CHRISTMAS GREETINGS FROM THE OPADIYAS

PEACELOVEJOY

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Christmas! It is December 25, 2011 and all is well. We have much for which we are grateful to God.

Here’s the scoop on the Opadiyas Family and what we’ve been up to this year.

Emanuel, is still fully immersed in his music. He continues to do gigs and releases music video clips. He also collaborates with his 'Dream Big' group and they are doing well for themselves.

Angelique is in year 12 and will sit for her HSC exams in 2012. Yeah! She was made a school prefect, something we are very proud of her for.

Joshua and I marked our Silver Wedding Anniversary this year and we took time off to Europe and Nigeria. We thank God for a great time!

On the Ministry side, we spent most of our time making disciples, teaching, 'building', reaching out with the gospel of the kingdom and raising leaders.

We have also been privileged to serve alongside other leaders on the Apostolic Board of the ENSouth Pacific region.

We had the opportunity to host the South Pacific Summit in Sydney-Australia for the first time! We hosted many guest speakers and leaders from the region and outside the region as well.

We were finally blessed with a facility where we now meet for both our weekly activities and our worship services, after searching for 2 or so years without success.

As I was typing, I was thinking of you dear friends and family. My heart goes especially to those who are facing one form of challenge or another. To think that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son for us brings a lot of joy and comfort. Hold on to hope and know that we are praying for you and your 2012. May Jesus Christ be praised!

Joshua-Debo, Yinka Emanuel and Angelique.

Family and Ministry: Give us nations oh God!

Family and Ministry: Give us nations oh God!

Give us nations oh God!

I see... I see...


Give us nations for our inheritance oh God!

“Jesus author of all nations, Saviour of the world,


You are high upon the throne. All the mountains crumble


Kings of the earth made humble at the name of Jesus.


Let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”


Lord, today we pray for nations! Use us for nations' transformation; physically, spiritually and culturally O God!

I pray for Nigeria O Lord,

Nigeria belongs to you.

I see the inhabitants of Nigeria loosened from the grave clothes of corruption

I see a nation with working systems and structures

I see tarred roads everywhere, running taps, 24/7 electricity supply;

I see well equipped hospitals, I see schools, colleges, unis where quality education is given

I see God fearing and selfless politicians

I see... I see...

Here we are, Lord use us for nations' transformation

We want to make a difference in our generation

Not for any self glory Lord but for your kingdom advancement and for your glory

Let us be your hands, feet and mouth

Use us for Australia too Lord

Let your kingdom come, let your will be done in the South Pacific nations

I see the inhabitants of Australia putting God in his rightful place

I see a God fearing people

I see a people free from sodomy

I see a people free from sexual perversion and idolatry

I see a nation where everybody rises up on Sunday mornings to worship their Maker instead of worshipping sports

I see the schools with hired Scripture teachers teaching the children the way of their Maker

I see families made of up fathers, mothers and children

I see... I see...

October 2nd ‘11

25 years since we both said “I do”

Dear God,

I thank you for my marriage!
Thank you for giving me a great husband and friend
Thank you for the blessings of our children, Emanuel and Angelique.
Thank you for 25 years. of thick and thin.

My hubby and sweetheart!

It seems like yesterday when we both said "I do" and chose to love and live together as husband and wife.
In sickness and in wellness;
In pain and in happiness;
In sorrow and in joy.

My hubby and sweetheart!

To love, to cherish,
To help each other
And stay faithful
Until death parts us!

I remember our wedding verse from the book of Ruth
“Don’t beg me to leave you or to stop following you.
Where you go, I will go.
Where you live, I will live.
Your people will be my people,
and your God will be my God".

Said with great excitement and joy!

Still ringing in my ears like it was yesterday!

Little did we realize that
with marriage comes also
pain, cries, sorrow, frustrations, etc.
Little did we prepare for the ups and downs, the storms and the twists

That are all part and parcel of the marriage institution!

For 25 years dear hubby and sweetheart
we have been best friends
For 25 years. We have been lovers
For 25 years. We have lived together and worked together, yes worked together!
For 25 years. We have experimented life together with our children
Indeed for 25 years.  We have weathered the storms of life together! Phew!

BUT today,
The things I'm  grateful for far outweigh the things I’m not happy about.

If I could count my blessings and like the song writer said "and name them one by one" it will surprise you what our God has done in our marriage!

I can say without any doubt
That our Maker has been faithful in bringing us this far
We wouldn't have made it without his grace and mercy
So with great pleasure i say 'thank you Jehovah'

And yes Lord!
For the years to come, hopefully another 25 years, yes! Even more Lord!

With you on our side and in our boat,
We'd still be loving each other
We'd still be forgiving each other
We'd still be working together

We’d still be everything you have created us to be!

Loving you hubby and sweetheart

Till the very end.

Yinka Opadiya on our 25th wedding anniversary

09/08/2011

Life is not always what i think it should be.

Food for thought:

I took the pictures of these 2 trees yesterday at the back of our house. Spot the difference!
Same season (winter in Sydney!). One has just flowers and no leaves; the other has flowers and full-on leaves. In my mind i thought i never imagined a tree could even bring out flowers without leaves.

I'm still wondering how this could be. I will understand if there was nothing on this tree, taking into consideration that the cold weather might not be suitable for it.

Then, i took a look at the second tree and i was very surprised to see the green leaves and flowers. I remember the adage 'different strokes, different folks'. Except that in this case they are trees and not folks!

This made me think of life. -Things are not going to always be what i think they should be.
Just thinking aloud...

My Prayer Declarations 1

I cancel death in my family. There shall not be any sudden death or any premature death in Jesus mighty name!

I will not bury any of my kids in Jesus' name.

My parents will not bury any of their children too in Jesus' name.

We will all fulfill the numbers of our days.

No Sudden death in my family. No! no! no! to every plan of the enemy, in Jesus name.

We will live long and live in divine health in Jesus name.

No evil will befall us!
No plague will come near our dwelling places, in Jesus name! Amen.

I have what I say!
I pray this with every fiber of my being. 
I cut off every evil report in Jesus Name!

I cancel every demonic dream in Jesus Name!
I decree life and abundant life for me and everyone that belongs to me, in Jesus Name! 

I thank you my Lord for the covenant of long life.
I thank you my Saviour for your sacrifice on the cross!
I thank you my Lord for the blood of the covenant.

I stand on that today and the evil is averted in Jesus Name! 

We will live and not die prematurely!
We will fulfill our destiny in Christ.
We will declare the works of the Lord in the land of the living. 

Amen n amen! 

Alleluia! Preist den Herrn! Dieu soi loue! Praise the Lord! Oluwa mo dupe!

Another birthday! My twin bro and I!

Another Birthday! Today, my twin bro and I have been privileged to be alive to mark yet another birthday!

There is so much to be grateful for eh?

We trust that our God is faithful to take us through another year.
Together with our spouses and children, we look forward to another glorious year, loving our Maker and making his love known.

As I was meditating on our Maker's faithfulness, I remembered a song written by Helen Baylor-"If it had not been for the Lord on our side tell me where I would have been.."

That just struck a chord in me! It's indeed the Lord that has kept us by his mighty power all these years! Glory be to his majestic name!

I searched for the relevant Bible reference for this song and found Psalms 94 and 124.
What great psalms they are!

I read and meditated on them! What great impact they made on me!

This is the blog i found on psalm 124 while going through some commentaries in the "You Version" Bible.
I thought I'd share it on this special day of ours.

Somebody might be encouraged by it. Here you go!

Rob's Random Ramblings: Thankful He's On My Side...


How our God loves us! Endowing us with another year to live for him and make him proud; another year to honour him and advance his kingdom.

"To worship you we live, we live to worship you! Oh oh oh! Oh oh oh oh" 
Thanks, Papa GOD for grace to worship you more this year!  

Four Phases of Raising Boys | Parenting Sons #3 | The Mars Hill Blog

Four Phases of Raising Boys | Parenting Sons #3 | The Mars Hill Blog

4 Things The Japan Earthquake Should Teach Us

Natural disasters often contain spiritual lessons.

The things that seem stable, really aren’t

We have a lot to be thankful for

Our priorities have a way of getting out of focus

Jesus is coming soon
4 Things The Japan Earthquake Should Teach Us

JOSH GROBAN LYRICS - You Raise Me Up

This song will encourage you. Enjoy!
JOSH GROBAN LYRICS - You Raise Me Up

Hi everyone, I posted a new episode to my podcast, Yinka Opadiyas Podcast. Please click the link below to view it. http://yinkaopadiya.podomatic.com/entry/2011-01-05T04_48_35-08_00 See you there! - Yinka