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Dear Beloved,
Welcome to our last newsletter for the year 2017. What a year it has been. Papa has been mighty on our behalf, and we can never appreciate Him enough. As we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, we pray that the joy, peace and love that the angels announced to the shepherd over two thousand years ago, will fill our hearts. We pray that like the shepherds we will seek more diligently after the Lord.
It's been a really difficult year for so many, and we stand with you. In all things, we continue to thank the Almighty. Lapis Lazuli Ministries is thankful for all we were able to do in 2017 as evidenced in the photos below. We urge you to lift your eyes to the hills, for there comes our help (Psalm 121 ). We serve a faithful God, and He does not fail. May His comfort enfold you and keep you safe, as we enter into the new year.
Please see the 'Save the Date' Flyer for the 2018 Kingdom Conferences below. Lapis Lazuli Ministries will be celebrating its 5th year Anniversary in 2018 and we are excitedly and expectantly looking forward to the new year.
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| Kingdom Revival Conference Lagos 2017 |
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| Kingdom Foundations Abuja 2017 |
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Healing Workshop and Other Training/Events
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Dear Beloved,
We would like you to diarize the dates for our 2018 Kingdom Conference on the flyer. We will be celebrating the 5th (fifth) anniversary of Lapis Lazuli Ministries and the work the Lord set us up to do.
We urge you to be like the friends of the paralytic man who did everything in their power to see him get before the Lord and get healed (Mark 2 v 2-10).
Please invite and pray in all your contacts from far and wide. The Lord promises to do abundantly more than we have ever seen.
The conference is free, but bringing guest speakers, ministry teams, venues etc, costs a lot of money. Please get in touch with our office or send us an email if you would like to know how you can help us.
If you have been blessed in any way by these Kingdom Conferences, and would like to join us as we seek to bless so many more, please
click here to donate. Thank you.
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An Audience of....."One".
We are usually at our best when we are performing. This is because we want to please our audience. We want them to applaud loudly and also to affirm us in who we are and what we are doing. Our audience may vary in personality and numbers may range from very many down to one.
I would however like to share today that the most important audience is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and they are all "One".
Romans 12 v 2 (The Message Bible) reads.".Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."
The world wants to squeeze us into its mould. The world is not interested in who God says we are, but wants us to look, taste, and feel like everyone else. This implies that the world wants to steal our God given identity. We weren't made to look like the world. Rather we were made to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus. If we remember, we were once in the world, and Jesus transferred us into His Father's kingdom ( Ephesians 2 v 2 - 3).
We therefore have to be good representatives of Jesus's Kingdom.
In the bible we read about a number of people who came to the realisation that there's only One audience worth performing for, and that is the Godhead. I will mention a few beginning with Jesus Christ.
Jesus was radical in His approach to everything. He strictly followed after what He knew His Father had sent him to do.
He knew His Father's voice and desired to give Him pleasure, and glory. His Father was His One audience. We read about this in John 17 v 1-10.
Jesus was determined not to be a people pleaser, so would get away from anywhere they were applauding Him so that He could keep on track with what His Father sent Him to accomplish.
Much as the honour of giving birth to the Messiah, was given to Virgin Mary, it was going to be difficult, convincing Joseph and close family that the baby in her womb was God's Son. Mary's total reliance and worship of God made her succumb completely to God's will. He was her One audience so she could surrender herself to whatever God wanted.
When we read the Old Testament, we read about people like David, who loved to worship God using his harp. He got to know and adore His audience of One. He devoted time to composing songs for the Lord which we enjoy as we read the Psalms.
The disciples didn't allow the world to squeeze them into its mould either. The world desires people who will toe the line, not by integrity or justice, but by doing what everyone is doing. Sometimes, doing what everyone is doing is a distraction because it takes you away from what Papa has called you to do.
John was the only disciple who followed Jesus to the crucifixion site. Jesus could see that the disciple John loved Him with all His heart, so could hand His most highly prized earthly possession, His mother, to him to take care of. For John, Jesus was His only audience. We read about how he rested his head on Jesus's bosom at their last supper. He stayed close to Jesus, right up to the end.
The woman who anointed Jesus with an alabaster flask of very precious perfume lavished extravagant love on Jesus having gotten the revelation of how much she was loved.( Matthew 26 v 7-13 ). The people around (the world ) were indignant, calling her adoration of Jesus (her One audience), a waste..! Jesus defended her, declaring that wherever this is reported, she would be honoured because she had prepared his body for His burial.
Space won't permit me to tell about still others who only desired to perform for their audience of One. There were people like Abraham, Moses, Mary Magdalene, the widow who gave all she had ( Mark 12v 41-44) to mention a few.
One quality that runs through these personalities, that enabled them to esteem an audience of One was their ability to obey. The desire to obey is usually based on love and trust. When we receive the love of Jesus, we can trust Him with everything so being obedient is easy. When we struggle with obeying God, we need to look at the underlying problem of trust. Sometimes, it's due to our inability to have learnt in childhood how to trust people or bad experiences that we have had trusting people.
In beholding our audience of One, we will receive a deeper revelation of the love of the Christ Child this Christmas. Our time spent in the Presence, adoring the most highly prized audience of One, will lead us into more intimate worship of our Lord, not based on what He does, but who He is.
Mina x
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May the Lord continue to uphold and preserve us 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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Follow Us On Social Media
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Thanksgiving & Prayer Requests
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- We begin by thanks giving to our Mighty God for seeing us through the year 2017.
- To provide divine strategies and leading as we commence the planning for the 2018 Kingdom Conferences in Abuja and Lagos. Also to raise the funding required and gather a team of dedicated volunteers to support the planning and gathering for the conferences.
- To pray for our national leaders, that they will run the nation, with Godly fear, humility and justice.
- To increase the impact of Lapis Lazuli Ministries all over Nigeria.
- The return of all the remaining Chibok girls.
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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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2. The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.
3. You have multiplied the nation
And increased its joy;[a]
They rejoice before You
According to the joy of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4. For You have broken the yoke of his burden
And the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor,
As in the day of Midian.
5. For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle,
And garments rolled in blood,
Will be used for burning and fuel of fire.
6. For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7. Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
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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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Winning The Battle For The Night
by Faith Blatchford
Called to Reign
by Leif Hetland
Worship:
The Pattern of Things in Heaven
by Joseph L. Garlington
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Copyright © 2017 Lapis Lazuli Ministries
All Rights Reserved.
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