Brotherly Love

And…let the weekend begin!!!
The end of the week, the start to the weekend










Here is me reminding us all to:

Reach out and show love to someone
Demonstrate the nature of love and kindness
Show love and appreciation to someone

Make that phone call
You never know, it could be
The highlight of their day

Honour that visit
Don’t leave it till next week
We don't own the next minute

Send that thank you note
It's worth it's weight in gold

Say to someone those magic words
Tell someone "I love you with God's love"
©Remi Banjo, April 2008

As part of the body of Christ one of the greatest commandments given to us is to Love one another.

Hebrews 13:1 reads "Let brotherly love continue"

Now, the operative word here is "continue". Brotherly love can ONLY continue if it has already started.

The dictionary explains brotherly love as "a kindly and lenient attitude toward people". That means to be kind, to be nice, good and pleasant. To take into consideration other people's attitude and make allowance for their mistakes as they make allowance for yours. It means to wrap up in and live out the reality of loving one another.

So, as we step into the weekend, here I am encouraging us all to let brotherly love flow with us into the weekend. Let brotherly love continue, and if you have not started in your hemisphere, I encourage you to, ignite, activate and propel its very essence into motion.

Have a wonderful start to the weekend, revelling in brotherly love, whilst making God famous along the way.

Much Love
Remi Banjo

His Promises,Your Testimony

My Year of Change
I will keep praying and praising God
He's not slack concerning His promises
I have been decided by God to prosper
Greater works than what I am doing now I shall do
My adversity will end up promoting me
Out of rejection God will make me a selection for promotion
I receive help out of Zion today
My change is coming
It's riding on the promise of His word
©Bolaji, April 2008

My dear friend sent the piece above to me yesterday, and it got me thinking of the season we are in; Spring.

Sitting at work, looking out the window towards the park across the street, it's evident that spring is finally here!

Okay, in England right now, we are experiencing four seasons in one day! But hey, according to God's order of change, its spring time all the same

I love spring time because to me, it is the season of unfolding.

Flowers slowly stretching their tender petals
Yawning to the emergence of spring
At the break of dawn the birds
they ruffle their feathers, spread their wings
open their lungs to start the day, with a beautiful song

When I think of spring, I think of rising up, leaping forth and changing position. I think of moving forward and outward, of releasing myself from my current coiled, yet comfortable position.

Spring time somehow translates to:
Clearing out the old, and bringing in the new.
Getting ready for impending changes before the month of June!

Spring fills me with excitement and anticipation of changes to come; changes that hang on the very promises God whispered to me through his word. God has given each and every one of us a great promise, and his promises are trustworthy and ever so faithful as described in Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."

And also as explained in 2 Corinthians 1:20 "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us."

It reminds me that as the seasons change, our lives is and should be subject to change, to fit into his will, his purpose and evolve us to who we are meant to be.

Today, as we enjoy the beautiful sun rays of spring, I remind us all that in our lives, change is imminent; positive changes propelled by the promises of God's word.

As you progress through this year, I remind you not to give up on those promises God made to you. I encourage you embrace the changes his promises will bring into your life. You don't need a ticket to get on board the change train; all you need is an open heart, a receptive spirit to take part.

Have an awesome day enjoying the freshness of spring, reveling in God's promises, getting rid of the old, making room for the new and making room for changes that are coming soon.

Much love
Remi Banjo

God promise picture by executabe ***

Sunflower picture by photobucket***

The Jewellery Box

It was her birthday, she was going to be 10 years old. She woke up with bouts of extra excitement, for she remembered her father telling her the night before that he had something very special to give her today. She is so glad today has finally come!

She rushed downstairs, still in her nightgown, her parents were at the table, having breakfast. "Happy birthday" they cheered, with jubilation and much clapping.

Her father beckoned for her to come a little closer and he proceeded to present her with a beautifully wrapped gift. She was excited. She unwrapped the gift ever so carefully, not wanting to ruin it's beauty, little did she know that what laid inside the pretty wrapping paper was even more beautiful and precious. And then she saw the gift; it was the most beautiful jewellery box she had ever seen. She had been admiring a jewellery box from the shop window, down the street for as long as she could remember, but this particular jewellery box was even more beautiful that the one in the shop window. It was pink and had shiny bits attached to it. The inside was carefully laid with a pink satin cloth and yellow ribbons, and when you closed the box, a shiny gold lock was on the cover, attached to a key, to lock it and keep it's impending contents safe. She was ever so pleased with her gift. But then there was more.

She turned around thanked her daddy, but to her greater delight her mummy promptly presented her with another present. This time it was a beautiful fresh water pearl necklace, with a matching bracelet! Her mummy handed it to her and said "now you are a big girl, with a pearl necklace and a jewellery box. The box is to keep all your precious jewellery ssafe from harm and accessible whenever you need to pick one to wear for all those special occasions you will be attending in the future." She felt so grown up!

She was ecstatic she thought to herself "I have the best parents in the whole wide world". As time went on, she acquired, lots of jewellery; necklaces, bracelets and rings and she kept them all safe in her precious jewellery box. Ever so often, when she had an event to attend, she would go into this box, pick up the perfect piece of jewellery just for that event.

There were instances when she did not have an event to attend, yet she would simply go into the jewellery box, observe the contents, made sure they were in top condition; she cleaned and polished them so they were gleaming. Sometimes she would simply wear a piece of jewellery just because she was happy or just because she wanted to feel it's closeness to her skin or simply observe it's beauty.

She wore her jewellery on both happy and sad occasions. A sad occasion was such as when grandma Louise died. She was real sad, as she loved her grandma very much. She had to attend the funeral service in a dark outfit and that made her even more sad, and then she thought, I would wear one of my necklaces to make me feel better. So she reached into her jewellery box and found the prettiest necklace, and she wore it along with her outfit. This made her feel much better, infact when she arrived at the service, everyone commented on her necklace and said she was a brave girl for being so pretty for grandma Louise. The necklace it seemed took away her sadness.

Now think about the HEART OF MAN, envisage this to be the jewellery box and the WORD OF GOD; liken this to be to the jewellery that goes into the box. Now picture the word of God as precious jewels given to you, one at a time and you keeping them safe, locked up within the corners of your heart. Awesome isn't it?

Now, how do we get the word of God into our hearts and keep it safe I hear you ask?

We do this by studying the bible, daily, diligently, in all seasons, through all situations. When we study the word, we should practice instances of memorising verses; of keeping these and the meanings the holy spirit gives to us within the walls of our hearts so that they do not depart. Such as the declaration of the Psalmist David in Psalm 119:11, it reads "Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. "

When we enrich our hearts with the word of God, we are being diligent, as explained in Proverbs 4:23, it reads "4:23 that we should "Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life"

Imagine that. Issues of life flow out of the hearts. So it's safe to say, whatever we put in our hearts, either good or evil, will eventually flow out of it right?. If we store in the word of God in our heart the issues that will flow out will be of blessings, love, peace, joy and much more, and if we store away the world within our hearts, the issues that will flow out will be of hatred, jealousy, envy and much more. Which one would you choose?

To diligently hide and keep safe the word of God in our precious jewellery box, the heart, assists and enables us to sing to God with our hearts. Imagine that!!! If our hearts are not pure, we would not be able to worship God as we ought to - in spirit and in truth, such as described in Colossians 3:16 which reads "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord "

Finally, as the little girl was able to retrieve various precious pieces of jewellery for various occasions, we too should be able to reach within our hearts and retrieve precious pieces of the word of God to help us in in our daily reality, to assist us in that situation, that circumstance, that trial or tribulation, or simply to help us remember the one who is the reason for us being here.

Remember, the word of God is powerful and able to pierce through and rectify any circumstance as explained in Hebrews 4:12, which reads "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

It is to our very great advantage that we understand the jewellery box that is our heart, guard it with all our might, but most importantly fill that jewellery box with the most precious pieces ever known to man - the precious word of God.

I encourage you today to make the living word of God your daily bread. Delve into it's richness daily. Store, the contents and it's meaning within the walls of your heart, for when you find yourself in the valley during your daily journey, I promise you, it is that very word that you stored a month, or two or a few years ago, that will reach down and pull you out into victory and unto higher ground.

Have a wonderful day loosing yourself in the realms of God's word, whilst making Him famous along the way.

Much Love

Remi Banjo

All pictures by photobucket***

And then I read Psalm 37....

It's all about trusting the one who put us here for a purpose, for a reason and for this very season... That's what I pondered on and declared when I read Psalm 37: vrs 3 - 5 and vs 7

Psalm 37:3 reads: Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. This verse encourages us to simply place our trust in the Lord and keep on doing good.

The dictionary defines TRUST as thus:

reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence and the

confident expectation of something; hope.

Now HOPE is defined as: the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best: to give up hope.

Imagine that..!!! We are not only encouraged to trust in the Lord, but to have and place our hope for our future in him as well. And why? Well, everything will simply turn out for the best!!! What a promise!!!

It is one thing to understand what trust and hope means, but it's quite something else to fully embrace it's notion. Daily as we battle our way through the reality of God's will, it can be somewhat difficult to embrace the simplicity of trusting the Lord, especially when we find ourselves in some mystifying situations or at various crossroads in life, or trudging through the valley, trying to get to and over our next horizon! Somehow, somewhere along the line, we forget, push aside, ignore or erase from memory that very encouraging instruction.

As I read this verse, it reminded me that my daily struggle will NOT be a struggle, if I simply actively embrace the meaning of Trusting the Lord. For me to get out of the valley, to and over my next horizon, I should stop stressing and simply live in the reality of Trusting the Lord! Nothing like a timely reminder when you need one huh?

And then I read further, verse 4 states: "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires."

Now firstly, we are encouraged to trust (vs3), and then, we are taught that when we trust in the Lord, we will find delight in Him and He will surely give us our heart's desires. This means that everything we hope for, He will give to us.

Now I don't know about you, but all the things and the future that I hope for, if placed on top of one another is most definately wider than the biggest ocean...! As I read this verse, I figured, well I simply have no choice but to trust in the Lord, solidly have hope in Him so that my desires will come forth like the break of dawn! How about you? What do you hope and dream for? Do you dream of one day, it all coming to past, it being a magnificent testimony? If so, why not reach out and firmly place your trust and hope in the one who owns the heavens and earth and all in between?

And I read even further, and verse 5 reads: "Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you."

Ah.. that word, commit! Now I believe that when we trust and and have hope in something or someone, we are free and willing to commit / surrender to that thing or that person.

Commit or commitment is defined as: "To put in trust or charge". It is safe to say that people in our lives, whom we trust, we are able to commit things to them for safe keeping.

Same can be likened to when we put our trust in God. When we do, we able to commit to Him freely; our will, our desires, our hopes, our dreams and much more.

Now I'm not saying that we leave it to God, sit back and fold our hands and wait for Him to perform some miracle (and yes He still is a miracle working God); we commit our will to His doing such things as asking for wisdom, understanding and insight in every situation. By seeking His face, His approval before we commence on our action plans, and not inviting Him half-way through the mess we create.

And then finally, I got to verse 7, which seems to cap it all up! It reads: " Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes."

Now, how about that! First we trust, and put our hope in God, and then we commit our will to His, and then finally, we wait PATIENTLY for Him to act on our behalf!

We wait Patiently for His approval, we wait patiently for Him to bring our desires, our hope and our future to pass, we wait patiently for Him to propel us to be all that we are destined to be.

Isn't that awesome?

So today I encourage us all to revisit the meaning and essence of putting our Trust and hope in God; and committing EVERYTHING into His capable hands. It truly is for our own benefit if we actively live out the reality of these verses.

To do so will mean that we have confidence that the very future we dream, hope and pray for, will definitely come to pass and be established through Him.

Have a wonderful day committing everything to the Lord, the one who never sleeps, who watches over you from dusk to dawn.

Much Love

Remi Banjo

All pictures by photobucket***