SAY A PRAYER

"Prayer is the key of the morning, and the bolt of the evening." - Anonymous

Pray for Nigeria

Someone said, "In my deepest, darkest moments, what really got me through was a prayer. Sometimes my prayer was 'Help me.' Sometimes, it was 'Thank you.' What I've discovered is that, intimate connection and communication with my creator will always get me through, because I know my support, and my help is just a prayer away."

Having been in this nation, all my life, and experienced different administrations, and governmental leadership, with much chaos, confusion, and corruption, I have noticed also that - as a nation - we have experienced some triumphs too. What has gotten us through were our prayers to God. Did someone say in what areas? There are a number of success stories. God has delivered us from many trials. I will mention just one, 'Kidnapping.' There was a time when no one could sleep with both eyes closed. No one knew who would be kidnapped next, or what time the kidnappers would strike. It was a nightmare.

WHAT GOES ROUND

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." - John Wooden

What Goes Round

A monk opened a monastery door, after a knock and was presented with a bunch of grapes. "Brother, these are the finest my vineyard has produced. I’ve come to bear them as a gift." The visitor said.
"Thank you! I will take them to the Abbot immediately, he’ll be delighted with this offering." Replied the monk.
"No! I brought them for you, because whenever I knock, you always open. I needed help when the crops were destroyed by drought, it was you, who gave me a piece of bread and a cup of wine daily."
The monk decided to deliver the gift to the Abbot, who had always encouraged him with words of wisdom. The Abbot was very pleased with the grapes, but he recalled, there was a sick brother in the monastery, "I'll give him the grapes, they may bring some joy to his life." And that is what he did. But sick monk reflected: "The cook has looked after me for so long, feeding me always. I’m sure he will enjoy these." He thought. The cook was amazed at the beauty of the grapes. No one would appreciate them better than, the sexton. The sexton, in turn, gave the grapes as a gift to the youngest novice, that he might understand that the work of God is in the smallest details of creation. The novice received the grapes, but remembered the first time he came to the monastery, he quickly remembered the monk who had opened the gates for him. And so, just before nightfall, he took the grapes to the monk at the gates.

LET US PRAY III

"He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day." - John Bunyan 

Pray

As I set out to put pen on paper, my heart tilted in the direction of prayer. I happened on this quote above - it cut so deep, I had to pause and reflect for a while. It was Ambrose Bierce that defined prayer thus, "To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy."

There was a man at one of our meetings in New York City who was moved by the Spirit of God. He said, "I am going home, and I am not going to sleep to-night till Christ takes away my sins, if I have to stay up all night and pray. I'll do it." He had a good distance to walk, and as he went along he thought, "Why can't I pray now as I go along, instead of waiting to go home?" But he did not know a prayer. His mother had taught him to pray, but it was so long since he had uttered a prayer that he had forgotten. However, the publican's prayer came to his mind. Everybody can say this prayer. That man in the gallery yonder, that young lady over there: "God be merciful to me a sinner." May God write it on your hearts to-night. If you forget the sermon, don't forget that prayer. It is a very short prayer, and it has b

WISDOM 4 WINNING URGENT NOTICE

I want to first Apologize to all W4W's fans whose requests have been pending for so long. It is not because I, or W4W take your requests for granted, but it's because I have 'maxed out' the 5000 friend limit on both accounts.

However, there is a solution, just go to: http://www.facebook.com/W4WwithED and "LIKE" the page. To continue receiving the W4W posts.

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W4W is undergoing a series of positive transformations, to serve you better. We're preparing to launch W4W on YouTube shortly with videos to enrich your life. Arrangements are in top gear.

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Tell your friends, to tell their friends to tell their friends.

God bless,

Edwin Biayeibo,
WISDOM 4 WINNING.

CONTINUE IN PRAYER II

"A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God." - Leonard Ravenhill

Prayer II

Many folks agree that prayer is a dialogue, and indeed it is: except that it first begins from the realm of a monologue. We first learn to talk to God, then learn to hear Him talk back to us. If that is anything to go by, then, we must take prayer from a mere religious act to a habit. Yes. We must pray, but much more than that, we must pray constantly, continually and consistently.

A soldier appeared before his commanding officer; he was accused of communicating with the enemy. He had been seen, emerging from an area where enemy troops patrolled. The soldier in his defense, stated that he had slipped away to spend an hour alone in prayer. "Have you been in the habit of spending an hour in private prayer?" Demanded the officer. "Yes, Sir," he replied.
"Then" said his commander, "Never in your life, have you been in more need of prayer than now. Kneel and pray aloud, so we all may hear you."

CONTINUE IN PRAYER I

"To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing." - Martin Luther

Prayer I

It is interesting to remark how large a portion of the Bible is occupied with the subject of prayer, either in furnishing examples, enforcing precepts, or pronouncing promises. We scarcely open the Bible before we read, "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord;" and just as we are about to close the volume, the "Amen" that rounds off the entire scriptures meets our ear. The instances are many. Here we find a wrestling Jacob—there a Daniel who prayed three times a day—and a David who with all his heart called upon his God. On the mountain we see Elias; in the dungeon Paul and Silas. We have multitudes of commands, and countless promises. What does this teach us, but the sacred importance and necessity of prayer?

I WISH YOU ENOUGH

"I do believe that if you haven't learnt about sadness, you cannot appreciate happiness." - Nana Mouskouri 

Jean de la Bruyere said "There are only three events in a man's life; birth, life, and death; he is not conscious of being born, he dies in pain, and he forgets to live." It is a very lofty idea - matter of fact, it is the only reasonable idea there is - to strive to achieve the highest level of success life can offer: materially, financially et cetera. I'm in full support of that. However, we fail to realize some side attractions, that actually add spice to life in the process. We forget to really live.

Here's a poem culled from a story by Bob Perks;
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

FOR THE MARRIED ONLY 1

"True love is selfless. It is prepared to sacrifice." - Sadhu Vaswani

For the Married Only

I read this story from, a devotional on 'YouVersion' bible app; it's striking:

While serving aboard a gunboat in Vietnam, Dave Roever was holding a phosphorus grenade some six inches from his face when a sniper’s bullet ignited the explosive. The first time he saw himself after the explosion, he says he saw a monster, not a human being. "I was alone in the way the souls in hell must feel alone," he wrote. When he returned to the states, he feared how his young bride, Brenda, would react. He had just watched a wife tell another burn victim that she wanted a divorce. But when Brenda walked in, she kissed him on what was left of his face, smiled, and said, "Welcome home, Davey! I love you."

Ellen G. White said, "True love is not a strong, fiery, impetuous passion. It is, on the contrary, an element calm and deep. It looks beyond mere externals, and is attracted by qualities alone. It is wise and discriminating, and its devotion is real and abiding."

URGENTLY IMPORTANT!!!

Hope you're having a great day so far?

Has Wisdom 4 Winning been a blessing to you?
Has Wisdom 4 Winning helped you overcome a NEGATIVE addiction?
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Has Wisdom 4 Winning Helped you resolve a relationship issue?
Has Wisdom 4 Winning ENCOURAGED you to try once more after a failure?
Have you become BETTER, STRONGER and more OPTIMISTIC about life and the daily challenges you face by the INSTRUMENTALITY of Wisdom 4 Winning?
If there's ANYWAY you have been HELPED BY GOD, through Wisdom 4 Winning, PLEASE SEND A TESTIMONY. Yes, YOUR TESTIMONY (with your name and location) - of what God has done for you - "THROUGH" Wisdom 4 Winning to the email address: "pastoredhotr@gmail.com"

Your Testimony could be a short Video of about 2 minutes or less...IT COULD even be written - or both - and, if it won't be too much to ask, attach your photograph too (if you will).

Please treat as URGENT and send your personal testimony to: "pastoredhotr@gmail.com"
Looking forward to receiving and hearing your testimonies, so that God will be GLORIFIED and the devil TERRIFIED in your LIFE, in Jesus name.

God Bless,
EDWIN BIAYEIBO,
WISDOM 4 WINNING.

PHOTO COLLAGE

"You're going to go through tough times - that's life. But I say, 'Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.' See the positive in negative events." - Joel Osteen

 No one could ever remember seeing Mickey angry; he didn't mind whatever anyone said, or did to him. Even his teachers admired his good disposition, which was so unusual. One afternoon he invited his favourite teacher, Mr. Anthony, to tea. When they had finished, Mickey showed him around. When Mickey opened his bedroom door, the teacher froze: the huge far wall was a unique collage of colours and shapes. The loveliest decoration he'd ever seen. Mickey started to explain, "Some people think I never think badly of anyone, or that nothing bothers me, and that I never want to insult anyone, but that's not true at all." He continued, "I'm like anyone else. Years ago, with the help of my parents, I started a small collage. I could use any kind of material and colour for it. With every little piece I stuck on, I added some bad thought or act."

Mr. Anthony looked closely at the wall, in each of the small pieces he could read, in tiny letters, 'fool', 'idiot', 'pain', 'bore', et cetera. "This is how I started turning all my bad times into an opportunity to add to my collage. Now, I like the collage so much that, each time someone makes me angry, I couldn't be happier. They've given me a new piece for my work of art."

THE BAMBOO AND THE FERN

"Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine." - Jack Ma

Bamboo and The Fern

I wanted to quit on life, so I went to the woods to have a discussion with God.

"God, can you give me one reason not to quit?"
"Look around," He said. "Do you see that Fern and Bamboo?"
"Yes." I replied.
"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took good care of them. I gave them light, and water. The fern sprouted quickly from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor, yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on it. In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. Yet again, nothing came from the bamboo. In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed, but I would not quit. Still in the fourth year, nothing from the bamboo seed. Then in the fifth year, a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared with the fern, it was seemingly insignificant. But just 6 months ahead, the bamboo grew over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years, growing roots. The roots made it strong: it gave it what it needed to survive. I will not give anyone challenges they can't handle." He said.

HOW DEEP ARE YOU?

"Try to learn something about everything and everything about something." - Thomas Huxley

 

Study

Author David McCullough has described an exercise Louis Agassiz, born in Switzerland in 1807 taught students. It came to be called, "the incident of the fish." Agassiz presented students with a dead fish, as he interviewed them. He told them to look at the fish, then, he would leave them. Students were left, wondering what to look at or learn. We learn much about this activity; from the experience of Samuel Scudder (one of Agassiz many students). At first, he could see nothing but a lifeless fish. But Agassiz kept encouraging, "Look, look, look," and Scudder began to see even more, things that he previously ignored - the experiment lasted three days. Scudder described the experience as a turning point in his life, which opened up a new world. It was a legacy, "of inestimable value, which we could not buy, with which we cannot part." Agassiz was teaching the importance of study, examination, digging deeper, not being content with the obvious.

LEAVE IT OUTSIDE

"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month." - Theodore Roosevelt 

Leave it Outside

A man hired a carpenter to help restore an old farmhouse, he had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start. While he was being driven home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited his contractor in to meet his family. As they walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. After opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His face was wreathed in smiles. He hugged his two children and gave his wife a kiss. As he walked his contractor back to the car, they passed the tree, again so the contractor asked him about what he'd seen him do earlier.
"Oh, that’s my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can’t help having troubles on the job, but one thing is for sure, troubles don’t belong in the house with my wife and children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning, I pick them up again."
"Funny thing is, he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren’t nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."

TWO BUILDERS

"I don't bother over anything that is replaceable when damaged or lost: because it can be replaced, I only bother about those things that can't be replaced, like life." - Esther Omiunu

TWO BUILDERS

It is funny how people go through life, striving, toiling and worrying about things that are temporal. Things that eventually pass. Most, completely forget to consider the truly important things in life - family, relationship and their soul.

A little boy is on his knees scooping sand with plastic shovels building a sand castle. All afternoon he works, packing the walls. Bottle caps will be sentries. Sticks will be bridges. A sand castle will be built. Meanwhile, a man is at his desk shuffling papers into stacks and delegating assignments. He cradles the phone on his shoulder and punches the keyboard. Numbers are juggled and contracts are signed. Much to his delight, profit is made. All his life he works. Formulating the plans. Forecasting the future. Annuities will be sentries. Capital gains will be bridges. An empire will be built. Two builders, two castles. They - the boy and the man - have much in common. They shape granules into grandeur. They see nothing and make something. They are diligent and determined. For both the tide will rise and the end will come. Yet, this is where the similarities cease. The boy sees the end, while the man is unaware of it. As the waves near, the child jumps to

THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST III

“If you are renewed by grace, and were to meet your old self, I am sure you would be very anxious to get out of his company.” - Charles H. Spurgeon

Grace

Grace never comes to proliferate sin. If anything, it comes to tame it. For grace does not only create an escape route from the consequences of sin, but also creates an escape route from sin itself. In Michael Horton’s, The Agony of Deceit, he wrote that “Someone confronted Martin Luther upon his rediscovery of the biblical doctrine of justification, with the remark:

"If this is true, a person could simply live as he pleased!"

"Indeed!" answered Luther.

"Now, what pleases you?"

Augustine was the great preacher of grace during the fourth and fifth centuries. Although, his understanding of the doctrine of justification did not have the fine-tuned precision of Luther’s, Augustine's response on this point was similar to Luther's. He said that the

THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST II

"Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace." - Jerry Bridges

Grace

Jack Wellman said remarkably at the conclusion of a sermon, "Preach grace as often as you can, as much as you can, for as much of the glory of God as you can because that’s what grace is. It is unmerited favour at Christ’s expense. It’s what He gives us that we do not deserve, nor can ever deserve, or can ever earn. That’s why grace is so amazing."

The story was once told of Henry Moorhouse. He made several trips to America to preach in the late 1800s. On one of these occasions, he was taking a walk through a poor section of the city when he noticed a small boy coming out of a store with a pitcher of milk. Just then, the boy slipped and fell, breaking the pitcher and spilling the milk all over the sidewalk. Moorhouse rushed to the youngster’s side and found him unhurt but terrified.

"My mamma’ll whip me!" he cried.

YOUR EXPERIENCE IS A LESSON

"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." - Winston Churchill

Lesson

Have you ever by chance experienced so much pain and cruel treatment, you wondered if you committed a crime you were unaware of? You begin to wonder how God could've abandoned you even though you're born again. Most times, you must understand, God gives you a destiny then gives you grace to bear the "preparation" for the fulfillment of that destiny.

The mother giraffe gives birth standing up, so the first thing that happens to a new-born giraffe is, falling about two metres to the ground. Still dazed, the baby tries to stand up

HUSH, BE STILL 2

"The sound of 'gentle stillness' after all the thunder and wind have passed will (come) the ultimate Word from God." - Jim Elliot 

Hush II

As a wise man traveled with a couple of his subjects, they got to a lake: so they stopped to rest. He asked for water from the lake, to cool his thirst. Obediently, one of his subjects rushed to the lake, but noticed people doing their laundry in the water. As a result the water was very muddy. "I can't give this water to my master." he said, and returned. "The water in the lake is too muddy. It is not suitable for drinking" he reported. After a long while, "Go get me water from the lake." the wise man instructed the subject again. This time the mud had settled, and the water was clear, so he got some and brought it to his master. "See what you did to make the water clean..." the master lectured. "...you let it stay still, and the mud settled."

It is the same with us. When we're disturbed, the waters of our lives become so muddy, it's almost useless...but if we can just hush, and allow it stay still. It is no wonder, we see many people on a daily basis running around frantically, trying to get rid of the issues in their lives. When all they need is a little stillness. Their lives are already muddied and dirty, but for lack of patience, they get the whole situation more disturbing.