ARTICLE:

When fixing a car engine, any mechanic will attest, you have to use each and every gadget to facilitate it’s functionality. If the mechanic fails to use certain small bolts for joining different parts of the car engine, the engine will not work. He will have to dismantle everything and put every gadget in its rightful place from scratch. Can you fathom how a small gadget, can halt the functionality of a whole engine???

The same applies to our own bodies, if there is a certain part of the body aching, the entire body is never at ease. We take all the necessary measures to make sure, if we are experiencing a headache, we take medicine to relieve the pain which automatically makes the whole body well.

Using the above simple illustration, what is your understanding on God’s word, regarding every season of your life, while making life choices??Do you just rely on scriptures that seem to speak what you want to hear and ignore scriptures that challenge you, to do what God wants you to do, when faced with a tempting situation?Meditating,understanding and embracing God’s principles, which are laid out in His word, from the book of Genesis to Revelation is the only sure way of living a victorious life.

You know very well God in Deuteronomy 8:18 And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day, however when God prospers the work of your hands, you ignore His command to tithe and assume Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! is of the old.

You know very well God will bless the work of your hands in Deuteronomy 28:12 but what are your hands doing to gain wealth??When faced with a temptation to bribe in order to get a tender, a business deal or a job??Do you make a choice depending on what God’s word says or do you just ignore it because it does not suit what you really want??You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Deuteronomy 16:19

Please hear me out, we cannot separate the word of God and stick to what we want to hear!!! God breathed His life in each and every scripture, from Genesis to Revelation Each and every Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-18

Whenever we ignore God’s instructions and read scriptures that do not align with what God is instructing us to meditate on a particular season, we are in real sense walking in disobedience .Maybe you are struggling with fornication, lying, adultery, bitterness, jealousy, gossip, malice, strife or worry but when God instructs you to meditate on scriptures that will convict and deliver you from such struggles, you simply ignore His promptings..

Let me use my own life experience, to bring this point home .Sometime back while having my daily bible study in the book of Psalms, most scriptures were really aligning with what I desired to hear, however on this particular day, i was to study Psalms 139 and God really provoked me In vs.23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Dear fresher,
I am so happy you got into university. Whether it was your first choice, insurance choice or through clearing, you got into higher institution and that is a big deal. Well done! I want you to know that God has so much more in store for you where you are going. So much more than you ever thought or imagined.
Your university experience is what you make of it. First things first, find a church!  You do not have to settle into the first church you visit, but when you settle into one, be wholly committed to it. Find mentors and accountability partners within that body.

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Find a church

I am sure you have heard a lot advises from people. Some of them were just jokes and banter but you better take the rest of them seriously. People that have gone ahead of you made certain mistakes they wouldn’t want you to make which is what the hashtag is for. There is so much to learn from my blog.
A lot of young people started their business when they were in university. Thanks to student finance and the network of people that university exposes you to, you can turn your passion into a business that can provide extra income for you. Before I end this letter to you, I want to ask you, no, beg you to never depend on yourself. I know you have received a lot of advice and suggestions on what you should do or not do when you are in university but there is only so much you can do by your own strength.
You must have heard of all the things that get down in university and thought “I am super saved, well saved in fact and would never do any of that.’’ That is great, I thought the same too but never depend on your strength. Trust in the Lord with all your heart for every area of your life including how to manage your time, form relationships and stay above sin.
Flee from every appearance of evil !

Trust in the Lord with all your heart for every area of your life

Don’t think that because you have been saved before you got to university, you speak in tongues and prophesy you won’t be tempted. You may not do what others are doing like clubbing and drinking, but always check the condition of your heart. Strive to protect your purity at all costs and that can only be done by intentionally loving God and going into deeper intimacy with Him.
Even if you do not already have a relationship with God, know that God wants to have a relationship with you. Your uni space and time at university is a great opportunity to develop an intimate relationship with the Father who loves you.
No matter where you are in your faith, find someone you can be accountable to, but most importantly be accountable to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the best accountability partner. He is always there, he doesn’t have double standards and he will always tell you the truth. Stay away from anything that would cause you to quench the Holy Spirit or affect your sensitivity to his voice.

The Holy Spirit is the best accountability partner.

I’m always praying for you. It is because of you that I created this platform in the first place. Feel free to contact me at anytime you have any questions or need someone to pray with you.
I pray that God will guard your heart. I pray that your purpose for going to that university will be fulfilled and you will not look back on any part of your university years with regret.
Love and Light,
Johnstone Kpilaakaa.

*** This letter was first published on Lively Stones’ Blog
 ** It has been revised for Nigerian University students by me

Franklin Graham wrote this op-ed piece which ran on USAToday.com on February 21, 2018.
My father never gave up on me, even when I caused him pain. He lived like the Gospel he preached—a message he repeated till his last breath.
My father has joined my mother in heaven. He went to sleep in his home in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina and woke up in the arms of Jesus. While many around the world mourn his physical death, he is now celebrating the eternal life he spent over 70 years telling millions of people about.
In the summer of 2005, he preached his final series of public messages to more than a quarter of a million people in New York City over three days. It would be his final live evangelistic crusade. That same year, a Gallup poll revealed that one in six American adults—35 million—had heard Billy Graham preach in person.
Since 1947, some 215 million people at more than 400 crusades, simulcasts and evangelistic rallies heard my father tell them, “The Bible says, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life’” (John 3:16). Today, he is experiencing what he devoted a lifetime to telling others they could experience if they placed their trust in Jesus Christ.

Final Crusade

During that final crusade in New York, he spoke with a national magazine about death. “Do I fear death? No. I look forward to death, with great anticipation. I am looking forward to seeing God face to face. And that could happen any day” (Newsweek, July 4, 2005).
Well, that day has come, and while I miss him (and my mother) dearly, I take great comfort in knowing I will see him again.
The man the world knew as Billy Graham was always “Daddy” to me. I was well into my teens before I fully comprehended that my father had a household name and a worldwide ministry. He was home a few days, then gone for weeks—sometimes months. Had it not been for my mother’s cheerful attitude and spiritual strength, his absence may have had a devastating impact on me. Her eyes flickered like the flames in the fireplace as she described Daddy’s travels, crusade meetings and people he met from all walks of life.
His homecomings were always a big deal. We waited eagerly at train stations and airports watching for his long legs to step onto the railway platform or airport tarmac. Other times, we ran to the driveway when we would hear the car coming up the mountain. My three sisters, brother and I would tackle him, but he always managed to scoop us up into his loving arms, letting us know how much he had missed us. Then, he would turn his attention and affection to the woman he loved—and who shared her life with him for 64 years. Those were happy times.

My Time with Daddy

On most Sundays for the past 20 years, I have driven an hour-and-a-half to have lunch and spend the afternoon with my father. I’ll forever cherish these special times we spent together. But there was a time when our relationship wasn’t so good, a time when I caused my mother and father quite a bit of anguish and heartache. During my teens and early 20s, I proved to be anything but what most people expected Billy Graham’s son to be. I’m so thankful he never gave up on me or quit loving me.
After graduating from college in 1974, I headed for Lausanne, Switzerland, to work at a conference the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association was sponsoring for 2,500 evangelical leaders from around the world. My life was a mess; I was empty and lonely. During that conference, my mother and father wanted to take me to lunch to celebrate my 22nd birthday. After lunch at a little Italian restaurant on Lake Geneva, Daddy and I walked along a pathway beside the lake when he turned to me and said, “Franklin, your mother and I sense there’s a struggle going on in your life.” Somewhat stunned, I wondered, “How does he know this?” He continued, “You’re going to have to make a choice either to accept Christ or reject Him. You can’t continue to play the middle ground.”
With my mind racing, wondering what he was going to say next, I heard these words: “I want you to know we’re proud of you, Franklin. We love you no matter what you do in life and no matter where you go. But you’re going to have to make a choice.” He had pricked my conscience to the point I was actually angry. I couldn’t figure out how he knew about the struggle that had been going on inside me—but he did, and he was right.
My father’s words haunted me for several weeks until I finally gave up running from God and made that choice to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and turn my life over to Him. I’ve never looked back or regretted my decision.
About 20 years after our life-changing walk along Lake Geneva, my father told me something else that would alter my life in another way; he asked me to assume the day-to-day management responsibility of the organization that bears his name. I’m at least smart enough to know I could never fill Billy Graham’s shoes, but I’m grateful he gave me an opportunity to help him finish his race on earth well, and to continue his life’s work.

Proud of My Father

I don’t know that I’ve ever been more proud of my father than the sunny day in May 2007 when 1,500 people, including three former American presidents, turned out to help us dedicate the Billy Graham Library in his hometown of Charlotte, N.C. (He joked to the crowd that he felt as if he were attending his own funeral!) Seeing him standing in front of the 40-foot-high glass cross that serves as the entrance to the Library, I thought about something he once told British TV personality David Frost in an interview: “Well, I’m going to heaven,” he said, “not on my good works or because I’ve preached to all these people or read the Bible. I’m going to heaven because of what Christ did on the cross.”
Billy Graham’s message of the cross never changed since he preached it at his first crusade—to an audience of 6,000 at the Civic Auditorium in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1947.
Many books have been written by my father and about him. For more than six decades, authors, reporters, scholars and observers have scrutinized his life and commented on it for the public record. But the purpose of Billy Graham’s life is captured in a single paragraph found at the end of a little book a number of years ago.

A Final Word

Following that final New York crusade in 2005, a well-known publisher released a book with the entire text of his three sermons at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. They invited him to write some closing thoughts for the book, which filled just two pages under the heading, A Final Word from Billy Graham:
“No matter what your problem is,” he wrote, “if you and I could sit down and talk, I would want to tell you one great truth: God loves you, and He can make a difference in your life if you will let Him.
“God loves you so much that He sent His Son into the world to die for your sins. When we open our hearts to Christ, He forgives our sins and comes to live within us by His Holy Spirit. He also gives us strength for the present and hope for the future. This is the message of the Gospel—and this is the message you have read in this book.”
If my father could speak or write to us today, he would say the same thing. It was what he lived and breathed—until his very last breath.
Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, is the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse.