Asafo Roman Catholic Junior High School-Sefwi-Asafo

The BLESSINGS of God are not strokes of luck, but stamps of His approval in your life. The BLESSINGS of God are many and varied. They are all around you and comes to you in tangible and intangible forms. If you are open to God and wants Him to have His way in your life, an occurrence in your life that is NOT SENSIBLE to the human mind becomes a BLESSING in disguise. So, don't be too worried about some occurrences in your life that are NONSENSICAL to the human mind. Child of God, God has BLESSED you, He is BLESSING you, and still has stores of BLESSINGS to shower on you. Begin to APPRECIATE God's BLESSINGS in your life; REFLECT on them; COUNT them one by one. And you will be amazed how BLESSED you are (Ephesians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4; Nehemiah 13:2).

LEADERSHIP is not a POSITION to be occupied but an OPPORTUNITY to SERVE. A POSITION is temporal; it has an expiring date. But, what you do during your tenure of LEADERSHIP, occupying a POSITION is PERMANENT in the sense that, even after your tenure, you will continue to be in the minds of people. Child of God, what will you be remembered for after your tenure of LEADERSHIP is over? That, you only came to occupy a POSITION that was vacant? That, you only came to use your POSITION to amass wealth? That you were an inhumane leader? That, you came to SERVE? That, you came to CARRY PEOPLE ALONG? (Mark 10:35-46).

HOPE is an aspiration, a desire, an expectation, a dream; a looking forward to receiving something you wish to have. HOPE is not instant. There is a distance between when you start HOPING and when you receive what you HOPE for. This gap is filled with uncertainties, frustrations, ups-and-downs. Child of God, one thing that will KEEP YOU GOING is FAITH. Faith in the Living God and His Word, will KEEP YOU GOING. Faith will keep you HOPING against HOPE (Hebrews 11:1; Genesis 17:1-8; Romans 4:18-21).

Things happen to you that are mysterious. You TRY to UNDERSTAND them but the more you do, the more you are not able. TRYING to UNDERSTAND things beyond your comprehension put unnecessary TENSION on you; it increases your STRESS level; and DESTABILIZES your faith in God. Child of God, because you CANNOT UNDERSTAND everything that happens to you, a better option is to GIVE such things to GOD who KNOWS BEST, and is IN CHARGE of your BEING; He has CONTROL over the affairs of the world, including the things happening to you which you DO NOT UNDERSTAND (Philippians 1:19-20, 27, 29; Romans 8:28-30).

BITTERNESS is resentment towards another person. BITTERNESS expresses itself in INWARD and COLD ANGER towards the person. A BITTER person is always unnecessarily ANGRY within. This inward ANGER shows on his or her face not seen by himself or herself but seen by people. When you are BITTER towards somebody, it is just like you have smeared bile or quinine (a very bitter pill) on that person's body and swallowed. You are licking the bile or quinine anytime you think ANGRILY about that person. Child of God, who are you BITTER at? Why are you BITTER towards that person? BITTERNESS can kill you. Beware! (Proverbs 14:10; Acts 8:20-24; Ephesians 4:31-32; Hebrews 12:14-15).

God brought you into being to MAKE PROGRESS IN LIFE; that is why your toes are pointing forward and not backward. PROGRESS in life is a STEP-BY-STEP affair; a LITTLE-BY-LITTLE adventure; a DAY-BY-DAY activity and not a one-time leap. Child of God, what ACTIVITY are you doing TODAY to ADD to the PROGRESS you are making in life (Philippians 3:12-14; Ecclesiastes 9:10).

The command to FORGIVE, humanly speaking, is not easy to obey, in fact, it is not meant to be that easy; it is demanding. Sometimes, the person deliberately did what he or she did to you. However, FORGIVENESS is POSSIBLE on your part, not because you offend people and are FORGIVEN; but because you don't want your offenders to be bitter in their hearts and minds against you. Child of God, who has offended you? FORGIVE! LET GO! (Matthew 6:12, 14-15; Colossians 3:13; Romans 12:17-21; Matthew 5:25-26).

People fight you physically and spiritually for reasons best known to them. They fight you because of your FAITH in GOD. They fight you because you are fearfully and wonderfully made. They fight you because there is SOMETHING in YOU they don't have. They fight you because they want to unmake you and disgrace you. Child of God, for whatever reason people have for fighting you, be ASSURED that GOD is on YOUR SIDE. He is fighting the battles on YOUR BEHALF. It won't be long and your contenders will begin to REAP SHAME and DISGRACE (Psalm 35:1-8; Deuteronomy 31:6).

ASK, SEEK, KNOCK! The first letters of these words put together form the word ASK. Ask, seek, knock, are all about ASKING. You don't ASK God for something and get tired of ASKING. You ASK God for something and you keep on ASKING until you receive the answer. In other words, Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH). But, remember to ASK according to GOD'S WILL; ASK for things that will bring GLORY to God. ASK for what you NEED and not what you WANT. Don't ASK for EVERYTHING else, you will end up RECEIVING NOTHING! Child of God, are you tired of ASKING for something from God? Keep on ASKING. Your answer is on the way. It will come as a SURPRISE, at a TIME you least expected (Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 18:1-11; James 1:5).

Several things call for your ATTENTION within the period of TIME you have to LIVE. Some of the things are seemingly IMPORTANT but NOT equally IMPORTANT. Giving ATTENTION to all at the SAME TIME makes you DIVIDE your EFFORT that would have been MASSIVE and IMPACTFUL. But, LIVING a DAY at a TIME gives you a lasting IMPACT. Child of God, if you want to be EVERYWHERE, doing EVERYTHING, you will end up being NOWHERE, and with an insignificant result. The key to getting an impactful result is, LIVING with a PURPOSE; LIVING a DAY at a TIME (Ecclesiastes 9:10; Philippians 3:12-14; Psalm 90:10, 12).

You are an individual religious person. You have FAITH in God. But YOUR FAITH is not a private one to be hidden in secret. You belong to local and wider COMMUNITIES of FAITH. Your FAITH must be EXPRESSED and SEEN by others. Child of God, an EXPRESSED FAITH is best seen in HOW YOU LIVE and not in what you say; and the "empty noise" you make about yourself. Don't hide YOUR FAITH! LIVE IT! How are you living out your faith? (Matthew 5:13-16; 1 Peter 3: 15-16; Psalm 96:1-3).