-4

“Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that they may distinguish between unclean and clean and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.” Leviticus 10: 9-11

“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said…” 2 Corinthians 6:16

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful, all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.”  1 Corinthians 10: 23

“But they also have erred through wine, and through intoxicating drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they are out of the way through intoxicating drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.”   Isaiah 28: 7

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”   Proverbs 20:1

” Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   Ephesians 5: 17-20

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, not revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”    1 Corinthians 6: 9-10

“Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe and take away justice from the righteous man.”  Isaiah 5:22

“Do we have no right to eat and drink? Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? ………. Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel  of Christ.”                                                        1 Corinthians  9: 4-12

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”  1 Corinthians 6: 12

“They gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He tasted it, He would not drink.” Matthew 27: 34

“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly. At the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things and your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying; they have struck me, but I was not hurt, they have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake that I may seek another drink?” Proverbs 23: 29-35

As I read those scriptures, I understood clearly what God’s stand on alcohol or intoxicating drink is. Can you hear what The Spirit of the Lord is saying Child of God?

I once had a director who said to me: “Dr. Obomanu, you are not allowed to say anything after I have spoken on a matter.” I believe the Holy Spirit has spoken to us through these scriptures. I heard Him right, and because we have same spirit, I want to believe you heard Him too.

So I have nothing else to say except that if you find you are struggling to justify any habit, chances are that your flesh is wrestling with your spirit. And you are a SPIRIT, so WIN. Put your body under control.

“If your right hand makes you stumble and leads you to sin, cut it off and throw it away (that is; remove yourself from the source of temptation), for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go to hell.”  Matthew 5:30

Like I stated in the first part of this write-up, alcohol is useful as a solvent or preservative (in addition to other uses). So, we find alcohol in many foods and disinfectants etc. Personally, I won’t really become too cynical about those. Most are outside of my control. I do however have control over a glass of intoxicating wine; to drink it or not 🙂

Lastly, when Paul said to Timothy;

“No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.”  1 Timothy 5:23

you do not need a rocket scientist to tell you Timothy must have had a health condition to necessitate that. If you have a health challenge and wish to get medical help, I strongly suggest you see a medical doctor to get medical help. Do not prescribe alcohol for yourself 🙂 Besides, as a Doctor, I do not know of any medical condition that is treated with a glass or bottle of alcohol 🙂

Stay Blessed and continue to WIN.

My Prayer for everyone that reads this blogpost series (and indeed for myself too):

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation (that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight) into the true knowledge of Him (for we know the Father through the son). And that the eyes of your heart (the centre and core of your being) may be enlightened (flooded with light by the Holy Spirit), so that you will know and cherish the hope (divine guarantee, the confident expectation) to which He has called you, …..”   Ephesians 1: 17-18a

My love always…..