Worship... all we can give God,

First of all, the idea of "worship" has to do with bowing oneself before another, paying reverence toward them, praising and adoring of another. It is to come from the heart and recognizes the worthiness of the one being worshiped.
As top the object of worship, only God is worthy of man's worship. He is the One who we should praise and serve, not men, angels or anything else. Matt 4:8-10, Rev 22:8-9,

As to our attitude about worshiping God, we should d so from the heart, humbling ourselves before Him and also we should express our worship only in ways that He has commanded us. Jesus called this worshiping in spirit and in truth. It is not up to us to tell God how we are going to worship Him, but it is up to us to listen to Him and follow His word. John 4:24; Ephesians 5:18-21; Colossians 3:16.

When people worship in spirit, they are worshiping in sincerity and from the heart. A lot of people miss it , their worship is all in their minds, not their hearts.

There are four requirements to worshiping in spirit. They are:

• to be born again,
• to give adoration and praise to God,
• to maintain a repentant and contrite heart toward God and
• to focus on God.

In many churches in our country, the minds of our people are focused on a thousand different things like where are they going to eat lunch, who’s going to win the football, problems in their marriages, diseases or lost jobs. We are not to focus on the pastor, the minister of music, or even on each other. We are to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ti

Will you kill yourself

A popular radio station in Lagos, Nigeria(fondly referred to as Naija) had this advert which caught my attention.  I was 17 years old and had just returned home after my Senior school certificate exam (equivalent of SAT), at a boarding school I had attended for 6 years.  My major responsibility as the first daughter of 4 kids(2 boys and 2 girls) was to help to manage my mum’s chemist and gift shop at a police barracks mammy market.  It was an exciting experience for me as this was my 1^st interaction with real life outside the “cosy” walls of my secondary school. It was on one of those days at the shop that I heard the said advert on radio, it went thus”If I gave you a gun to kill yourself would you? So why do you go around having unprotected sex…AIDS IS REAL”

I’ve always pondered why that advert compared suicide with unprotected sex…and its link to AIDS.I’ve also seen many billboards saying AIDS no dey show for face…this means it’s not something you can discern through physical appearance of the carrier.

Does this then mean I have to go around with my HIV-ve test results from the hospital and present it anytime I’m faced with any sex related issue also asking my partner for presentation of same.

I once heard about a clinical attendant at the hospital where my mum worked as a nurse who while clearing the bin was mistakenly pricked by a needle which had been used on a patient who was known tro be HIV positive.  I wonder if this attendant had sentenced herself to death knowingly

O.k what about the woman who was pregnant with child but was discovered to have been bugged by the virus because of her husbands unfaithfulness.  It’s sad enough to know the woman is infected but what is the fate of her infected unborn baby. If you were that baby who do you blame for your predicament, mum or dad.

The story of this young virgin was also very painful as I said she was a young virgin but the babe was pronounced to have full blown AIDS when she did the routine medical checkup for admission into the university. Investigation later pointed to transfusion of unscreened blood of a relative some years back.

I can go on and on and if I asked for your own stories I know you will have so many but what has been your reaction to all you know about the incurable HIV/AIDS.

What happens to the broken dreams, buried songs,unwritten books just to mention a few of what is lost due emotion and psychological trauma. As I grew older I got to understand that the killing of yourself as used in the radio advert was more of internal death rather than mortal.

I have seen bright, intelligent, young people become extremely scared of doing the HIV status test, they are already weighing their options and looking like the future is done with.  I mean its not like they’ve seen the HIV tests results but these guys are just scared to the bones.

We are an open magazine we want to hear your own stories, we want to know what you feel/think, what are your views about this epidemic which is fast moving through our continents, our world…it’s the same disease…the same effects allover….we’d like to hear from you.

Ti.

Older and wiser

Am counting down to my birthday in October... I met someone who is a decade older than me, I do really admire her and especially her looks.
It was interesting to discover that Life had not been such a smooth ride. she had learned to take her challenges as opportunities to grow and learn. It was no surprise she still looked extremely fabulous. I found out she laughed  a lot and also had a very childlike heart. She is 40 years old but behaves like a 16year old most of the time. Everyone around her found it hard to believe she was 40. Someone even almost called up her ma to confirm.
It really is funny how our outlook to life in general affects the way we look physically. I have tried to inculcate being joyful as a daily life style and I must say it pays off. However being joyful takes the grace of God our creator such that despite the situations in and around us we are able to still rejoice.  Being joyful affects you healthwise too, because you have choosen not just happiness but joyfulness everything inside your body resonates with that state of mind and hence cannot just malfunction. I hear bitterness can be a serious root for sickness and disease... I cannot give an account or verify because I refuse to try bitterness out...

Ti