Monday, August 12, 2019

Build Bridges - The Power of Relationships


Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Bridges connect communities separated by water bodies to one another and as they connect, a lot happens. Commerce blossoms, social relationships and networks are formed and sometimes, members of such communities come to depend on one another.

Beloved, you need bridges to connect. No single individual is a self sustaining island. At different points in time in life, you will always need the support of other people be they family members, friends, colleagues, neighbours, community members, citizens of your country and global citizens considering that the world has become a global village.

Unfortunately, some people do not know how to build and sustain bridges. The building of bridges may be easy especially the bridges that are easy to construct. But such bridges usually do not last as they are not durable. The durable bridges take longer time to construct and are also expensive to maintain.  To build a durable bridge that will help to sustain the numerous other bridges you will require in life, you may need to urgently reverse the present order you have been working with especially if the bridges.

How, you may ask? As simple as reciting ABC! Spend quality time with God before spending time with other people. No one is as important as God to you. Connect to and with God before connecting to other people. When you do this, you are saying that you recognize God as your helper and God is indeed your helper.

Beloved, your help comes from God and not man. Though God sometimes uses humans as channels of His divine visitation to help you, God is your helper and not humans. Joseph was helped by God and not necessarily the butler. God orchestrated the events that made Pharaoh troubled enough to seek for someone who could interpret the dreams. The wise men of Pharaoh’s court were unable to interpret the dreams. But Joseph did and effortlessly. Additionally, Joseph proffered the solution to the problems posed by the interpretation of the dreams. To start with, Joseph’s gift of interpreting dreams (finding solutions to challenges was a gift from God (Genesis Chapter 40 verse 8, 41 verse 16) and because Joseph always gave the glory of the gift to God and always used it for divine purposes, God brought Joseph before great people (Proverbs Chapters 18 verse 16; 22 verse 29, Psalm 75 verses 6 to 7. Please see also Psalms 20, 121, 124 verse 8; 2nd Kings Chapter 6 verses 26 to 27.



The biblical Jabez started life with minuses. For whatever reason which is not stated in the Bible, his mother named him Jabez because she bore him in pain. The reason for that pain is not stated but the implication of that name is that Jabez would always cause pain. Fortunately for Jabez, he knew a lot about God and that God always helps his own. So Jabez invested in the best and greatest of relationships; a relationship with God. As he related with God, Jabez also discovered that God could and would help him; so Jabez cried to God to help him so that he would not cause pain. Significantly, Jabez requested the following help from God so that he would not cause pain. Please read 1st Chronicles Chapter 4 verses 9 to 10, Ephesians Chapter 3 verse 20, 2nd Corinthians Chapter 2 verses 1 to 8.

He asked God to bless him and God did, thereby eliminating sorrow from his life in accordance with the word of God that the blessings of God make rich and do not add any sorrow. The blessings of God made Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and a number of other Bible characters rich. Jabez realized that and asked God to bless him indeed. And he was blessed. Please read Genesis Chapter 26 verse 35, 2nd Chronicles Chapter 1 verses 7 to 12, note verses 11 and 12.

He asked God to enlarge his territory and God did.

He requested for God’s hand upon his life.

He prayed that God would keep him from evil. Please read Matthew Chapter 6 verse 13, John Chapter 10 verse 10, 2nd Timothy Chapter 4 verses 14 to 18. God helped the Apostle Paul and delivered him from evil, the evil plots of people opposed to the preaching of the gospel. Please read Romans Chapter 15 verses 30 to 31, 1st Corinthians Chapter 16 verses 8 to 9, 15 verse 32.



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