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Walk through spiritual growth with Joseph Obasi
Do you have difficulty reading the bill e and meditating on it everyday? Then this live program is for you, join Joseph Obasi daily 10pm, as you walk through the journey of reading the scriptures and meditating on it, an opportunity for you to be at God’s presence. Do not turn away from him but find every opportunity to be with him, you can watch anywhere you are.
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THE CREATION
There’s nothing that can frustrate you than you thinking of how God formed and created things, you go further and say how did he come to existence, no, wait, how did this world come to existence, wait how did, and how and how and how till you get so frustrated that there are lot of mysteries to creation you want to meet with the creator and ask him. Oh no! So annoying
*THE CREATION EPISODE 1
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Fuel scarcity: “Price of fuel will come down soon” Muyideen Olamilekan
The manager of KH filling station, Muyideen Olamilekan said the price of fuel will reduce soon.
He said, the increase in the price of fuel was caused because of the methanol found in the last imported fuel, exceeded Nigeria specification.
“The price of fuel will come down, because things are going the way it should now, it is circulating”. He said.
“it increased because of the methanol found in the last imported fuel exceeded Nigeria specification”. Muyideen Olamilekan said.
Meanwhile, bike riders, bus drivers, shop owners and people affected by the increase of fuel, complained bitterly about the increase and scarcity of fuel.
Babagida Jigawa, a bike rider, said the increase of fuel price in filling stations is disheartening.
“Fuel has increased from 165 to 200,220, and they said because fuel is scarce in the market. Although, NNPC own did not increase but the que is too much in the filling station
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Why should I close my eyes when praying?
Some Christians do ask themselves these questions: Why should I close my eyes when talking to my creator? Why close my eyes in worship? Why should I close my eyes when I pray? Is it in the scripture? Shockingly, many people do that even when they don’t know the reason behind it.
Dolapo, a friend of mine in secondary school once told me that if I don’t close my eyes, God will
pluck my eyes and ever since then I do take closing my eyes seriously and trust me, some Christians also have this belief.I then started closing my eyes because I don’t want God coming at me during the hour of me begging Him for something and then boom! He pokes my eyes! Then it becomes one problem added to the one I had.
My Muslim friends will always laugh at me during the hour of prayer and ask satirically: Why do Christians even close their eyes? What’s the use? My only and constant answer was “I don’t want God to get angry at me. I just need to obey him.”
That fear was in me already. The answer I got at first made me close my eyes, and not the valid reason for closing one’s eyes. Despite finding it childish and silly to believe, I still think there’s a reason to why I should actually close my eyes while praying and worshipping God. Why don’t I close my eyes during praise? Or during sermon also?
I don’t think closing one’s eyes while praying is compulsory. I also do not think it’s in the scripture to close one’s eyes when praying or singing worship songs.
In the article Johnson Olawale wrote about closing our eyes during prayers, he said that the Bible does not tell us to close our eyes during worship or prayer.
The only thing Jesus told us about praying in the scripture is that: “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you; they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.” – Matthew 6:5-6.
Psychologically, it is believed that when you pray with your eyes closed, you tend to be more focus and seem less distracted and most importantly, you connect with God in the spirit realm and by so doing, it prevents your mind from wandering off during prayers.
Praying with our eyes closed is not a law and it is not compulsory. God will never pluck your eyes if you don’t close your eyes. But for the prayer to be more effective, it becomes imperative to close our eyes when praying .
Moreover, there is no definite posture to prayers. You can choose to sit, stand, kneel or lie on the ground when you pray – and not necessarily and strictly stand.
These are not the most important things as against how emphasized they are in some quarters. The most important thing to take cognizance of when praying is to pray genuinely from your heart. And also having the faith that God is able and willing to answer your prayers – standing, sitting, closing your eyes or otherwise.
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The fine line between praise and worship
When you go to most churches, and the chorister is asked to lead in praise and worship, the first thing you will hear is let us all close our eyes in worship. After worship, you hear in Jesus name we have worshiped. Then the next thing is praise.
I’ve been in a gathering where people asked me what praise and worship means, what’s the difference between praise and worship, and I will go speechless like one who has nothing in my head. That moment, I turn to a dummy, because I’m clueless, not like I don’t know the dictionary meaning of praise and worship, just that the dictionary did not clarify the difference between these words.
If I’m to answer in a layman’s terms, I would say, in worship we close our eyes, and sing slowly, while in praise, we dance, clap and sing joyfully. That’s the belief I had, but when I went to a church on a Sunday. During the hour of praise and worship, I heard the song I assumed to be for praise, in worship and vice versa, I criticized them. I said they are novice, they don’t know how to sing, they are not professionals, they need to learn from others, the chorister is wack and on and on, I kept on criticizing them till I left. I resolved not to go to the church because I’m a type of person that love attending churches that are good in praise. They move my spirit. I begin to dance, sing and clap. But when I went to another church, the same thing happened. Then I became confused. What is worship and what is praise, what’s the difference?
I decided to do my research to clear my curiosity.
In an article Johnson Olawale wrote concerning praise and worship, he explained three Hebrew words in the Bible that are translated as praise. One is “Yadah”, which means “praise or give thanks or confess”. Another one is “Zamar” which means “sing praise.” And the third one is “Halal” (which is the root word for hallelujah), which means to praise, honor, or commend.
In comparison of the differences between these two words, he said that most people see worship as the slow and melodious songs – CC: me – that often require the closing of eyes, lifting of hands in reverence to God while praise is considered as the singing of fast songs and dancing to God.
He added that these two words mean more than just songs or singing, that they are two different things. Worship is completely different from praise but praise can be a part of worship.
Praise is an appreciation of God, especially in songs. It is joyfully recounting everything that God has done and showing him gratitude for it. It doesn’t require much from us other than the acknowledgement of the righteous acts of God. In the Bible, praise is usually presented as highly-spirited, joyful and uninhibited. God asks all creation to praise him.
Worship, on the other hand, goes deeper than praise. It is something that comes from the spirit. It is often said that it is an attitude or state of the heart. In the Bible, Jesus spoke about worship in John 4 verse 23.
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”- John 4:23.Worship for Christians goes beyond singing. Songs are just one of the tools for worshiping.
While praise stems from recognising the good acts of God, worship is not a function of the acts of God. Worship comes from the core of who the worshiper is and what God means to them.
In true worship, a Christian is required to surrender themselves totally to God and adore him not just for what he has done but for who he is.
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The fine line between praise and worship
When you go to most churches, and the chorister is asked to lead in praise and worship, the first thing you will hear is let us all close our eyes in worship. After worship, you hear in Jesus name we have worshiped. Then the next thing is praise.
I’ve been in a gathering where people asked me what praise and worship means, what’s the difference between praise and worship, and I will go speechless like one who has nothing in my head. That moment, I turn to a dummy, because I’m clueless, not like I don’t know the dictionary meaning of praise and worship, just that the dictionary did not clarify the difference between these words.
If I’m to answer in a layman’s terms, I would say, in worship we close our eyes, and sing slowly, while in praise, we dance, clap and sing joyfully. That’s the belief I had, but when I went to a church on a Sunday. During the hour of praise and worship, I heard the song I assumed to be for praise, in worship and vice versa, I criticized them. I said they are novice, they don’t know how to sing, they are not professionals, they need to learn from others, the chorister is wack and on and on, I kept on criticizing them till I left. I resolved not to go to the church because I’m a type of person that love attending churches that are good in praise. They move my spirit. I begin to dance, sing and clap. But when I went to another church, the same thing happened. Then I became confused. What is worship and what is praise, what’s the difference?
I decided to do my research to clear my curiosity.
In an article Johnson Olawale wrote concerning praise and worship, he explained three Hebrew words in the Bible that are translated as praise. One is “Yadah”, which means “praise or give thanks or confess”. Another one is “Zamar” which means “sing praise.” And the third one is “Halal” (which is the root word for hallelujah), which means to praise, honor, or commend.
In comparison of the differences between these two words, he said that most people see worship as the slow and melodious songs – CC: me – that often require the closing of eyes, lifting of hands in reverence to God while praise is considered as the singing of fast songs and dancing to God.
He added that these two words mean more than just songs or singing, that they are two different things. Worship is completely different from praise but praise can be a part of worship.
Praise is an appreciation of God, especially in songs. It is joyfully recounting everything that God has done and showing him gratitude for it. It doesn’t require much from us other than the acknowledgement of the righteous acts of God. In the Bible, praise is usually presented as highly-spirited, joyful and uninhibited. God asks all creation to praise him.
Worship, on the other hand, goes deeper than praise. It is something that comes from the spirit. It is often said that it is an attitude or state of the heart. In the Bible, Jesus spoke about worship in John 4 verse 23.
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”- John 4:23.Worship for Christians goes beyond singing. Songs are just one of the tools for worshiping.
While praise stems from recognising the good acts of God, worship is not a function of the acts of God. Worship comes from the core of who the worshiper is and what God means to them.
In true worship, a Christian is required to surrender themselves totally to God and adore him not just for what he has done but for who he is.
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