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Encouragement for now letter 1

Hey Family,

Greetings in the Mighty Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! This is the word of encouragement for now. Be blessed you all!

"Then he said to me, “This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him! And when Zerubbabel sets the final stone of the Temple in place, the people will shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!” Zechariah 4:6&7 NLT

NOTE:- The Lord informs the rebuilder of the temple that the task would not be accomplished through the force of an army nor through the muscular power or physical stamina of the workmen; rather, it would be accomplished by the empowering of the Spirit of God.

The Power of God: The supremacy of God's power is seen in the ways He accomplishes His purposes through mere vessels of clay made mighty because He has infused them His life. The passage above addresses a worn and weary Zerubbabel, who, having gallantly laid the temple's foundation, was about to succumb to discouragement.
But the word of God makes a declaration that, by the Spirit of God, Zerubbabel's hands will complete the work God has destined for him.

Discouragement can always be answered with God's ability to grace and empower the human soul. The might of our Maker is seen by what He does through the weak. His might can be seen through what He does through the insignificant, the powerless*.

Rest in this assurance! As long as your heart is turned toward Him in childlike trust. He will enable you to complete the work to which He has called you.

*Extra Bible examples:- A babe born in little Bethlehem; a timid Gideon; a melancholy Jeremiah; a hand of 12 ordinary men.

My Prayer for you:-
May the story of Zerubbabel be an inspiration to all of you in Jesus' name! May the God of Zerubbabel show forth His power in your lives, in Jesus' name! May your faith in this Mighty One never die. May you trust Him continuously, like a baby trusts his/her mother. It is well with you in Jesus' name, amen!

Have a blessed and victorious day!

Love n peace,

Yinka Opadiya Adapted from the New Spirit Filled Life Bible Copyright 2002 by Nelson, Inc

My November letter to the ladies

Hello Ladies,

Hope your week is going on well!

CORPORATE PRAYER AND FASTING:-

It is the end of the 18^th day already! We are still on till Sunday!! All glory goes to our God for his abundant grace toward us. It wouldn’t have been possible without that!

Hopefully, we are all involved in it one way or the other. Somebody told me she has been fasting from Facebook and TV so as to devote time to studying the Bible and praying! Nice!

Whatever thing we choose to stay away from, the most important thing is calling upon the name of our Maker for more of him. It is drawing closer to him, turning our hunger from food or whatever thing we have chosen and turning to God. It is drawing near to him through praying, reading his word and meditating on his promises.

Personally, my time in prayer, in the word and meditating has really been a great blessing and very impacting. Praise God! The fasting from food part of it, though made my body weak, my spirit-man took off in a greater and stronger tangent! I’m trying to explain myself here! Ha! Praise the Lord!

It has become clear to me that praying is actually engaging in a spiritual battle with God’s word as our main weapon!  The more you pray the more victories are won!

If we must move forward in the business of advancing God’s kingdom, if we must progress in the ‘high calling’ of God on our lives and our families’, If we must stand against the tricks of the devil, principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12), we need to take praying seriously! Much prayer, much power ladies!

Our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ has given us power over all demons. When he sent his disciples out on their mission, he said he was giving them authority over all the power of the enemy. (Luke 10:19).

Jesus’ authority is greater than all satanic power! Alleluia! And with our Lord backing us up we have nothing to fear! Prayer ladies! Way to go!

MENTORING LIST

I have tried to put up a mentoring list for the ladies! Yeah! At last!! (Please see the list).

That has been on for some time. Remember, it was part of our goal for this year!

This is our first list and we hope to improve on it as time goes on.

Our aim is to promote more interaction and spiritual maturity among the ladies/girls in the church.

We need to be our sisters’ keepers.  Eh?

We need to encourage, bless and help one another and the younger ones among us too! (Older ones role modeling younger ones, helping them flesh out what it looks like to be a lady/girl after God’s heart).

We are all in different seasons of life.

There are hormonal issues, child issues, marriage issues, singleness issues, etc.

Whatever the issues are, so many of those revolve around our womanhood and our season of life. Listen. 

Show an interest ladies. Let them know that you care. I’m telling you, so many of these young women really just want to know that somebody cares. 

We’re supposed to teach them. But not just by putting them into Bible studies—that’s important—but we’re also supposed to teach it to them by modeling it to them, bringing them alongside of us in the context of everyday life.

On these note ladies, I’m going to stop writing and go to bed.

Thank you for taking time to read through this mail.

Oh! Lest I forget!

Community Outreach

Remember! “This Saturday the 27th of November we will be having our Community Outreach at KOGARAH AGED CARE at 45 English Street Kogarah. Time: 11.00 am - 12 noon. 

There are 13 Women and 14 Men. Please bring along a gift to bless the oldies. Good gift ideas : Toiletries and Chocolates.

If anyone would like to leave from the church office at  Corner of  Princess Hwy and Regent Street please be there by no later than 10.45 am

Breakthrough Praise Service

Also, our Breakthrough Praise Service’ is this Sunday at Hurstville. Yeah! It’s a combined service with Liverpool.   Let’s all make it on time ladies!

Luv u all!

Yinka Opadiya

...the Lord told me in the dream that I must me born again if I want to leave forever with him

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?created&&note_id=427513167881#!/notes/yinka-opadiya/the-lord-told-me-in-the-dream-that-i-must-me-born-again-if-i-want-to-leave-forev/427513167881

Love u hubby! It's our 24th wedding anniversary today!

I only need to be quiet for a while and reflect the years that have gone into our marriage.

First, I am grateful to our Maker for the institution of marriage
I am grateful for the gift of a husband! (Right Sweetheart?)

I thank you for the good and the not good times
I am grateful most especially for the very good times!!

I am grateful for the friendship and companionship I found in marriage
I am grateful for our children-Emanuel and Angelique

I am grateful for the journey of family life-from Nigeria to Europe and then Australia!
I am grateful for our families on the 2 sides
I am grateful for the spiritual family as well.

I am grateful for our friends and acquaintances

I am grateful for the thick and the thin.

I am grateful for the gift of eternal life through our Saviour Jesus Christ
I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit and his never failing help.
I am grateful for the privilege of serving in the kingdom.

I am grateful for today, our past and our future together!
I thank my Maker for entrusting us with this precious gift called living together as' husband and wife'.

We covenant with you today again Lord
To use this marriage for your kingdom advancement
To bring you honour and glory

LOVE U Lord, love u hubby on this our special anniversary day.

More EN2010 Conf-Some of my takes!

The funniest testimony Jacky Chan

The most impacting sermon Ps Steve Murrell

The most touching William Ps. Nel’s testimony

The most powerful sermon Ps Grace Aiyedogbon

The most challenging Efren’s and Dr Jun Vencer

The most endearing is Darlene Zschech

The most evangelistic. Ps Rice Broocks and Ps Yesupadam Paidipamula.

The most prophetic (futuristic) –Ps J.Laffoon

For detail Check http://feeds.feedburner.com/EN2010 and www..en2010.com

EN2010 Manila Conference Inspirational Declarations!

*This is what happens when we go out and make disciples. This is what happens when we see beyond the clothing, the skin colours, the smell.. and our own comfort. J.BONIFACIO

*This is the message of hope. This is the message of love. This is the message of power that saves, that changes and transforms a sinner to be a saint my friend! Y.Paidamula

*We must be just as intentional in reaching every campus as we are in reaching every nation R.Broocks

*The Hero in you is waiting to be unleashed. Serve! serve well! Serve others above yourself and be happy to serve. Efren Peneflorida

*When you face this difficult thing don’t fight it alone. As long as we stay together in a pact as a family, it’s very difficult for the enemy to isolate or take us out. W.Nel

*We were never designed to receive glory; we were designed to give glory. Daleen Zschech

*Discipleship is not just a matter of cognitive learning but a matter of watching your leader, how they live, how they pray, how they make decisions and how they walk with God in the… Dr Jun Vencer

*Our starting line and our finish line is the honor of God. S.Murrell

*Every Nation family !There’s a lot on the table of the Lord!!!!! For such a great banquet of coming together G.Aiyedogbon

Our peeps from Camberra Fellowship

What a weekend in May! Some divine connections, for sure!

Hubby and I were guest speakers at this glorious family camp!

Amazing people with loads of love and warmth.
I simply fell in love with the youth and the ladies! Wishing I could stay back or bring every one with me.

I'll be back to share the details of it all.
Just want to post some of the pics from there.

Luv y'all Camberra Phillipino Fellowship! Mwa!

To U My King with love

What shall separate God from my love?
What shall separate God from my love?

What can come between my devotion to my King and me?
What can take my attention from my Redeemer?

Shall pressures of life-my job, my ministry, my studies, my passions, my desires,
Shall worries, trials, trouble and my needs cost me my complete devotion to you my Maker?

No, may none of these take Your place in my life, O Lord
No, may none of these take my attention and devotion to You my Savior.

And for you my husband, my kids, my families, my friends,

May your devotion be totally to our Maker
May your passion be to please and honor Him every day
May we stay on course forever focused on Him
May we be more sensitive to the promptings of His Spirit
May we be obedient to Him in everything

For

Nothing really satisfies like our God's love!

From Joshua's sermon

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (NKJV)

Hope is special

Some hope is sometimes ‘day dreaming’ or a ‘wish’ e.g.

Hoping you can sleep-in every school day.

Some people hope they can just stumble onto a million dollars on the ground.

Some students hope they can just score high grades without studying.

Hope is good and it’s great. Indeed, God wants us to have hope. The bible talks about ‘a living hope’. A hope that is alive, a hope that is holding on, a hope that is stubborn, a hope that is not giving up, a hope that is unbreakable, the list continues.

Hope is a starting point. A starting point and not everything! God wants us to go a step further.

How?

It is possible to have hope because we serve God, because we love God, because you just know something is going to happen. We’re going to get that job, we’re going to have that wife or we are going to pass that exam, we are going to make huge disciples, etc.

For instance you see your friend’s house and you love it and decide to build a similar one. You hope to build something like it. So off you went and bought a piece of land. But instead of getting some builder or architects you come to the plot of land and you just hope that the house will just appear on the plot of land. So you keep coming there and hoping and hoping that the house will appear.

No, way!

The only way that hope could be effective is if you bring substance to it.

You need to bring substance to that hope. You need to get an architect to draw a plan for you. That is substance! You need to go to a builder so they can bring materials to the plot of land. That is substance! When you add substance to the land the house begin to emerge. Your hope becomes a reality!

The hope in this scripture is connected to something, that is, the substance and this substance is faith! This is bible faith!

The scripture says faith is the substance of things hoped for! I hope for this, good! I need faith to bring it about. Otherwise, it becomes an illusion or something in the air.

This is bible faith- We read in Romans 10:17 Faith comes by hearing the message and the message is heard from the word of Christ.

That means the substance to put to your hope is the word of God. For instance, you are believing God for your healing. That is a great hope! God wants us to hope. God needs that hope to operate upon.

But the hope amounts to nothing if it doesn’t have the faith which is the substance to that hope.

How do you get this faith which is the substance to that hope? through the word of God!

So you go to the scriptures and you study the word that says for example, by his stripes you are healed. He himself took upon himself all your infirmities and by his stripes you are healed. You begin to take all these scriptures. As you begin to do this you are adding all those substance to that hope and before you know it the house is coming up, amen! Your health is springing forth; your hope is coming to realization!


This is not a blind faith here! Hope is great but you need substance to add to this. So that is why the scripture says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Our faith is the substance of our hope! And our faith can only be accomplished, not from what man says, not from circumstances that surround you, not from the situations that surround you but from the word of God! Simple!


Go into the word of God about those issue friends!

Go into the substance! Add it to your hope! Don’t give up! Don’t lose faith.

Day after day, add substance. Before you know it faith arises. Amen!


That is also pleasing to God. (Heb 11:6)

Here and there-Living a victorious life

1.** Abandoning the word of God- Abandoning our faith-is like abandoning the construction of the house mid way! When we encounter problems and challenges, it is not the time to abandon the substance which is our faith- the word of God.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus said trials; cares, worries of the world can choke the word of God in us so that we stop trusting God. How true!

If care is not taken we lose focus on God and his word when going through trying situations.

The word of God is the substance of what we hope for so we can not abandon it, we cannot abandon the promises of the Lord unto us. We cannot lose hope.

So we need to hang in there. We need to hold on to God’s promises. We need to fight the fight of faith.

Abraham ‘hoped against hope’. He was not dissuaded. He was fully persuaded that God is able to do what he said he’d do.

He had been told that he was going to be the father of nations though he was passed age.

Beware!!

What the enemy wants to see happen is that we lose trust in our God.

Last week, I heard my husband despairing, he said ‘Lord you said we’d leave inheritance for our children, so where is it now? ‘Sounds so much like Abraham telling God ‘where is the child you promised me o God?’

I found myself preaching my husband’s last sermon back to him while encouraging myself at the same time. Hehehe!

Looking at our circumstances or focusing on our trials will often make us lose the focus on God and what his word says to us i.e. what he has promised in his word.

The enemy seizes this occasion to choke the word in us and brings discouragement.

But this is the time to fight the fight of faith, this is the time to return to the word and thank God for his promises. - ‘Lord I thank you for your word. It will accomplish what you have said it’ll accomplish, the seed of the righteous will be mighty in the land. There’s a great inheritance for the seed of the righteous, etc,

This does not just apply to one area of life. It’s applicable as far as our ministry is concerned, our children, our health, our finances, our jobs, etc.

We need to 'fight' all odds so we can come to all God has ordained for us.

What's more, Jesus said not to bear our own burdens but to cast them all on him! We are not burden bearers, hello!

Hang on to your confession! Keep on thanking God: ‘Lord I give this to you. I’m not going to carry this. Take it over Lord!

He’s only always willing to come to our help if we trust him.

When Paul asked that the thorn in his body be removed he was told by God that his grace is sufficient for him. This answer is more positive than we have been made to realize. Here God has made his intention known to Paul- ‘I care about you Paul, trust me, I will not let you down- ‘look, my grace, ie. my favor, my mercy, my kindness is with you’ just trust me! Awesome!

So we have this grace that has been made available to us! Not just for our salvation. His favor, his mercy, his kindness is always available to us! We need to keep on holding on and trusting in God and his promises.

Trials/temptations/discouragements are instruments that the enemy uses to move us, to remove our focus, to discourage us from trusting in the faithfulness of our God. They are the devil’s ‘modus operandis’ to move us from trusting what God has said concerning our children, ministry, job, finances, health us, etc

Be not moved; hang onto the promises of God. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Keep on loving God and loving people. Keep on loving life!

I want to be successful!

While having time with my son this afternoon, as I love to do when I can get a few minutes of his time, we got talking about how to be successful.

I remembered a Psalm of King David:

" BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.

2But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.

3And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity]" (Ps.1:1-3)


Emanuel and I went back and forth analyzing each of these verses. Our conclusion is this:
*If we must succeed we need to indulge ourselves in God’s word.

*It pays to meditate (ponder and study it, talk to ourselves concerning the great things contained in the Bible,) regularly.

*The results will be beyond belief.

*We will be "Like a tree beside the river", which will never lack for fruit.

*Everything we lay our hands on will succeed.

Sounds like a project worth embarking upon!

What do you think?

Talk talking to the right person

As human beings, we’re always talking.
We talk to ourselves; we talk about the government.
We talk about the circumstances around us.
We talk at our husbands; we talk at our wives and kids.
Sometimes we talk to the devil or talk at him!
 
Some people just talk to the air; some talk in their heads.
Others talk in their minds or talk to themselves.
 
We hear things like “I talk myself into… “Or “I talk myself out of …”
 
The Scriptures teach us to always talk to our Maker
"Pray always" means to talk to Him always
When we take time to talk to our Maker, he’ll talk back to us.
 
Channel your talk to God! It pays off!
 
Inspired by “Who have you been talking to?” Sermon by Nike Komolafe

Mango Tree Behind my house: to my dad, I so remember you today!

These past weeks have been so special for me! The memories of my dad and my growing-up-days with my siblings came flooding my brain!

 How glad dad would have been to be here with us, more than 10,000 kilometers away,  with all these home grown mangoes on our dining table!

These mangoes from the mango tree behind my house are totally unexpected!!! I mean unexpected!

I grew up in the country where papaws, pineapples, oranges and these kinds of fruits are so easily found growing behind our house.

I kind of miss this country life and I don’t know whether I will ever have the opportunity to experience living this way again. Country life is so different from the city life. Sadface!

So back to this mango tree behind my house, I first saw the tree many months ago when we moved into this house. To me, it was like ‘when is this tree going to bring out its fruits?’ I totally ignored it and thought to myself, yeah, “one of those trees”! “It will probably stay like that forever, without fruits!”

Was I wrong?  Yes, I was, big time! 

Then came this special day, we had someone come in to mow the lawn. He told my husband about the mangoes on the tree. “Have you seen the mangoes on your tree? He asked.

So off went my hubby to check the mangoes out. And guess what?  These big mangoes! Hehehe!!!

You can guess the rest of the story. It’s been mango-munching all the way!

Any mango- eater out there? Hook me up!

Time off with my best friend

As part of our 2010 resolutions, hubby n I took time off from all the busyness of ministry life.
We went to check out the 'Blowhole' in Kiama. The Kiama Blowhole is a tourist haven. "Under certain sea conditions, the blowhole can spray water up to 25 metres (82 ft) in the air, in quantities that thoroughly drench any bystanders. The name Kiama itself is derived from a local aboriginal word which means "where the sea makes noise".It is situated 120km south of Sydney on the Australian east coast.
We generally took a walk around the blowhole. Very relaxing indeed.

Happy New Year Everybody!

Dear family and Friends,

Yes, 2009 has finally come to an end! I must admit it went really quickly and glory be to God we survived all the challenges, family and ministry that came our way. We are also grateful to God for surrounding us with friends, family and staff that stood by and supported us through out the year.

It’s a nice and warm day in Sydney. Talk about summer in January! Yeah, it’s summer here!

First and foremost we want to thank God for the gift of life, for his love and faithfulness in our lives both in the nuclear and spiritual families through out 2009. To say it was a full on year would be an understatement. Every month of the year was so special leaving with it something memorable, all to the glory of God!

The summary of highlights:
Joshua-Debo:
• Ministry Trip to Malaysia
• Ministry Trip to Melbourne
• Prison Ministry
• Trip Home
• Turned 51


Yinka:
• Ministry Trip to England
• Prison Ministry
• Trip home and meeting siblings at mum’s 80th
• Turned 50


Emanuel:
• Focusing on his music group and events management
• Turned 20


Angelique:
• Finished year 9
• Duke of Ed finished bronze award
• Turned 14



CHURCH AFFAIRS!

*10 yr anniversary- with lots of our EN leaders from the S/Pacific in attendance as well as the President of our Movement, Steve Murrell.
*1st EN. Australian Pastors & Leaders strategic Gathering.
1st EN Women’s conference- Diamond Conference
• Outreach Centre in Liverpool experienced increased stability with Paul Chibukwo and the leadership team.
• Increased working relationship with our EN church families around Australia
• Moved from our Kogarah church venue to a bigger place at Hurstville Entertainment Centre
• ENLI with 10 students finished year one
• Flight Youth Group event kicked off on a great note
Children’s Church witnessed a huge stability and increase. Big success with their performances.
• Bread ministry to the community throughout the year
• Taught Scriptures in local primary schools.
• Helped create a new way of life for one refugee family
• University students- increased no of church attendance and involvement in ministry.
• Worship ministry- Greater level of excellence and dedication.
• Men ministry’s support to Dr Thomas & family during their court cases
• Many new babies
• Church camp
• Downside- 2 members of the church were unfairly imprisoned but God is still in control.
Dear friends & family, we wish we could be right where you are today, to give you BIG hugs. Let’s all press in loving our God. Let’s press into His will for our lives and we’ll surely fulfill our destiny in 2010, in Jesus name, amen.
We love you dearly!

A wonderful 2010 everyone from the Opadiyas!