-Build Friendships Not Warships-

-Build Friendships Not Warships-


Even Christ had friends, who were not disciples and He spent quality time with them. John 11:11, Jesus describes Lazarus as "Our friend". When Lazarus’ sisters sent word to Jesus that His friend was sick, He told His disciples they were all going back to Judea despite almost getting killed there.

I don’t like to brag, but I am always the best friend anyone could ever have...Until now.

These days, it is hard to know the difference between my friends and those who have crossed over to being an acquaintance. I simply have blamed it all on the fact that I am getting older. It is only natural for my friends list to thin out... It is easier to blame it on age? Please, don’t judge. Next time I will take responsibility.

I truly miss spending quality time with my friends, but I am glad I did it when I had the opportunity.

Technology is not helping matters in building friendships. The days of visiting and calling are officially over. It has been replaced with text messages via messengers and the social media handles.

Everyone is so busy now doing nothing in particular or pretending that their lives are way better now than others. They think friends do not matter and that’s their excuse for not keeping in touch. Even “BBM” pings and “Watsapp” messages take them forever to respond, what they do not know is that they are secretly building WARSHIPS!

Who will attend your wedding? Or your baby shower? Who will attend your anniversaries or your future birthday parties? Eventually, you will want to celebrate something one time or the other and who do you think are the best people to have?

Your new friends won’t laugh at your jokes and your new neighbours won’t always honour your invite. Trust me, new things eventually become old but old things stay classic, vintage and valuable over time! Old wine is far better than new wine. That is why there are “old friends associations”, “Old girls/boys clubs because old is the new future.

Building WARSHIPS is always an unconscious thing we creatively craft. We won’t know how high or how destructive our warships become until we are alone and we need people in our lives. That is when it hits us like a bat on our heads we no longer have friends but enemies.

When all else fails and we are not so busy anymore or we crave for other kinds of friendships than the ones our partners give where do we run? By the time, we finish building a massive WARSHIP with so many destructible weapons and launched poisonous missile that has destroyed years of care, love, trust and affection. Who do you confide in? When you call about 10 people to your house and only 1 show up just because they are the caterer, what do you do? One day, you might need to win a competition and it requires friends to like and share your posts, but few people respond to it. How do you manage?

Friends are the only ones who will always be there. Supporting us, reminding us who we once were when we forget our roots. So do not take them for granted or undervalue their importance in our lives but strive to keep a balance. It will never hurt us to try.

Communication in my own opinion is the only way to build and maintain friendships and not warships.

People are not sticks, they are flesh and blood with emotions, and they like to be celebrated, spoken to, complimented and invited. If you find it difficult to do all the aforementioned, then you had better be prepared for the war that is coming with the weapon you are unconsciously building. You will get to use your WARSHIP oo, you won’t build it for nothing.

*sighs*

People are the greatest assets in life. They are the best available resource so it will be a huge loss of perspective to not have a fair share of them on your side as friends.

If you are looking for real friends, become a real friend first. Stop gossiping, back biting, beefing and conspiring against other people.

Please be careful about the friends you keep and watch out for their values. If you are not mindful of the friends you keep, it could also ruin your life.

Therefore, let us build Friendships and not Warships. Remember the golden rule, do unto others what you will have them do unto you.

PS: If you are an old friend and you are reading this, I miss you terribly. Let’s spend quality time together soon. Calls will be nice too, but no texting is allowed...lol...It doesn't matter, let us just keep in touch, please!

Spread the word, Shine your light

  

                        -Pursuit of Success-

                       By Pastor Sam Adeyemi

Success is a word which makes many Christians uncomfortable because nowadays, the word is often used by advocates of self-reliance and self-help. The challenge, however, is that when the church finds that people are going to extremes on a particular subject, it runs away from it. When that happens, Satan moves in, occupies the space, gets people’s attention and influences the culture. Satan manipulates everything God created-money, sex, power and politics. When the church refrained from money, Satan moved in and took control of the economy. Today, money is one thing that control people’s thinking. When Jesus said you cannot serve God and mammon, He placed the demon that controls money on the same pedestal with God. Thankfully, we have recovered that space; even though it looks like we are going to the other extreme. Money is not everything. The church has resources which are more powerful than money (Acts 3:6). Peter healed a lame man without money and Jesus fed the crowd without money. When you have God’s perspective, your emotions will not fluctuate with the availability or non-availability of money.

Success is simply defined as the achievement of goals, objectives and aims. Man was designed to achieve goals- to be fruitful, productive, subdue, have dominion over, and control the earth(genesis 1:26-28). We derive fulfilment from the achievement of goals. When man does not achieve goals, he becomes frustrated. People who have no gaols have no motivation or hope. Not setting goals is like playing soccer match without goal posts. There is power in goal setting. Write down your goals and break them down into simple steps. Jesus told a story about a farmer who was covetous and did not remember God. So, when you are setting goals, you need to define whose goals you are achieving.

You were born for God’s purpose(Romans 8:28). In all your succeeding and endeavours, you need to know what God is saying. There is too much to your life for you to be an accident. Do not make your life an experiment. Read the story of Solomon who experimented with money, 1000 women, sex, power, comedy; he said that he did not deny himself of anything that his eyes loved. Yet, at the end of it all, he summarised all as vanity. Jesus met a woman by the well of Samaria whose longing was marriage. She felt she couldn’t do it without men when, in fact, she just needed God (John 4). Heremiah’s life was determined ahead of time. Since God has designed our lives from the beginning to the end, don’t pursue success with anxiety(Hebrews 4:1-3). When you align with God’s purpose, heaven’s resources are behind you. He declares the end from the beginning and no one can stop it in between. What God has purposed, He, not you, will do it (Isiah 46:9-11). Your purpose is in your design and it is too big to be only about you. Ultimate success is leadership and influence