Tag: faithfullness

P U R G E

P U R G E

by UJU HUMPHREY EKE ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello Friends! Happy New Month…trust you are staying prayed up (if you follow me on IG, you should have picked up that word), staying safe and just being good in general. One thing I want you to be rest assured is that “THIS TOO SHALL PASS” and I also want to encourage us not to let the data popping up on the news consume us.

For a lot of us this abrupt change is overwhelming and for others it has put us, our families, our finances in a just trying to survive mode but I believe and I know for sure that God will take care of us…I have been living my life based on that promise and I have seen God keep showing up and taking care of me. Asides blogging and sharing the word of God online, I run a product based business (clothing brand) and for a business that was closed for the major part of 2019 because I was on a journey with God to realign and align my life in furtherance of fulfilling his PURPOSE & living life just the way I have been predestined to.

I can tell that this season is a difficult one, I had just onboarded new staffs in February and by mid-march, we are on a lockdown and while this lockdown is on, bills are pilling up, things have to be taken care of but the truth is “I AM AT PEACE” in every area (ONE WITH GOD IS MAJORITY), I know whose I am. To be honest, some days I want to take thoughts of my tomorrow but I am daily reminded of his instruction in Philippians 4:6-7 which says be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication make your request known to God; I love the way the Passion Translation renders it “Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding will make answers known to you through Jesus Christ

So, believe me when I say “He would take care of you” “His design is not an everlasting suffer or pain, remember the promise in Jeremiah 29:10-11 This is God’s word on the subject: as soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home, I know what I am doing. I have it all planned out-plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

 All you must do is maintain the right POSTURE of someone whose total reliance is on God, someone who knows and understands who has promised and who is expectant of the fulfillment of his promises over their lives and WATCH HIM show up.

Diving into our main subject for today titled PURGE, this word has been a reoccurring word for me since last week, I shared two different posts on Instagram talking about it, firstly it stemmed from a prayer “Lord Search my heart & know my way, if there is any wicked way, cleanse, sanctify, rid & purge it all away”. Then a few days back on Thursday to be precise, my computer went through a purging process because I was trying to download some drive files, I got a pop-up that I needed to free some space and when I clicked on the option that would take me to the contents of what I have on my drive, I picked out some files to be deleted & when the action started, the system interpreted it as a PURGING PROCESS so purging popped on the screen. This led me to furthermore meditate and study the word, the interesting thing about that process was that it helped me discover documents, files  on my computer that no longer served me but out of ignorance I had let them sit on that space.

Sometimes is not always about the craving for an external  new thing that matters, is about clearing up our inside to accommodate that new thing when it comes, sometimes it doesn’t also have to be a new thing, it could be clearing beliefs, old files in our minds that no longer serve us to make room for the useful ones being suppressed by these weeds to manifest.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PURGE OUT OF YOUR LIFE?

For my first category of search me Lord and know my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me, we have:

Resentment, Unforgiveness, Pride, Envy/Unhealthy Competition, deceit, anger, malice

1peter 2:1-2 Therefore putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow in respect to salvation

Then the second category inspired by the purging process of my computer we have:

Purging from unwanted files that no longer serve us and causing us not to be in the place of LIGHT /MANIFESTATION, lies of the enemy about us, limiting beliefs from past programming that have kept us from truly living and manifesting (I have a video teaching on limiting beliefs coming up soon on my social media pages) so watch out for a detailed teaching on that. The focus of this blog today is for the former category mentioned.

For the purging process to be effect, there must be actions to follow it and that is a AN INSTALLATION of the right files…you can’t afford to live your mind fallow. After you have installed these files, you go ahead to LAUNCH that is living out in line with those newly installed files and beliefs.

What are these files you may ask?

God’s words which contains God’s promises, God’s definition of you, God’s design for you to live a peaceful, joyful and an abundant life…with these you have a default response to any plot of the enemy over your life.

You know why this purging process is very important is that often we don’t take note of the effects of these things in our lives, they look unnoticed but has great harmful effects. They are stunting our spiritual growth and blocking us from truly getting blessed. They go unnoticed because as spirit filled, tongue speaking brethren’s, these things don’t just manifest until we are faced with the triggers. We do not manifest these traits because we have chosen to be bad people or want to be bad, but the enemy has laid it in our subconscious mind, he keeps reminding you why you don’t need to forgive that fellow who has wronged you so badly and he paints a picture to justify that you are just demanding a fair judgement so what you feel is okay.

We don’t want to be like this so for each time these thoughts come and we react we feel disappointed at ourselves, personally I found myself struggling with unforgiveness not because I want to get even but in my ideal world, I want people owning up for their mistakes and rendering apologies when and where due. That spirit of not letting go fully and releasing is the plan of the enemy to keep you locked up in unforgiveness.  In my case,  I tell myself that I have totally moved on from that situation but for each time I am around the scene or the individual, I am stunned as to how they feel okay with what they have done in the past without rendering any form of apology whatsoever and I realize that when I dwell much on that incident, I am triggered…it starts feeling like I never truly moved on or forgave the person.

You know what can be holding back your blessing is that thought that wailed up in your heart in the form of envy which you treated just as a mere thought; hear what proverbs 14:30 says  a tender tranquil heart will make you healthy, but jealousy can make you sick”

Also, Job 5: 2 says Surely resentment destroys the fool, and jealousy kills the temple.

You truly do not want to keep living this way….

Now while I do not want to create a distinction of different areas of sin, notice that I didn’t mention stealing, alcoholism, sexual sin etc. that is because as believer’s most times we have gone through life changing encounter that has rid all of this out of our lives and we are encouraged to flee from every appearance of evil and because these are action bound, by the grace of God we are able to control it but the ones on the list above are tiny creepy things that we often neglect because it’s lived and carried out in our minds, those are the ones that limit and hold us back without us even knowing the source of our limitation.

How can we rid our lives of these things?

First by accepting that these vices exist and are not in sync with the word of God over our lives, so we got to let them go “all of them” Hebrews 12:1.

Secondly, make a list of the weak areas you are struggling with e.g. resentment, envy and find out the triggers, you must be vulnerable & at the same truthful to yourself.

Why do you feel this way? Why do you feel envy against your friend that just got a new job…Is it that you feel she doesn’t deserve it or she took an opportunity that belongs to you or you feel you would rather be the person excelling? Just find your own reason.

In your notepad, write out the things you have achieved by being envious, jealous and resentful and on the left side, write out what these habits/sins have cost you.

Put down the feelings that come when we live out these habits e.g. fear, insecurity, worthless, miserable.

How would you rather feel? Joyful, peaceful, blessed.

Then looking at those your list, ask yourself who is my source? Who is he that has promised to fulfil all my desires?

If it is not your friend, your friend’s employer or anywhere tied to those people or things that trigger you to feel that way then Sis is time to cry out for a SPIRITUAL PURGE and be rest assured that the Holy Spirit is with you and he would bring you the cleansing you desire but you have got to be ready to let the Holy Spirit do the transformative work while you fully yield to him.

The process of purging is so good because it would detach from one level of limitation, fear, insecurity to another level: a level of excellence. He wants to see us set free from and purged and purged from the impurities in our lives and “let’s face it, how can you live a higher life or go higher in him and advance if we still allow these things in our lives?….truly we can’t.

I encourage us all to take this spiritual exercise serious, truly try practicing the exercise above and join me to say this prayer below.

Lord thank you for the gift of life and for your love and faithfulness upon my life even when I was less deserving, thank you Lord for the knowledge of you through your word…cleanse me Lord from every gunk that is holding me back from advancing spiritually and in my everyday life. God give me a Christ like heart that truly forgives, sometimes I am hurt, broken and taken for granted and in return I want to vent, have resentments and hold onto unforgiveness, but you Lord has the ability to transform my heart not to react that way. By your mercy Lord transform my heart, let my reactions not feed from my emotions but rather from your own standpoint. Thank you Lord because I operate from a place of a renewed mind, I operate from a place of love, forgiveness, peace, joy and a better understanding of who you are to me in Jesus Name, Amen.

Do you need someone to hold your hand, encourage you while you a take step to your complete restoration & fulfilling your purpose?

Want to prayerfully seek him for alignment & realignment of your purpose?

Then the Lord has just led you to the right place, let me hold your hand & you hold mine as we prayerfully go on this journey.

Let’s do this together friends “FOR HIS GLORY “and to the shame of the Enemy.

STAY PRAYED UP!!! STAY WINNING!!! STAY BLESSED!!! STAY ENCOURAGED!!! AND ABOVE ALL ARISE & SHINE!!!

HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED

HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED

by UJU HUMPHREY EKE ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Oftentimes, we confuse what we truly NEED by our WANTS, but God doesn’t get into that manner of confusion when it’s time to bless us. God knows exactly all we need at every point in our lives though  he allows us to scramble & go after the things we think we need & then shows up with what he knows is best for us…I believe the reason he let’s us go for the things we think we need is so that that when he finally blesses us with what we truly need, we would without a doubt see the GOD Factor in it.

So sometime in December, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and came across a makeup live video which also happens to be a giveaway at the same time. So, the idea for the giveaway is that every product used on the model would be given out to any of the viewers that first indicates that they want the product in their own shade. It wasn’t so much of a busy day and hey who doesn’t like a free makeup item (No girl ever said NO to a makeup item, even after all the buys, there would still be a shade or two to be added). So yes I tuned in to the page to watch the live video and for most of the product that was raised, I indicated that I wanted by typing the exact product mentioned in the comment section of the LIVE video (I did this even for items that I already have). By the end of the video, I was too sure I was going to win an item but not sure of which because I had showed interest in most of them but to be truthful, there was one item I genuinely need in my makeup bag.

By the time they announced the winners for each of the products, I won a concealer, when I heard that I laughed at first & my exact words were “God sure knows what we truly need”. On my recent trip to Abu Dhabi, I had shopped for lots of makeup items (literally everything) but didn’t buy a single concealer because for one I didn’t see the brand I was used & others were either too expensive or their reviews didn’t quite go well with me, I was planning to buy sometime before Christmas because a girl needs some popping brows & face (laughs). And here of all the products I indicated interest to win, God gave me what I truly needed (It may look or sound too little but I take count of every blessing and try to see the God Factor in it).

Switch Cosmetics Concealer#MYWIN

You may ask why did I have to indicate interest for almost every product that was raised, the answer is simple “I just wanted to WIN” it didn’t matter if I won what I didn’t have a need for, all other items may have fallen in the category of wants or just acquiring things because it is FREE.

Bringing this message back to it sole purpose, as we navigate our way through the New Year/ New Decade…it is normal for us to want to say YES to a lot of things, it is normal for us to want to try a lot of things & venture into different businesses but one thing I want you to know is that “God knows exactly what you Need” He knows exactly what you should do or be doing, he knows the people you need to keep close to in this season. While you are all about setting those BIG GOALS and stuffs, also inquire what is on the MIND of God for your life, seek him from the very start to direct you and lead you on the path to what you truly need so you don’t be like me and say YES TO ALMOST everything and chase/go after almost everything.

And if for any reason, you travel a path that seems like what you need and God steps to realign and restructure all of it, please do not struggle to remain on that path…yield to his instructions & watch him take all the GLORY in your life.

Never ever second guess God’s leading over your life…every day seven days a week, 24hours a day, God knows what you truly need because he cares for you (1Peter 5:7 Casting all your cares upon him; for he cares for you), your thoughts are in his mind every second of the day that is why he is called the Omniscience, the Omnipotent & the Omnipresent God…He knows & sees all things, he has the power to do & do, his presence is felt everywhere at the same time.

What you need is not always what you want but you can trust God to always give you what you need even if what God gives you might look different from what you had in mind, God always knows what’s best for you.

Always give thanks to God for giving you what you need even if you don’t realize that you need it.

PRAYER INTO 2020

Dear Lord, thank you for ushering me into this New Decade/New Year…It is a proof that you still have a need of me here on earth. Lord, though I might have failed you many times, but your endless love still shields me from damnation. Father chart my path in this new season of my life, help me to trust your leadings over my life even when it looks nothing close like I had envisioned. Help me Lord not to hold onto anything more than I hold onto you. Father for every point that I would miss my path, please Lord do not hesitate to put a pause on that wrong path and realign me to your will, help me Lord to consistently ABIDE in you and in your word even when the circumstance of compromise presents itself. You said those that trust in you will never be put to shame, father I am holding onto your world & I am fully trusting you. Dear Lord, take away anything (sin, habits, friendships, decisions) that would hinder me from fully manifesting and walking in my purpose in 2020 & beyond. Your blessings makes rich and adds no sorrow, any pursuit or blessing that would bring me damnation or cause me sorrow, please take it away ahead of time dear Lord. Give the courage to live fearlessly & walk in my purpose all the days of my in Jesus Name, AMEN.

Do you need someone to hold your hand, encourage you while you take a step to getting away from the noise?

Want to prayerfully seek him for alignment and realignment of your purpose?

Then the Lord has just led you to the right place, let me hold your hand and you hold mine as we prayerfully go on this journey.

Let’s do this together friends “FOR HIS GLORY” and to the shame of the Enemy.

STAY WINNING!!! STAY BLESSED!!! STAY ENCOURAGED!!! AND ABOVE ALL ARISE AND SHINE!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS!!!

AWAY FROM THE NOISE

AWAY FROM THE NOISE

by UJU HUMPHREY EKE ♥ 4 Comments

 For as long as I could remember my soul has been craving some measure of solitude, an alone moment with God…I so much yearned to get ‘’AWAY FROM THE NOISE’’ but with the dispensation we live in, life getting busier by the day and life constantly placing demands on us it was difficult to get away from the noise and activity that is part and parcel of the world we live in.

I believe God was also waiting for me and eager to bring calmness and clarity to my world that was already drowning in confusion, fear, faithlessness and everything in between.

Finally in April after I encountered what I would tag as a STORM (wrote about it a bit in my previous blog post) I decided it was time to unplug and shut out for a period, so my first step to that was staying locked up in my room for about a week for an alone moment with God. The first two days I didn’t step out of the room, from the third day to the 7th day I only went to the fridge to grab something to close my fast for each day but never stepped outside of my house.

Right at the pool of my tears, where I was asking God to put some direction to my life because I had lost track of how we started, the Lord said to me “Daughter you have been short changing yourself for the past years, I created and called you to eat at the table not to feed off crumbs. He went on “I called you to be a light in your world and here you are shining through other people’s light” Why have you chosen to dim your light this much? I was totally wrecked with this reminder because I knew that I had set up myself to struggle in areas that God wanted me to be a STAR.

 It wasn’t like God was condemning me, he was just disappointed as to how carried away I had become and likewise I was disappointed with myself too and I kept muttering “Lord I am sorry”.

The Lord really showed me a lot of things in those few days, he opened my eyes to things and yes like flashlights, he brought to my remembrance all that I have put aside (like me and God had a long time plan of things to be accomplished in his kingdom). After those few days of waiting and listening to the Lord, he laid it in my heart to go meet my Pastor for counselling, yes he knew I needed someone to hold me in my broken state so I scheduled to go for the next counselling where I poured my heart out to my pastor about my journey of faith (within 10mins, I gave him a run-down of my life history & how God has used me mightily from high school to college and how I got distracted afterwards) he counselled & prayed with me, also gave me some sound prayers on restoration to be prayed on my own.

The Revelation Part 1

Right after my counselling session that day, I was still in church when my phone rang, it was my MUM and next she goes, my Reverend would like to have a word with you, he saw a revelation about you (my last daughter) because the Reverend has never met me before & doesn’t know my name.

So it was more like a word for Mrs. Ifeoma Eke’s last daughter (probably that was how God put it to him). He happens to be one of the young ministers that Mummy has worked with in one of her Lay Preaching assignment (Lay preacher means a person who is not a member of the clergy but is appointed by the clergy to preach and lead church services) so they have a kind of Big mummy & son relationship in the Lord.

At first I was a bit skeptical & at the same scared, but then I knew my MUM too well and understood the kind of people she keeps close to her, I asked her a few questions about the man of God which she gave me some credible answers so I decided to give it a shot and reach him on the phone as requested.

I put the call through to the man of God that day when I got home and he instructed that I fast & pray for three days and then get back on the third day (you all know there is something symbolic about the third day & the number 3 in the bible). So on the third day I called back, we went into a brief worship followed by prayers.

After the prayers, he went on to tell him what the Lord has revealed to him concerning me, He told me clearly that in what was revealed, he saw a cross I was supposed to be carrying “Rusting and Withering” as shocked as I was, I let out a big laugh like for real, God also sent someone to confirm this thing.Before now I wasn’t quite comfortable when someone says I have a word for you from the Lord, but this was such a timely message from God, I had just gone for counselling on the same subject then this revelation.

I already knew this thing a long time but now a second confirmation from God…whew I knew it had become serious. For the next few weeks I was praying & asking for direction on the many things he has set on my path. Gradually, things started to unfold, and I began to see and walk in the light once more though not as easy it sounds here but yea I kept pushing daily while I let God to be my lead, my strength & my peace.

The Revelation Part 2

All this was running into months, at some point I went off work & some level of communication including social media because with the level of what I was seeking & the demand on my life, I knew I needed my spirit to be calm free from all the cares, worries & pursuits of this life so I decided to dedicate time to hearing from God and listening to my soul. In June, I went back to church on a counselling date but this time around I was seeking for God’s leading on something. It was one of the assistant pastors that had the prayer session with me (Not the main pastor I had met in April for counselling).

As usual we sang a few worship songs holding hands with our eyes shut, just when he was about to start praying, next he says the Lord said I should ask “What are you doing for his Kingdom”? Am like again God, at that point I felt torn apart & couldn’t control the tears. Like it has become so bad that God keeps sending people even after he confirmed to me personally. I knew it was time to brace up and take up all that the enemy has stolen from me & manifest fully. I knew it was time to work in my purpose, no holding back, no doubts, no fear…JUST TO OBEY AND FOLLOW HIS LEADING.

The Solitude & The Confirmation

With all this revelation, I knew I needed to find an inner silence that switches off the inner stream of thoughts, images & feelings because without this, transformation will not be possible.

In September, I decided to go for a week retreat to a camping ground out of town (that was and remains the best disconnect ever). I needed to hear his still small voice yet again & I knew I needed to be intentional in creating the best atmosphere for that encounter where I totally shut off from the buzz & alone to listen in silence. When we go silent just to be with God, it’s like a well filling us with water, you can only hear your soul when you pay attention to it. Silence is food for the soul, it can fill us with ideas on our purpose, it is restorative, it refreshes us with wisdom.

At this retreat, there were general programs for all campers & also times where you can enjoy your own solitary worship. During this period, I wasn’t bent on asking God for anything else but for a FRESH FIRE & FRESH ANNOINTING because I know with it, every other thing will fall in place.

The first three days at the camping ground was intense & impactful with different prayer sessions at different times of the day, I could feel God doing a lot of transformation in my life yet I was still yearning for a more deeper encounter.

Evening of the third day, my phone packed up (I have only used the phone for torchlight & reading my devotional since I got into the camp on Monday) …tried everything I could, left it charging over night still no power. After the morning session of the Thursday’s program, I decided to go have some personal time with God in one of the auditoriums as against going back to the dormitory. On my way to the auditorium, I stopped by a phone repair shop (actually two different shops) to see if they can help power my phone, both parties independently told me that I needed to format the phone as it was popping up some software code language and that meant loosing all my files, well I didn’t buy that idea, though I was a bit worried because I wasn’t prepared to spend so much on fixing a phone or even purchasing a new one but I tried not to stress so much about it till I get into town the next day being Friday. So, I proceeded to have my special time alone with God, there at the altar as I was crying & asking God to have mercy on me & let me encounter him one more time, I suddenly felt this PEACE all around me, I can’t exactly remember how long I was there for but as I was about to round up my prayers, I got a prompt in my spirit to drop the phone at the altar & lay hands on it, I obeyed & also went on to anoint the phone with some olive oil & put it back into my bag.

After my prayers, I still had a few more minutes before our evening session, so I made a stroll back to one of the phone shops but this time around first to access my mail with their laptop to get some information I needed  & to insert my sim in their phone to get out a contact I need for Friday when I get out of the camp. So I gave the technician my phone to pull out my sim, while he put it into his own phone & handed over his phone to me, I stepped aside to put a call through to my brother, the next thing I heard is MA your phone just came on. I walked back to see for myself & ask what he did differently, he said he just tried to power it with the same charger we had used about an hour or two ago & it came on, I was like YES, THIS IS YOU LORD.

As little as the phone miracle may sound, that was the only confirmation I needed from God, that was the fresh fire I needed. It was a proof that he is ready to do a new thing in my life & would hear from heaven & answer my prayers even to the littlest of them all just as it used to be in the past when I was up & burning for him. The little phone answered prayer was a reassurance of my RESTORATION & yes I left the camp fulfilled.

Are you that person that was once burning for God & all of a sudden things changed (while in college, amidst being a Cell Leader & Pastoral Care Fellowship Leader, I was one time the coordinator/head of committee for one of our major programs then ‘DAY OF BLISS” I remember the daily special prayers & cry to God…like God do not let me fail with this assignment, I remember clearly the time & sweat put into planning that program, I remember holding ladders for guys to mount posters, I remember the sleepless nights of meetings with other committee members, I remember moving around school to share flyers & telling all that cared to listen about the encounter…all this I did not for public display (because I actually don’t do well with crowd, I would tag myself then as being shy) but because my heart was for God, I was determined to make God proud, it was joy to see his name glorified, it was joy to see souls won to his kingdom, it was what I grew into…I watched my mum serve God & also live a fulfilled life so basically that just flowed and YES it was an impactful service that night & I remember my pastor calling myself & other committee members to pray for us. Trust me after that event, I felt unstoppable for God, gradually I came out fully from shelf & shyness ready to burn for God but hey stuffs happened but grateful that I am able to share my story with you today.

I don’t know what your journey of faith must have been like, has life hit you on all sides that you have forgotten the faithfulness of God, did you just grow complacent in you walk?

Remember his promise in Isaiah 43 vs 2, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you, when you walk through fire, you will not be burned, the flames will not set you ablaze.

Join me to say this short prayer of faith; Dear Lord Jesus thank you for my life, thank you for blessing & preserving me even when I was less deserving. I invite you today to fill this void & emptiness in my life because the pursuits of this world cant fill me up like you would do, bring calmness to my spirit with your tender care so I can hear you when you speak, shine your light in every dark area of my life, gracefully restore me to the promise, give me PEACE dear Lord, not the type that the world gives…everlasting PEACE only found in you. Thank you for delivering from the devises of the enemy which is to steal, kill & destroy, thank you for placing me back into KINGSHIP right where I belong. Anoint me with fresh fire so I can burn daily & fiercely for you all the days of my life, Amen.

Do you need someone to hold your hand, encourage you while you take a step to getting away from the noise?

Want to prayerfully seek him for alignment & realignment of your purpose?

Then the Lord has just led you to the right place, let me hold your hand & you hold mine as we go on this journey.

I would be glad to prayerfully walk with you on this journey and at the end all glory will be returned to the Father.

STAY WINNING!!! STAY BLESSED!!! AND ABOVE ALL ARISE SHINE!!!