Dear Beloved,
Lapis Lazuli ministries warmly greets you as we all enter into this year 2016. It is a new year because none of us have been here before or travelled this way before. The " New " sometimes brings with it a level of anxiety, agitation,fear, heightened perception, expectation, uncertainty and surprises. However we have a God who always loves to assure us of His goodness and mercy towards us. Most importantly, He hasn't sent us into the new year 2016 alone, but He has promised to always be with us throughout the year 2016. We may not know all that will happen, through this new year, but we know Who it is that we enter in with. We also know that we are the object of His love and desire. We can therefore go into 2016, confident in the One who holds our hands as we enter in. May our journey this 2016 cause us to enter into a deeper intimacy with the One who made us, to bring pleasure to Himself.
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Enter into the Grace that has been made specially available for you this year (2016).
The 2016 year began for us personally with a great big surprise. It was an amazing exceptionally great and wonderful surprise, but it caught us unawares. It made me wonder at the twists and turns that may come on our path as we journey into 2016. I wondered how we can navigate through uncharted waters, and paths we have never walked before, and I realised that the Lord understood our apprehension about this and made adequate provision. Reading John 1 verse 14 to 27. which says........(from the amplified version)...................
14 And the Word (Christ) became flesh, and lived among us; and we [actually] saw His glory, glory as belongs to the [One and] only begotten Son of the Father, [the Son who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, who is] full of grace and truth (absolutely free of deception). 15 John testified [repeatedly] about Him and [a]has cried out [testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance], "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me [b]has a higher rank than I and has priority over me, for He existed before me.'" 16 For out of His fullness [the superabundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace [spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift]. 17 For the Law was given through Moses, but grace [the unearned, undeserved favor of God] and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God [His essence, His divine nature] at any time; the [One and] only begotten God [that is, the unique Son] who is in the intimate presence of the Father, He has explained Him [and interpreted and revealed the awesome wonder of the Father].
The Testimony of John
19 This is the testimony of John [the Baptist] when the Jews sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 And he confessed [truthfully] and did not deny [that he was only a man], but acknowledged, "I am not the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)!" 21 They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the [promised] Prophet?" And he answered, "No." 22 Then they said to him, "Who are you? Tell us, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23 He said, "I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said."
24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 John answered them, "I baptize [only] [c]in water, but among you there stands One whom you do not recognize and of whom you know nothing. 27 It is He [the preeminent One] who comes after me, the [d]strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie [even as His slave]."
We understand that because we have received and believed Jesus as our Lord and Saviour us,we have the authority and privilege to become His children. He came to reveal the Father to us by dwelling amongst us. This Sonship (daughters too) qualifies us to enter into His provision for us as seen in verse 16.
Verse 16 says that for out of the fullness ( abundance) we have all received ( all had a share and we were all supplied with ) one grace after another and spiritual blessings upon spiritual blessings and even favour upon favour and gift upon gift. For while the law was given to Moses, verse 17 says, Grace ( unearned, undeserved favour and spiritual blessing and truth came through Jesus Christ. ) so we didn't work for this grace or earn it in any way, we entered in to partake by receiving and believing by faith what had been made available by the Lord Jesus for us. So God had prepared something through Jesus for me to walk in this 2016 which is His abundant Grace. (Grace is explained to be Gods reward at Christs expense. )
Still speaking about the journey we all are on, knowing our identity and purpose is important as it informs the success of the journey.
John the beloved disciple writing the gospel, explained how Jesus came to reveal the Father( verse 18) to humanity. But Jesus also needed to be introduced anew, even though He made the world with God. John the Baptist was thus chosen to assist people on this road, as it was a road the people hadn't journeyed before. They came to investigate his identity and John the Baptist knew exactly who he was and what his assignment on this journey was. He was to make straight the path in people's hearts for Jesus to enter in through repentance. We also need to know our assignment and align with what heaven is saying our purpose on this journey is.
Taking a cue from John the Baptist, who said in verse 20 that he is not the Christ. In other words, he was saying that he is not the Saviour of the world. Some may feel that they know and believe that they are not the Saviour of the world but are their actions in line with their belief? Some times, unknown to us, we carry a spirit of control and this puts us in a place where we want to be in charge of our lives. I always wonder how we could ever want to be in charge when we don't know what will happen the next minute. Because the Lord knows the end from the beginning ( Isaiah 46 v 10) it would be wiser to have Him be in charge. We ought to have a spirit of submission which allows us enter into the purposes of God. If we are fixed solely on our plans, and filled with our ways, God can not have us enter into His Plan. This was why the Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness while God tried to prepare them to enter into the Promised land.The "I" is always looking to take the attention off Father God and put it on ourselves. ( Jeremiah 17 v9).
On this journey, the world will always try to put us in its mould. Verses 19 to 22 points this out. The world always wants to limit our expectation of God by telling you this is what you can and cannot happen. Take note that these are just the design of man and not Gods law. The Bible tells us that nothing is impossible with God. ( Luke 1 v 37 ). We should therefore not spend time trying to conform to the world's standard as it is much below God's standard for us and does not cause us to enter into the supernatural purposes for which we were made.
As a result of the amount of time John the beloved disciple spent with the Lord, he was able to enter into heavens purposes as seen in verse 23.
Our call is never only for us to enter in, but to obey the voice and to cause others to enter in. We always have to impact the area of influence that the Lord has given us with our voice, so that we provoke others to action as seen in this passage. Here the people started asking...."what should we do "in response to John's voice.They ended up repenting and entering in.
The question therefore is what are we declaring with and without our voice ? Are we declaring one thing and doing another? John the Baptist's life was all about entering into the purpose for which he was made, which was to be a fore runner of the Lord. His voice was being heard and caused people to prepare the way in their lives for the Lord to enter in.
More than ever before, we don't want to dream of trying to navigate this journey into 2016 without entering into the abundant grace that Jesus made available for us. There is no doubt that our good Father who goes with us with the Holy Spirit will preserve us through the year. He has promised to always be with us, so we can enter into 2016 confident that Jesus, walks with us and His grace abounds for the journey. May the Lord bless and make our journey through 2016 perfect in every way, Amen.
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For those who attended this conference before, we will like you to prayerfully invite and bring along at least ten other people, so they get blessed.
We ask you to please advertise it in your churches, so that others can come to receive impartation at the conference.
Please encourage your friends to take time off work, to fully engage and receive all that the Lord has in store for us at this conference.
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Kingdom Harvest Conference 2015
More
pictures and
testimonies are up on the website about the last Kingdom Harvest Conference 2015.
If you know anyone who has a testimony from the conference, please ask them to send to
[email protected]
Bethel Sozo
We are creating host homes where Sozo videos can be watched, please get in touch with Lapis Lazuli Ministries office, if you are interested.
Personal Bethel Sozo sessions are taking place at the office (3rd Floor Maku House, 109 Awolowo Road, South West Ikoyi, Lagos). Please book on the website or send an email to
[email protected] if you would like to have a personal sozo. If you will like to be trained up to minister in sozo, please get in touch with us.
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May the Lord continue to uphold and preserve you all.
God's blessings,
Femi and Mina Bajomo
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Connect Your Family & Friends
If this newsletter has blessed you, forward to others.
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Stay Connected
Please kindly use the links below to like our Page and/or Join Our Mailing List if this email was forwarded to you.
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- For direction, wise counsel, supernatural favour and unity in the body of Christ as we plan the kingdom Advance Conference 2016.
- Return of our Chibok girls.
- For an increased awareness for Bethel Sozo in Nigeria.
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If you would like to join the Intercessors group, do get in touch by email to [email protected].
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John 1 : 16 - 17
16. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
17. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
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Lapis Lazuli Ministries
Contact Details
Email
Website
Address
3rd Floor Maku House,
109 Awolowo Road,
South West Ikoyi,
Lagos, Nigeria.
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The Essential Guide To The Power Of The Holy Spirit
by Randy Clark
Power to Heal
by Randy Clark
When Heaven Invades Earth
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All Rights Reserved.
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