THE KEY TO A FULFILLED DESTINY

By Emeka Anyaogu Whenever the word destiny is mentioned in a church setting what comes to mind is eternity. As Christians, we know that eternity (Whether in heaven or in hell) is the ultimate destiny of man. However, the word destiny is defined in the dictionary as what happens to somebody or what will happen to a person in the future, especially things that one can’t change. Now the question is: Do we have the power to determine what happen to us in the future? Some people struggle in certain career while other people succeed in the same with little or no effort, is destiny responsible for this? Sometimes we see somebody making progress in life but all of a sudden, something happen and the person is back to square one, is that person destined to fail? So many marriages have crashed, are those marriages destined to fail? These and many more questions are what we want to address when PRAISE FAMILY host the youths of this church on 3rd November 2011. Keep a date with us as we look at the topic: THE KEY TO A FULFILLED DESTINY. Ministering is Evan. Vincent Ezima. Also there will be ‘Extravagant Praise’, play-let, item 7 etc. as you come; you will get the key to a fulfilled destiny here on earth and also to make Heaven at last.

The Dark Side of Sugar

By Nnamdi Bonny Okoli It is a necessary class of food responsible for the generation of energy in the body tissue and for the optimal functioning of the brain, but an increase consumption of sugar has been discovered to have a link with the onset of several medical conditions that could be fatal. In the last issue of this article, we understood that carbohydrate rich food breakdown to glucose, the form in which they generate energy for the body which is transported into the muscles and adipose tissue (where is converted to and stored as fat) this transportation is made possible by a hormone secreted in the pancreatic gland known as insulin. Just as in every biological process, the production of insulin is controlled by a regulatory mechanism. A disorder of this regulatory mechanism gives rise to a critical medical condition known as diabetes Mellitus meaning excessive exertion of sugary urine. Diabetes mellitus has two major types; type I and II diabetes non-insulin dependent diabetes) Type I diabetes which is more popular result from an inability of the pancreatic cells to produce sufficient insulin necessary for the uptake of glucose. Type II diabetes on the other hand result from a defective insulin- response mechanism. In this case, insulin is sufficient but does not respond to the need for an uptake of available glucose in the blood. Both types result in an excessive build up of glucose in the blood Glycerin) starving the tissues, muscles and the brain of energy. The basic point of divergence between both types however, is the fact that while type I diabetes remain resistant symptoms of this condition include excess thirst, leading to intake of large amount of water cyolyuria. Scientists proposed a connection between high sugar consumption and the reduction of sperm count. As we conclude this series, it is essential to note that excess sugar intake has no clear connection with DIABITIES MELLITUS except for certain cases of type II diabetes; however such practice put the individual at risk in the onset of a regular disorder.

BUILDING INTIMACY WITH GOD

By Sam Akhigbe To start with, let me ask, are you born again? In John 3:3 the bible says, except you are born again you have no place in God's kingdom. Note that, kingdom life begins right here on earth. After salvation, the next thing God desires from you is your intimacy with him. This guarantees your success in life as a child of God. An unbeliever may do anything to succeed, but the bible says destruction awaits such person in the end (Prov. 16:25). Intimacy with God is the secrete to outstanding success. Whenever you see a child of God that is doing exceptionally well in life, watch him closely, there is something he does which you do not know. You see, when you are in intimate relationship with God, he gives you access to divine secretes that will always give you competitive advantage. No matter the number of people that are doing the same thing with you, but because you understand the secrete, whenever you step out, there will always be a difference. When you talk, people will pay attention and listen because you carry something which they do not have. Divine secretes can only be assessed in the secrete place. At certain point in your life, learn to disconnect from people and separate yourself, connect with God in the place of prayer/ meditation, then you will be amazed at the kind of ideas that will be thronging into your mind. A single idea from God has the capacity to change the entire course of your life. Those who are shaking the world today in business and in ministry, in science and other fields are people with uncommon ideas. They are custodians of secretes which you do not have access to. The only thing that gives access to this realm of operation is intimacy with God. Do you have intimate relation with God yet? Think about it!

A TIMELY MESSAGE

by EVANG. MISHAEL AMAUGOH I believe there are some of my church members that have not received JESUS CHRIST as their personal Lord and Saviour. They may be in 'CHURCH' but not in 'GOD'. They may be involved in 'Church Activities' but no 'Spiritual Productivity'. People brand them 'the righteous' but what they do in the secret... depict the life of Satan. The 'still-small-voice' tells them that if rapture takes place now or 'Mr. death' knocks at their door any moment from now, 'HEAVEN' which they even professed will be like a mirage and 'HELL-FIRE' becomes the place of final destination. GOD forbid! What shall we say to such life of UNFORGIVENESS, LYING, IDOLATORY(Facebook, BB, African Magic, '24', etc can be idols too), FORNICATION, ADULTERY, KILLING( through abortion, diabolical means, etc), DRUNKENESS, PORNOGRAPHY, STEALING(even with pen), FIGHTING, etc? My beloved friend, sincerely think over the above issues and tell if you are among that category, or you were Born Again but due to life challenges or pressure, you backslided and the spirit of God no longer bear witness that you are a child of God (Roms 8:16); Its TIME to make a U-turn and take the decision that will change your life forever. Its TIME to face the reality of life. The life of deception cannot help but will lead you to hell. HEAVEN and HELLFIRE are real! The choice of eternity is yours. JESUS is passionately beckoning on you to come back to HIM. He will forgive, cleans and save you now if you believe (1 John 1:9). Then, He will give you the power to become His child (John 1:12). Beloved, my message sounds 'old fashioned' but if you pay heed to it, JESUS will do a new thing in your life. Please friend, may you pause and pray briefly…... As you answer this clarion call today, may JESUS come in, cleanse, save and transform your life forever. May old tings pass away now! May your life be renewed now in JESUS name. Prayerfully read, Gal.5:19-21, Rom 10:9-10, Rom 6:23, John3:3,5,16-18, Rom8:35-39 Halleluya! I appreciate God for the transformation that has taken place now in your life. Welcome to the kingdom. May your confession from now be like St. Pauls' in Rom. 8:37. I am committed to praying for you regularly. By His grace, we must make HEAVEN in JESUS name. Remain connected to the Kingdom. IT IS WELL WITH YOU IN JESUS NAME. AMEN

IN SEARCH OF POLITICAL CHANGE AGENTS

By Chimuanya Obuba
The political situation in Nigeria has shown that it is not yet uhuru. That politicians promise bridges even where there are no rivers is a universal truism, but the Nigerian case is so pathetic. Nigerian politicians promise heaven and earth and only end up in doing nothing for the electorate, except enriching their pockets. The problem with Nigeria has always been that of leadership (leadership at all levels).
The failure of leadership in Nigeria is a function of the scarcity of devoted people men of integrity. Men with service-oriented leadership are not easy to come by in this part of the world. The bane of our contemporary Nigerian society is service that is characterized by pervasive egocentricity and paucity of altruism. Indeed a cursory look at our prevailing socio-economic quagmire leads to the temptation to conclude that “the beautiful ones are not yet born”.
We are now experiencing in this country, leaders with warped minds. The country has run aground because those who take office get their minds distorted by power. This may produce the genial psychopath who exhibits every sign of normalcy but is essentially dedicated to the destruction of his society. It is difficult to cure psychopaths, because in therapy, the psychopath may tell you things he does not mean. This may lead to a systemic breakdown. Hence, the call for men of integrity and godly character.
Evil will only triumph when good men decide to do nothing. Jethro counseled
Moses, “select capable men from all the people-men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain - and appoint them as officials” (Exodus 18:21). This is a clarion call for men of integrity, to come up and exert the necessary changes in the polity. Youths! The future is in your hands. For when the righteous is in power, the people will surely rejoice.

TO OUR DADDIES AND YOUNG MEN WHO WANT TO GET MARRIED

Compiled by Emeka Anyaogu

This is an interesting correspondence between a surprised customer and the system analyst of a computer software company. Hope you read between the lines.

Dear system analyst
I am desperate for some help! I recently upgraded my program from Girlfriend 8.0 to wife 1.0 and found that the new program began unexpected child processing and also took up a lot of space and valuable resources. But this wasn't mention in the product brochure. In addiction Wife 1.0 installs itself into all other programs and launches during system initialization and then monitors all other system activities.

Applications such as boys' night out 8.3 and Club 11.5 no longer run, instead it crashes the system whenever selected. Attempting to operate 'Saturday hangout 6.3' always fail and 'Saturday shopping 7.1' runs instead with Christ centeredness 9.0 and effective Alter 7.0 plugins. As if that is not, it even prompts the system for active Monday Men's ministries Meeting autorun!

I cannot keep wife 1.0 in the background whilst attempting to run any of my favorite applications. Be it online or offline.
I am thinking of going back to Girlfriend 8.0 but uninstall doesn't work on this program. Can you please help?

…And the system Analyst replies;

Dear customer
This is a very common problem resulting from a basic misunderstanding of the functions of wife 1.0 program. Many customers upgrade from girlfriend 8.0 to wife 1.0 thinking that wife 1.0 wife 1.0 is merely a UTILITY AND ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM.
Actually wife 1.0 is OPRATING SYSTEM designed by its creator to run everything on your current platform.

You are unlikely to be able to purge wife 1.0 and still convert back to girlfriend 8.0, as wife 1.0 was not designed to do this and it is impossible to uninstall, delete or purge the program files from the system once it is installed. Some people have tried to install concubine 9.0 or wife 2.0 as an upgrade but have ended up with even more problems.

With wife 1.0, I recommend you keep it installed and deal with the difficulties as best as you can when any fault or problem occur. Whatever you think has caused them, just run the… C:/APOLOGIZE/FORGIVE ME.EXE program and avoid attempting to use *escape-key for it will freeze the entire system. Consider downloading CHRIST CENTERDNESS 9.0 AND EFFECTIVE FAMILY ALTER 7.0 plugins, they are free system support software that will get the most of wife 1.0 running for you.
It may be necessary to run C:/APPOLOGIZE/FORGIVE ME.EXE a number of times, and eventually hope that the operating system will return to normal. Wife 1.0 although a very high maintenance program can be very rewarding.

To get the most out of it, consider buying additional software such as Perfume 2.0 and Quality time 5.0 or HUGS/KISSES 9:00 or TENDERNESS/ UNDERSTANDING 1000.0 or even eating out without the kids 7.2.1 (if child processing has already started)

WARNING!
DO NOT under any circumstance install secretary 2.1 (short skirt version) or one night stand 3.2 (any mood version) as this is not a supported application. It will adulterate your system and will almost certainly crash.
Thank you. Please feel free to contact us for additional assistance or visit our website www. Your pastor's counseling .come. …Happy Men's week to our Pinnacle Men!

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF SUGAR

By Nnamdi Bonny
Everyone in some way is associated with sugar either for food or in verbal expressions figuratively depicting sweetness or pleasantness.
Sugar as it is known in health science falls under a class of food known as carbohydrate. There are three broad classifications of sugar on the basis of their number of molecules. They include: monosaccharide / one sugar molecule (glucose, fructose and galactose), disaccharide / two sugar molecules (maltose, sucrose and lactose) and polysaccharide / three or more sugar molecules (starch and glycogen). Glucose however is the only operational form of sugar in the body as every other sugar form must be converted to glucose to perform its function. It therefore follows to say that the table sugar in our tea, the rice, 'garri', yam 'akpu', bread and other starchy food breakdown to glucose to be absorbed in the body tissue. One major function of glucose is its role as a source of energy for the body. This it does by serving as a transport medium for ATP (Adenine triphosphate) -the energy molecule.

Another role sugar (glucose) plays, which I consider to be the core of its function, is its role as sole fuel for the brain. This explains why an individual cannot articulate things properly when hungry.Finally, by a process of fermentation, adequate intake of starchy food produces sufficient glucose which accounts for the alcohol needs of the body. Therefore other alcohol supplements (beer, red wine and other alcoholic drink) are really not necessary.
All these go to tell how critically essential sugar is for the proper functioning of the body. However, it's not left without some dark sides and that we will consider in the next bulletin.
…To be continued

THREE KEYS FOR HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP

. -By Sam Akhigbe
There are many keys to keeping a healthy relationship, but these three will be considered to conclude our series on this subject.

SHOW LOVE TO PEOPLE
Anyone who desires to have good relationship must first learn how to show love. Whenever you show love to people, what you get back is nothing but love. Somehow, we generally believe that love is a feeling. No! The bible says love one another and this is a command from God. Naturally, commands are meant to be obeyed and not negotiated on the basis of feelings, especially when such commands are given by someone with superior authority. Therefore, when God says love one another, the least he expects from us is total obedience irrespective of how we feel. Showing love one to another is the most guaranteed way to secure a healthy relationship and peaceful co-existence. It brings fulfillment and makes you a better person.

PRACTICE THE ACT OF CONVERSATION
Healthy communication is the building block of any meaningful relationship. When thoughts are not communicated, people are bound to misunderstand themselves. As an individual, don't be too reserved or introverted. Learn to relate with people, and do not form an opinion about anyone you have not really met. To help in this area, always practice the act of conversation, it makes it easy to meet people and understand them better. Appearance most times can be deceitful, but we relate better when we understand ourselves.

HUMILITY IS KEY
Humility is a rare virtue. For it to thrive, pride must die. It means not insisting on your right always, but willing to shift position when necessary for the benefit of others. It also means showing regards for people and not projecting yourself as superior even when you have better advantages. This creates an atmosphere of peace around you and makes it easy for people to come around. It also help other people on their own to discover who you are and begin to respect you.

Finally, humility helps to play down on unhealthy competition and the bible says: 'they that compare themselves with themselves are not wise. Humility does not remove anything from you, rather it adds value to your relationship and earns you respect. Stay blessed.

FROM THE LEADER'S DESK

THE MASTER KEY
By Angela O. Musa
Some weeks ago a friend of mine lost her mum, so I had to go for the funeral. On getting there, I saw certain people performing some rituals over the death of another woman in the compound. My friend was advised not to come out because they said “the rituals would affect her pregnancy if she did” Though she heeded the advice, few weeks later she underwent an operation during which she lost her baby and nearly lost her life.
In this end time, it's so sad that people don't like to pray again. The devil, knowing the potency of prayer strives to weaken the prayer life of Christians. He makes them to see prayer as stress, boring to the extent that they avoid prayer sessions while coming to church and arrive when they know the prayers would be over. Such prayerlessness leads to lukewarmness.

MEANING OF PRAYER
Prayer is a communication; an expression in words of needs or deeds to God. (Ps. 5:1)

CONCEPT OF PRAYER
* Prayer is an attitude: Psalm 4:1-9
* Prayer is a lifestyle: Matthew 6:8

TYPES OF PRAYER
* Prayer of Intercession: Act 12:5-12
* Prayer of Consecration: Mat. 26:30
* Prayer of Agreement: Mat. 18:19
* Prayer of Warfare: Eph 6:11-12, Luke 10:19
* Prayer of Thanksgiving; Phil 4:6

IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER
* It is a means of communication to God.
* Through prayer we invoke God's will
for our life.
* We overcome temptation through prayer
* We Know God more through prayer
* We worship through prayer
* We intercede through prayer
* We engage in warfare through prayer. Mark 16:17

HINDRANCES TO PRAYER
A number of things stand as a hindrance to our prayers, they include; Sin, Lack of Knowledge, Lack of perseverance, false doctrine, doubt (John14:12)…
CONCLUSION
There is tremendous power in prayer. Prayer is the most powerful tool for success and victory over enemies. When we pray we will have more grace to live a holy life. 'Men ought always to pray and not to faint.' (Luke 18:1). A prayerful Christian is a powerful Christian and a prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian. Prayer is the master key!

FROM THE LEADER'S DESK

NO CAUSE FOR ALARM
In a changing world where nothing is constant except change, fear often times is the order of the day. Fear of uncertainty, fear of failure, and fear of what tomorrow will bring and what it will be. Situations such as this are responsible for the many crises people go through every day. This is because, many people cast their minds on the problems and the difficulties they face rather than the one who has power over all things.

Going beyond the world of man, there's one who is not just constant but also consistent. He is the unchangeable changer, whose name is never written in past tense but in the present, therefore if you call him a present day reality you are not in error. 'I AM' is his name. Does that send any message to you?

Because he is the same yesterday, today and forever. There's no cause for alarm! David the man after God's heart, after he had listened to the 'big mouth' Goliath rail insult on the army of God said, “let no man's heart fail because of this uncircumcised philistine.” What does that mean to the fearful and terrified army of Israel? It means no panicking, no wahala, or no cause for alarm. All because God lives and He is always in control. One with God is majority.

My motivation in writing this piece is to encourage you and to refer you to the one who has answers to the entire questions that I wasn't able to provide answers to during my stay. Keep your eyes on Jesus who is all in all for us in everything. For me he is my all, make him your all today and you will be convinced that there is no cause for alarm!
Finally, I say to all my friends and well wishers; and my esteem readers.

I thank you all for making my stay in Lagos a memorable one, I appreciate all your kind gestures. Thanks for your gifts, my God will reward you all in double fold.PF
- OKECHI-GOSPEL OKEREKE

My PINNACLE YOUTH

By Emeka Anyaogu

I was once a vibrant youth
Standing in the pinnacle of glory
My glory was seen by all men
But as I trudged ahead
I walked into a moonless night
Where the stars were hidden by tears
That beclouded my eyes and stole the songs from my heart

Now I work in a flowerless garden
Toiling with sweat from morning to night
My life has neither fragrance nor joy
For glory no longer abides with me
I have walked thorny paths
Bleeding and with blistered feet
Too weak to admire, too worn out to be admired

Strengthened by the bread of life
I'm back to take my rightful place
Pinnacle is my territory
I will forever PRAISE Him
For His FAVOUR upon my life
My God who gave me WISDOM
To have VICTORY over my weaknesses. PF

CHALLENGES OF CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIP (2)

By Sam Akhigbe
In every relationship, weather in the circular word or among believers, the place of love can never be over emphasized, especially the agape kind of love. Agape love is the virtue of God in human nature that enables us to overlook individual weaknesses and major on their advantages (good side). It does not discriminate irrespective of personality, weather rich or poor, black or white, educated or illiterate, agape love will enable you to treat people the same way and relate freely. It is one of the virtues that promote unity and godliness among the people of God, but unfortunately most of us Christians have challenges in this area.

Has it ever occurred to you that new members come to church every Sunday, but majority of them never stay? Instead, some members of the church are pulling out to join other churches. Last year the youth executive became so worried about this issue to the point that they threw it open for members to send in their contributions in writing on how they think that new members can be attracted, developed and retained in the church.

In my own opinion, attracting people to church is not really the issue because, there are many ways people can be attracted to the house of God. For example, people can come to church by formal invitation through church evangelism, the quality of praise and worship, the message or sermon, the architectural masterpiece of the church like ours can also attract people without formal invitation. But the question now is; how can these people be retained when they come into the church?

When people come out of the world and enter the church, only to discover that what they see among believers is not different from where they are coming from, they will either go back or find their way to other places of worship. This has also accounted for the reason why some members will visit other churches and the will not come back. I will like to state here that interpersonal relationship among God's


people is key if we must experience increase in membership. Also the spiritual growth of the church will remain stunted until believers learn to relate freely with one another without discrimination. Acts 2:46 says: And they continue daily with one accord in the temple… the end of verse 47 says: and the lord added to their number such as should be saved be saved. (Not such as will come to the church today, and go back to the world after two weeks)
There is power in genuine love and there is also power in unity. The moment we learn to treat one another as one and member of the same body, church growth becomes inevitable. PF
…To be concluded

PERCEPTION AND FACTS ABOUT GARDEN-EGGS

By Nnamdi Bonny

It has become accepted like every other myth that garden egg fruits are of no nutritional value but that the nutrients are limited to their leaves. This myth may have thriven owing to the seemingly tasteless savour of the fruit and the scantiness of researches in the past. However, recent researches have yielded impressive results rebuffing this widely spread myth and giving a beacon of hope to the relegated status of garden eggs, scientifically referred to as Solanum specie, grown predominantly in tropical Africa has proven to possess reasonably high level of water which play key roles in the maintenance of body moisture. It also possesses a major phytochemical (plant chemical) known as flavonoid, which functions essentially as a free-radical scavenger, in other words an anti-ageing nutrient.

Most remarkable about the garden egg fruit is its fibre content which though in small amount accounts for the easing of constipation, i.e lightening the bowel.

In conclusion, it is therefore, imperative that the campaign for a rather valueless garden egg be relinquished as the newly discovered nutritive quality of the fruit exonerates it. PF

IF ONLY I HAVE MORE...

Compiled by
Felix Opom Chimeremeze Jn

We are living in a world where there is an insatiable demand for power, wealth and pleasure, even at grassroots level. This gets compounded by bad governance and lack of love among the citizenry which of course, result in abject poverty for the masses. Yet we are rich, rich in God and rich in ourselves because each one of us possesses tremendous wealth! Needed only is self-exploration.

Many people today are living far below expectation because of the belief that they do not have enough at their disposal. Hence, we constantly hear such phrases as: if only I had more cars, more children, more clothes, more money, more time...
The question now is, if now I have more cars, money, wives and children, what would I do with them? Can I ever dream of more time than I have now? A look at the clock reveals that each one is blessed with a total of eighty six thousand four hundred (86,400) seconds daily, six hundred and four thousand eight hundred (604,800) seconds weekly and over sixteen million (16.9m) seconds monthly. What do you do with each second as it rolls-by? Yet we crave for more, probably to sin more!
It is time we stopped craving for more and concentrate on what we have. It is time we used the time and other resources at our disposal properly. It is time we started appreciating God instead of complaining. Note: it is ever God's pleasure to show His power by extracting success from unpromising conditions and by accomplishing His greatest projects with inadequate instruments. So, with the little we have, we could do more.

If God had meant more for you, He would have added it, since when reproaching David for his greed, said “...I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house and your wives into your hands, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more!” (2 Sam 12:7-8).
The God who gave you one or more child, car, clothing, house, and whatever is yours today gave them to you for a purpose. Why not let His purpose come alive in you by concentrating on them. His words shall never cease to accomplish its purpose, yet it may seem delayed in your sight but God is always on time. HE DOES IT WHEN IT IS BEST TO BE. Keep working as you wait for the best that is yet to come. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa 55:10-11). You could be delaying God's intention for you with your complaints and incessant cravings for more. “An unexamined life is not worth living.” How often do you examine your life? If you cannot prove yourself with little things, why should you receive more? Stop craving for more BUT CREATE MORE WITH YOUR LITTLE. May the Lord the of harvest bless us with abundant harvest. PF

KINGDOM MENTALITY

By Angela Musa

A kingdom can be likened to a domain, an estate or a country ruled by a king. Heaven is the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ is the king of that kingdom. We are Christians today because we want to inherit the kingdom of God.
As we get involved in lots of activities in the church, let us not forget our main purpose of coming to church. The main purpose of coming to church is to build ourselves in preparation for the kingdom of God. Though people come to church for different purposes, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…' Matthew 6:32

If you desire to enter God's kingdom, here are the steps you need to take:
1.You need to be born again. John 3:3-5. It does not matter your position in the church, are you born again?
2. You need to obey the laws of the kingdom. The law of the kingdom is love... Love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39)
3.You also need to understand the principles of the kingdom. The key is to be ready at all times. Jesus used parables to teach us about the principles of the kingdom. See Matthew 25. PF

FROM THE LEADER'S DESK

IT IS TIME TO GO
As the saying goes “everything that has a beginning has an end”; the same can be said of the Gospel Okereke-led leadership of Praise Family of the Youth Ministries. Call it a valedictory message or a farewell speech and you may not be far from the truth because the journey we started sometime last year has finally come to an end.
The Gospel-led team had three areas of priority namely spiritual empowerment, leadership development and financial empowerment/career improvement. These we pursued with vigor and zest. To God be the glory for the grace, strength and peace He gave to us throughout this period.
My sincere thanks are to the following; the Central Executives of the Youth Ministries for the rare privilege given me to serve God and the church in the capacity I did, the Church for her support to many of our programmes, Praise family (The Trail Blazers) for their unalloyed support, sincerity of heart, loyalty and for keeping faith with me and my executives. Lastly, to my unbeatable, God-fearing, courageous, unrelenting and united team, who made leadership look so simple in every sense of it ‘I take my hat off to you all.’ The memory of you will always be a treasure to savor.
And to those who we (especially I) offended in the course of performing our duties we sincerely regret whatever trouble our leadership might have caused you. Having said all this I want to say that it is time to go, time to take a bow because my work here is done. I have laid the foundation for another to build on. I believe that the one coming after will be mightier than me, but his efforts will fall to the dry dust if he lacks the necessary support.
Finally my brethren be steadfast, do not forsake your first love because the coming of our lord is fast at hand may you never be found wanting on that day. I love you all, remain blessed.
With love,
GOSPEL. PF

LEARNING FROM GOD'S CREATIONS

LEARNING FROM GOD’S CREATIONS
By Emeka Anyaogu
Many of God’s creations can teach us valuable lessons. In my village recently I took the time to gaze at the awesome features of nature; the rising of the yellow morning sun which sprang above the hills far away and the graceful display of the trees arrayed from top the hills down the sloppy valleys. This delightful sight gave much to consider of the greatness of God. In my meditation I reasoned that it should have been such breathtaking sights as these that gave the writer of the popular hymn “How Great Thou Art” the inspiration to compose that verse.
While I made melodies in my heart to the Lord for the works of His hands, I was distracted by the songs from birds on a nearby tree weaving their nests. I spent some time watching these birds as they made little balls of nests from thin grass-like fiber. These nests looked like fruits suspended from tree branches. As I watched the birds work hard to build a home, I remembered what the Lord Jesus told His disciples in Matt. 6:26 “look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they?”
God wants us to learn that He is able to provide for all our needs. The government may not be able to cater for our feeding or shelter but God can. Remember, “He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). If God loved us so much as to give His Son to die for us, certainly He is interested in nothing but our good. Therefore we can trust him with our lives. However it is our responsibility to work as this serves as a point of contact for God’s blessings.
Much more than providing our needs, God wants to have a relationship with us that will last for eternity. Make Him your Lord and personal Saviour and allow Him to take charge of your whole life. PF
a

DRESS SENSE

DRESS SENSE (contd)
By Nnamdi Bonny DO’S AND DON’TS FOR MEN
-It is rather indecent to do down your buttons, exposing inner garment.
-Bold suits and shirts are rather obsolete. In today’s fashion, smart and body-fitting outfits have long taken the stage.
-Tee-shirts must strictly be worn with denim trousers (i.e jeans wears) or some other firm material like chinos.
-Collared shirts must be worn with singlet inside, but if vests must be worn please let them be plain without obvious patterns.
-Transparent or see-through shirts must be limited to picnics (especially beach outings). It could betray indecency if worn anywhere else.
-It is fashionably unfashionable to wear a pair of socks in flip flop foot wear or “pams”.

DO’S AND DON’TS FOR LADIES
A whole lot of ladies have been observed to break certain fashion rules owing to their ignorance of what is appropriate. To avert this, the following tips will be necessary.
-For ladies who love to look fanciful, it is important to know that the more fanciful the dress is the fewer the accessories should be.
-In the use of make-ups, moderation is principal. Heavy make-ups should be avoided as much as possible during the day.
-Be sure to wear the right colour of brown powder and foundation, one that suits your skin colour so it is not obvious to everyone your are wearing a brown powder.
-Carving of eyebrows must be done in consonance with the shape of one’s face. Thin eyebrows do not fit bold faces. However, avoid totally removing the natural eyebrows.
-Different skin colours match different eye pencils. Ladies with really dark skins are advised to use black eye pencils. Brown eye pencils go well with brown skins and light skins could have brown or wine-red mixed with brown colour.
-The shape and size of your lips should determine the colour of your lipstick. Ladies with big lips should avoid “hot-red” lipsticks as it only serves to emphasize how big one’s lips are. Lighter shades and mild colours serve better in such a case.
-Skin colour determines the colour of blush to go for. Dark ladies should steer clear of pink and other bright-coloured blushes. Dark-red colour would be appropriate for dark complected skins
…to be continued. PF

FROM THE LEADER'S DESK

BECOMING A CHANGE AGENT
The word change and all it stands for in the recent times has become one of the most commonly used vocabulary on the lips of all and sundry. Phrases like ‘audacity of hope’, ‘change we can believe in’, ‘agents of change’, ‘a fresh breath’ and many like them point to one thing, CHANGE!
Change involves a movement away from status quo and a substitution with better innovations. Change is one thing many call for, and yet even more resist vehemently, consequently amounting to the negative attitude people have towards change in general.
Much research reveals that the idea of change not being worth personal price, the fear of loss of something valuable and a sense satisfaction with existing ways of doing things (status quo) is responsible for the general apathy towards change. This is true because human beings are creatures of habits; so they are against anything that displaces their habits.
Many leaders are described as ‘maintenance-oriented’ leaders, tenaciously holding to the methods that first gave them success and credibility in their leadership. Where there’s no flexibility change becomes difficult to come by.
Another vital area in the change process is communication. E.L. Town, a leadership expert, in relation to the problems leaders have with communication in the course of change said, “problems arise for leaders, because they are imperfect, and exercise imperfect communication to followers who have imperfect powers of observation; thus arriving at imperfect interpretations and imperfect understanding of the task at hand. When an imperfect relationship exists between leaders and followers, the less than perfect situation creates a barrier to change or innovation”.
So the problem is not that of initiating change but to communicate it effectively because many times people do not have a negative reaction to an idea or new project; it is just that the people do not have confidence in the change agent. To effect any change, it must necessarily begin in the agent of that change (you) first. This puts you in top gear to lead others in making a change in the face of dissenting views.
Finally, consider this “change-oriented leadership is neither simple for the leaders nor comforting to the masses. Thus it is essential we find ways to allow change agents to express their creativity in their leadership efforts. This cannot be done without accountability and process. Yet we must be careful that the systems and procedures we embrace do not quench the spirit of the change agents. In other words, ministries should create a change-friendly environment, places that allow leaders who champion positive change to be who they are and to lead effectively”.
To all AG youths I wish you a memorable YOUTH DAY as you patiently wait for the change you desperately long for. God is aware of yearnings. Have a blissful youth day.

Characteristics of a change Agent

Characteristics of a change Agent
By Angela O. Musa
The call to become a change agent by the general council is timely. If you desire to be a change agent, here are 10 characteristics you must imbibe.

1. Change Agents focus on possibilities not limitations.
2. Change Agents often give up personal comfort in their quest for gainful discoveries.
3. Change Agents are willing to undertake what others have never done.
4. Change Agents pursue their dreams with singleness of purpose and steely determination.
5. Change Agents possess a clear understanding of what is right and wrong and fight to change the wrong.
6. Change Agents pursue God’s truth regardless of the cost on their personal lives.
7. Change Agents understand that all human beings are important and deserve the same respect.
8. Change Agents remain faithful to their inner conviction regardless the outer temptation for fame and glory.
9. Change Agents channel problems and personal frustrations into creative solutions.
10. Change Agents are not afraid to venture into the unknown whenever there is need for change.PF

interview with the youth president

‘We will use the Education unit as a platform for attracting funds for scholarships as a way of rewarding hard work and excellence.’ - Nkwocha

In order to encourage the youths of this church to get educated, the youth ministries has just rejuvenated the education unit. In this chat with our correspondents Nnamdi Bonny and Emeka Anyaogu, The Youth President said among other things that youth ministries intend to use the unit as a platform for attracting funds for scholarships as a way of rewarding hard work and excellence. Enjoy!

Praisefocus: One and a half years as youth leader; how has the experience been?
Youth President: It has been filled with challenges especially following the fact that I inherited a Youth ministry that had long been comatose. Youths had begun to show apathy as they did not see how any value was being added to their lives. The main challenge has been that of getting people to once again come back to our meetings.
Secondly we have identified poverty as the major problem among young people. Young people have many problems ranging from immorality, insubordination, gossip, etc. However, within our setting, poverty seems to be topping the chart.
Thus we have decided to face this headlong.

Praisefocus: how have you tried to solve the problem of low attendance in the youth ministry?
Youth president: when we came in we met the problem of low attendance in our meetings, and we tried to solve the problem by looking at content. We observed that people have not been coming because they are not really gaining anything as it were. We first of all distributed forms for people to fill their names and phone numbers to enable us build our data base and see how we can be able to reach out via text message, you will agree with me that we have been sending text messages though some people still don’t receive text message. But basically what we have done is try to create content that we feel is lacking. Nevertheless creating a very good content required a lot of money. If we want to have a very tight program every Thursday, it required a lot of fund. Our problem has been how to generate these funds.

Praisefocus: Every good leader has clear vision of what he intends to achieve; as the youth president, what is that vision you have for the pinnacle youths
Youth Presidents: My vision is clear and I have stated it in various ways and at various times. I desire to see a youth ministries department where young people have become financially independent following kingdom principles. Poverty is one curse that must be broken from our youths. And poverty has only one cure - Information. When people are rightly informed and this information is given to them consistently over a long period of time, the principle of auto suggestion comes into play and begins to drive them to produce results in line with what they have been hearing.

We believe that if the problem of finance is solved, people will relate better and weddings will be the outcome. When a young man is poor, he is timid. Many young people that appear humble are not necessarily humble; poverty has simply made them like that. A young man naturally feels intimidated by a beautiful and well-dressed lady if his bank account is red.

Praisefocus: How have you been able to impact this vision to the youth in the last one and a half years and what have been the results so far?
Youth President: You know that sometimes people who have problems need to be told several times that they have a problem before you can even attempt solving the problem. If someone does not understand that you are trying to help him, he might even resist you and consider your offer of help an intrusion.

So we have tried to point out to everyone that our problem as a movement is poverty; that a church as numerically vast as AG with about less than 5% financially-free and buoyant people is an anomaly. We have first shown that the great commission which Assemblies of God as a movement is passionate about will suffer serious setbacks (and it is already happening) if we do not create a middle class.

Even in advanced nations, the strength of their economies is the middle class. Every economy is driven and advanced by the small and medium scale enterprises. Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Google, etc are not the reason America is wealthy. America is wealthy because of the millions of small and medium scale businesses owned by American natives and immigrants. All these businesses service these large corporations in one way or another and by so doing they have created enormous wealth for the owners and employees.

This is what we seek to achieve - to create that middle class for Assemblies of God starting from 111 Clegg Street. We have thus brought several teachings to our people using various resource persons. And we still plan to do more.

Praisefocus: You just established a new unit in the youth ministries, the education unit; what do you intend to achieve with this unit?
Youth President: Firstly, the Education unit has always been there. We have only rejuvenated it.

We believe in the power of education. The key to the prosperity of any nation is the education of her citizens. To show how important education is, the United Nations has stipulated that every nation must set aside 26% of her national budget to education. They are convinced that this is the minimum amount required to produce a literate and innovative citizenry.

Thus we seek to encourage our people to get educated. We will use the Education unit also as a platform for attracting funds for scholarships as a way of rewarding hard work and excellence.


Praisefocus: The theme of this year’s youth week is "becoming a change agent”; is this important call only for the youth week or is it in line with your vision for the youth?
Youth President: I am particularly excited about this year's Youth week theme because it serves to buttress all we have been saying all these months. If there is anything we need in our movement, AG, it is change. If there is anything this country needs, it is change. We need to change our ideas of what church is all about. The duty of the church is not just to get people saved and then leave them to wallow in abject poverty and at the mercy of the elements of creation.

The essence of the church is to return man to the place he lost in the Garden of Eden. God intended the man should dominate the earth. Man is supposed to reign here above diseases, poverty, etc.
Being Change Agents is what the gospel is about. It is about changing this world until it conforms to the kind of earth God has always had in mind for man. We must restore order to this earth.
Praisefocus: The teens church has just been created out of the youth ministries and you where enlisted among the workers, how will you manage both responsibilities and how will this development affect the youth church?

Youth President: The truth is that it is going to be quite challenging. However I have always had a natural love for the teenagers. I simply love them. Do not forget, I teach in the Teens’ Sunday school so I do not have any adaptation problem. The challenge will be in dealing with the personal issues of both the teenagers and the youths who demand and deserve my attention. However dealing with the teenagers in this new capacity is quite an excitin
g thing for me. It gives me the opportunity to make an indelible imprint in their lives. I and my team mates will definitely need God to help us do a good job.

I do not think it will affect the youth church negatively. What this means is that we can now trust the caliber of persons who will be fed into the Youth Ministry in the years to come. They will be people who have been thoroughly prepared to serve God at a higher level. I also implore the youths to see ways of mentoring these teenagers as they are in dire need of mentorship and guidance.

Praisefocus: lastly, how will you evaluate your leadership in the last one and half years?
Youth President: we have not done so well. One of our goals was to improve the number of our attendance to 500 but we have only about 200 people who attend out Thursday meetings. And financially we are looking at a youth ministry that will have people who are doing well for themselves financially and will at the same time enrich the purse of the youth ministry, though we know that it is not something that can be achieved overnight, we believe God in the next couple of years it going to manifest.PF

DRESS SENSE

DRESS SENSE
By Nnamdi Bonny
L
ooking attractive and acceptable in society or in any kind of gathering is upper must in the mind of everyone one way or the other. Therefore, a rapt understanding of what is attractive and acceptable is essential to our decision on what to put on.

Issues connected to dressing are usually very ticklish as the judgment of what is appropriate varies among individuals. These judgments could be predicated on a number of factors; such as social exposure, peer influence, social pressure, etc. It is therefore expedient to strike the right balance between what is acceptable and what is right.

Dress sense is the ability to know the right clothes and accessories for various occasions and how to combine them in order to strike the right effect. The key words are ‘KNOW’ – the knowledge of what to wear and ‘HOW’ – the way they are worn.

Although this subject affects both male and female, the guiding principles are sometimes gender-specific.

DO’S AND DONT’S FOR MEN
Try not to appear in a stripped shirt and stripped pair of trouser. A stripped shirt on a pair of plan trouser or vice versa would do.
Similarly, do not wear a patterned shirt with a patterned tie (spotted or stripped) you would rather have patterned tie on a plan shirt
Your belt colour must be same as the colour of your shoe. Therefore trying to match a brown belt and black shoes is completely inapt. …To be continued. PF

THE CHANLLENGE OF CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIP

THE CHANLLENGE OF CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIP
By Sam Akighgbe
The word relationship naturally brings to mind, the concept of marriage or dating. But in this series, I am going to be viewing it from a different perspective. Not just relationships as is construed, but interpersonal relationship which basically has to do with the way we deal with one another.

There is no gainsaying the fact that this issue is a major challenge in the church today. There are believers who are born again, spirit-filled and have a good relationship with God, but when it comes to dealing with people it is nothing to write home about. There are many reasons behind this, and we shall examine them one after the other.

Claiming to be very holy and close to God, some Christians see other believers as carnal and not genuine, therefore leading a secluded life hiding under the guise of not being unequally yoked together… well I leave that for you to think about.

Another reason is that, many Christians today are too proud, even in the church. But before we begin to point accusing fingers, let us ask ourselves these questions. Do you see anything good in people, especially those you think you are better than? Do you behave or act like people deserve your respect or attention, irrespective of who they are? And how do people feel about your attitude towards them, especially those who are not your friends? If you cannot provide honest answers to these questions, then you may be proud and you need to check that very fast because, pride goes before a fall. (Pr.16:18).

Others are class-sensitive. This describes Christians who choose people they relate to within the church based on material things; this is to say that their judgement is hinged on one’s appearance and how much one has achieved, one’s family background and level of education. Falling short in any of these, completely disqualifies you from being in their class. But consider this, if Jesus Christ came with this kind of attitude how many do you think would have been saved?

On the other hand, you may want to ask this question: Can everybody can be my friend? The answer to that is emphatically No! But can you relate with everybody? Yes you can, if you really have the love of God in you. 1 John 4:20 says you cannot despise your brother (fellow people around you) and claim to love God whom you have not seen.

Now note that the foundation of any genuine and godly relationship is rooted in the concept of agape love. Love is generally defined as a strong feeling of deep affection towards someone or something. But agape love is stronger than that because it is not just a feeling. It is an expression of a positive attitude towards people irrespective of who they are. Note that difference! One is based on feelings and the other is a deliberate decision we must learn to make if truly we are children of God. PF

WANTED: CHANGE AGENTS

WANTED: CHANGE AGENTS
By Anyaogu Emeka
The world we live in has suddenly become unbearable; we now see and hear negative stories every day. Sin, Confusion, poverty and complaining have become the order of the day. Unfortunately, people have come to live with this menace, considering themselves to be victims and believing that they cannot do anything about it, therefore they accept anything the world throws at them.

This year’s general council youth week theme: ‘becoming a change agent’ is meant to address these issues. If there is anything we need at this chaotic period, it is change.

To effect this change therefore, the world is looking for problem solvers, people who will make new discoveries that will permanently put paid to the many social, political and economic ills that are plaguing the world today. We need Change Agents; those who are willing to change their own beliefs and begin to think outside the box. Such persons must live in the future, not in the present. Regardless of what is happening today, the person must have a vision of what should be and uses that as the governing sense of action.

Christians are the light of the world, if there is anybody who can bring this much desired change, it is you. I encourage you therefore to make yourself available to be used of God. This is not the time for complains and criticism but a time for action. Change can only come when we offer the necessary support to whoever is in authority. Rather than criticize and gossip, you can be an intercessor like Daniel, Mordecai, and Elijah of the bible days.

NB. To this end, PRAISEFOCUS will be dedicating a column for whoever feels passionate about this change and wants to ignite the same passion in others. If you have a message that could bring positive change to the youth of this church and the nation at large, you can forward your write-ups to praisefocus@yahoo.com. If the message is worthwhile, I promise you, we shall publish it on PRAISEFOCUS and together we shall make a big change in the world. PF

FROM THE LEADER'S DESK

“NO MATTER HOW SHE BE, MAMA NA MAMA”

Mothers are special gifts from God to humanity; hence a world without them could be described as incomplete, empty, and unfulfilled. This is not to say that women are perfect people, error-free or without ‘little folly’. Their dynamic nature is what makes them unique.

On the other hand, the attainment of motherhood is a joy and pride to women in every respect especially those who attain it gracefully and in good time. This no doubt is a very special experience women look forward to particularly becoming mothers of their own offspring.

The African culture permits one to refer to another woman (usually elderly) as “mama”. However, that does not displace the connection between a mother and her biological child.
A lot of people may not be proud of their mothers, while some others are just indifferent because in their own opinion she is not educated, rich, beautiful, or maybe she is short, slim, fat (orobo), unimpressive, unkempt, wicked, ungodly etc. Whatever the case, it is too late. One’s mother was not a choice, so desiring Michelle Obama, Dame Patience Jonathan, Dora Akunyili and other prominent women in society for a mother will be mere day dreaming.

It is imperative to know that no matter what short falls or inadequacies one’s mother may have, no one else can love a child more than their biological mother. So rather than criticizing her, celebrate and pray for her because she is God’s best for you. I am proud of my mother ‘Nma CHARITY’ as she’s popularly called. She is second to none, more valued than the oil wells of Iraq or gold mines of South Africa. “No matter who she be, mama na mama”

Finally to all AG Nigerian women I wish you all a happy mother’s day, you worth celebrating, you’re mothers indeed… no matter what.

WHO IS YOUR FRIEND?

Who is your friend?
by Emeka Anyaogu
“Show me your friend and I will tell you who you are”. The choice of your close friends or associates is one of the most important decision to be made in life. What you are today and what you are going to be in the near future is determined by the people you associate with and the kind of books you read. You are likely to become like those you closely associate with.
Do you know that a day away from the wrong association will improve your life. Little wonder why the book of psalm started with appreciating the man who does not keep bad company. The book of proverbs also added that: “putting confidence in an unreliable man is like chewing with a sore tooth, or trying to run on a broken foot.
Your best friends should be those who bring out the best in you. You are better not worse having been with them. Sometimes a single conversation with the right person can be more valuable than many years of study.
Take a little inventory of your friends and know how each has impacted your life; this will enable you to separate your true friends from your ‘enemy friends’.

THE POWER OF ATTITUDE

The power of attitude
by Angela Musa
As Christians we need to learn to manage and control the quality of our lives through positive attitude. Attitude has a powerful impact in everything we do. Taping into positive attitude is a key element in the process of controlling one’s destiny and gaining mastery in one’s personal life.

Having a positive attitude towards your life is the foundation to everything you do and this is the greatest asset you could ever have.
Attitude is not a hereditary or genetic trait, it is acquired and therefore can be amended. This is very essential because your attitude is the first thing people will notice where ever you go.

Steps to developing a positive Attitude
1. You need to understand the power of attitude, knowing that attitude being a powerful tool affects everything you do.
2. You have to monitor your internal dialogue in order to transform your attitude into positive one. Just as your choice in life determines your success and happiness, so does your attitude determine how you respond to whatever the world throws at you.
3. You need to do constant attitude assessment; you can always do this by carrying out a good analysis of your attitude to know your area of strength and weakness. This will enable you to know which attitude to hold on to and the ones to amend.
4. It is also very important that you to be proactive in your approach to issues of life. Being proactive makes you better prepared to handle challenges, threats, disappointments, setbacks and every other problem that can easily provoke a negative attitude.
5. Learn how to adapt to change. Change is constant; change of job, relationship, economics status etc has a way of affecting out attitude in life.
Another way of developing a good attitude is by associating with people of good attitude. Iron sharpens iron. When you associate with the right people, their attitude will influence your negative attitude to a positive attitude.

THE MENACE OF AFRICAN TIME

THE MENACE OF AFRICAN TIME
By Okechi-Gospel Okereke
As a young boy in my early days, I often heard my father repeat this ancient proverb, “time waits for nobody, but man waits for time”. Inexperienced as I was a big puzzle. As Jesus disciples often did, I asked what it meant.

With the aid of a wall clock, he told me there is no situation that can stop the movement of time. As the sun goes round the equator the time ticks and nobody can slow down or fasten its movement, or even stretch it beyond 24hours. Science proves to us that irrespective of different time zone observed all over the globe, no day is greater or less than 24 hours.

Based on this fact, it is clear that it is man who struggles to meet up with time, and not the other way round. Any time lost cannot be recovered, though activities might be rescheduled but at the expense of another time.

The question here is, why do we always abuse our use of time? In both private and public organizations, including government establishments, sheer disregard for time is observed either in delay of job delivery, giving excuses that are not tenable or mere lassitude towards one’s duty. This comes in various styles and cuts across all tiers of the organization. People spend time waiting endlessly to see the MD or the Director of an establishment, only for them to see a man with a briefcase at the end of the day, rushing out like one being chased by a mad dog or someone wearing a strong face like one who misplaced his car keys all in a bid to cover up for the atrocities they committed in keeping people waiting and unattended to.

As if that is not enough, the worst of it all is the menace of ‘African time” so called, where extra thirty minutes or one hour is added to the stipulated time; so that when a meeting is scheduled for 7:00 am participants and attendees start arriving 30mins – 1hour later thereby slowing the tide of progress, accounting for lateness, amounting to disorganization, lack of seriousness, delay etc.

Even in the Church setting the story is not different, because when a preacher says ‘I will be brief’ it’s an indication that the service will be very lengthy and will not end anytime soon (laughs). What is the essence of preaching when perhaps everyone in the audience is fast asleep? Lou Cook, former president of the Alexandria Virginia school board uses this adage: “sometimes the mind can absorb only what the seat can endure”; Arch Lustberg adds, “even in conversation, it isn’t unusual for people to say too much”. Most speeches, presentations, and meeting go on beyond human endurance. I have attended conference where preachers were booed. “E don do, e don do”, was the response from the audience, because of long a sermon.

I disagree with people who believe that sermons should not be timed. Personally I think they’re making big mistake and should have a rethink. For those who are carried away by the spirit, they should remember that; “the spirit of the prophet is under the prophet”.
A lot of people have missed their flight, job interviews, contract signing, important appointments and memorable events all because of ‘African time’. This brings in most cases regrets, disappointments, frustration.
In the global world ‘African time’ is a menace, very irrelevant, and a threat to personal integrity. It’s for unserious people, those looking for excuses to cover up for their laziness. I found out that many times a leadership is forced to follow this ugly trend they delay and waste the time of time-conscious individuals in a bid to accommodate the ‘African- time-adhering superiors’. Statistics show that African-time mentality has been responsible for 95% lateness among individuals who hitherto were punctual in activities.
In this world system in which activities / businesses are strictly regulated by time, we must of necessity change our orientation towards time management. SO LET US RISE UP AGAINST THIS MENACE OF AFRICAN TIME, because the global village does not operate on African time neither does the African continent.

OBESITY

OBESITY
by Nnamdi Bonny.
THE assessment of a person is basically aided by their physical appearance. This is not limited to one’s fashion idea, as regards to choice of clothes and accessories, but more essentially one’s physique. The physical appearance of an individual is one discrete disclosure about their eating habits, health conditions and some behavioural tendencies.
Ladies and men alike have a picture of what is socially acceptable as a good physique. However, some fall into categories which are classified as extreme weight conditions which may have very debilitating medical and social implications.
One of such extreme conditions is called OBESITY. Contrary to what many believe, a large size does not necessarily translate to an obese condition. A person is said to be obese basically when their B. M. I. (Body mass index) is greater than or equal to 29 kg/m2. The BMI can be calculated by dividing the weight of person in kilogram by the square of their height in metres.
This however does not completely indicate obesity because in some cases the weight of one’s bones may account for a larger proportion of one’s body mass. Scientifically an obese condition can be exactly determined by ascertaining the total body fat & total carbohydrate and carrying out comparative analysis based on the results gotten.
Obesity is a medical condition which can be treated either by chemotherapy (use of drugs), dietary practices, and physical exercise or in some cases surgical operations.
My candid advice is that we prevent this onset by observing hygienic eating patterns & regular physical exercise. Remember prevention is always better than cure.
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‘LOL’ IS NOW A LEGITIMATE WORDS

The internet slang termed ‘lol’ (laughing out loud) has been added to the new oxford English dictionary. The New Oxford English Dictionary defined ‘lol’ as an interjection used chiefly in electronic communication to draw attention to the joke of humorous statement or to express amusement.
If you have been using ‘lol’ to chat, text or twit, keep using it because it’s now a legitimate word in the English lexicon.
- Emeka Anyaogu

FROM THE LEADER'S DESK

Is Christ’s Resurrection a Deception?
The death and the resurrection of Christ is one of distinguishing phenomenon of our Christian faith. If Christ had not risen from the dead, Christianity would have been a mere religion, the message of the cross empty and the name of Jesus powerless as the name of any other founder or other well known world religious leaders in history.

The host of hell could not stop him from rising even though they tried. The deployment of soldiers, the sealing of the tomb and the 24 hours security monitoring team that kept watch could do little or nothing to prevent him from rising. At the appointed time what the chief priest feared most happened. The angel came and frightened the soldiers with fear, rolled the stone away and sat on it as the MASTER arose triumphantly from the dead. He did not just rise and go to heaven but he showed himself to many and was seen by many witnesses.

The crucified but resurrected Christ declared thereafter, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me (Matt.28:18)”. Also in Rev.1:17 & 18 he said; ‘I am the first and the last and the living one. I was dead and see, I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of Death and Hades’. Have you ever seen a dead man making declarations? Only the living can do that. Soldiers acknowledged he had risen; the chief priest and the elders gave bribe to the soldiers to hide the truth and spread false stories about him. Since then it’s been about two thousand years now, yet the name JESUS is still working wonders: saving sinners, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out devils and doing all manner of miracles. The deception of those who exchange truth for lies could not stop the truth from being established. The resurrection of Christ is not a fabrication of fallacy but a verifiable truth. Happy Easter celebration! Jesus Christ is Lord!!

PRAISE NEWS REPORT

PRAISE NEWS REPORT
It was a moment of revelation with the youth on Sunday 27th March, 2011 during the first interactive programme organized by the Praise Family. The theme of the programme was DEALING WITH FAILURE’.
The experiences shared during the programme were priceless. Some were personal experiences while others were based on business, academics, career development as well as childhood challenges.

Among those present to discuss the issue were Mr. Peter Oyirinnaya (a banker), Bro. Daniel Mbatu (a business man), Bro. John Ochu (a sound educationist and mathematician), Bro. Chibuzor Nduagibe ( a seasoned banker) and Sis. Beryl Ehondor (a real estate consultant). Also worthy of mention are Nnamdi Bonny and Chinyere Kalu who anchored the programme.

In the highlight, failure was defined as the inability to meet a set target or desired objective. However, it was noted that failing at initial attempts is not what makes one a failure but one’s inability to persist and continue to try.

It was also noted that most people end up as failure because of the fear of failure. Some people fail in life because they do not have a specific plan, while others may have plans but lack the discipline to follow it through. Then majority give up easily when they fail at first attempt.

As part of the way forward, it was noted that failure is inevitable in our life’s journey. It usually comes in the form of temporary setbacks, but the collection it usually builds up our experience. Therefore the next time you fail at something, don’t remain there, pick up something and rise up a better person. Do this by going back to your plan, analyze it carefully and ask yourself, why did I fail and what did I get wrong? Once you can get this correctly, you will succeed the next time you give it a try. But note, persistence is key!

The program came to a climax with questions and contributions from the audience. Note at this point that failing once, twice or several times does not make you a failure. Failure actually sets in at point where you give up and refuse to try.
Most times, we fail at the edge of our success because; we tend to give up when we need just a little push to breakthrough. Then somebody else steps in and with next to doing nothing, the doors are opened suddenly and the next thing you hear is, “he is very lucky... May you not labour for someone else to claim the reward!

Now, are you at the point of given up on something? Don’t be discouraged yet, just give it a little more push and you will break into your promise land. For those of you that missed this edition, don’t worry, you can be part of the next one. Watch out for it, the date will be communicated in due course. Stay bless.
Secretary, Praise family

HARBAL REMEDIES: MERITS AND DEMERITS

Traditional medicine can be defined as the total combination of knowledge and practice in diagnosing, preventing and treatment of physical, mental or social ailments which may rely exclusively on past experience and observations handed down from generation to generation.

A medical plant on the other hand is one or more of its organs that contains substance (active plants that can be used for therapeutic purpose). These active constituents include alkaloid, falvonoid, glycerin, to mention but a few.

All over Nigeria, irrespective of ethnic inclination, herbal remedies are held in high regards so much so as to almost conceal the availability of orthodox drugs. It is important however to have an objective view of the efficacy of the herbal remedies and its merits and demerits.

Merit
• It’s accessible and available in rural area where the orthodox medicine appears to be scarce.

• They serve as a very good source of new drugs (research wise)
• They don’t involve sophisticated preparation methods
• They are not known to involve drug resistance unlike the orthodox drugs
• They can handle a broad range of health issues
• They are cheap and affordable

Demerits
• They lack precise dosage
• They lack hygiene preparation
• They are easily associate with witchcraft and shrouded in mysteries
• They lack adequate diagnosis
• There is inadequate pharmacy information on the toxic side effect which may damage organs
• Very scanty scientific proof is available to authenticate the efficacy of the herbal remedies.

Nnamd i Bonny

TEMPERAMENT AND VOCATION

Temperament involves people’s nature and the way they react to situations. It explains the difference in people’s taste, creative capability, strength and weakness. Temperament is the reason people conflict or attract one another because it influences our behavior.
Do you know that your temperament can affect your performance in your choice of career? A good analysis of one’s temperament will help one to understand what vocation one will be good at. Let’s consider the four basic temperaments and their suitable careers.
SANGUINE
Characteristics: emotional, compassionate, friendly, optimistic, impractical, easily discourage, undisciplined, weak willed, talkative, restless, extrovert.
Carrier for sanguine: salesmanship and public oriented jobs such as marketing
CHOLERIC:
Characteristics: optimistic, goal oriented, self confidence, self sufficient, activist, leading ability, strong willed, decisive and practical.
Career for choleric: any vocation that requires leadership, motivational, entrepreneurship etc.
MELANCHOLY:
Characteristics: deep feeling, sensitive, self centered, easily offended, self sacrificing, faithful, suspicious, perfectionist, resentful, creative, moody, critical, introvert.
Career for melancholic: creativity work, any analytical work that requires perfection.
PHILEGMATIC:
Characteristics: very quiet, pessimistic, introvert, not aggressive, easy going, dependable, selfish, stingy.
Career for phlegmatic. Being in a cool detailed industry, also Microscopic work will be good.

Each temperament has its strength and weaknesses but if one fully understands his kind of temperament, it will help such a person to minimize the weaknesses and maximize the strengths.
Angela Musa

FROM THE LEADER'S DESK

REPACKAGED FOR GREATNESS
Greatness is not easy to come by, so also are great people. Great people are uncommon people they are men who have said no to status quo, people who refuse to be intimidated by their problem or tread on the path taken by all, but have chosen the road less travelled by many, no wonder they are exceptional in their time and are highly sort after by their own contemporaries.
Great people are those who pass through the crucible (the training depot of God where common people are refined into greatness) and come out as pure gold.
The journey to greatness is not easy but tedious; it’s not for chicken hearted ones but for the persevering, persisting, and patient ones- these accounts for a few numbers of people who makes it to the top.
The bad news is that you have falling more than expected, no one has given you a chance to make it neither has anyone been there to encourage or help you; but the good news is there’s one who promise never to leave you nor forsake you, He believes so much in you, he can’t let you go. He will see you through your struggle until he has accomplish all he has in mind concerning you. Just like Moses in the wilderness, Joseph in the prison, David in the cave and Job in ashes heap.
All that God is doing is for a purpose. God wants to repackage you for greatness. There’s greatness in you. Don’t give up! It’s too late to go back from where you started from. Remember there’s greatness in you.

what's on your mind?

By Anyaogu emeka
Whenever you sign in to your facebook page you will see this question: ‘what’s on your mind?’ It’s the answer you gave to that question that determines your status on facebook.
The same thing is applicable to life. It’s what’s on your mind that determines your status in life. No wonder the bible says in prov. 23:7 that: ‘as a man thinks in his heart, so he is’. Nothing happens in your life until you first see it in your mind. The mind can be liken to the computer CPU (central processing unit) it’s what happens there that determines what you will project as a person. Your present status in life is a product of your previous imaginations. You cannot be better than the way you think.
Our thoughts are like the application software we run in our computer CPU which programs the system to work in a certain way. Do you know that some people have negatively programmed their mind as a result of negative thinking? This explains the reason most people are still in their present status.
If you desire to upgrade your status in life and have a better tomorrow, first you need to adjust your mindset. If you have always been pessimistic, then you need to change and learn to always be optimistic. The best way to change your mindset is through God’s word. As you read and meditate on it, there is a renewing process which reprograms and repositions your mind for a better status.
Another way to do this is by attending programs where faith building messages are preached like the one obtainable in our youth Thursdays meetings. It’s unfortunate that some of our youths are yet to avail themselves of this wonderful opportunity. If you are a youth in this church and you don’t attend youth meetings on Thursdays , you are denying yourself a lot of good.
Presently we have been running a series on ‘laws of money.’ These are the kinds of teachings that will transform your mind and give you a better status in life. I hereby encourage you to attend these meetings, when you come just ask for PRAISE FAMILY and you will be welcomed. Thanks, we look forward to seeing you on Thursday.

I NEED MONEY

By Daniel Mbatu
Money is essential for living but the problem is people fail to understand that there are principles behind everything created in life. VALUE in wealth creation cannot be under-estimated. Money only flows towards the direction of VALUE. That is why a man's wealth is always a function of the level of value he is able to create. This principle is based on five key points, highlighted below:
Value: To have more money, we ought to know what money is. In the past, there is no such thing as money; we simply barter the things that we want. Money is used as a measurement of value. Therefore money is a value. So in order to earn more money, one has to create more value. The more value you create the more money you will earn. With this in mind, evaluate the business that you are doing or about to do. Are you creating great value to your customers?
Value could be in the form of answering a question, solving a problem or giving direction to the confused. In what so ever format it may be; it has the potential of bringing wealth especially when its intentions are genuine.
Wealth Creation = Value.
Audience: Creating value is extremely important, but your earning will be limited by your number of audiences (customers, prospects). Audience here talks about your reach, your market; targeted market. We took a step further from just creating value to the audience you want to reach. Audience can also be described as your network. David Oyedepo in one of his books said “your network determines your net worth”. The audience you are able to reach with the value you have will also determine the wealth you are able to create. For example, reaching 100 persons that are willing to pay N500 for a value you offer is different from 500 willing to pay N250. Here. We will say that Wealth Creation = value x Audience. Is your business capable of reaching the masses? Some of the channels you can use to get audience is the Internet, print media and any form of media
Wealth Creation = Creating Values X Audience
Leverage: Leveraging is the key to multiply your business. Leverage is like an advantage gained by being in a position to use something. This means, we could create more wealth with the help of some external tools like people, finances and any other resources. There are many forms of Leveraging but we would restrain ourselves to the use of people. The bible says one will chase a thousand and two will chase ten thousand and not two thousand. Two good heads are better than one they say, right? Yes. We will definitely achieve more when we have people working with us or for us (the former is always better). What would have taken you ages to do will be done in few hours and mistakes could also be minimized because of the quality of inputs you might get from other parties.
Wealth Creation = Creating Values X Audience X Leverage
Uniqueness: Uniqueness is simply standing out. Being different from the crowd. It will be difficult for you to break and penetrate an existing market for example if you don't carve a niche for yourself. The most outstanding person always gets or attracts the most wealth. You need to ask yourself these questions: what makes me different form Mr. A? Why would a client come to me? What would make somebody travel a long distance to patronize me? And you must be conscious of this fact if you must create wealth.
When you have a unique business; you control two (2) important areas. They are the prices or rates of your products and the location of your business. When you have a unique business, people come to you and you control the prices!
Wealth Creation = Creating Values X Audience X Leverage X Uniqueness
Efficiency: Efficiency in general describes the extent to which time or effort is well used for the intended task or purpose. This place more emphasis on you. How well are you grounded in what you are doing; how serious are you; How much time do you put into it; and many more questions will determine how efficient you are? When you are more efficient, you can reach your goals faster.
In what scenarios, will you be most efficient? Basically, when you are doing a business that (1) you enjoy and (2) you are good at. Choose a business that you are passionate about; this is when works meet play and you need not work another single day.
Your strengths or your full potential when fully unleashed will bring your business further as your strengths in most cases are many times greater than your weakness.
Your level of efficiency will ultimately keep you in wealth and create more wealth for you at the long run.
Wealth Creation = Creating Values X Audience X Leverage X Uniqueness X Efficiency
In conclusion, 'There are no successful businesses; there are only successful people'. The only way to have a permanent successful business (wealth creation) is to be a successful person.
Stay focus and stay successful.

FROM THE LEADER'S DESK

It's with great delight I welcome you all to February. This is because it has among other things availed us another opportunity of ministering to your spirit, especially in this month of Valentine when a lot of people celebrate the love they neither know nor understand, so they overtly abuse it.
This edition of PRAISEFOCUS is focusing on Love. Love means different things to different people. To be sure we are not in error the Bible in 1 Cor.13: 4-8 outlined about sixteen characteristics of genuine love. These qualities for us, should be a standard for every believer when it comes to matter of Love. So what meaneth this Love to you?.

TALK ABOUT LOVE

TALK ABOUT LOVE
“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. “There’s no fear in love; but perfect love (not lust) casts no fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:17-19.
This is the biblical aspect of love, and this is the perfect love thru’ which all beings of the earth should follow. Not the world’s love (lust), which can’t go with above quotation.
Now, let us talk about the love that concerns us, though in biblical injunctions but of two people (male & female). Do you believe that only your physiology, glands and your hormones can provide love? It is not true. Love is part of relationship – It can’t be reduced to physical characteristics and body chemistry.
Love doesn’t necessarily connect with having sex alone as some people term it as ‘making love’. It’s always part of relationship in the sense that it is all about giving, sharing, communicating, enduring, tolerating ones partner, contributing to the well being of one another.
Physical characteristics can go with love but on the perfect side, it can go all the way down the line on lust: Love is spiritual, according to the scriptures. If you do not love, you don’t know God for ‘God is love.’ That’s why it’s said, real men love God but fakes lust after girls .
Now, ignorance to the knowledge of love is usually a greater spur to fear than the knowledge of love itself. For wisdom does not grow in isolation. The philosophy of love has dated back before the beginning of civilization, right from the days of Adam & Eve. It was love that bound them to God in the Eden Garden until they lusted after the fruit of the knowledge of good and bad. You see, lust is deadly but love promotes life. Take note! When somebody says 'I love you' watch him very closely and monitor his character, actions and advancements when and when not in your presence. Don't succumb to a person's sweet talks when he makes advances to you (he may be lion on sheep's clothing).He will use you and dump you when satiated. And this is lust in its widest sense, there's no attachment of love in it. Though he will spend money on you but that's to get you to his bed, when he has fully gotten what he wants from you (that's your body),he just give you the boot, then and only then will your eyes open. So don't fall prey to their money, no matter how alluring it can be. It is only physical.
Now talk of relationships. When it’s built on genuine love is beyond human redemption and that is the relationship that is loving and trusting, based on a realistic assessment of each others virtues and faults. This is love not lust. And this is the love that makes you feel as if you're high in the clouds with masses of energy and no need to sleep.
Love is a strong human magnetic force that can drive one crazy. It is a strong feeling which body or heart can express. But one can assess lust in terms of promiscuity and wantom immorality, it is not principled and conscientious.
Lust deals on immoral affairs and promiscuous relationships which are precarious especially in terms of AIDS/ HIV, and one can always find fault with the partner but love is a pure blissful affair and a robust one in which the partners do not feel precarious of each other’s company for the love of God creates no error and knows no evil.
By David Ikey Agu

THE TRUE MEANING OF LOVE

THE TRUE MEANING OF LOVE
Love is choosing to do kind, unselfish deed for others. Love is not just emotion, it is a decision. It is not just feelings, it’s an action, some people mistake feeling of lust for love. Love is giving and forgiving, helping and thanking. Love is not about being convenient but being committed and consistence to care, willingness to share and sacrifice, love must be honest and true and should be shown by deeds not by words of mouth only.
Love comes in different forms, it's a concept that has distinct types. There are three major types of love: Eros, Phileos and Agape Love:
Eros Love:
This is a romantic type of love and should only be practised by husband and wife. It is the type of love with passion and longing between an opposite sex to crave and desire each other.
It's the love that moves a man and a woman to become one entity.
Phileos Love:
This can be called brotherly love, it's the love between relatives and friends. It moves us to share what we have among one another.
Agape Love
This is a pure love of God - the love between God and human beings. This love is pure and magical, it moves beyond physical, emotional to spiritual.
Agape love & Philoes love can be practised by all Christians, but eros is meant for husband and wife. Unfortunately this is the kind of love many unmarried people mistake for love which in turn lead to fornication. The bible makes us to understand how terrible is the sin of sexual immorality. It's the sin that defies the body. 1 Cor. 6:18, I Theses 4:3-8, II Tim. 2:22. For us Christians the standard of God is to wait for marriage before sex (that is between husband and wife only), as this will help you build your marriage on trust. Then you will enjoy and respect each other.
By Angela Onwabhagbe Musa

LOVE OR LUST?

“Love is all that matters” were the words that stood right above the marker board in my third year biochemistry class. I never thought for minutest of seconds whose idea it was or their personality, it struck me as true. The subject Love is not monopolistic or status-centered because whether dreg or cream of society, everyone has a word or two.
Love seems to be a household word and definitely a stranger, but on the contrary “Lust is well-expressed but unmentionable. It sound queer to say “I lust after you”, “I Love you” seems better perhaps! But when we popularize the word “Love” in many cases the deed is lust. Like every other word, love has an origin. I believe Love (at the risk of saying True Love) is divine and this is the point of departure between both four-letter words. Lust is everything that Love is not. Its victim stages an unquenchable affection for their naïve counterpart, but this rises and falls on sexual feelings. The bible reels off the matchless qualities of love in 1 Cor. 13: 4 - 8 and the slightest aberration of that is the beginning of lust. It doesn't matter who the guy or lady is; what do you feel? Love or Lust?
By Nnamdi Nonny-Okoli

From the leader's desk

NO MORE STATUES QUO
The last days of each passing year is always a solemn moment of sober reflection for me. As I try to catch the events of the out going year in retrospect. It is a time of appraisal, when I take stock of all the activities of the last 365 days - the ups and downs, the failures and successes, defeats and victories and so on. It is also a time to chart a new course that will see me through the next 365 days of life just like many others do.

The reason we need to chart a course for ourselves is because no matter how wonderful and intrinsically exciting the previous year was, the truth is that you cannot have them again. Another is that we can’t continue to do things the same way and expect a different result. Therefore it will do those who live a care free life with a deep rooted philosophy of “life goes on,” a whole lot of good to equally have a rethink and get their arsenal ready to combat against status-quo, so as to fight it to a stand still.

Change is one thing they say is inevitable, yet we fight it to finish any time it reared up its head. Year 2011 is another year to say no to anything that will not allow the hand of God to move in our midst.

Am looking forward to experiencing God like never before in every facet of my life - spiritually, physically, mentally, socially. I say it again to you, No More Statues Quo!

YOUR LIFE AS A BOOK

YOUR LIFE AS A BOOK

You life is a book in the making; and like every book, the chapter called 2010 has been written and closed. A new one 2011 is opened waiting for us to inscribe on its pages the words that’ll impact positively on all the generations of human race.

Your live is a book in progress and we all are authors of this book. There are some few unique things about these books each of us are writing: (a) the content are not hand written with pen but by our deeds and action (b) every second of our lives is the syllable of this book, every minute is a word, every hour is a paragraph, every day is a page and each year is a new chapter.

2011 has opened a new chapter in this life book. As the author what do you intend to write on its pages? You no longer have your yesterdays (past), but you have today and the future to contend with. Your attitude or approach to life will determine what the content of this new chapter will look like at the end the year 2011. Make sure that your goals, plans and focus are geared toward making a master piece that can make you a best seller.

Allow the experiences of yester-years to guide your steps. It won’t be a mistake but foolishness if you fall victim of same kind of trouble that brought you down to the dust the last time. Above all trust the spirit of God to lead the way. Don’t rush into things only to regret at last. “For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the Lord of Israel will be your rear guard.

So if you desire to publish a good book and become a best seller make Jesus your editor. Take all those plans, goals, resolutions and heart desire in your manuscript to him for editing. Don’t publish any page without him editing it. In other words, don’t go out any day without telling him to guide your steps, He is waiting for you.

EMEKA ANYAOGU

GOALS ORIENTED LIFE

GOALS ORIENTED LIFE
When a new year begins, it is a normal habit that many people will make resolutions. But most times these resolutions don’t work because of lack of goal setting.

A resolution can never stand where there are no goals. In order word, you can never stick to your New Year resolution if you have no aim Pro 29:15

Goal setting is very important in order to achieve much in life. These goals can be broken down into daily or weekly target. Then you have to persevere, be determined and get committed to your daily targets in order to achieve your goals.

It is essential to note that you have to paint a metal picture for your world. This will change the way you act, the way you treat people and how they respond back to you. And most importantly, your performance and results will change positively.

When you think and visualize your major goals often and how to achieve them, your reticular content will become very alert, this makes you to start articulating the law of attraction which helps you to be intensely aware and alert to opportunities, ideals, information, resources and people that will help you achieve your goals more rapidly.

In conclusion, conceive ideas, aim high and dream big, set big goals, believe that it’s possible and then make it happen. Never forget to commit your work to God Proverbs 16:3, Psalms 37:23

Angela O. Musa

TRUE LOVE WAITS AT ANY AGE

TRUE LOVE WAITS AT ANY AGE
By Beverly J. Anderson
Sex belongs within marriage. Adults tell teens and youths “Just say no, true love waits!!” The wise person adds, “…….at any age”

Every married adult may one day be single again through divorce or death of a spouse. Single adults need to heed the same massages because the risks and the consequences are grave ….at any age.

Singles of all ages can agree on methods to diffuse situations which may lead to sexual intimacy. Here are some ways to help:

• Plan carefully where you will meet and have a clear goal or objective for such meeting
• Refrain from watching suggestive movies or listening to music with sexually based lyrics.
• Ask friends to hold you responsible for your commitment to chastity.
• Employ diffusers for heated emotions - walk at a moderate pace, pay attention to animal, work on a project, eat a snack or meal, study and meditate on the word of God.

Make it your goal to learn about God and people around you, to abstain from sex before marriage, and then to enjoy sex in marriage as God intended with his blessing. Remember, marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral (Heb. 13: 4 NIV)

Culled from: Pentecostal Evangel.

New Year Resolution; facts & Fuss

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS: FACTS & FUSS

In space, the earth is understood to revolve around the sun on its axis, of which a complete cycle of revolution results in a full year. Heralding the inception of a new year, several people usually come up with a-to-do-list popularly called NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something. This quality is intended to tailor one’s life according to a set of standards. However its obvious values and potency have been emasculated by one or two persons reneging on their decisions.

Standards are important for a well structured and disciplined life. As Christians, our standard is Jesus Christ (Heb 12:2). So whether or not there’s much fuss about resolutions, the fact remains that with discipline every resolution is achievable.

Nnamdi Bonny-Okoli.