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. 

Earlier today, I had a very strong impression in my heart to prophesy over my family. The contents of the prophecy were very clear to me, I could clearly see everything I needed to prophesy about, the words to say were running through my mind, I felt a strong sense of confidence in every word.  Arnold my husband was right beside me trying to get some sleep, the urge to start speaking was getting stronger, but then something was missing….and I will tell you what that is in a bit.

Thirty minutes earlier, Arnold and I had agreed we needed to nap….Sunday siesta! 🙂 The sermon today was good; Arnold loves governance and politics so the preacher got his full attention, well almost fully. One time, the preacher gave a rhetoric command; ‘rise up and be the voice of reason’, Arnold jerked up from his head bent position, almost standing to his feet. Only wisdom stopped him from jumping up and screaming ‘yes preacher‘. His slowness in awakening from his short nap gave him sufficient time to look around and find that everyone else was seated.

We both needed to sleep, last night was a business night, we had some sleep deficit to catch up on. Additionally, we’d booked an appointment to listen to a younger chap share his passion about a business idea…this was due in an hour…

But I wasn’t sleeping, the words of the prophecy kept running through my mind as I partly thought, ‘well I can do it during our prayer time’, besides Arnold seemed asleep now. But then I heard in my spirit; ‘the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth, …the word of faith‘

Oh! I thought, ‘word, ….faith….prophecy…….

I quickly grabbed my Bible and located Romans 10:8.

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:8‭-‬9 NKJV.

The first time I heard the concept of faith in Christianity explained was almost 2 decades ago, that would be from Hebrews 11. As you can imagine, there has been countless other times. Today, as I read Romans 10:8-9, my understanding of faith improved.

What do we have in Romans 10:8-9?

This scripture describes the steps for becoming a born-again Christian. But that’s not all. It provides the layout for a victorious Christian living founded on the kingdom principle of faith.

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:8‭-‬9 NKJV

Becoming born again is simple; you listen to the good news and allow it create a picture in your mind, believe what you heard and believe the picture created in your heart, then confess (with your mouth) that what you have come to believe is so, and hey, you have it! You are born again, Praise God!!! 

Hearing the good news alone is not faith {It’s part of the process}

Conceiving the good news alone is not faith {It’s part of the process}

Speaking about the good news alone without fully believing it, is not faith {It’s just part of the process}.

Faith=Conceive it+ Believe it + Speak it + Receive it. 

This principle of faith is succinctly described in Romans 10: 15

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? NKJV

Let’s flip Romans 10:15 from bottom up;

Send a preacher out to preach so that people can hear the good news, believe it and then call on (confess) Him. 🙂

To say to a mountain ‘move‘ is not enough to make it move. There is a ……..’does not doubt in his heart‘,  a …..’believes what he says will happen‘,  before a ……’he will have what he says‘ (Mark 11: 23).

Faith=Conceive it+ Believe it + Speak it + Receive it. 

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
James 2:26 NKJV

Hebrews 11:1-3 says;

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”
Hebrews 11:1‭-‬3 NKJV

A substance is tangible, an evidence is evident, so why does the Bible describe them in Hebrews 11 in future and passive terms? hoped for’….’not seen’….

Because the picture is fully created in a person’s mind, the person already believes it, the person has already confessed it and though not yet visible, the person already has it.

Look at Hebrews 11:1-3 again and this time, let’s see something different and interesting…

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”
Hebrews 11:1‭-‬3 NKJV

‘.…for by it the elders obtained a good testimony‘ in the above scripture can mean: 1. The elders are remembered because of their faith or 2. The elders created a testimony for themselves by operating in faith or 3. Both.

I will choose both.

You can become a faith champion by consistently creating your own testimonies obtained and secured through conceiving a thing, believing it, speaking it {plus acting on it} and having it.

I hear people say ‘faith is the Christian currency‘….is that absolutely correct? …….

Right now, if you are thinking like me, the immediate question to be answered is” what can I buy right now with my faith? I mean now! If faith is really this simple, why waste anymore time?

Can we create anything by faith? I mean anything at all…… 

How did the elders do it?

Three scriptures;

“…but without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11: 6

“…By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:2

“….”How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? NKJV

The base, setting under, or substrate of faith is The Word of God.

Hearing the word, believing in the existence of God, knowing and believing the word of God are prerequisites to obtaining a good testimony through faith.

So any believing, conceiving, speaking, acting that is not founded on the Word of God is merely a wishful thinking or a positive thinking. It is not faith.

Faith is based on the Word of God.

Oh! but what happens when the object of your faith does not manifest instantly, what do you do?

That’s where the twin brother of faith comes in; HOPE

Faith says ‘it’s done and I receive it, Hope patiently awaits the physical manifestation of the faith object.

Hope, doesn’t let your faith focus slip. Even though it tarries, it shall surely show forth.

Halleluyah!!!

Now back to my story about that prophecy 

I can have those thoughts and words running through my mind all day (and even into another night), and with all the confidence i feel about them bustling in my heart, but until I open my mouth and actually begin to say them out, and say them based on the word of God, nothing is gonna happen. So the moment Arnold turned a bit in his sleep and I established that he was no longer asleep, he got a full release of the words for the season. 

I leave you with an interesting dialogue between Ezekiel and Jehovah…..

“The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then he caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? So I answered , ‘O Lord God, You know.” Again He said to me, “prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live……..So I prophesied as I was commanded and as I prophesied there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them over over; but there was no breath in them. Also He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds , O breath and breathe on these slain that they may live. So I prophesies as He commanded me and breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.” Ezekiel 37: 1-10. NKJV.

The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth.

What are you waiting for? 🙂 ……..Start putting flesh on those bones…….

…………………..

If you’ve been blessed by this or any other publication on this site, your freewill gift can help with running and maintenance charges for this site. Give here.

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

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

Blessings & Love Always.

Grace Obomanu

Why Christians Sometimes Feel Sick.

So far we’ve said that God is interested in having His children stay physically healed and He made adequate provision for this.

Secondly, healing is first spiritual but should manifest physically.

Thirdly, Jesus’ pain, agony and death wasn’t just a spiritual experience, he took it all in His body.

We ended the last part with a promise to search the scriptures for answers to this question: ‘Grace, I am a Child of God, but I still have symptoms of sickness and disease in my body, where is my healing?

The answer to this question is actually the thrust of this series. I am as interested in it as you are.

But before we get into that, I believe it is pertinent to first answer the question of; ‘Why do Christians experience sickness at all? We are Children of God, saved, righteous, filled with the Holy Ghost, healed by His Stripes, why do we still fall sick?’

Well, I searched the scriptures, and found 5 possible reasons why a Christian may fall ill.

1. We live in a physical body which becomes worn and torn from use:

We are spirit beings but communicate with the world around us through our body. Our hands, feet, brain, eyes, ears, etc are various parts of our body which help us function on earth. God told Adam, ‘I give you the earth and all that is in it, use it for your good and remember to ‘tend and keep it’. We must make efforts to tend and keep our physical bodies. We should give more attention to ensuring it stays protected and preserved. We should eat right; God recommends more of plant-based food (Genesis 1:29 & 2:16), get some exercise, take advantage of the ‘little’ profit exercise gives the body (1 Timothy 4:8), manage your emotions (longstanding anger and bitterness can be detrimental to health) and get good rest.

Talking about Rest, I believe Christians need to give more time to rest. God Almighty rested on the 7th day, the whole day. He created the world in six days and rested on the 7th. Simple arithmetic just tells you that for the 144 hours God worked, He got 24 hours rest. And I mean rest from all work (whether secular or kingdom work). God is wise, spirituality is His domain. So do not confuse the need for rest with not being spiritual or not maximizing grace. I have come to see that sometimes, the remedy for some illnesses is sleep….Long deep sleep! It gives your body time to recover from tear and wear then you can work again. Get your 7th day rest 🙂

2. Sin brought sickness:

Deuteronomy 28 lists sickness as one of the curses of the law, a penalty for not keeping The Lord’s commands. There is a link between sin and sickness.

In John 9:3-4 Jesus told His disciples this;

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him…….” NKJV.

And if we remember well, almost every time Jesus healed someone he leaves them with an admonishment ‘go and sin no more‘. The good news for us as Christians is that we are carriers of the righteousness of God {through Christ} and we have the Whole Armor of God to keep well kitted at all times.

3. The devil is on a mission to keep Christians oppressed and depressed;

John 10:10a tells us this much

“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy..” NKJV

Thank God Jesus stripped him of all powers and gave all power to us. Our victory is in the name of Jesus Christ through faith in God’s Word.

4. Set up for God’s glory:

Going by Jesus’ response in John 9:3-4 above, some challenges can come to us (from the enemy) but end up as a set up for God’s glory; revealing the power of God to heal, save and deliver to, the us and other brethren.

5. Misuse of the Lord’s Supper;

“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.” I Corinthians 11:29‭-‬30 NKJV.

I never understand how Christians comfortably harbor unforgiveness for so long. Truth is; feelings of anger, hurts and even envy come to everyone irrespective of level of spirituality, question is; ‘how do you handle them? That’s one way to measure the depth of your spirituality. Do you push them aside quickly or do they continue to define your relationships?

Jesus discourages service in His name while there is unsettled dispute between brethren. He says keep your service and sacrifice; I don’t need it. It is more important to Me that you’re living at peace with all men:

“leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Matthew 5:24 NKJV

Clearly, Jesus gives higher priority to mercy, forgiveness and love than giving, service and sacrifice (Luke 11:42).

Remember the 2 greatest commandments?

“Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Matthew 22:37‭-‬39 NKJV

And 1 Corinthians 13 says all spiritual giftings and manifestations amount to nothing without love.

Love is the greatest of all!

Loving God is actually much easier than loving man. God is love Himself. He gave His Son to die for sin even before we knew we were sinners. He supplies all our needs. He protects us, etc etc. So we shouldn’t only be boasting about our love and reverence for God, we should boast more our love walk.

But man? he is inherently and desperately wicked ?. Having a preference to retaliate, cause harm, etc. (Jeremiah 17:9). That’s the natural man!

The rebirthed man is different because He has God alive in him. He reflects the life and Love of God.

He can love the unlovable man just the way God loves. That is agape.

I love how Galatians sums up the entire commandment of God;

“For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is fulfilled in one precept, “You shall love your neighbor’ as yourself [that is, you shall have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit].” But if you bite and devour one another [in bickering and strife], watch out that you [along with your entire fellowship] are not consumed by one another.”
GALATIANS 5:14‭-15.

If it still takes you a long time to push hurts and bitterness aside, work on it. But while you sort these out, steer clear of The Lord’s Table. Why eat yourself to weakness, sickness or death? 🙂

So, these are some of the reasons Christians become sick.

The good news is; you may become sick but you don’t have any reason to stay or remain sick because Jesus Christ paid the eternal price for sickness and disease. We are/were healed by His Stripes. That healing is available and accessible always

We should constantly work at taking care of our physical bodies, stay clothed in the whole armor of God, remain conscious of our righteousness in Christ and steer clear of The Lord’s Table if we have to.

In the next part, we’ll answer the question of ‘where is my healing?’ 🙂

Get My Book On Healing; “When The Doctor Says No”

To learn more about our healing benefits in Christ Jesus, follow this link to my book, “When The Doctor Says No” available online at

https://www.amazon.com/When-Doctor-Says-No-Word/dp/1704859166/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7

The Book is available in two formats; kindle and paperback. It is also available for order online from all amazon market places, meaning that the Amazon shop in your neighborhood should be able to supply you.

Stay Blessed & My love always.

Welcome back! Trust you had a good week…. 🙂

This is the second part of this series. As a way of introduction, I am providing answers to some fundamental questions about healing and salvation.

God is interested in having His children stay physically healed and He made adequate provision for this. Secondly, salvation is not only spiritual; a spiritually born person who feeds well {on the Word} eventually exhibits traits of the spirit physically. In the same vein, and because healing and salvation come as one package, healing is first spiritual but should manifest physically.

We have 2 reference scriptures for this series;

1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV)

“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness- by whose stripes you were healed.”

Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV)

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

To formally commence our learning on the subject ‘By His Stripes‘, we first provide some basic definitions; look again at the Isaiah 53:5; we see ‘bruised’, ‘wounded’ ‘stripes’.

As used in the reference scripture, ‘stripes‘ mean; a bruise, a wound from a stripe, to beat to pieces, crush, smite, humble, oppress.

‘Wound’ is an injury to a living tissue caused by a cut, blow, or impart, which typically cuts or breaks the skin.

‘Bruise‘ is an injury that appears as a discolored area of skin on the body.

What do we see here?

These descriptions point to a physical, bodily experience. Yes, Jesus definitely felt the spiritual and emotional weight of crucifixion, but reality remains that He was physically tortured.

His body was cut. The stripes were not imaginary; he was lashed so much that His skin broke. The nails pierced His skin as they passed through His hands, and the spear certainly pierced his skin.

1 Peter 2:24 says; He bore our sins in His own body.

Jesus’ pain and agony wasn’t just a spiritual one. He took it all in His body, so that my body can stay healed, intact, unbroken.

Sickness was part of the curse. Jesus paid the price and bought my eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12). I shouldn’t be thrown into prison for the same offence more than once.

Sickness came as punishment for sin. Jesus paid fully for it. I needn’t pay again.

My healing was bought complete

My healing is spiritual

My healing manifests physically in my body.

Someone asks; ‘Grace, I am a Child of God, but I still have symptoms of sickness and disease in my body, where is my healing?

Let’s search the scriptures together for answers….

Join me next time.

Get My Book On Healing; “When The Doctor Says No”

To learn more about our healing benefits in Christ Jesus, follow this link to my book, “When The Doctor Says No” available online at https://www.amazon.com/When-Doctor-Says-No-Word/dp/1704859166/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7

The Book is available in two formats; kindle and paperback. It is also available for order online from all amazon market places, meaning that the Amazon shop in your neighborhood should be able to supply you.

Love always.

Scripture References:

who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness- by whose stripes you were healed.” I Peter 2:24 NKJV.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 NKJV

Sometimes Christians want to provide a comfortable explanation for 1 Peter 2:24, it’s wisdom to be careful with doing that. Scripture should not be interpreted in the light of one’s feelings, emotions or experience. If someone tried to apply the Word on healing to themselves but failed, this shouldn’t make for a twisted interpretation of scripture. God’s word is the Truth, the Way and the Life. God’s Word doesn’t change with circumstances but remains the same yesterday, today and forever.

I ventured on a “Christian” blog not too long ago where there was a heated debate on the meaning of ‘healed‘ in ‘By His stripes you were (are) healed‘ as seen in our reference scriptures. A good number of persons supported the idea that these scriptures speaks only of a spiritual healing experience with no physical manifestation. Their assertion as I understand it, stems from their understanding that healing and salvation come as one package. They further infer that since salvation is spiritual (referring to man’s spiritual rebirth necessitated by the fall of Adam) then the healing mentioned in 1 Peter 2:24 is also spiritual.

I agree/disagree.

I agree, as recorded in Genesis chapter 3, that as a result of Adam’s sin, sin and death were introduced into the world and sadly, both spread to all men (Romans 5:12).

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Romans 5:12 NLT.

The good news however is that in Jesus Christ, God made provision for every spiritually dead descendant of Adam to become spiritually alive (1 Corinthians 15:22).

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
I Corinthians 15:22 NKJV

This is the spiritual rebirth spoken of by Jesus to Nicodemus in John 3: 1-17. As soon as someone becomes born again by confessing Jesus as Lord and Saviour, he becomes a brand new creation, a new spirit is birthed and the old sinful nature done away with.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

The argument for ‘1 Peter 2:24 healing’ being spiritual (and not physical) is often posited to support the fact that in Christ we have been healed from the illness of sin. Again, I agree that we have been delivered from sin (and its consequent death), but I disagree that ‘1 Peter 2:24’ is only spiritual. Sin was not an illness but a part of the curse. The curse (sin, sickness and death) came through Adam.

Below, I share my thoughts on 1 Peter 2:24 by working through a few questions.

Question #1 : Did God only plan a spiritual healing for man? Has He no interest in man being physically healed?

Let’s see some scriptures below;

“Beloved, I pray that in every way you may succeed and prosper and be in good health (physically) just as (I know) your soul prospers (spiritually).” 3 John 1:2. AMP.

“..for they are life to those who find them and healing and health to all their flesh.” Proverbs 4:22 AMP.

“when evening came, they brought to Him under the power of demons; and He cast out the evil spirits with a word, and restored to health all those who were sick (exhibiting His authority as Messiah).” Matthew 8:16

So from 3 John 1:2; we should enjoy good health physically, from Proverbs 4:22; God made a provision for healing (through His word), and from Matthew 8:16; Jesus healed all that came to Him with phy sickness.

God is interested in having His children stay physically healed and He made adequate provision for that. God’s Word is health to All our flesh.

Question #2 :Is salvation really only a spiritual event?

The newbirth is a spiritual experience. The day you got born again, there was no obvious change in your physical appearance. Your skin color didn’t change, there was no change in any part of your body. However, you received a brand new spirit; you received the nature of God- you are a creation, you are righteous, you are holy, you received all the attributes of the Spirit in your spirit. You were born of the Spirit of God. And when you get receive the baptism of the Spirit, you become filled with the Holy Spirit.

As the mind is renewed continually with the Word, physical expressions of the fruit of the Spirit are experienced and expressed.

I am yet to see an event and experience that so powerfully transforms, remolds, and positively changes a life as a daily walk with Jesus Christ. That’s why people could tell that the disciples have been with Jesus post resurrection.

Divine healing is divine! It is first spiritual (you have to see it, believe it and receive it) then it becomes evident in your physical body.

So, yes! salvation and healing came as one package, both are spiritual encounters and surely both manifest physically to be appreciated by others.

Please join me again soon in the next part.

My love always.

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25

Galatians 5:25 clearly says there is a difference between living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit.

The Lord Jesus Christ kept His promise in John 14:16; the Holy Spirit is freely given to anyone in Christ who asks of the Father. The Spirit is given to us to equip us with power for the work of the kingdom, to teach us all things, to quicken our mortal bodies, to help us pray according to the will of the Father, to guide us, and more.

Ezekiel 36:27; says that it is also the job of the Holy Spirit to cause us to live according to the standards and principles of God.

“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will keep My judgments and do them.” NKJV.

Does that mean then that everyone filled with the Spirit of God, naturally walks in His statutes, keeps His judgments, does not sin?

Galatians 5:25 suggests otherwise,…… it says someone can have the Holy Spirit living in them and yet the person does not walk in the Spirit (selah).

Two questions we must quickly answer to proceed;

Question 1: What does ‘cause to’ mean literally?

Question: What does it mean ‘to walk’?

According to the dictionary, ‘cause to‘ means to give rise to an action, phenomenon or action. To make something happen, to bring about, to result in, to produce, to generate, to prompt, to inspire, to induce.

There are different definitions for Walk found in the Cambridge Dictionary, however, I am interested in this one; to move along by putting one foot in front of the other, to go with someone to a particular place (so as to protect them from danger, or show them the way).

Therefore, ‘walk in the Spirit’ in Galatians 5:25 and in Ezekiel 36:27 would mean to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit….. one foot in front of the other.

Apostle Paul in Galatians 5 from verse 1 wrote to discourage self righteousness through a personal effort to follow the law- commands and statutes. Instead, Paul admonishes the Galatians to simply follow the Spirit who already indwells them.

But how do you follow someone?

You listen out for instructions or directions then you act out or obey the person’s directives.

So there is clearly a role I have to play; …. I must listen and act accordingly.
Walking in the Spirit isn’t automatic! If it were so, every Christian filled with the Holy Spirit would be fully expressing the 9 fruit of the Spirit;
-love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, self-control, faithfulness, gentleness.

Personally, I wish this is the case but sadly and unfortunately, there is another stimulus begging for our follower-ship and attention…..the Flesh.

The effect of the flesh on any human can be really profound.

Galatians 5:17 tells us there can be an ongoing battle between the flesh and the Spirit that supersedes our wishes as Christians. Meaning that someone can really really wish to do right, but finds himself/herself doing the opposite. Sounds to me like someone trying to keep the Law- really trying and struggling without success.

There is a way out!

Galatians 5:18 advises us to be led by the Spirit…..to walk ‘in-step’ with the Spirit.

How do we know when you’re ‘in-step’ or ‘out-of-step’ with the Spirit?

“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” Galatians 5:19‭-‬21 NKJV.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law”
Galatians 5:22‭.
Frankly, out of the 9 fruit of the Spirit, I can only confidently say (today) that I express 4 fully. You can laugh at me or you can do your own maths…..

One virtue I boast of myself is that ‘I tell myself the truth when I see it‘.

Growing up, I probably got more beating refusing to say ‘sorry‘ for an offence I am sure I didn’t commit than for committing the offence or not. I kept saying ‘God would vindicate me….naaaaa….. I got more beating 🙂 Marriage brought me wisdom!! Sometimes, a ‘sorry’ saves you an unnecessary fight {you fix the problem when there is less tension}. Anyway, that’s an aside… 🙂

Point here? …do your maths…..be truthful to yourself.

What’s your score out of the possible 9? Would you say that you are fully walking in the Spirit? You may not be guilty of adultery, fornication, idolatry, uncleanness, murder, drunkenness, etc, but do you express any of the following attributes?- hatred, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, envy, do you brew trouble among people or cause people to argue sometimes? Do you lose control always or often?

Galatians 5:19-21 says you are responding to and following the leading of the flesh, you are under the control of the flesh.

Again, it’s not about do’s and don’ts, but about living in the predominance of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t want to go to Heaven without fully expressing all 9 fruit of the Spirit while on earth. I am not sure there will be room to express them in Heaven.

Brethren, we have a decision to make at every point when we walk in the Spirit. Someone offends you, you have a choice how to react; retaliate immediately, defer your retaliation or immediately listen to what the Spirit would have you do. You say, ‘Grace, in that split second? …..so I find too 🙂 ……..in that split second.

Walk in the Spirit- move from giving natural, ‘fleshy’ responses to releasing spiritual responses. Yes we miss it sometimes, but with practice it gets better.

Temptations to be angry, jealous, show that we are in charge, that we cannot be intimidated, or to express ‘self’ in different dimensions will come, but we don’t have to yield when tempted, we choose to respond by the Holy Ghost.

Help us Lord!

And thank You for Your Word!!

Galatians 5:16 says;

“So I tell you, live the way the Spirit leads you , then you will not do the evil things your sinful self wants”. NKJV

Welcome to this blogpost series; In His Image. I am confident that it is going to be enlightening as well as a blessing. Like many of my blogposts, I am really excited to be doing this at this time. And if you have been following me on the blog of late, God has been faithfully pointing me to my identity in Him. I am a son of God, I have the God-status, I have beautiful rights and privileges and now He’s saying; ‘Grace (your name), I made you in my image’. Hallelujah!

Our focal scripture is Genesis 1: 26-27;

“Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our Likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth”. So God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:2

Starting off to write this article, I had no clear idea what direction to go. I knew for sure that The Lord has given a topic to explore, but there was no content for many days. I am thankful that the more I turned the topic over in my mind, the Lord faithfully (as always) began to download the contents to me by His Spirit. So to thoroughly distill insights from Genesis 1:26-27 relevant for this study, I’ll be adopting a very detailed approach to sharing my thoughts. Every step is important. Stay with me 🙂

A. What is an image?

An image is “a representation of the external form of a person or thing in art”.

Note the words in bold- external form (as against internal). The external of a thing describes the part of the thing that can be connected to easily by the senses. It is the outer surface or substance of a thing. So, an image is a reflection of how a thing or person appears physically. For example, my image reflects my physical expression, how I appear, how I am seen.

Therefore the image of God is an expression of how God appears in His ‘physical’ form, how He relates with the physical world. How the world ‘feels’ or ‘sees’ God.

I am carefully choosing the words to describe Image, especially as it relates to God. And that’s important because God Is a Spirit. A spirit does not have a physical image. So ‘God’s image’ would not be referring to His spiritual nature. And so, when the Bible says God created man in His image, that would mean God created man to be just as He (God) interacts with the physical world {these are my thoughts on this portion of scripture}.

Another word used for image in our focal scripture is ‘Likeness’ , and I looked up it’s meaning as well ?….

Likeness means the semblance, guise or outward appearance of something or someone.

Some synonyms of likeness are; appearance, character, shape, form, outward form.

It is quite instructive for me that the verses of scripture immediately following Genesis 1:26-27 begins to enumerate how God wanted man to relate with the world around him….think about that for a bit..

B. What are the features of the Image of God-how does God relate with mankind?

1. God reigns in dominion.

When we think of God, we think of a supreme or sovereign being,….. that’s exactly how God expresses Himself. Not as an aggressive or arrogant display of dominance or control but in calm, confident dominion. He is God all by Himself. Sovereign and Self-sufficient.

Again, here are some interesting synonyms for dominion; supremacy, dominance, preeminence, authority, command, control, rule, sovereignty.

Now, look at Genesis 1 again, and notice that God transferred to man His dominion character….

“Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our Likeness, let them have dominion….”

There is a link between ‘let us make man in our image’ and the ‘let them have dominion‘. You can’t have one without the other. To have dominion requires a ‘being made in the image of God’ and being made in the image of God confers dominion on you.

God gave man dominion over everything that He created, to rule, dominate, control, command, have authority. And God was careful to spell out Adam’s sphere of influence….over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on the earth. In addition, man can have any herb that yields seed and every fruit with seed as food.

If you are thinking ….’did God really give man dominion over mere animals, birds, fishes, etc?’, yes He did! I noted that too. What am I going to do with dominion over these creatures? ?… Why didn’t he say to the first blessed man; ‘I give you dominion over all other humans after you?’

Learning point here for me is; it is useless indulging in rivalry and competition with other humans. I should apply my dominion in calling forth answers to my needs from the world around me. Amen!

I love dominion 🙂 Have you ever considered the opposite of dominion?……..

How do we reign in dominion? We take charge or control of the world around us. We speak, we decree, we believe, we walk by faith, we call things that be not as though they were, we wield authority through the name of Jesus Christ. We RULE.

2. In relating with the world, God sets in motion a system with a multiplier effect for productivity and fruitfulness.

One Adam- many humans, One Begotten Son- many other sons, One set of animal kind- many generations of same kind.

How does God achieve that? – He puts the blessing on the first specie! The blessing sets off a system of multiplication.

Oh! Adam could have had a generation of blessed descendants not requiring the coming and death of a Saviour because the blessing was placed on him. But the reverse was the case. A blessed Adam sinned, became cursed (Genesis 3:17-19) from then onward, could only reproduce cursed and sinful descendants. We see the same principle put in place for salvation (Romans 5: 12-21).

How did 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish feed over 5,000 men with remnants (Matthew 14: 19)? Because Jesus blessed and broke it! (selah).

So when I confess that I am blessed, that means I have potential for limitless productivity, fruitfulness and multiplication. And Yes! I am blessed, ….right from the beginning;

“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘be fruitful and multiply..” Genesis 1:28

That is what the blessing does for you- makes you fruitful and gives you the ability to multiply. Hallelujah!

Therefore no child of God should live in poverty (selah).

Maybe someone is saying ‘Grace, what about the effect of the fall of Adam? Do we still have the blessing? YES! Jesus Christ made sure (Galatians 3:13-14).
So then, if we were to operate in the likeness of God, how do we cause the land, the sea, the livestock, etc to yield an exponential output for us?

Question: How did God bless man? How did Jesus bless the loaves and fish?

We will provide answers to this question in the next part.

Thank you so much for studying with me 🙂

From the time Jesus served His last Passover to the disciples onward it would seem that the disciples’ understanding and practice of the Passover changed somewhat, from being a very sacred ceremonious event that took place at an appointed time, to something that needed to be done more frequently. Did that change the significance of the Passover in any way?

“Do not say to your neighbor, ‘go and come back, and maybe tomorrow I will give it’, when you have it with you” Proverbs 3:28 NKJV. 

Hi there,

Trust you are doing great…

My name is Grace Obomanu and I am glad to meet you today… 🙂 

I am a Christian, Wife, Mother of 3, a Christian Blogger & Counselor. I got born again in 1993, stayed that way until sometime around my early years in College (1996-1997) when things got a bit messy and cloudy around my Christianity, but thank God He got me back on my feet again and from then till now, I have been consistent with my Christian walk. I am happily married (for 15+years now) and I have a teenage son and 2 adorable preteen daughters 🙂 

I trained as a Medical Doctor in Nigeria and have been in active practice in the public health area. Today, I won’t be talking to you about medicine, sorry.

The question we want to answer here is ‘Why Grace Obomanu’s Foundation?’ 🙂 ……………………….

In 2014, I had a nudge in my spirit to start a counselling group; ‘Talk with Grace Obomanu’. That thought dropped on my heart suddenly, meaning it wasn’t premeditated and I am certain, it wasn’t a brainwave or a fluke.  I have to say I was really thrown off a bit at the thought because I would not describe myself as being exceptionally friendly. So I didn’t see how anyone would want to talk to me about their issues. So you can understand my hesitancy and delay as the Talk Group didn’t kick off until about a year later, sometime in 2015. 

Talk with Grace Obomanu went live on Facebook in early 2015, and since then I have been talking!  🙂

People write in from different parts of the world with all kinds of issues-marriage issues, relationship issues, career issues, parents having challenges coping with juvenile tendencies of their teenagers, you just name it….At Talk with Grace Obomanu, I and my Team, (had to put a Team together) provide simple, practical, bible-based (most times) counsel to people online. And this is absolutely free. We don’t charge anyone. And God has been faithful with great outpouring of His grace, wisdom and strength.

Many times, people just need a listening ear, someone to just listen to them bare their mind. Sometimes,people actually think they have a big problem that they cannot fix themselves,but interestingly, just as they find a listening ear, the solution they’ve been seeking flow right outta their mouths. A few other times, people are actually headed in the wrong direction and need to be redirected 🙂 

Having run my Talk Group for sometime now, one thing has become quite obvious, not everyone just wants talk or brilliant ideas about how best to fix their problems, some people have needs,genuine needs that they’ll be thankful to have someone help them meet. I have many times transferred funds to people I’ve never physically met, meeting a need and relieving burdens. Putting a smile on people’s faces. 

This is why I am starting the Grace Obomanu’s Foundation.

About 3 months ago, a lady was referred to me for counselling concerning her marriage. She’s been married for almost 17 years, blessed with 3 children. The first few years though great,right now seems like an experience of a very short-lived bliss. Her husband seemed to have transformed into someone else overnight. He is insecure, abusive and lazy. He’s found it difficult sustaining a job and so has often been in and out of job. Worst still, he is intimidated by her strong personality, personal drive and hardworking nature. He stopped her from working. So her children have gotten used to high-lows (more of lows) as far as meeting basic needs are concerned. According to her, she’s given the marriage her best shot, but it seemed her best wasn’t good enough.

Interesting thing about this lady is; she wasn’t really interested in ending her marriage, she was willing to do things differently if they’d help. And she did. After the first 2 sessions of counselling, she gained sufficient self-motivation to start over again. She identified her weaknesses and areas she needed to make changes in and she also identified her husband’s strengths (areas she can leverage on to bring out the best in him). In no time she was sharing praise report with me about the improvements they were both making in their marriage. Her husband started seeking a new job and encouraged her to do same. She moved from sharing room with her children back to the room she once shared with her husband. Their intimacy was sky-high, their prayer and bible reading life also improved. She particularly reconnected back to God and her relationship with God  was sweet again. Everybody was happy (including me ), except…. 

Her husband grew up in a family setting where fetish practice is common. He’d often glide in/out of conspiracy theories and thoughts of people trying to harm him. Diabolism isn’t always too far in setups such as this. Sometimes really, He’d group her as one of such persons-trying to kill him!

I must say at this point that one of the drawbacks with doing online counselling on marriages is- you may not have the couple together seeking help. So one person writes or calls you and is ready to make the marriage better, but you do not have access to the other partner. This can be really a challenge in situations where the 2 will be required to make personal changes towards a better marriage (and this is often the case).

Back to my story…… about 2 weeks ago one of her parent in-law became critically ill and guess who he pointed accusing fingers at this time? Her! And he didn’t stop there, he asked her for a divorce. So as I speak with you now, this woman has moved out to stay with a friend, being the go-gotter that she is, she’s secured a job already (which she applied for when her husband lifted the embargo on her working), she’s also developed some articles for children which she’s forwarded for review prior to publishing (by the way, this young woman writes really well). Right now, she’s awaiting feedback from the publishers. Problem? She doesn’t have a computer. How did she develop the original draft? With her husband’s laptop….he didn’t let her keep one.

Should she still try to make something out of her marriage? She’ll decide. Right now, she needs to balance, blossom and bounce, for herself and for her children. 

This may not seem like an emergency or life threatening situation, right, but probably typing away on her laptop would keep this lady busy, productive, hopeful and focused.

And so I was thinking to myself,how do I get this lady a laptop? Apparently she’s not someone with a dependent mentality. She’s hardworking and I would really love to encourage her keep identifying and reaching full potentials. That’s when I realized and said to myself, hey,Grace, you cannot possibly fix everybody’s problem. There are certainly people out there who are passionate about God and passionate about people. There are people who’d like to support in this kind of a situation. There are people who can buy a laptop, or partly or fully fund the purchase one.

I recognize that there’s a lot of abuse doing this kind of thing, abuse in coordinating or executing them, and there can be abuse from those seeking help! One thing you can be assured of is that funds/materials provided will be used as intended.

Some years ago, I and a group of friends (Belema, Egwuma, Kalaina) came together with an initiative, ‘Beautiful Feet’.We would seek and gather household stuffs (food, clothes, utensils, etc) that we really didn’t need around our home, then locate a group of persons living in a poor setting, and distribute these things to them. That was a very rewarding initiative, recipients were always in my opinion, overly excited and very thankful.

Grace Obomanu’s Foundation is here to pool resources from willing hearts to meet needs.

So I ask you today? Can you provide a laptop for my lady? Would you want to become a member of my Foundation? 🙂 

Full payment, part payment or a laptop will be appreciated and sent to her in your name (except you ask for anonymity). 

Wondering how you can send a laptop over to us from where you are? Courier 🙂 or we can arrange a pick up if you are anywhere in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. 

Join me make a difference in someone’s life today, because The Lord has need of it (Luke 19: 30-35).  Write me via my email (graceobomanu@gmail.com) or drop a message on any of my social media platforms;

• Talk with Grace Obomanu(Facebook)
• Grace Obomanu (Dr.)(Instagram).
• Grace Obomanu (Google+)
• And do visit my blog @ https//:www.graceobomanu.com for a great lot of resources on Christian Living.

Thanks so much for your time and God bless 🙂 

Grace Obomanu’s Foundation– Love. Hope. Possibilities.  Helping people balance, blossom and bounce. 

 “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it? ’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’…..”
Luke 19:30‭-‬35 NKJV

What is a Miracle?
Anita grew up admiring her mother. Her mom was pretty, smart, industrious and most importantly served God. She never missed weekdays or Sunday service days. And she made sure Anita and her 3 siblings attended all services as well.

As a young girl, Anita hoped to be exactly like her mom when she has her own home. Not until she watched her parents’ marriage crumble for simple misunderstandings she thought her mom could have contained. Why couldn’t her mother forgive her dad? Why was it her mom that moved out of the home? What happened with all the Bible she carried and taught them to live by? Didn’t she remember anything about forgiveness at all?

Anger, bitterness and resentment grew in Anita. As far as she was concerned, there was no point carrying on with this Christianity talk. If a devoted Christian like her mom couldn’t forgive, it was pointless continuing to profess being a Follower of Christ.

Anita wasn’t going to fool herself and other people like her mother did. She decided she was done with everything Church, so she tossed her Bible aside.

The Lord directed Anita to one of Talk with Grace Obomanu’s Counsellors. Talking and counselling with Anita made her see why she cannot put her Christianity and love for God in ‘Parking’ simply because her mother slipped. With a few sessions of talking with the TWGO Team, Anita once more appreciated the importance of a personal relationship with God.

Today, Anita is glad that she had someone to talk to, she’s fast rebuilding her relationship with God. And more importantly, she’s excited that things are going to be different this time because she’s going to know God for herself.

Praise God!