Evans Akpo

The whole design of affliction and persecution, according to the Bible, is to get us off the word. The Bible says in James 4:7 – “Actively resist the devil.” How can we do such? Except we have a deep rooted position in his word. His promises are yea and Amen.  And if we make God’s word an absolute solution in our lives we get planted in his promises which is the “word.”

Anytime your life gets off the course, please check the root.

Inspirational Nugget = “If you never encounter the devil, it’s because  you’re headed in the same direction.”

When a seed is planted, most of the first growth goes into the root system. The depth of the root helps hold the tree firmly.  The same applies to the word of God in the heart of people. It is the root system that determines the fruit it brings. When we have the word of God firmly rooted in our hearts, the word can stand against all odds and anxiety.

Mark 4:17 “And have “no root” in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.”

Our depth of the word determines our walk with him. A proper root system, like the physical plant helps people last long in their walk with God.  If we put a seed in a shallow ground, it grows fast, but cannot sustain the growth because of the soil and the root system. More troubling is because it’s  a shallow ground. So is the word when it is not planted into our heart, it cannot stand. Let the word have a much deeper root.

Anytime we get so offended remember this – “please check the root.”

Inspirational Nugget = No Root – No Fruit.

Robert Schuller once said; “you can often measure a person by the size of his dream.”

Quite true, as kids we had so many dreams. As adults, we put a reality check to those dreams and realized how difficult it has become. Dream most times expresses the desires of our hearts.  But if the clay could speak and answer any question about its dream. I would predict the answer would be to be conform to the image of the potter.

If being conformed to the image of the potter is the dream of the clay, there is hope, because God said, “as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. (Jeremiah 18:6)”

Inspirational Nugget = “Yet you, LORD, are our father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

A potter is someone who makes the pottery. Its origin hinges from Old French Potier, which could also mean “to move about aimlessly,”

What made the word significant in the Middle Eastern culture  is centered around how the clay is weaved and molded to the shape of the potter.  The clay takes the shape the potter originally have in mind.

Ultimately, we can’t control how people drive, especially when we are sitting in a long line of traffic. You honk your horn and get in patient because of the risk. These could be frustrating at the same time understandably disturbing. But in those moments what do we do?

We understand that a great issue are under our control, but a great many are not. Knowing the difference helps save us the stress and wasted effort.

As humans, the need to control things around us is typically the result of human nature. And that is where the potter wants to mould us into the shape he desires.  But you lord are our potter, you are our father and we the clay. We are the work of your hand (Isaiah 64:8).

When we relax and yield to God, the result could sound this way, ” behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel (Jeremiah 18:6).

Inspirational Nugget = Sometimes relinquishing control and being opened as the clay to the potter is the key to being formed by him.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was founded in 1980, when Candance Lightner lost her 13-year-old daughter to a drunk driver. The experience totally changed Lightner perspective about life. She was distraught and heartbroken because according to her, Cari, her 13-year-old was bigger than life to her, and was her hope. The most painful event shaped her views about life because after her daughter was killed, her body was left on the scene.

As heartbroken as Lightner was, she didn’t allow the experience define her. Instead, she formed the MADD group that attracted the United State Congress, Senator Frank Lautenberg.  Lightner vigorous involvement helped raised the drinking age to 21 years. Further studies  shows that drunk driving has been cut in half since the organization was formed. She made a difference with the bitter experience.

Sometimes, regardless of what the other person does, you can move on, shake off the stress, and resolve the situation in your own mind and make decisions to forgive.

God is not the cause of the bad or negative events in our lives. For he is a good God, and all God and perfect things cometh from him (James 1:17).  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, God cannot do us wrong (Luke 6:43).

However, because we live in a broken and fallen world, God can turn the negative situation around to create something outstanding and positive from it.  Isaiah recognized this when he wrote; “yet you, LORD, are our father. We are the clay, and You are our potter; And all of us are the works of Your hand (Isaiah 64:8).

The question was asked in Jeremiah, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel ” Jeremiah. 18:6. God is our potter and we the clay, lets yield to him to either turn situations around or turn us to the situation.

Inspirational Nugget = We are the clay and God is the potter, lets allow him mold us into the image he expects from us. 

By Evans Akpo

“The wicked flee when no man pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”- Proverbs 28:1.

Vision has the power of transforming a weak person to a place of significant position.  And  because vision has a magical touch  through which the timid  goes beyond ordinary to the extraordinary, it becomes a magical quality that is often admired by all.

Magic was what Robert Fritz, in the path of least resistance, defined as seeing the result without seeing the entire process leading to those results.

In life there are some results that requires boldness to acquire. It takes boldness and having a right standing with God to achieve great things of significant measure.

The Bible (Prov. 28:1) talks about the flight of the wicked and the boldness of a lion. Lions are symbols of strength and courage. They are common symbol for royalties and stateliness. The Ancient Egyptians respected lions as their war king, hence, we hear the term; “king of the Jungle.” When it comes to describing lion, we think of strength, power and fierceness and that same strength and characteristic is what is used to describe a child of God. And because it is a righteousness obtained by God for us. We can be bold about it.

A righteousness obtain by Christ for us through his death on the cross. And the righteousness we have obtain from our neighbors through the calm, cool, calculated and honest lives we have lived with them. And because we are righteous, we can be bold in the face of oppression and intimidation.

Let’s move with the truth of the word, knowing that we are bold as lions.

Inspirational Nuggets = A person with a lion’s personality enjoys the limelight. Right standing birth boldness because there is nothing to fear. 

By Evans Akpo

Satan’s strategy was to attack God’s word to Adam. He overcame the woman through words of discontentment.  The devil used subtle, deceptive, and guile method in attacking God’s word (Gen. 3:1).  He understands that without the word, we would be dehumanized and prevented from enjoying his enhanced life. 

The process of constructing images of enemy has been characterized as dehumanization or pseudo specification (Shimko, 2005).  It is a term used to view members of our own species as if they are not members of our species – that is, to falsely (pseudo) divide the human race into different species.

Argument exist that the process of dehumanization is an almost necessary component of war because “as a rule, human beings do not kill other human beings, before we enter into warfare or genocide, we must first dehumanize those that we mean to eliminate.” This is particularly  important for soldiers, or people that want to do the killing. The hostile imagination systematically destroys our natural tendency to identify others within our species.

Similarly, the purpose of propaganda is to paralyze thoughts, and that was exactly what the devil was doing with Eve in the Garden. She was already like God, and she doesn’t need “to be” like God.  Sometime, we allow ourselves to be dehumanize by the negative thoughts we permit.

Thoughts like, we are doom, we are up to no good, we can’t make it.  And because we let ourselves to be guided by those dehumanizing thoughts, we die gradually.

However, if we could speak God’s word, that assures us that we are more than a conquerer, and that we are far better than where we are.  James 1:113-15, clearly states it is our responsibility to guide our thoughts from the dehumanizing life so we can live God’s enhanced life.

Inspirational Nuggets = Jesus didn’t come to give us a repaired life. He came with a new life for us. 

By Evans Akpo

As an International relations major, there are certain terms that appeal  to me when I’m making some points. When I think about the term “appeasement gesture”. It reminds me of the deep cry of animals.  Appeasement Gesture was a concept popularized by Konrad Lorenz involving a display or signal made by lethal animals while fighting with members of their own species in order to indicate defeat and avoid death.

Sometimes, life throws us some blows that would make us yell, or display some signals to avoid death. It could be divorce, broken hopes, debts or joblessness.  The list goes on, but the truth remains that we yell and secretly cry and wish we could give up on life. At that point of our thoughts, becomes apparent in our words. Some get into depression and others commit suicide.

The truth is: our final authority take precedence at that point. Our way of thinking determines who we are at that point. And if God’s word is the final authority of our life, we could be change and be transformed. The idea is not so much about changing the situation as it is about recognizing our final authority. The perspective of who we are transform us amazingly to become what he wants to become.

Proverbs 23:7 speaks to our way of thinking. The way we think dictates the way we are. Roman 8:6, For to be carnally minded is death “appeasement gesture”, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Inspirational Nuggets =  When the word of God is the final authority in our personal and professional life, we are held to a high standard that reflect those values, at the same time we enjoy the benefits of the standard. 

In international relations, we usually use the term bandwagoning. Bandwagoning is explained as when powerful actors align with (rather than against) the most powerful. It is inconsistent with balance of power theory, which predicts that nations will align against (and hence “balance”) the most powerful nation. It is necessary to align with the most powerful because the strength of the most powerful covers the less. And the relationship benefits both states in the long run.

Proverbs 13:20 states, “he who walks with the wise shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

Our association plays a significant role as to the destination we take in life. My grand mother would say “Show me your friend and I can tell you who you are. ” Why? because the people we feel very comfortable with points to who we really are, even though we deny it.

It is not unsurprising that when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) cannot get a criminal, they track their friends. Because people love to settle with people to whom they have a shared value more than with those they have similar skin color.

The interesting part is that we don’t need to be a fool to be destroyed, we just need to hang out with fools. The Word was clear about it. We have heard stories of people dying untimely because they were at the wrong place with the wrong set of people. Association decide destiny.

May we spend time with people to whom we can increase their value and they can increase our value too.

Inspirational Nugget =You’re only as good as the people you have around you.