JOYFULL, THANKFULL and PRAISEFULL

Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully
to the Rock of our salvation.Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing psalms of praise to him.For the Lord is a great God,
a great King above all gods.
Psalm 95: 1- 3

It is easy to live everyday through the eyes of negativity; never seeing the good in anything, nor having the reason or need to be thankful. It is easy to look at certain milestones in life from the view point of “half empty” as opposed to “half full”. However, the bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 to “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus”.

Thankful is defined as: the feeling or expression of gratitude. It means to be appreciative
To be expressive means to: put thoughts into words and actions
To show gratitude means to: display the quality of being grateful and thankful
To be appreciative means to: show clear insight, intuition and knowledge. For example, to show insight and knowledge of the reasons and ramifications of being thankful.

Today, many years ago, the Almighty God blessed my wonderful parents with my very presence in their lives! My very name explains what my manifestation in their lives meant and still means to them. Remi (short version for Oluwaremilekun - yes I know, quite long huh?) means “The Lord has relieved me of my tears”. Now how awesome is that! I am glad I was and am and pray I continue to be this for my parents and everyone I come across by God's grace and power! Amen.

Today, I am thankful to God for choosing them as my parents. It probably has not been an easy task being parents to an “ultra inquisitive, bossy and super-hyper-active child” ( I can just see my friends agreeing with this one! lol), but by God’s grace, they have done a good job. (*smile*) Thank you papa & mama.

I am thankful to you Almighty God for the very essence of LIFE I have found in you. I will have it no other way. From my last birthday to this one, what you have done and how far forward you have brought me in the knowledge and understanding of who you are, is truly awesome.

It is a testimony that, if we continuously seek you, we will find and know you! Yes, sometimes it does feel like I might be on the ‘slowest train to Georgia’, but to wait on you, is to see your perfect promises in my life established, fulfilled and manifested the way you have ordained them to be, giving you the glory. I am giddy with excitement for the next phase!

In my thankfulness I remember the song I was taught as a child, it goes like this:

Count your blessings, name them one by one
Count your blessings and see what God has done
Count your blessings, name them one by one
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

So yes, today, as I count my blessings, my wonderful father, saviour, my king, the lifter of my head, my redeemer, my best friend, my one and only father, my one and only God; from the bottom of my heart and depths of my soul, Papa, I say THANK YOU for LIFE and for EVERYTHING!

• I thank you because you have shown and keep showing me the beauty of who you are.
• I thank you because you have indeed picked me up and turned me completely around, and placed my feet on solid, immovable ground!
• I thank you because you have thought me to put my trust, hope and faith in you and in so doing you have made me like mount Zion; even in times of terrible tribulations!
• I thank you because you have made me wiser in you.
• I thank you that 'HE' is finally here. Thank you for the work you did and are doing with and through Him. Your gifts to your children are really 'second to none'. He is perfect in shape, form and growing in spirit. Thank you!!!**smile***
• I thank you because I can testify; that “I have seen that you don’t do good, but that you ARE good!
  

As I celebrate today, I declare that no one, and nothing, not now or ever, will share your glory in my life. You, I continue to crown as my God and king.

In my thanksgiving like David the Psalmist, I will sing and dance with ALL my MIGHT (my spirit, soul, heart, mind and body) for your very pleasure, for your glory.

KABIYESI MODUPE

Eyes fluttering open to
the rising of the sun, my
soul leaps with joy in realisation
that it has been gifted with a new day

Last night, numerous souls lay down to sleep
The beauty of this morning’s light, they are no more to see
Yet, once again, my faithful ‘Baba’ has kept me safe
‘Oba awon oba’, has been good to me

'Kabiyesi modupe o'
I thank you for the
beauty of a new dawn

'Ore ti baba se ninu aye me
O jo mi loju, Oya mi lenu
Baba olore, Ope lo ye o
Halleluja meta ko kpo rara
Halleluja maje ko kpa poju'

Full dance now in swing, face heavenwards
my grateful soul rejoices and sings...

'Baba mi, Osuba re re o
Oba taori, tan'rise owo re
Olorun le o ma je,
Èsé o, modupe, mojuba o
Eledami modupe'

May your Kingdom come

and your will be done today
From the rising of the sun

till the going down of the same

May I live forever to declare

your majesty and praise the

essence and beauty of

your powerful and Holy name.

Much Love
Remi
***Pictures by Photobucket***

Translation - words in BOLD :

Kabiyesi Modupe: My king I am thankful
'Oba awon oba': The king of kings
Baba: Father
Osuba re re o: I worship you Lord
Èsé o – Thank you
Oba taori, tan'rise owo re: The God that we don’t see physically, but see the work of His hands
Olorun le o ma je: You will always be God
Hallelujah meta o to rara: To sing Hallelujah three time is not enough at all
Haleluja meje o kpa poju: To sing Hallelujah seven times, however is not too much
Ore ti baba se: The good that God has done
O jo mi loju: Surprises me
Oya mi lenu: Amazes me
Ninu aye mi: In my life

Product Of Your Environment?

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"!

Mathew 3:2

A short while ago, a few friends and I were discussing fashion; what the world of fashion expresses as the appropriate way to put an ensemble together. The argument was that apparently, there is a 'general rule of fashion', which states for example, that it is forbidden to wear white socks with sandals and a pair of shorts!

I replied with the question "who made this so called ‘general rule of fashion' and how did it come about? The way an individual chooses to put together clothing items to make an outfit, isn't this dependant on what that individual is exposed to, their environment?

... and thus the question:

"what is the nature, shape, form and very essence of the environments that we are exposed to"?

The dictionary describes Environment as thus: the aggregate of surrounding things, conditions, or influences; surroundings or the social and cultural forces that shape the life of a person or a population.

Every environment we find ourselves in produces knowledge; good or bad. We acquire knowledge from our environment. The experiences within our environment plays a vital part in the formation of our knowledge, such as pain, love, or compassion.

The knowledge obtained from our environment is eventually transformed into belief. Belief is defined as 'the mental act, condition, or habit of placing trust or confidence in another'. Belief is what we accept as the truth, and this is greatly influenced from the knowledge we are exposed to.

Our belief shapes our values. For instance, we will place a high value on what we think is important and not readily exchange it for what is not.


Going further, our values influence the choices we make in life. When we are presented with options, the values that has been instilled within us, from our beliefs, will inform the choices we make. For example, if a believer is faced with a choice of going to church on Sunday morning as opposed to watching a movie, he/she will most likely choose to go to Church. It is safe to say that the individual will place more value on going to church than watching a movie.

And finally our choices determine the actions we make. Such as wearing white socks with sandals and a pair of shorts! For whoever wears such believes that is sensible fashion and has made the choice to wear it as so, based on the fashion experiences that individual has been exposed to, within their environment.

In Mathew 3:2 John the baptist, whilst preaching in the wilderness of Judea said “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” To repent means to turn from sin and evil towards God. Repentance means to change our environment from a sinful one to a godly one. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour we don't add Him to our sinful environment. We move from our sinful environment into His environment. We change our heart from sin, to one that is open towards God's word of truth. We change our environment from Darkness to Light.

True repentance should and will change our actions, as we are taught in Luke 3: 8 - 14 and in Acts 26:20 , not forgetting that our actions is a result of our choices, values, beliefs and knowledge, all originating from our environment. To have a change of actions when we repent, means we have had a change of environment.

What is the nature, shape and form of your environment? What knowledge are you getting from it? What beliefs are you forming from it? What values are you developing from it? What choices are you making, based on it, and what actions is being manifested because of it?

If your actions are not helping you live out the realities of the salt of the earth (Mathew 5:13), or the the Light of the world (Mathew 5:14) that God has declared you to be, I encourage you to change the very nature, shape and form of your environment. This is so that your good deeds (actions) and not 'the general rule of manifesting from the wrong environment' shines out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly father; making Him famous along the way.

Much Love
Remi

***pictures by photobucket***