fragrance

2011, I Promise

2010-12-16T17:19:00.001+01:00

This year I will not pursue success, I will pursue peace
I will not make money my goal, I will cultivate God’s grace
I will not avoid failure, I will trust God’s mercy
I will not seek fame, I will pursue rightness
I will not have to win, I will have to build my faith, live by faith
I will not seek respect, I will choose humility
I will not compete, I will run my race
I will not hold on to any strategy, I will walk in Wisdom
I will not seek opportunities, I will find inspiration
I will not have to be a leader, but I must be led
I will not pursue happiness, I will be content
I will not crave pleasure, I will cultivate discipline
I will not be fashionable, I will be visionary
I will not impress you, I will inspire my offspring
I will be angry, I will not sin
I will sin, and I will always repent
I will live to love, I will not insist on being loved
This year, I will not focus on getting what I deserve, I will expect what I don’t deserve.
This year I WILL ENFORCE MY RIGHT TO CHOOSE. To choose life. To live.
This year, 2011.

Thursday, 09 December 2010

THE FAITH OF THE CENTURION

2010-11-30T23:10:00.001+01:00

[Mathew 8:5-13]

One crucial attribute of Faith is that if you have it, it will show. True faith always expresses itself. Living faith works!

In the course of Jesus’ ministry on earth, He encountered a man whose faith astonished him. Jesus’ conclusion was: “I have not found anyone in Israel with such a great faith” Mathew 8:10b The Centurion’s expression of faith astonished Jesus especially because the man in question was not a Jew, yet he understood how faith works. If Jesus commended him, we all need to understand the principles that drove his manifestation of faith.

1. The Centurion understood the Message of Jesus: Jesus did so many things, and said so many things, but He preached only one message. His message was the Good News of the Kingdom of God. The message of Jesus was about a kingdom and not a religion. The centurion, being a trained officer of the Roman kingdom understood the kingdom protocol and he applied this understanding in approaching Jesus. Probably, that is why the Bible does not state his name, but states his role in the Roman Empire

2. The Centurion approached Jesus as Lord: He knew that Jesus was more than a prophet or a Rabbi. He called him by the title of a king; he called Him “Lord”. What you call a thing determines your expectations from that thing. The title “Lord” depicts kingdom authority, ownership, influence and power.

3. Faith works by grace: It is of faith that it might be according to grace (see Romans 4;16). The Centurion did not approach the Lord with a sense of entitlement. The throne of God is a throne of grace and mercy. He knew that self-righteousness would not help his cause. He told the Lord: “I do not deserve to have you come under my roof” Mathew 8:8

4. The Centurion humbled himself: Pride, most times, prevents us from asking for help when we need to. Powerful people are not always willing to expose their vulnerability. The centurion, a captain of 100 soldiers came to Jesus “asking for help”.

5. Faith that works by love: The faith of the centurion was great because the faith was not applied for personal benefit. He approached Jesus in order to get some relief for his servant who was “paralyzed and in terrible suffering”. His faith was special because it was in the interest of others, especially someone “under” him, someone beneath him. His faith was special because it fulfilled the Law and Prophets: “In everything do unto others what you would have them do unto you” (Mathew 7:12)

6. Faith is operative through words: There is a Yoruba adage that translates as “by your words we know whether you are wicked or not”. What you say proves what you believe. What you believe determines how you behave. Your behaviour reinforces your faith. The accurate words of the Centurion showed his understanding and faith.

7. Authority is exercised through words: It is important to speak as authorized. When we speak contrary to the programmes of God, we speak to our condemnation. When we speak in line with God’s mind, we speak to our justification.

8. Faith is a legal tender; the currency of God’s kingdom: The centurion exchanged his faith for his desire. The Lord of the Kingdom said to the Centurion: “It will be done just as you believed it would”

Will the Son of man find faith on earth when he returns?

Rules of Life from Luke 4

2010-04-27T16:33:00.001+01:00

Luke 4 is a narration of the paradigms, principles and values that must govern our ACTIONS AND REACTIONS, if we would gain a chance of becoming successful in the sight of God.

The first rule is that you cannot succeed by accident. There must be a season of life where you separate yourself to discover, define, refine and crystallize your purpose. A season of life when you disengage socially, deny comfort and defy death. You need a season when you lose your life in order to gain it; you impoverish yourself in order to attain glory. You must learn to create a defining moment of quietness and confidence in order to gain the strength to succeed.

The second rule is that you have an adversary who is committed to working against your success. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). The devil is looking for vulnerabilities to exploit. When he can't find one, he tries to create one (see Isaiah 14:12).

The third rule is that the devil is in command and control of the airwaves, and he is fully engaged in information warfare. The Bible describes him as "the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient" (Ephesians 2:2). The devil rules, he is a spirit and he is at work to make people disobedient. This spirit is a speaking spirit. Every time he is at work he communicates. Don’t be surprised, he uses information and communication technologies too.

The fourth rule is that the devil is a liar. Every time his lips, move he lies. "There is NO truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44). If the devil offers you a cup of water, be sure it contains some poison; a truth becomes a lie when spoken by the devil. No matter the volume of water of truth, it is dangerous to taste water that has mingled with the minutest quantity of poison.

The fifth rule is that the devil poses no risk until he finds a vulnerability he can exploit. Jesus said “the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me”(John 14:30). The devil found a thief in Judas Iscariot, and entered him. He found hypocrisy in the marriage of Ananias and Sapphires, and killed the couple. He found greed in Ahab and destroyed him. He found pride in Pharaoh and ruined him. He found ignorance in Eve and deceived her.

The sixth rule is that your greatest threat is not the devil but your lust—“craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world”.(I John 2:16) That is why we must not forget that " every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed" (James 1:14) Let us read further: "Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death”(James 1:15)

To be continued...

Life's Greatest Challenges

2009-12-16T20:46:00.009+01:00

What makes a fulfilled man? I think it is the ability of the man to effectively address three challenges:

Knowing the right things to do
Having the ability to do the right things
Doing the right things the right way

May the grace of God abound towards you so that you will have the spiritual, physical, emotional and mental energy to actualize your fulfillment.

AND HIS NAME IS OBAFERANMI

2008-05-26T20:13:00.005+01:00

We do not know of anyone bearing the name “Obaferanmi” until the birth of our child. It’s likely you may not remember ever hearing it too. So why would we name our first son “The-King-is-in-Love-with-me”?

The continual experience of God’s love is most cherished in our family (The Ope-Onifade Nation). As a matter of fact, on Dec 9 2006, we declared before hundreds of witnesses that our purpose for getting married is “to build a successful family and a strong nation by leveraging on the love of God….” Our experiences in the course of conception of our son through his delivery reaffirms our belief and knowledge of the love that God has for us (I John 4:16). God is love; we are constrained by His love and we are kept and preserved by His love. The core value of our family is that we live to love.

We have also come to know God not just as a Spirit, and more than our Father: He is a Governmental Authority, Our King! He reigns over our entire households, members of Ope-Onifade nation are citizens of His kingdom, and we are subject to His will. As for me and my house, we serve the Lord.

Our God is King and our God is love and our son lives to reaffirm that the King is in love with us. We will never doubt his love for us.

In our native culture, there is the tendency for people to abridge names. So, would he be called Oba (King) or ‘Feranmi (loves me)?

You may call him “Oba” because he is born to reign and rule as a king and a priest unto our God. God is King of kings and our son, like us, is one of the kings under the rule of God.

You may also call him ‘Feranmi because it creates an atmosphere of love around him and around you. He is born and bound to have favour before God and before man.

The seed of the righteous shall be mighty upon the face of the earth.

OBAFERANMI…..

7 years of Relationship

2008-05-08T20:27:00.004+01:00

Today, I received an SMS from my wife. It reads:

Jst wnt 2sy tnx 2u 4living up 2d promises u made arnd ds time 7 yrs ago. I've not regretted nodding 2 ur proposal. I kp loving u & hope to continue 2do so.
Baby1

The gist is this: On May 8 2001, I asked her to marry me. We were in courtship for 51/2 years and got marrried on December 8 2006. On February 16 2008, I was with her in the labour room to welcome our son into the world he was born to dominate. Today, I would like to share with you a picture of our growing family. I wish to thank my wife for her uncompromising love, care and pleasant personality. Not to love you is to die. I love you!!!!!
Regards to readers from 'DeNike and ObaFeranmi

I am back

2008-01-05T19:47:00.000+01:00

My family and I have been experiencing God's loving-kindness in the last one year; but that is not the reason for being "offline" in the last one year. Some weeks after my last post, I got married, and also began to adjust to a new job...and these influenced my focus.

One of my major goals in 2008 is to consistently post information that will reinforce the quality of life that Jesus Christ delivered to us. The highest degree of quality of life that you could ever experience is called "eternal life". And Jesus defined eternal life as "to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent".

Please check regularly and also share your thoughts with me.

2006-11-08T11:50:00.000+01:00

You are invited!!!!

please find above our wedding invitation to you.

Opeyemi + Adenike

2006-09-05T19:44:00.000+01:00

I aM gEtTiNg mArRiEd (OPEYENIKE)

We have been cultivating a friendly relationship since 2000. But on May 8^th 2001 on Ikorodu Road on our way to her uncle’s place in Lagos, she finally agreed to marry me. I remember all she could do was to nod in agreement when I asked her to marry me. I refused to take a nod for an answer, and would not leave her alone until she said “YES”. After over 5 years of friendship and courtship, we decided to introduce our parents to each other. We acted on this decision on June 10, 2006, the weekend after my birthday anniversary. At the introduction ceremony at the university town of Ile-Ife, (I hope to blog the details someday) which had over 70 people in attendance, the Ademola Adebiyi extended family of Ajaawa, released the first daughter of the house to be married to the first son of the Samuel Aderogba Onifade family of Saki. I promise to upload some of the pictures here someday.

Over the years, we have been able to sustain our love and commitment to each other. Over the years and seasons, we have experienced the faithfulness of God to His Word . In celebration of God’s unfailing grace and day-after-day mercies, we would like to request your presence at our wedding ceremony which would start with African traditional wedding on the evening of December 8^th and would end with entertainment of guests after the Church ceremony on December 9^th2006. We invite you to join God as we proclaim our MARRIAGE COVENANT before Him at Union Baptist Church, Ile-Ife. It promises to be another opportunity for you to experience the presence of the Creator of heaven and earth, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

For those of you who have not met my baby, Ade-mi (My crown) is a lover of God, a people person, a passionate leader and a wise woman. She is graduating this month from the Obafemi Awolowo University’s Faculty of Law. After graduation, she would be pursing an academic career in Intellectual Property Law and consultancy. She would also be playing an active executive role in building the Ope-Onifade Nation.

If you would like to pray with us, our request and desire is that God’s grace would abound towards us so that we would have sufficiency unto every good work, and that our union would result in a STRONG NATION.

2006-07-20T16:11:00.000+01:00

Success Defined
I promised to come u with definitions of terms that we use casually, which however, determine our perception of life. Today, I want to write about success.

You must have heard that success has different meanings to different people. To the extent to which this statement relates to our uniqueness as individuals, I concur. But you know as well as I do that our differences as mankind is not as much as our similarities: we share common nature, related dispositions, similar attitudes and needs. I would like to base my definition on what we have in common.

My definition of success is UNCEASING FRUITFULNESS.

When God made man, he declared the Mission of Man. He said: “Be Fruitful, Multiply and have Dominion over the earth”. A successful man is the one who has been able to execute this mandate to the letter. To exercise dominion over the works of God’s hand’s requires you to multiply…and to multiply require you to be unceasingly fruitful in every good work—spiritually, economically, socially and physically.

2006-07-03T15:37:00.000+01:00

The Necessity of Friendship

Friendship is necessary for destiny. Without quality friendships, we would not fulfil our purposes in life. Jesus, the Ultimate Leader, said to his disciples "I do not call you servants; I call you friends...because a servant does not know what his master is doing". Jesus was choosing his friends when he chose his disciples. Even at the moment he was being betrayed he still called Judas his friend. To Jesus, the measure of friendship is the quality of information shared by the parties and their commitment to the demands of that information. God called Abraham his friend because both of them shared a covenant reinforced by certain information (promises, terms of the covenant, warnings and expectations)

In the light of the scriptural principles, I hold that friendship must be for a purpose. The purpose of friendship should be to create a social climate that would cause our inherent seeds of greatness to blossom. You know very well that every seed needs a fertile and relevant soil to be fruitful. In like manner, every great destiny requires great friendships.

For me, friendships can be categorized as follows:

1. Friendships that complement me.
2. Friendships that compensate for my weakness(es)
3. Friendships that benefit from my gift and calling, thereby giving me opportunity for self-_expression
4. Friendships that provide of their gifts and callings; allowing me to receive the benefits of their ministries
5. Friendship with the one I share mutual interests and common goals
6. Friendship that exposes me to pain that causes growth.

How are your friends??

2006-06-17T15:26:00.000+01:00

DEFINITIONS YOU CAN LIVE BY
Words are containers of ideas, and the greatest impact of words comes from interpretation derived from it. I will like to share some definitions I have come up with in my meditation and study. I intend to update these regularly.

Grace of God

Grace is the proportion of resources or blessings that is available to you to be successful in what God has called you to do and become.

This definition suggests the following:

There is a purpose to your existence
Your success is measured by the fulfillment of your purpose
You require resources to accomplish your life purpose
All the resources you require is encapsulated in God's grace
Grace is available but not always appropriated
You need to learn to access this grace
Without rightly appropriating this grace, you cannot become what you are born to be
This resources can be misappropriated

"the greatest achiever amongst us is the one who has learnt to leverage on the grace of God the most"--Opeyemi

For further Biblical research see an outline below:

The Nature of God’s grace

· God is the source and sole distributor of grace: John 1:17

· The grace of God releases blessings (empowerment) : John 1:16

· The grace of God has been assigned to you before time began 2Tim 1:9, Ephesians 2:10

· The grace of God is made available without the keeping of the law Acts 15:10-11

· The grace of God cannot be appropriated without faith Romans 4:16, 5:2

· The grace of God cannot be obtained through “works of righteousness” or toiling Romans 11:6

· The grace of God is expressed or displayed through work output Acts 11:23, Ephesians 2:1-10, Philippians 2:12-13, James 2:22

What Grace can do for you

· The grace of God will save you Acts 15:11

· The grace of God will free you from slavery to sin Romans 5:20, 6:14, 1 Tim 2;11-12

· Your needs are met on the platform (throne) of God’s grace Hebrews 4:16

· The grace of God will make you relevant to the need of others Ephesians 3:2, (To have grace is to have a ministry, Eph 3:7)

· Grace will improve the quality of your life Romans 5:17

· The Grace of God will compensate for our inadequacies: 2 Cor. 2:19

What you can do with grace

· Make it available for the blessings of others John 1:16-17, Ephesians 4:29, Phil1;7

What you must not do with God’s grace

· Don’t turn it into license for sin (sin is living below our full capacity as image and likeness of God, to fall short of God’s glory): Jude 1:4

· Do not frustrate God’s grace Gal. 2:9-2

· Do not receive it in vain : 1 Cor. 15:10, 2 Cor. 6:1

· Do not forfeit it Jonah 2:8

How to deserve and earn grace

· Be a good steward of the manifold grace of God 1 Peter 4:10 (if you are faithful in little, you will be faithful in much)

· Continue in it Acts 13:43 (whatever you don’t use, you lose)

· Be strong in the grace (put confidence in the grace, GNB) 2 Tim 2:1

· Pursue the Knowledge of God: 2 Peter 3:18, 1:2 , Exodus 33:13

· Through humility James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5

2006-05-22T18:38:00.000+01:00

Information + Transformation

Nothing in this world is as powerful as the ability to use information to solve problems. It is instructive to note that after God gave the earth to Adam in Genesis (also see Psalms 115:16), the tool He gave him to obtain and retain rulership over the earth was information. When the devil wanted to dislocate Man from his position with God, all he needed to do was to corrupt the information.

Information is the source of your faith and courage.

Misinformation is corrupted information; and nothing in this world is as dangerous as application of misinformation. Misinformation is the reason for our doubts in our God-given purposes and potentials.

From political economy perspective, the major economic advantage of nations is a product of the quality of information they have and the ability to put it to use. I reckon wisdom to be the ability to solve problems. In an information age, how else do you solve problems apart from wise application of knowledge?

This is why I believe that we Africans must work at our "knowledge industries" if we are going to arrive at our desired destination. No matter how lofty our dreams are as a people, we cannot attain it apart from a sound mind. It is time to engage our will, intellect and emotions to empower ourselves. And let me say to you what a friend mentioned in a speech of recent: you cannot get to the next level based on your current level of knowledge. If we need to do something differently, we would need to know something different.

2006-05-22T18:11:00.000+01:00

Campaign for a Change in our National Culture

I believe we have been limited, not by who we are, but who we THINK we are not. Our problem in Nigeria is not of abilities--potentials abound--but that of mentalities. I think it was Albert Eistein that said you cannot solve a problem at the same level of thinking you were when you created them. The greatest need in Nigeria is CHANGED MINDS. We need minds that will challenge our CULTURE of mediocrity and inferiority. Minds that know that the measure of a fulfilled life is its impact on other lives. I don't think a life is important apart from its impact on other lives.

The purpose of government is to influence the culture--defined as the total way of life of a group of people--of a nation. This definition, if you accept it, puts government on the shoulder of everyone one of us. We are government, only that we have not realised it yet. One attribute of government is that it has a domain of influence. I charge Nigerians/ Africans need to realise their domain of influence and become transformation agents. Let's change the minds in our office cubicles, in our apartments, in our streets, in our neighbourhood, on our jobs... So we don't have to wait for government to have good roads or to stop corruption. Goverment is in within us...the kingdom of God is within us.

We have a great future, Nigeria has a great future, Africa has a great future; but we can't get there without a SOUND mind!

2006-05-08T18:33:00.000+01:00

If you live and work in Lagos, the Biblical injuction that says "redeem the time", should be taken more seriously. I was concerned about folks that spend 2 hours to get to work and 2 hours to get back home. That is four hours in traffic every day. In other words for every six days yo go to work, you lose 24 hours to traffic--One day of your life is lost to traffic every six days.

But why can't we think right in Lagos--citizens and government. Our roads are bad, so cars cannot move fast. Our drivers are untrained, so they don't know the difference between fast lane and service lane. There is no mass transport system, so everyone strives to go to work with his vehicle. Most cars are poverty-striken, so they break down on our roads and cause hold-ups. Our people have become inconsiderate and insensitive and impolite that a bus can decide to stop in the middle of the road to pick someone or drop someone...because he is in a hurry to park properly, he would rather delay others.

What about the thought of Akpogbon juction, off Marina, Lagos? How do you describe the feeling that you feel when you know that the traffic is slowing down because the law enforcement has collaborated with the 'danfo' drrivers who wants to pick passengers by the road side?

I would have given up unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

2006-05-08T13:00:00.000+01:00

This evening, after 10 hours of work, I would like to diffuse the fragrance of my thoughts about Destiny. In making decisions, I tend to ask "will this journey lead to my destination?" Of course, I can't ask that without an end in mind. For instance, a job and even a relationship, is a means to an end. Everyone one of us goes through a process chosen by us or imposed on us. Every process will culminate in a product. The question that should guide our choices--when we are faced with a demand to make a decision-- should be what product will the process we are going through culminate in?

As I drive home tonight in the Lagos traffic, the thoughts on my mind would be on how today's activities will impact my desired product;my destiny.