Anyways, something happened while i rinsed them, I received a profound inspiration from the Holy Spirit.
It struck me how our creative God has orchestrated the changing seasons, each bringing its unique fruits.
I marvel at the cycle of seasons from corn to mangoes and even agbalumo (African Cherry) that we had some months ago and there are still many more fruits to come and the funny thing is we don’t get tired of it, instead we anticipate it.

For those with fruit trees in their homes, you know that the wait can be long but it starts when you see the flower buds then the little fruits start growing, then you have to wait until they become ripe enough and of course, they don’t get ripe all at once. You monitor the one that’s showing signs of being ripe and once it’s ready you’re there to pluck it and that’s if you’re lucky enough to do that before the birds take their share but then the entire process is beautiful and the reward/harvest is worth it.

What am I driving at?

God takes us through various seasons, each with a beginning and an end. Though they may seem challenging, every season holds its beauty, maximize it and with patience, hope and trust you’ll understand its purpose.
This is a reminder to embrace the season you’re in right now. Grow, develop stamina and strength, trusting that it will pass, and a new one will begin.

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

P.s: This is also a reminder to send me mangoes 🥹🥹🤭🤭

With love

Estée 💜✨

The post SEASONS: MAN-GOES, GOD STAYS appeared first on The Olive Branch.

I am happy to welcome you to the November edition of our Singles’ World for 2022. In this edition, I will discuss with you another type of person that you must not marry. The Lord will guide you in the name of Jesus Christ.  

16

Don’t Marry a Demon-Possessed Person 4  

17. Life is deeper than what we can see with our physical eyes. That is why the unbelievers are curiously searching for the unknown rather than seeking God who knows the unknown. It is not everybody that you see on the street that is a human being, and it is not everybody that you see in church that is a human being. It is not everybody that you see in the market places, shopping malls and other public places that is a human being. Some demons come in human forms and mingle with human beings on earth in order to deceive them. There are many students in our higher institutions who are not complete human beings. We teach them as students, but they belong to the world of man and to the world of the spirits. This world is deep. 

Don’t forget that the devil has come to steal, to kill and to destroy, and one of his greatest tools is deception. If a demon asks for your hand in marriage, you will run away fearfully. A number of mysterious things are going on in the realm of the spirit; and we need to be discerning so that we will not be deceived. There are many people out there that you call sisters but who are mermaids. They are very pretty, dazzling and seductive. It will be very difficult to turn away your eyes from beholding them if you are not very spiritual. They are half human beings and half fish. They are half human beings and half snakes. Some of these beings have the ability to turn to snakes, fish, cats and other scary animals. 

Some of them come to the market on market days and when they are through with their transactions, they return to their abodes; inside the river, sea, trees or the mountains. A woman told her husband after their wedding that the husband did not know her. The husband was surprised to hear that. He insisted that he knew his wife very well. The woman yelled and told her husband that she would show him her real self. Right inside their bedroom, the wife turned to a big snake on the bed. The husband was about to shout out of fear, but the wife quickly turned to a human being back, and told him never to tell anybody what he had seen if he wanted to live. She told her husband that he had now known her. The husband knew he was married to a snake rather than to a Christian sister that he had earlier thought of. The woman was a Christian sister in church, but a snake in the realm of the spirit. 

So, the marriage that was conducted was between a man and a spirit. How do you expect that man to enjoy the marriage? The man has continued to live in fear. He could not run away neither could he tell anybody for fear of being killed by his snake wife. Demons are disembodied beings; so they are looking for human bodies to inhabit and continue their malevolent activities. One of the reasons why we have so much pollution in the world today is because many marriages are built on wrong foundations. Hence, the offspring of such marriages will be polluted. What do you expect from a marriage between a human being and a demon? This may sound like a fairy tale to you, but it is real. Such people are not to be married. 

How do you recognise them? They don’t really want to be recognised. That is their behavioural pattern. If you don’t know them, you may fall into their hands. 

• First, be born again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 
• Live a holy and righteous life or else they will gain access into your life easily because you are a compromising believer. 
• Be watchful and prayerful. Pray more in tongues on daily basis to develop your spirit man. In your prayers, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal them to you. The Lord is faithful; He will reveal them to you. 
• Ask God to give you the gift of discerning of spirits; this will help you to discern them whenever they are around you. 
• Read and meditate on the Word of God regularly.

It is my prayer that you will not enter into their traps in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

By the grace of God, we will continue from here next month. Please, don’t forget to send me your comments and testimonies. In case, you are not born again, please, surrender your life to Jesus Christ today. Tomorrow may be too late.  Till then, stay safe and God bless you. Amen. 

Pastor Jide Ajidahun

The post Singles’ world November edition ’22 appeared first on The Olive Branch.

That’s an irony, it’s not actually snowing in Nigeria but in the spirit of inclusivity, our readers far and wide, in countries that snow is falling and in countries that dust is falling or rain in fact.
It’s still Christmas and the song still applies.
Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you feel my excitement?
I’m starting with a question, What does Christmas mean to you? I would really love to know. You can share it in the comments or you could just answer it in your mind.
We were all brought up differently, we’ve gone through different experiences so we can’t possibly think the same exact way. What it means to me may mean the exact opposite to you.
Christmas is my most favorite season/holiday. Even if the Christmas spirit here is dying faster than someone running from a rabid dog, I still love it. I love being with family, I love the movies, I love the songs, the carols, I love that it means Jesus, my friend and savior was born. I love how it makes me feel and I wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything.
I also love the chicken 😂
I wanted to share a Christmas story with you all today but I changed my mind last minute and decided to write from my heart.
I won’t leave you with a question, I’ll leave you with this word. Gratitude.
If you aren’t with family today, if you’re working, if you’re going through tough times and if today wasnt what you expected. You’re probably seeing a lot of pictures and videos of people celebrating Christmas or doing what you imagined doing. You’re seeing the matching pyjamas photoshoots and shouting ‘God when‘😂. You’re seeing the snow and the Christmas lights and still shouting ‘God when‘ . Remember something; Things won’t always stay this way. There will be a time you won’t even remember how you felt today. One thing I’ve come to realize in life is that there’s no situation that is permanent. I also have dreams , I have my moments and It took me a while to understand it but I finally accepted it and became my principle. What you always dreamed of, what you always prayed for, you’ll get it one day. I don’t know the exact day but it will come. Everything good will come.
Stay positive, stay prayerful, stay believing. The amazing God who started his wonders in your life will be there to complete it.
I’m sending you hugs and the biggest kisses. I pray God grants your heart desires. Next Christmas, share your testimony.
Have a merry Christmas and don’t forget to let it snow!

Ayokunle.

The post It’s that time of the year! appeared first on The Olive Branch.

Breathe.

Be patient with your journey.That’s where I’m going to start.

Be patient with where you are going or where you are now.

The journey entails alot. There is anger, pain, disappointment, surprises, betrayals, love, peace, loneliness, success, solitude, progression and stagnancy. That’s a whole lot.

As I write to you, I want you to also know I don’t have it all together. I am also learning like you. I’m also reading posts like this to encourage me.
And for me, I don’t have the luxury of having to tell so many people what goes on in my head all the time mostly because it’s difficult to express myself by speaking to people. So I write the entire journey of what goes on in my head.
I get tired too, I want to give up. I want to progress. I want to stop trying. I want to move on. I want to explore. I want to be hidden. I don’t feel like socializing. I want to meet new people.
Just a lot of different feelings popping in your head like popcorns in the microwave.
You see your friends moving forward and achieving a lot and you’re happy for them(genuinely) then in the little corner of your mind, you’re reminded of your own lack of achievements. You’re reminded that you haven’t accomplished anything in the last 2 to 4 years and even when people tell you “As far as you’re alive, it’s an accomplishment”, it still doesn’t uplift your spirit.
You want to graduate, you want to get a career changing job, you want to get married, you want to have kids, you want to start that business and you want your whole world to see that you aren’t a failure after all.
I don’t know how to make you understand it but listen to me, take it easy on yourself. You’re just going to burn out if you continue to weigh yourself down.

Dont forget to breathe”
                             — Easyy

Do you celebrate your little wins or all you remember are the times people called you names? Do you count your little wins or all you remember are the people who left you behind. I don’t blame you because I don’t blame myself either. It’s human nature to remember mostly the negatives.
I’m learning to celebrate my wins no matter how funny they sound or how tiny they look. Even if it’s being able to complete 30 days of a fitness challenge or being able to pass a level in candy crush. Those “tiny” wins I celebrate with myself have been giving me more happiness than ever.
     Why do I need to compare my journey with another? We have different destinations though or you don’t believe it. Ask someone close to you that you think is achieving much more than you and you’ll be surprised with the answer.
Although, social media doesn’t help so much. It has made a lot of people to think everyone is living a picture perfect life and that’s why your heart breaks when you hear a certain celebrity committed suicide or is getting a divorce.
  Everyone is going through their own process, remember that. I want you today to try to engage in mindful living. Be aware of your surroundings, your nature. Every single detail. The birds that come to your yard to eat leftovers every 6pm or the ones that come at 7am to sing by your window. Just sit and observe. Look and feel. Take that time off social media, Inhale that fresh air and it will give you joy.
Don’t dampen your mood by remembering the mistakes you made in the past. Noone is above mistakes.Enjoy the goodness of this earth my friend and be patient with yourself and your journey. You’ll get there no matter what those voices say, no matter how long it takes, you will get there. Take it from me and like the Good book(my best book) says:
  “So my counsel is: Don’t worry about things—food, drink, and clothes. For you already have life and a body—and they are far more important than what to eat and wear.
  Look at the birds! They don’t worry about what to eat—they don’t need to sow or reap or store up food—for your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are. Will all your worries add a single moment to your life? “And why worry about your clothes? Look at the field lilies! They don’t worry about theirs. 
  Yet King Solomon in all his glory was not clothed as beautifully as they. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you, O men of little faith? “So don’t worry at all about having enough food and clothing. Why be like the heathen? For they take pride in all these things and are deeply concerned about them. But your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, and he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to.
  “So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.
          (Matthew 6:25–34)- The living Bible translation.

The post Breathe appeared first on The Olive Branch.